[JimmyDimples]

Big as she is, zefly, you might be able to perch on her shoulder and pull it off.  😉

[JimmyDimples]

As an associate of mine once said very astutely, and I quote…

"Mlam.  Glah."

*THUD*

[JimmyDimples]

Deena and the professor quick-timed it toward the bow, seeing all the zombie warriors crawling up the sides of the ship.  "What the devil is going on?!" DeBuncombe  demanded.  "It looks like a cross between The Love Boat and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger gone horribly wrong!"

Deena then heard the cries and shrieks of the running passengers.  Spinning about, she and Debuncombe saw the frightened travelers scrambling up the stairs, down the deck, corraling all the passengers toward them.  And on the fringes right behind them were more warriors

"They're all headed… toward… us?" Deena wondered.  She smothered a curse.  There was no way for her to slip away unnoticed and change.  She steeled herself, reminding herself to have a backup plan if she ever had to transform in public and chuck her secret identity… assuming she got out of THIS mess. 

"Best get behind me, dear," Prof. DeBuncombe said, stepping in front of her.  And he brought up his umbrella.  "I hope I don't actually have to put my fencing class lessons to work today."

She half-smiled.  "I wondered why you brought that on a ship with GPS programming to avoid bad weather," she muttered. 

"For use on the island," he said shortly.  "Also for this."

He twisted the handle.  Shing!  Out of the umbrella's main shaft sprang a thin, sharp rapier-like blade. 

"You sneaked a sword umbrella aboard?!" Deena gasped.

He brought it to the ready position.  "If you're going to call ship security, then by all means do so."

Scanning the crowd closing around them, she searched for her beau Scott, and the Professor's neice Charlotte. 

But something else caught her eye:  a robed man with a glowing staff hovering over them all.

***

Mezaros sneered down at the frightened throng.  "I thought a ship this size or with such fancily clothed crew would be a royal vessel.  But this craft appears to be one purely for … pleasure?!  The people on it don't look like royalty… or nobility… or even landowners!" 

He shrugged it off.  What bothered him more was that the uniformed folks were putting up a guard, if not fighting back.  Most of them were speaking the language of the girl that had freed him.  Glad he instantly gleaned her knowledge of it when they traded places, he figured he'd best make an announcement. 

"Vsuuqt, jumf!" he shouted.  The air carried his voice like a giant public address speaker.  Right then the soldiers then stopped and formed a circle, surrounding all the crew and vacationers, hemming them all in, readying their weapons. 

"Hear me, you insipid two-legged worms!  I am Mezaros, the grand vizier of all Atlantis!  Do you see these legions of unkillable warriors?  Each of these deadly minions is but a waterdrop in the ocean of my magical art.  You can do nothing against me."

He turned to face Deena's general area.  "And yet, one of you has the gall to host a source of power here, like mine, yet not like mine."  Mezaros' eyes grew even darker.  "This will not stand.  If you do not turn that power over to me right away, I shall send this vessel and each of you on it straight to the bottom of the sea!"

Deena's face turned ash white as she instinctively felt for her waist.  The Belt! she thought.  Then she felt the magic sparkle around her waist as the Belt of Athena started to appear around her.  Quickly, she whisked her hand back and let it fade again.  She searched for a way to dash off so she could hide and transform, but she figured that floating warlock would spot her beeline, zone in on her, and she'd be busted. 

"HunnngreaAAAH!"  A zombie soldier lumbered right at her, detecting magic vibes.  Deena yelped, and was about to pull away, but then a hand grabbed the back of her blouse, and wrenched her back.

"Oh, no you don't!" Prof. DeBuncombe shouted, stepping between them.  "Take that!"  With a lightning-quick slash, he lopped off the creature's head, which landed on the deck with a thunk.  And with a quick soccer kick, the elderly yet surprisingly energized educator punted it over the crowd's heads, over the railing, and into the ocean. 

Seeing that, Mezaros then swooped down right in front of Prof. DeBuncombe, hovering almost close enough to the deck to plant his feed on it.    He glared directly at the Professor, and let a disgusted sigh through his teeth.

"Oh, please," he said icily,  "If you're going to showcase your stupidity and insolence, don't do it with limp-wristed half measures."

Extending his staff, he muttered an incantation too quietly for DeBuncombe or anyone else to hear clearly.  The staff then shimmered, and gleamed, and then an arc of stark light then shot out, arched over the side and into the water.  Nothing happened… for six seconds.

Then there was a churning of the water, as if it splashed against a big rock.  The splashing got worse.  Then the ship began to pitch a little.  Then it rocked back the other way with more tilt.  And then back the first way, which made the cruisers wobble, and struggle to keep upright.  And the crashing of the ocean kicked up some spray for all to see.

THOOMRSH!  Right up from the bow's port side shot up a gigantic, brick red tentacle as big around and wide as a city bus.  Everyone with a pulse, breath, and soul pointed and gasped their exclamations.  Then that monstrous mollusk arm fell like a chopped sequoia tree, and crashed onto the deck with a slam, knocking almost every live person on their cans. 

With a smirk, Mezaros leaned in toward DeBuncombe, extended his staff at the huge tentacle, and put his free hand on his hip.  "You, doddering fool, probably meant something more like… THIS!" 

And with a flick of Mezaros staff-arm's wrist, the titanic tentacle coiled back, then smacked twenty people off the deck in one sweep, Deena included.  Catapulted starboard into the air, she saw Prof. DeBuncombe's agonized, rueful face… and her equally terrified boyfriend Scott at last.

"DEEEENAAAAA!" he screamed, over everyone else's shrieks.

Hitting the water with a painful swat across the shoulder blades, Deena kept her head as she kicked off her shoes to make swimming easier.  Please don't panic, Scott! she thought, that old prof's Zorro imitation was a blessing in disguise.  And speaking of which… she reached for her waist, let that fabled Belt resurface, and felt for the buckle's button.  Okay, Mezaros, time to shut you up, and shut you — down?! "Hggrkh!"

She felt something like a tree branch wrap around her neck and clamp and yank her down.  She wrenched around.  Another tentacle?  She glanced toward the ship's hull, and the wall of dark red giant squid on it, but it didn't look like it was reaching for her.  Another arm clamped her own arms down.  A grey one. 

She twisted— and stared into eye to eye-socket at the skull face of a corpse soldier.  The water didn't mask its hissing cackle. 

It reached for her belt.  She bucked and shook and tried to twist away, but couldn't get free from its literal death-grip that tugged her under.  As she pushed hard to reach the Belt's buckle button, her chest started to burn inside.  And she wanted to gasp… and couldn't.

Her lungs were quickly running out of air.

To Be Continued…

[JimmyDimples]

In the immortal words of StrongBad… "Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!  That was amazing!"

Greatest combo I've seen since peanut butter and chocolate.  Bravissimo, guys.

I'd sure love to see more stuff like that *cough koffkoffmessagemekoff cough*  😉

[JimmyDimples]

Quick, efficient, to the point. 🙂 I like it.

[JimmyDimples]

o.o;;; No moon pies?

But … but I want moon pies!  There are no moon pies in China!  Just moon cakes!

(Oh, and absolutely glorious cartoon.  That was right up my alley.)

[JimmyDimples]

How NOT to Keep the Cool YouTube Crap Thread going:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eYeU07jq8E

[JimmyDimples]

Vollar-tile was on the money… cute face.

It's all in the smile, folks…

…oh, and the rest of her ain't bad, either.  😛

[JimmyDimples]

Tag Team, hah?

WHOOMP!  There it is!
WHOOMP!  There it is!
WHOOMP!  Ther–

**SMACK!**

9_6 — ow. 

DCM was right:  The older the honky, the lamer the rap.

Your pics are off the heezy fo' sheezy… eazy. ;

[JimmyDimples]

Well, it's definitely geared up that way.  I guess folks that write to it already have their own story set up from start to finish, but that's not to say an interactive story wouldn't work.

Only thing I've discovered is, well… some folks' feedback and ideas are less appreciated than others.

But I'd definitely say go for it. 🙂

[Author]

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