Monday, January 14, 2013

Jubilance/Aretha: The Mission

It had taken a while, but Jubilance had finally gotten a trail that would lead her to Tesla. After doing a little research, she had been able track her down to a forest that wasn’t too far away from Mevolent’s castle. Of course, searching the woods would be a chore, but at least she had something to work with.
Jubilance had finally reached the forest. It was big. Finding Tesla would be difficult, but she expected that she would be around the area that was closest to Mevolent’s Castle. She couldn’t have gotten too far, especially since she had been injured.
Jubi started walking east, and looked up at the sky. The sun was just coming up. If she was lucky, Tesla would still be asleep, and it wouldn’t be too hard to get the job done. But if she wasted too much time trying to find her, then Tesla would probably be awake by then and there might be some trouble.
A half an hour passed, and Jubi was still wandering around the woods hopelessly. She checked her watch and cursed. It was already 7:00.

I hope that Tesla’s a late sleeper, she thought, continuing to scan the forest floor for any leads.
Then she saw something. It was small, and barely noticeable, but it was something. A foot print. At least it looked like a foot print... 
Jubi knelt down and looked at it closer. Yes. It was definitely a footprint. She smiled. Footprints were always the most obvious thing, yet no one seemed to pay any attention to them.

Jubilance stood up, and followed the direction that the footprint was pointing towards.
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After a lot of walking, she finally found Aretha using the air to feed more oxygen to a small fire in the center of five large oak trees. Immidiately she sensed she was being watched, and called upon the air again to propel her jump onto a tree branch about 20 feet above the ground. Rule number one: always observe your opponent before attacking. She wasn't even sure this was an assailant yet, so she decided to play it safe for the time being.

Jubi immediately ducked behind a tree. She knew that Tesla could tell that someone was out there. She was an assassin after all... 

From the quick glimpse that she had caught of Tesla, she could tell that her wounds had been mostly healed. This was going to be a bit more difficult than she had hoped. 
Pressing herself against the tree, she tried to get a glimpse of Tesla in the tree brach. She found herself wishing that she had chosen the same power that Persephone had chosen. It would definitely come in handy around now...
Finally, she found her, hunched over in a branch. Jubi focused all of her magic onto Tesla, and she started to laugh hysterically, like she was being tickled. Losing her balance on the branch, Tesla fell onto the ground with a loud thud, still cracking up.

Aretha had no idea why, but for some reason it was as if she had just discovered the funniest joke in the universe. She began to laugh hysterically, and- oh, wait, that wasn't good- her grip on the branch was loosening. Somehow she found that even more hilarious, and when she hit the ground hard on her back and all the air rushed out of her lungs, she was still laughing. Or trying to, anyway. The more she tried to laugh, the harder it was to breathe, and that was just the most amusing thing she had ever heard of. In just moments she had gone from an ideal observatory position in a tree to curled up on the forest floor struggling to breathe. Just when had she become so fantastically hilarious? She couldn't even think at all anymore. If you had asked for her name, she would have only laughed harder at the fact that she couldn't answer.

Jubi grinned, and stepped out from behind the tree. She fingered the knife that was in her belt as she walked up to Tesla, who was struggling to breathe while laughing at the same time. As she neared the place where Tesla was lying, she pulled out her knife and knelt down beside Tesla. She was clutching her stomach and tears of laughter were streaming down her face. 
"Stop" she managed to say.
Jubi gave her a grim smile. "Sorry. No can do." 
And with that, she removed the arms that Tesla was clutching her  stomach with, and sank the knife in between her ribs. 

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Jubi felt a knife sink deep into her shoulder. Then she felt arms wrapping around her neck in a choke hold that she couldn't break. Whoever was dong this- there were either two of them, or they were faster than vampires. Possibly both.The assailant left her barely enough breath to speak, then growled into her ear, "Who sent you?"

Jubi struggled for air as she tried to break the hold that the man had around her neck.
The connection that Jubi had with Tesla had broken, and she heard her gasp for air.
Jubi looked around to see if there was anyone else there. It certainly seemed like there were two attackers. But there was no one. This man obviously wasn't a vampire. So there was only one explanation. He was a teleporter. This is NOT what she had signed up for.
"Who sent you?!" the teleporter repeated again, tightening his grip around her neck.
Jubi managed a small smile. "Now, why would I tell you that?" she said in a strained voice. 
The knife dug deeper into her shoulder and she gasped in pain. 
She tried turning her head upwards to get a glimpse of this teleporter. He forced her head back down, but she had already gotten a small glimpse of his face. 
She felt the grip loosen as the man started to chuckle. Her magic wasn't as strong when her thoughts were so muddled, so he didn't start laughing like Tesla. But it was enough for her to get free.

Croatoan was furious, and that was putting it far too mildly. He gave Jubi a kick, forcing her to the ground, and then twisted the knife in her shoulder. He would have continued if it weren't for the sound of Aretha choking on her own blood. He gave Jubi another hard kick, into her ribs this time, then scooped Aretha up in his arms and vanished, not leaving a single footprint in his wake. There weren't even fingerprints left on the knives. On the other hand, all signs of Aretha's presence were still clear as day. Even so, it wasn't good enough for him... There was someone who knew his face now, and he was certainly never going to forget hers.
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Jubi was lying on the ground, clutching at her ribs. She took in a few deep breaths, trying to fend off the pain that was searing in her shoulder and her back. Teleporters. No one said ANYTHING about teleporters. Jubilance sat up slowly, and tried to pull the knife from her shoulder. She grasped the handle and gave a small tug, then cried out in pain. God, it hurt. Jubi bit down on her lip, and pulled again. A gasp escaped her as the knife was removed from her shoulder. Thankfully, it hadn't hit any major arteries. 
She placed the knife on the ground. She had really lucked out on this one. 
She tried to stand up, holding a hand over the wound on her shoulder, and felt a searing pain in her ribs. They were most likely broken.
Damn teleporter, she thought, gritting her teeth. 
She had failed the mission. Her first big assignment, and she had failed it. Everything would've gone fine if it weren't for that STUPID. TELEPORTER. 

Slowly standing up, and trying the best to ignore the pain in her ribs and shoulder, she started to walk back the way she came. 
It wasn't over yet. 




HOORAY FOR DRAMATIC ENDINGS! 
~Jubi ^.^ 



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