Operation: Pacifica, Jungle Fever
by Warrior Aphrodite Persephone (alexbell@iastate.edu)

[In the jungles of Pacifica]
[Day 1, early afternoon]

	 Persephone carefully picked her way across the clearing, again
  avoiding several large holes.  Upon reaching the edge of the forest, Zaphyre
  directed her to slip behind a nearby tree.  As she followed the dragon's
  advice, she heard a strange humming sound slowly approaching.  Pers peeked
  through the foliage and grinned, as she spotted an oblivious Sponge Minion
  coming her way.

	 The Warrior silently shifted her hands, eagerly watching as long,
  sharp talons quickly replaced her human fingers.  *That's it, little
  fella... just a bit closer...* she urged, letting the dragon in her take
  over as she watched her unsuspecting prey draw near.

	 As the Minion slowly plodded past her hiding place, her arm shot
  out.  Persephone wrapped her talons around his puny neck and yanked him back
  towards her.  Baring her teeth, she dangled the poor Minion off the ground,
  revelling in his frightened squeals.  Then, giving into her human
  squeamishness, she brought her other "hand" up and quickly slit his throat
  with her talons.

	 Looking at the dangling corpse, Persephone grimaced in disgust and
  threw the body aside.  She then cautiously cleaned her bloodied talons with
  the leaves from a nearby tree.  As she watched, the blood quickly vanished -
  almost like it had been absorbed into the leaves themselves.

	 *Zaph...?* she asked hesitantly.  *Is there something, well... odd
  about this tree? I think it just ate that Sponge blood...*

	 *Hmmm...* the dragon carefully looked it over, silently pointing to
  its reddish root.  *Looks like another one of those weird things.  Let's go
  farther in to see what else we can find.  And for Grimace's sake - be
  careful...*

	 Persephone returned quietly to the path and headed deeper into the
  woods.  As they left, neither dragon nor human noticed as the Sponge
  Minion's forgotten corpse was rapidly devoured by the plants surrounding it.

...

[hours later...]

	 Approaching another bend in the path, Warrior Persephone
  againslipped into the trees.  *Zaph,* she griped, *it feels like we've been
  walking around in circles all afternoon.  Have you found anythin...*

	 *Shhh!* Zaphyre rudely interrupted her Companion.  *Look! It's
  him!*

	 Pers peered cautiously through the thick leaves, surprised to find
  the hustle and bustle of what seemed to be a small village on the other
  side.  Upon closer inspection, however, she soon realized that it was more
  than just a simple town.

	 Several crude poles had been grouped together in the center of the
  clearing.  From these poles, three gruesome corpses were hung, dangling
  loosely in the breeze - corpses wearing the tattered remains of TRES Corp.
  uniforms.  Shuddering, Persephone shook her head, then noticed the piles of
  giant vegetables, like the ones she had seen in the ground, surrounding the
  poles with their grisly burdens.  Near the  clearing's outer edges, among
  the foliage, several huts were clustered together - all painted a bright
  nagenta and green.  Sponge Minions were everywhere - dragging the huge
  veggies from one place to the next, disappearing with shovels into the
  trees, or sitting in groups with drums - playing and singing the Hell Wyrm's
  Chant over and over and over again..

	 Persephone quickly blocked her ears internally, before whispering,
  *Who are you talking about?*

	 Zaphyre carefully guided her eyes towards a group of cages that she
  hadn't spotted in her first initial inspection of the clearing.  As she
  watched, a really ugly-looking creature ordered the Minions to lower the
  cages, filled with the pitiful remains of half-starved human beings, into
  the ground.

	 *Oh,* Pers whispered, *him... the Lyran we met earlier..*
  Squinting, she struggled to figure out what seemed so familiar about his
  prisoners...  Suddenly, realization hit and her eyes grew as big as saucers.

	 *Grimace, help us,* she gasped, *they're Jihaddi...*

To Be Continued.

Copyright 1997 AlexBell