After an exceptional Xodus solo, it's time for some action with Kadlin Bearsmasher and the space elf Aleena!

There's a lil mild language in this one and a few of the lines have a little innuendo. The quality of this one is pretty high, though.

 
Mild cursing, mild sexual content

Kadlin added roots, leaves, and what passed for spices in the local area into the pot. Combined with summoned reagents and noodles it would make a reasonable meal.

Five minutes later she enjoyed her meal, bitter and tasteless, but nourishing enough. There was no life in this land. Only the black bird on the horizon that... That was no bird! It was a bitch. A flying bitch, but a bitch nonetheless.

Aleena! She kept playing with Konall's heart and other organs, thought she had him wrapped around her finger. Konall would kill for her. Well, okay, he'd kill pretty easily. But he'd also die for her, not that he was all that unwilling to die. But he liked her, and that had to mean something, right?

Kadlin added some more water and a different set of ingredients to the pot. This time she was cooking up destruction. The spell boiled and she opened a gate to Hey Deze, summoning a harpy. The winged creature shot into the sky and attacked Aleena, tearing off the false angel's wings and sending her spiralling toward the ground. Okay, well, enough was left of the wings that she had to have survived the fall. But she was still down. Kadlin began running toward her prey.

* * *

Aleena picked herself off the ground and checked her suit's diagnostics. She'd acquired minor bruising but had managed to keep all her bones intact. Already the nanites were repairing the damage.

Aleena looked at the harpy. It was coming toward her, a mess of claws, spiked wings, and a tail with a stinger on it. It shrieked at her, but Aleena's helmet protected her eardrums from shattering.

As it drew closer, Aleena drew her bow, sighting carefully. She loosed an arrow, and it collided with the diving harpy. The combined momentum must have been over 300 kilometers per hour, and one shot was all it took. Aleena dodged out of the way of the falling corpse and righted herself.

She scanned the skies. Something has sent one after her. There could be more. But she only saw a few buzzards. Nothing out to kill her. Yet.

Scanning the harpy revealed just a good enough ratio of nutrients to toxic elements that she could have her nanites digest it; she wouldn't put the stuff in her mouth. Laying her hands upon the harpy's corpse it dissolved at once, as the nanites reduced it to its component parts. This in turn allowed her to use the material to repair the damage to her wings. They'd be fully restored within the hour.

In the distance, and moving quickly, was a brown bear. An odd animal to find in the desert, even though it seemed to be well adapted to the local cold. And it couldn't be a coincidence that it was heading straight for her.

Aleena had seen that bear before, somewhere. And then it hit her. This was Kadlin in bear form. That explained the demon magic. Well, if the witch wanted a fight she could have a fight. Aleena readied her blades. Kadlin wouldn't be here for a few more minutes, but she wasn't catching this elf off guard.

Aleena set to work, first arranging the remains of the harpy in a particular grotesque way - a warning. Then, she swept the sand with her hand, wiping away her footprints and traces of her crash. Finally, she activated her chameleon effect - she could turn almost invisible as her suit mimicked her surroundings and could even bend light around her to some extent. Thus, she hid and was ready. And she greatly hoped Kadlin did not have some form of life-sign detection spell.

* * *

Kadlin arrived, still in bear form, and couldn't locate Aleena. She wished she had some form of life-sign detection spell. As it was, she had to make do with scent. Stupid elf. Always so obsessed with appearances.

Kadlin sniffed around. The harpy stank with the scent of the pit of Hey Deze, but her senses were not so easily clouded. She focused, searching out that unique mix of ozone, metals, sweat, pheromones, and flesh that made up Aleena's scent.

The bitch was... was... right behind her. Aleena leapt onto Kadlin's back and began stabbing her. Kadlin reared onto her hind legs and shook violently, her arms unable to dislodge the nimble elf.

"Why do you attack me?"

Kadlin roared and continued thrashing. The elf needed to know why she was being killed before Kadlin finally smashed her face in. And Kadlin couldn't do more than roar and growl with the vocal cords she had now. Kadlin needed to shake the dungheap off of her before she could change back. Aleena was holding on by jabbing her pathetic blades into Kadlin's hide around the shoulders. Only, when she was back in her human form, those shoulders would be much smaller and not at all armored. She'd be taking a great deal more damage.

Oh, right. Magic. She could still do that. Having the brain of a bear made her think like her brother Konall, but she could take the subtler approach. Focus. Needed to focus. SO HARD IN THIS SKULL! Finally, she managed to growl and summon a group of stench tentacles, startling Aleena just enough to launch her a few yards.

Aleena regained her balance almost immediately, but it was enough for Kadlin to resume human form.

"It's time for you to die, bitch," Kadlin spat.

Aleena held a defensive posture. "What's wrong with you?"

Kadlin held her glaive ready to attack. "It's what's right with me. I finally understand how Konall thinks. The rage gives me the courage to face my problems instead of ignoring them. And you're the biggest problem I have. The way you manipulate my brother, play with him, and discard him whenever you want. It's sick. He's better off with you dead. And I'm going to look out for his best interests."

Kadlin released the rain of macaroni shard she had been preparing, conjuring forth a hail of shrapnel.

"We were sent here to rescue you!" Aleena said, diving behind a boulder for shelter.

"Rescue me from what?" Kadlin scoffed.

"That zombie dragon. The penguin mafia. But I see that is no longer the case."

"And humping Dash was your rescue plan?" She began speaking the words to the helgate spell.

"I have not been humping Dash," Aleena protested. The elf dove towards the mage, hoping to tackle her and break her spell.

Kadlin brought her glaive up in an effort to spear the elf before she could make it. Her technique with polearms required focus, something that was currently occupied in opening the helgates. Aleena took her to the ground, slamming hard. The gates opened, and demons were set free if only for a moment, but they were not bound to Kadlin's will. A few ran free, causing mischief. While five more went after the two females wrestling on the ground.

"Kadlin, I'm not your enemy." Aleena was forced to release Kadlin and jumped to her feet, ready to take on these minions. They thought them helpless, maybe; their initial attacks were clumsy giving Aleena no trouble at all. Kadlin fought to regain control of her spell, and returned the demons to their prison.

Kadlin turned to Aleena, glaive ready and magic power coming up behind it. "Why won't you fight? Even you are better than this."

"Because your brother would be upset with me if I killed you."

"Yeah, and he'd be upset if I killed you. That hasn't stopped me." Though Aleena noticed Kadlin's glaive was relaxed more now, and Kadlin was considering something.

"When I last saw you... when you freed me from Dios, I never had the opportunity to properly thank you." Aleena shivered. "There are drugs in my system... and yours as well, I think. They're messing with our bodies. I need," Aleena broke off and trembled.

Kadlin stopped for a moment. "All right, I'm going to try something. I've always been in control of myself, and I'm not currently, and I don't like that." She drew a circle in the dirt with her glaive and forced her will into it. The shield spell she put in place might block one blow from the elf, but it only needed to do that. If Aleena broke it, it would snap Kadlin out of the meditations she was about to do.

Kadlin kneeled on the ground, closed her eyes, blocked out all external stimuli, and focused. She had to maintain a bit of concentration for the shield, but the rest was focused on looking into the magical properties of the drug she had flowing through her.

The aura of the magic had spread through her like an illness, driving her body to fight. She hadn't realized it was this bad. Very well. She began working up a counterspell. Void magic coursed through her and tried to eliminate the cursed drugs. Suddenly, they flared to life, somehow absorbing the magic that was the antithesis of every other form of magic and turned the energy on her. The leash of rage tightened, and she also felt a new sensation. Sexual? She coughed blood and awakened. "Aleena, I'm going to lower my barrier. I need my full mind. If you attack me, it will be the last mistake you ever make." Or the last one I ever make, she thought.

The elf had fallen to her knees. She was trembling at the edge of her own self-control.

Kadlin was in a trance now. Magic had failed her. She knew of no antidote to the physical poisons. She could not call on the gods of this place, if there even were any. That left the Sword. Its energy was something beyond even magic, something this stupid drug could never hope to match. She called on it, making her desires known. No. What? Impossible. She'd misheard. She strained again for any hope of power, and got nothing. What was she doing wrong?

That didn't work. Well, if a brute counterspell was a setback, maybe she could try something subtler. For what seemed like hours, and even outside of the trance had to be ten, fifteen minutes, she examined the enchantments woven into the drug. She traced how the life magic that was strengthening her and manipulating her body interwove with the mental magic compelling her to act. There were numerous threads like spiderwebs reaching throughout her, ensnaring her. And there were protections grafted into it, which tied it to her life force. If she eliminated it, she'd be eliminating herself.

She didn't have the skill necessary to undo this, couldn't imagine how it would be accomplished. That grated on her more than all else. But the spell had been custom-fitted to her. Aleena's had been a very different construct. But that meant the weave was flexible and could be rewoven.

Kadlin called up the barest hint of power. She caressed the weave with energy to shift the direction of threads. She reworked sections, changed the patterns in places. Nothing big, but soon her purpose was achieved. She was still hel-bent on killing someone. But now that someone was Kwadlin, the jerk who put her in that mess. And that she could live with. Now that she was finished she could- SMOOCH

Kadlin returned to the world with an over-sexed elf pinning her down and fondling her while kissing madly.

"You are so beautiful, Kadlin, so completely irresistible. I need you so badly." Aleena's fingers roamed the woman's body. Those delicate and dexterous elven fingers knew exactly where to touch, to caress, to pleasure a woman.

Kadlin noticed the elf's clothing begin to recede into her body, a process that didn't bear thinking about. Let this continue or put a stop to it? Kadlin normally enjoyed the other gender, which had the proper equipment for this sort of thing. But this encounter with Aleena was feeling good. No, that was the drugs talking. Kadlin shoved off the elf with a blast of force energy.

The sauceress gathered power. "I think I have a spell that should help you deal with the effects of the drug. Now hold still." She'd had an idea to combine the force energy from her levitation spell with the form of the stench tentacles spell, to create invisible, frictionless appendages that could be used to restrain enemies. The theory was sound, and she was pleased to find that it worked in practice too, binding Aleena in place. There were still a few tentacles left over, though, and they could be put to... other uses. A handful of orgasms should relax the elf for a while afterward.

-----

"Thank you, Kadlin. That was... creative!" Aleena blushed and smiled, pulling herself together as her cysuit wrapped around her body once more. "I don't think I could have lasted the trip, and I would have been half mad with lust by the time I got to Dash. Also, I know where Konall is."

"Yeah. Thirty-seven orgasms. It must be nice being an elf. So where's Konall?"

"Trying to kill Dash. They're to the south-west. It's not too far, but a long walk if all you've got are legs."

"All four of mine are pretty growwl." said Kadlin as she changed into bear form.

"Do you have anything smaller and lighter?" Aleena asked, her wings spreading delicately from her back. Her wings looked thinner than normal, almost gaunt. The metal framework that supported the nanite membrane was clearly visible. Obviously the elf hadn't been able to completely reform her wings as yet, but they would serve.

Kadlin returned to human form. "I can manage that.CLEESH!" She turned into a frog.

"Neat." said Aleena. She picked Kadlin-the-frog into her arms, cradling mage as she took flight. Wings flapped, legs ran, and Aleena launched herself into the air.

Aleena spotted Konall in the distance and veered toward him. Reconnecting with him would put them one step closer both to finding Dash and getting out of this mess.

The end to this one always makes me smile. Anyway, a well written fight along with some serious character development. They're heading towards Konall but he has some story of his own that has to be told! And after that, it's time for Zanther Wolf! yay