Mommy Dearest: Chapter 22

[solarbaby614]

Title: Mommy Dearest

Author: Solarbaby

Disclaimer: All I own is the plot.

Words: 2131

Summary: Wolfs and tigers and swords, oh my!

Spoilers: Nope.

Notes: It's official. I hate writing fight scenes. All that’s left now is the Epilogue. It’s coming to an end.

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Chapter 22

Gotta be one voice that’s on the attack

We gotta go forward never look back

-Meryl Cassie

 
It was strange really.

How quickly things moved into motion once they had a plan. If they could call what they had a plan.

They attempted to get some sleep, sporting that things would look better with some shut eye. It was nice idea, in theory, except they were too worried to fall asleep. At best they caught a few hours. By morning there were circles under their eyes and they looked worse than before.

But there was nothing they really could do about it. They needed to go before things got worse. There was no way of knowing what Casey was capable of now.

This time the ride was an even more deathly silent. The group split up when they entered the temple. RJ and Karone headed down the hall toward the throne room while the others headed farther in.

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Trying to sneak into the throne room wasn’t the greatest plan. But the moment that pounced on him he knew that sure. He barely avoided the sharp claws and the even sharper teeth. The tiger called out to him, to his wolf, want a fight more on par with his own wants.

RJ struggled as he felt the wolf tug at his personality. It was trying to claw its way to the surface, want to break free. Exhaustion worked through him as he fought off both Casey and the wolf. It wasn’t too long before he wasn’t able to hold off any longer. Either Casey or the wolf was going to win.

RJ chose the wolf.

It took control of his body, forcing his human side into the unconscious. A whine escaped him and he glanced around. He saw the cub standing before him, smiled.

The wolf launched himself at the tiger with swiftness that surprised them both.

The tiger barely had time to blink before the older came at him. This was unprecedented. He growled at the sudden shift of power. A hand grabbed his wrist and he soon found himself pinned to the floor by a very irate wolf. No. It was not happen this way.

Growling, the wolf glared down at the protesting tiger below him. He trapped the other’s hands with his thighs. This ended now. He was going to stop all this nonsense for once, no matter how much his human side protested. The non-wolf in him wanted this as well. He knew this for certain. Now it was time for the cub to learn this as well.

The tiger was his and he was going to damn well make sure that the tiger understood it.

He grabbed the other’s chin and forced him to face him. The eyes that met his own were filled with defiance and fire. A grin made its way to his face. The wolf leaned down and rubbed the side of his face against the tiger’s. All he got in response was as snap at his face. He pulled back in time to feel a brush of lips against his face. Laughing, he flashed his own canines at the cub.

His hand slid up from the neck and came to rest in the tiger’s hair. The wolf tightened his grip and yanked the head to the side, baring the delicious looking neck to him. His other hand grabbed neck of the tiger’s shirt and tugged it aside to show even more.

The tiger started struggling even more, probably seeing where exactly this was going. Growls of anger turned into pleading whimpers.

The wolf brushed his nose against the area, taking in the smell that was so very much the tiger that it made him shiver. He replaced that with his mouth, taking a patch of skin into his mouth.

And he bit down, hard.

Blood spurted into his mouth. He ignored the taste and tightened his grasp of the hair. They stayed that way, the wolf never moving or letting up until the tiger’s squirming stopped. A purr escaped him as the cub under him submitted. Pulling back, he frowned. The tiger’s eyes had drifted shut and he had stiffened up, as if he expected to be killed. The wolf sighed, leaning forward and licking the blood from the mark.

A strange sense of pride filled him as he nuzzled his tiger’s hair. Mine. This was his now. He felt a pull at his conscious, his human side trying to reawaken. The wolf let himself faded back, smiling. It was too late now anyways. He had done want he wanted to do.

RJ blinked and shook his head. Rubbing his face, he frowned when he pulled it back. A thick wet substance sat on his fingers. Sniffing it, he froze. Awareness of his surroundings returned. As he became aware of the body underneath him he glanced down, his eyes widening. No. Oh, damn it, he didn’t. Not like this.

He reached out his hand and gently brushed it across the shoulder wound. The wolf in it had done it. It had marked Casey. Claimed him. Made the tiger his mate.

And somehow he couldn’t find him to be upset with the fact. Sure he was upset by how it happened, but he didn’t regret it.

RJ pulled reached inside his pocket and fished out the necklace. It was a strain full process to get it over Casey’s head. The man was rigid and seemed to reject any attempt to pull him up. But he finally forced it over his head.

The reaction was instantaneous. As white glow took over the disk, Casey’s eyes shot open. A howl of pain escaped him. The tiger’s form began to glow a familiar green color and it snaked away from him to be absorbed by the necklace. Casey immediately began to thrashing around, trying to grab for it.

The wolf master grabbed his tiger’s wrists and held them down. The thrashing continued until the green stopped flowing. Casey collapsed as the necklace stopped glowing. He yanked it over his head and tossed it aside. It bounced harmlessly away, skittering across the stone.

Casey gave a small groan and blinked blearily up, giving a confused “RJ?” before his eyes rolled up in his head and he passed out.

“Casey…”

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It was almost pathetically easy to find General Tyrlin. The blue skinned man was limping down the hallway when the group came across him. He seemed to take no notice of them, his arms wrapped around his waist. They could see dried blood on the sides of his shirt.

Movement from them caught his attention. He hissed and pulled back against the stone wall. The General was completely out numbered and wounded.

Sorani moved to attack him, only to be grabbed back by her mother. She was unceremoniously jerked backwards. Her mother shook her head, motioning towards the doorway.

“Go on. I’ll take care of him.” Scorpina grabbed her youngest and the yellow ranger by the arm, shoving them down the hall.

“But…” Sorani replied. Her protests went unheeded as her sister just nodded at their mother and pulled her away. Theo and Lily just exchanged a look glanced back at Master Swoop, who nodded, before following.

“Marcus.” She turned to the man beside her.

Swoop just shook his head. “I’m staying.”

She sighed and nodded, spinning around to face Tyrlin. A smirk crossed her face as a pained look crossed his face. It seemed that the General must have gotten himself in some trouble. Without so as a blink, she attacked.

The General defended himself as well as he could in his state. He was doing his best just block her attacks. All he really succeeded in doing was reopening his own wounds.

It was actually kind of disappointing really, if Scorpina thought about it. He wasn’t putting up as much of a fight as she was hoping for. It seemed as if it wouldn’t take that much to finish the blue skinned man off. She made a move to finally kill him when he made his.

Tyrlin knew this was coming, but he wasn’t going down without a fact. So like any wounded animal, he attacked fiercely. This seemed to catch the woman off guard. She met him blow for blow, block for block. For a moment he had the feeling that he might actually be able to win this battle. He wrapped his arm around her neck and pulled her forward, catching sight of silver behind her. With one move, he had pulled the sword strapped from her back.

She pulled back immediately, when she felt the weight leave her. He moved toward her and she avoided his attack. At his laughter, she went against every preservation instinct and attacked back.

He went after her again with renewed vigor. This man, one of Dark Specter’s own generals, managed to force Scorpina to the floor. All it would take was one killing blow when he found him shoved away from the woman.

Tyrlin turned from the woman on the floor to find Master Swoop. He swung the sword around, trying to catch the blind man off guard. Swoop avoided the attacks easily. Soon he found himself fighting both the assassin and the Pai Zhaq master all at one.

He swung violently about, no real plan about what to do. That is why when he felt the blade hit something it came as a complete surprise.

“Marcus!”

Looking up, Tyrlin caught sight of a pair of dark glasses and a mouth opened in a silent scream. His grip loosened on the sword and Marcus Swoop fell to the floor, taking the blade with him.

Scorpina ran to his side and pulled the blade out. Blood gushed from the wound.

“Kisari…” The voice was faint, but still there. He reached up to brush his hand across her face before it fell back and he went limp.

She was surprised to find tears running down. Scorpina pressed her fingers against his neck, relief cursing through when she felt a weak but still there pulse. Rage filled her with a strength she hadn’t felt since she had killed her own brother-in-law.

Picking up the sword, she growled as she saw the blue skinned General trying to run. She followed and grabbed and pulled him back.

He gave a whimper as he was shoved to the floor. The sword was against his throat, a thin trail of blood escaping the wound. He opened his mouth, ready to beg. To plead. Anything to save his skin.

General Tyrlin didn’t even have a chance to make a sound before he was beheaded.

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The four met came across Dai Shi and Camille before they got too far away from Scorpina and Swoop.

Sorani, who had already been ready for a battle, launched herself at Camille without any provocation. The chameleon shrieked as she fell to the floor with a pissed triplet on top of her.

Dai Shi made a move to help her, only to have his way blocked Dallina. She shook her head at him and tisked. “Not a chance.” Her foot connected with his stomach and sent him flying back. She moved in closer, ready for him when she decided to get up.

Lily sighed as she watched the vicious proceedings. Soon enough she had moved to help Dallina while Theo had gone to pull Sorani off of Camille. Their fight had somehow descended from a somewhat dignified fight fists and kicks to catty scratching and hair pulling.

“Marcus!”

The group turned toward the sound of the voice. Even Dai Shi and Camille had paused. An angry growl followed, echoing down the hall.

“Come on.” Lily tugged on Theo’s arm, intending to follow the sound of the voice.

He turned to glanced back at Sorani, who was still glaring at Camille. She looked back at him before nodding and moving to join the two.

“Sorani!” Dallina called to her sister who just shrugged and trailed behind them. She spat at the parasite before going after her sister, muttering angrily under her breath.

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Karone entered the throne room, not quite sure what she expected to find. Most likely a dead RJ and a feral Casey was what she expected. But what she found was RJ trying desperately to lift up an unconscious Casey. She crossed the room and tossed one of the tiger cub’s arms over her shoulder.

RJ looked like he wanted to say something to her, but bit his tongue.

The two managed to struggle up and out of the room, dragging along Casey. They came across the others at close to the entrance of the temple. Dallina and Scorpina were hauling along a bleeding Swoop in a similar action as the other two were.

They made it out of the temple in record time.