Here comes Chapter 3, the longest, and in my opinion, the best so far. A few new characters are added, and the plot thickens. Hope you enjoy it!

The MDA Chap 3: Dark Carnival and the Elite Con Carne

Ducking and weaving through exotic plants and wildlife, Kala was fast of both wing and feet, hopping onto a branch when necessary to avoid being spotted. When it was safe, she continued to hover over branch and leaf in an attempt to keep up with the Lilim. Kala’s dark, purple body smarted all over as she began to accumulate various bruises and scrapes. The Canopy was thickening, and even though she was torn apart by thorns and beat up by branches, Kala continued to follow the Lilim in silence.

“When will this end?” Kala thought to herself, “If this keeps up, I’ll have no strength left to fight, and then I’m done for.”

Now the leaves were colored red as Kala passed over. Her cuts had opened up, and her entire body was tinted blood red. She began to wobble in mid air, and soon found herself loudly crashing through into the lower canopy. Quickly falling, quickly blacking out, quickly dying…

However, something happened just as she could make out the ground. She was suddenly lifted up, and was now being carried through the treetops.

“I have been captured, but by who?” Kala hoarsely whispered, but as she looked up, something was wrong. It wasn’t the Lilim that she had been pursuing. Before she blacked out, Kala was able to make out a blue robe, a scythe, and a pair of sliver arms and a silver head. She had been caught by a Ghars, a Joker breed.

* * *

Jango pondered the strange location of the hole, and why there would be a flag out in the middle of broad daylight. It was too easy, and Jango wasn’t fooled by this amusingly easy set-up. They would lure him down and catch him. Well, Jango knew better. He slid off into the jungle, looking for any unintentional evidence.

“Well, if I were a member of the Black Hand, I would suggest a less noticeable entrance. Let’s see…” Jango said quietly as he approached a stump. He smacked the top, and it spun around, revealing an entrance.

“Bingo!” Jango was excited about his little discovery. However, before he could crawl into the hole, something hit his heart, the only vulnerable part of a Jell’s body, very hard. He spun in mid air, and noticed his assailant step out from behind a tree. A hand was caught in his heart, a black hand, followed by a black robe with a scythe and a white mask with an ominously glooming expression. A pure bred Joker had caught him in broad daylight.

* * *

“Plop!”

Keemo awoke in a damp cell as a small water droplet hit his beak. He tried to unfurl his wings, but they would not budge. The Black Hand knew the strength of a Raiden’s wings, and had cleverly restrained them with a sophisticated gadget. Struggle as he might, he could not break free of the device.

“Crap!” Keemo yelled out loud in sheer anger, “This stupid hunk o’ junk is all that’s standing between me and my friends, and I can’t even get it off!”

“Well, you’re half right about your situation,” A computerized voice spoke out, and Keemo immediately recognized it as that darned Ambush that had put him here. All he wanted was to take that piece of scrap metal and tear apart his system until he couldn’t even beep.

“You can’t break free from those wingcuffs, an invention I designed myself. They work great on Pixies, Dragons, and your kind, Raidens. Lord of the sky, indeed. That is, until you’ve had your wings clipped,” the Ambush let out an ominously evil laugh.

“What I wouldn’t give, to get out of your little contraption, and rip you a new hard drive!” Keemo said through clenched teeth.

“But I haven’t explained why you’re wrong. You see, even if you did manage to break free from the wingcuffs, you’re in a maximum security cell, if you haven’t already noticed.

With that, a light flicked on, and Keemo couldn’t believe his eyes. His was in the middle of a vast cavern, with precious metals like bronze, silver, gold, and even platinum lined along the walls. In fact, his cell was made out of a dense steel, coated with diamond and platinum to reinforce the structure. Even if he did get out of the wingcuffs, there was no way he was going anywhere.

“Now, I’d like to know of why you were inside Black Hand territory, we haven’t broken the law in ten years,” the Ambush sounded serious. His white overcoat waved as a slight draft came from deep within the mine.

Keemo let out a slight chuckle.

“What do you find so funny about this, Raiden. You come to us with no evidence or search warrant. Why are you here? We have cleaned up our act, and now work primarily as a mining group,” the Ambush sounded serious, and Keemo was starting to have his doubts, until one thought crossed his mind.

“And I suppose that the VSS is not illegal,” Keemo lashed out with the confidence of a chess player who was about to call checkmate. He had made his final move, and it would settle this matter, or so he thought.

The Ambush seemed both stunned, and confused.
“What do you speak of? What is this VSS?”

* * *

Kala awoke in a dimly lit room, and was lying on a soft bed. She realized that all the swelling had stopped, and her wounds had been treated to and bandaged. She tried to move her hand, but her wrist buckled, and she noticed the white cast neatly applied to it.

“I wouldn’t move that if I were you, it needs about a week before you can use it, and about a month before it can be fully healed,” said a soft voice from the corner of the room. A Wizring stepped forth from out of the shadows. She was a small figure with a black robe trimmed with a red streak cross the bottom and the sleeves. She wore a distinguishing skull hat on her head, which covered an innocent face.

“Is it broken?” Kala sounded upset.

“Only fractured, nothing too serious. Easy to heal, and the pain is bearable. All I had to do was apply some medical herbs, seal the cast, and give you a pain killer,” the Whizring was obviously a trained healer as she spoke with total confidence in her healing methods, “My name Zena, what’s yours?”

“My name is Kala…”

“Kala of the MDA!” Zena interrupted, shocked, “Why are you here? Why were you sent? What is your mission?”

The friendly conversation had now turned into an interrogation. Zena wanted answers, and she wanted them now.

“Well, I was sent here after the Black Hand,” Kala replied.

“Oh, but why?” Zena was a bit confused, “The Black Hand has done nothing wrong in ten years, and neither have we. In fact, we are ally gangs.”

Kala froze. She had escaped from one gang into another. Then she realized who she was dealing with. A Ghars and a Wizring, how could she have missed it? What did they have in common? They both have Joker blood in them. She knew immediately what gang she was dealing with. One that only accepted Joker blood members and one that had given the MDA a hard time in previous years. She was now in the territory of Death Carnival.

* * *

When Jango woke, he realized he was in a small room, and lying on a small bed. His wounded heart had been cleaned and bandaged, and was now functioning properly. He pulled up into his humanoid form, and looked around. He wasn’t underground, only in a small cave in the side of a cliff.

“Hey,” he heard a deep voice at the opposite end of the room. When he got up, he heard the same voice, “And he lives. Welcome back to the world of the living. How do you feel?”

“Okay, I guess. My heart still smarts a bit, but everything is okay,” Jango replied, noticing the slight pain in his only solid possession.

“Oh well, that’s what you get for snoopin’ where ya ain’t supposed to be snoopin’. Anyway, my name is Sear. What’s yours?” the monster was eager to know the information, so, Jango told him.

“My name is Jango…”

“Jango!” Sear seemed surprised by the announcement, “You mean Jango, the Metal Jell of the MDA! The master of stealth and espionage!?”

“Ya, that’s me.”

“Wow, it’s really a privilege to meet you,” the monster said as he extended a black hand.

Jango reached out, and clasped the hand, right then the pain of death and torment seized him, and he let out a cry.

“Oh my god!” the monster sounded alarmed, “I’m so sorry. Forgot the general rule with my kind, never let another monster hold you hand more than a few seconds, nope, can’t do that with a Joker.”

Sear came out of the shadow and properly introduced himself.

“I am Sear, third in command of an elite team of pure breed Jokers. I am a member of a branch of Death Carnival. We call ourselves the Elite Con Carne. Our leader, Diablo, is second only to the head of the Dark Carnival himself.”

Dark Carnival, something was familiar about that name. Jango couldn’t put his finger on it, but he was sure he had heard that name before…

* * *

“What do you mean, what’s a VSS!?”

Keemo was enraged by the Ambush’s innocent comment. He was sure of this piece of junk’s guilt. How could he be wrong?

“As I said, we cleaned up our act ten years ago. Since then, we have worked as a mining company and mined precious metals for income. We have no idea what a VSS is, and we don’t intend on having one anytime soon,” the Ambush was now a little frustrated.

“Maybe this was all a misunderstanding. I was sent here, thinking that the Black Hand was a terrorist unit researching a weapon that could kill monsters,” Keemo said sternly. After a good ten minutes, the Ambush spoke up.

“I believe you, and I understand your mistake. I will take you to our leader our leader, and he will pass the final verdict,” the Ambush said.

With that, the door in the front opened, and the Ambush beckoned him out. As they were walking up the stairs, the Ambush spoke.

“By the way, my name Onslaught,” said the Ambush.

With that, Keemo and Onslaught walked slowly down into the cavern where all the wind was coming from, and began to descend into the Black Hand headquarters.

What will become of our three heroes? What is going on with the Black Hand and the Dark Carnival? Will Keemo survive his encounter eith the head honcho of the Black Hand? Don't miss a second of The MDA!

Trying out the whole suspense in marketing thing. Kinda corny, but oh well. Any way, hope you enjoyed it! 4 is on the way! -Icelord13

actually, this one is growing on me.

thanks. I'll have chap 4 out soon.

Yay! Finally, a helpful Joker! Very nice CH, Ice.

I really enjoy how three monsters are having three seperate experiances. Can't wait to see how you tie them back together.