Part Two: Allies and Enemies

As the world groggily decided to swim back into focus, Soshika dimply heard voices around her.

"-Slippery, the Ranec, nothing can hold her down-"

"-Watch out for the humanoid, he bites-"

"Look! Soshi's coming around!"

Praying she would open her eyes and find it was all a dream, Soshika peeked one eye open and looked around. Her hopes were shattered.

She appeared to be in some kind of cell. It was dark, and her eyes took a moment to adjust. She was lying on what seemed to be a moldy pile of rags, and Kyo aws on a similar pile nearby. Grey was huddled in a corner by himself, while Jet shook the bars and yelled at the guards.

"Let us out! We didn't do anything, @#*&!!" Darkfool, Rabin and Misuka could be heard yelling in a cell across from them. Solla just sulked, sitting next to Soshika.

They weren't the only ones. A brown and black haired humanoid with small fangs and a small horn on his head hovered in mid-air, sitting on a small whirlwind next to Kyo. A blind and, from the looks of it, deaf old man stood, juggling multi-coloured fireballs in his hands, on the ceiling of the cell along with...

"Steele?"

The reptilian ice-controller looked up as he heard his name, and grinned toothily.

"Oh, Soshika. Awake now?"

"Steele, where are we?" Soshika sat up. "How do we get out of here?"

Before he could reply, the hovering person spoke up.

"Well, everyone has names for this ship we're on. Hell is my name for it. It flies around, looking for different alien speices to pick up. Then, they force the captives to fight either against other aliens or beasts from probobly their homeworld for their amusement." He shrugged. "I've been here since I was fourteen so..." He counted his fingers. "That's about three and a half years."

Soshika stared at him. She was about to ask him why, when Jet piped up with "Hey, what are you? Who are you?"

He grinned. "Sorry. I'm Kieri Isegroff, a wind demon. I control the wind, much like Steele controls the ice." Kieri hopped off the whirlwind, and Grey snarled at him like a dog. Kieri glanced at him.

"He's been acting like that ever since he woke up. Is he..erm...'okay?' Maybe the venom affected his brain..."

Soshika stared at Grey, worried. Grey growled at her. There was definitely something wrong with him.

"Grey?" She started to get up when the sound of a door slamming down the dank corridor echoed up the hall. Misuka threw herself against the bars of her cell and began screaming curses at the approuching footsteps.

"Let us out, damnit! Give me back my gun, shitheads! I want my gun back, motherfuckers!"

There was a curt order, and a jet of light shot towards the ceiling and exploded. Scitillateing bursts of colour blinded everyone (except for the old man) and burning rays seared their bodies. Grey let out a dog like yelp, which somehow ended in "Huh?" He had regained his human self.

Soshika barely noticed. She was covering her head and trying to escape the painful flashes. She felt a rush of wind, another burning touch and a loud yell, and then the light stopped. Soshika squeezed her eyes shut, painfully, then cautiously peeked one open.

Grey was on his feet, hands glowing, not noticing the burns on his leg and shoulder. Misuka was glaring at the attackers angrily, but wasn't cursing at them anymore. Jet, his fur smoking, was blinking rapidly. Kyotoshi was up, with a bewildered expression on his face. Otherwise, no one was worse for the wear except Solla. A hole was burned into her wing, and she wasn't putting any weight on one leg.

Rubbing spots from her eyes, Soshika looked to see what had caused the light.

A chained, tentacled monstrosity filled the narrow corridor. There were no visible legs, and most of the tentacles ended in either bulging eyes or sickle-shaped claws. A large, drooling maw gaped open, exposing dangerous looking teeth. As she stared, a slimy tentacle with an eye swiveled around to stare back hungrily.

Another curt order, and the monster fell back, sinking into an alcove to let the speaker through. As he stepped into the light, every head turned to stare; even the blind man seemed to be looking.

Covered from heat-to-toe in red fire, he readiated a sense of power like a roaring furnace. Sweat broke out on Kyotoshi's fur, and an eerie silence fell. Soshika's fur crawled as jet-black eyes raked across the captives.

His gaze fell on Solla, who was cradling her wing weakly. She stared back at him with a look of fear and defiance. The burning man cast an appraising eye over her injuries, emotionless to match Grey.

"We can't have that here, might hamper your movements in battle," he muttered. He then raised a single, fire-shiethed hand and pointed at Solla.

"Idiku."

A tongue of fire coiled out and wrapped itself around Solla's wing and leg. Solla cried out in pain, the fire flared to bright to look at-

-and the wounds closed. Even new featheres replaced the burned ones. Solla flexed her wing experimentally, amazed.

"That's better." The man said, "Now you shall entertain us properly. Come."

He spun on his heel and stalked outwards, away from sight. The doors to the cell swung open, and - much to her surprise- Soshika felt her legs carrying her body after the man. She strained to regain control of her feet, but it was in vain. Looking around, she saw everyone else in the same predicament.

"Don't bother trying to struggle."

For the first time, the old man spoke. Soshika swiveled her upper body around (it obviously didn't affect her legs) to look at him. She was just in time to catch a glimpse of a clear, blue eye imbedded in the palm of his hand drop its gaze as his arm lowered.

"The source of my sight...and my power."

He laughed hollowly. "I'm afraid its' not enough to defeat him, although none of you would stand a chance against my Eye."

Behind them Misuka snorted in disgust, clearly unimpressed. There was a sickening sound like flesh being squeezed and Soshika suddenly had the uncanny feeling that the Eye had somehow changed positions. Grey nodded at her stoicly to confirm this.

"I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you, Ranec. You'd best hope you'r enot pitted against me in th arena." The blind one said coolly.

Misuka just yawned and stretched her wings, though Soshika was starting to get fairly irritated at the man. She was about to tell him exactly where he could go and what he could do there when Kieri spoke.

"We're here."