Solo Nude and Broke

[Arthur Graystone]

So much for the naked party. As soon as she woke up, after she was done freaking out and all, the woman had demanded clothes for both her and Arthur. Though all they found was a blanket, they ended up cutting it up to make "jungle ware." For Arthur, blanket stitched underwear, and for the woman, a blanket stitched bikini. It wasn't much, but at least they weren't completely naked. "I miss my old clothes," Arthur groaned. "Well at least I'm not the only one forced to go wild-man. Speaking of which, why'd you come in dead anyway lady?" The woman was hesitant to answer, since she was still embarrassed about being naked. Arila had to offer her coat to the woman before she said anything. "First," she began, "my name is not 'lady.' It's Hareyle. Second, I got those scars trying to escape. You were asleep so you probably don't remember. But the Zith doesn't take too kindly to runaways." Looking down at her arm, she shivered as she remembered his senseless beating, if it could even be called that. He had went from beating to torturing to nearly killing Hareyle. She was still surprised that she didn't even have a scar from then. Healers sure did work miracles. However, Arthur would snap Hareyle out of her thoughts when he was the last to realize the obvious. "Wait a minute...You're H aren't you?" Both S and Hareyle looked at Arthur like he was stupid, which he was. Arila assumed he had brain damage and went to heal his head wounds. "Then how come you came here as a human instead of a giant grizzly bear?" Arthur asked while she did this. "I thought S said kelvics were animals." Hareyle actually looked embarrassed when Arthur said that. But she should have expected her secret to come out sooner or later. "I'm not actually a kelvic," she explained. "I'm actually just a Morpher. Before you ask, a morpher is like a kelvic because they can transform too. The only difference is that they can do partial transformations- they can change their hands and feet into dog paws or something. In my case, I can change any part of my body to look like a grizzly bear. And as you've seen, I can also change my whole body into a grizzly bear." With her story finished, Hareyle looked for Arthur's reaction only to see that he had fell asleep. After being kicked awake, Arthur saw the warehouse opening again. The master had come back to check on everyone. However, there was something different about him. Rather than the sadistic Zith that they always saw, he looked more anxious and scared. But Arthur wasn't really focused on their expression. He was more concerned with why the Zith was carrying all his lost stuff. His cloak, his daggers, his powder, it was all their. And he had some clothes for Hareyle as well. "Get dressed," he growled. "You've got ten minutes!" Tossing the items on the ground, the Zith didn't leave this time. Instead, he walked over to Arila, demanding that she heal him. She had no choice but to comply both because she had been captured and it was the way of the healer. Hareyle tried not to glare at the sight. As he began to put his clothes back on, Arthur wondered just how the Zith had gotten all his stuff. Did he just go and steal some replacements...or did he actually find the guy who stole all Arthur's stuff? If that were the case, how did he find him. More importantly, why did he find him? What was the point of arming his slaves? Was he really that sure of his own abilities? When his injuries were healed, the Zith stood up to address everyone. "He'll be coming this afternoon. Present yourself well and you shall be spared. If you try to escape, act out, or just aren't picked..." Without another word, the Zith attacked. But Arthur wasn't his target this time. It took only seconds to kill Arila. However, the Zith took the body with him. Arthur knew he must have been carrying her off to his kitchen. Walking towards the door, the Zith stopped to say something over his shoulder. "That goes for you too Savass."

[Arthur Graystone]

"There goes my meal," Savass groaned. By now he'd switched back to his human form so he was walking around naked. All his thread had been used up saving Hareyle and making blanket outfits. Despite how many times Hareyle told him to put on the blanket underwear he remained nude. He had too much pride to put on blanket clothes, even if he did make them. That and he wasn't stupid enough to actually wear them. "This isn't the time to be thinking about lunch!" Hareyle shouted. "We gotta get outta here before we all end up like her. And how many times do I have to tell you to put some clothes on?!" Ignoring her, Savass walked into the corner, sitting back to relax. "You should be more like Arthur. You don't see him freaking out." Actually, Arthur was just too stunned to panic. Standing there, starring out the door, Arthur didn't know what to do. He knew he wasn't cut out to stand obediately. He was born to mess up. So if he stayed, he'd surely get left behind and eaten. However, if he ran away, he was as good as dead, too. While he assumed everything would be okay after he got his stuff back, he hadn't counted on a giant Zith that seemed to have mastered the art of unarmed combat and even torture. No matter what he did, though, he was dead. It was a lose lose situation. What was he supposed to do? "At least go down fighting." Arthur jumped as Elena's words of wisdom popped into his head. How could he have forgotten the number 1 rule of the warrior. If he was going to die anyway, he might as well have chosen to die putting up a fight. At least then he'd be able to give the Zith a scar he'd never forget. And if he was lucky, he might have been able to save one of the others with his sacrifice. Afterall, he couldn't die without having somebody to avenge him. "H!" Arthur called out. "S! We're bustin' outta here! Right here right now...'cus we can't handle two enemies chasing us. Plus we should probably go while the sun's still bright and shiny." In the light, the Zith's couldn't see that well. So if they left now, they'd be able to get pretty far. The real problem was what would happened when night came. As relentless hunters as the Zith would, they'd find them in no time flat and slaughter them all. They had to get as far as they could and find a place that gave them the advantage. Arthur could only think of one place. "We're going to the hot springs! Water plus indoors make Zith normal giant. What do ya' think?" Hareyle and Savass both looked skeptical. In such a closed space. they'd have been restricted too. It wasn't like any of them could turn into sharks or anything. And Savass surely wasn't a water snake. "Did I mention the guys in charge used to be knights?" That bumped up his approval ratings, but they were still skeptical. Eventually, though, Hareyle agreed for the fact that she actually couldn't think up a better plan, though she probably would have if she'd bothered to do sight seeing...like Savass. "Wouldn't it just be better to go to the Pig's Foot?" Arthur and Hareyle both looked confused at that name. While Hareyle thought he was talking about some gangster's hangout, Arthur assumed he was talking about an actual Pig's Foot. "No way," they both said. "Take it or leave it." Savass finally had to agree because the only alternative was being left alone with the Zith. He was already in the red zone as is. "Right then," Arthur said. "Let's move out tea- f**k!" As he turned to the door, once again he found the Zith standing there and listening to it all. Why did he only seem to appear when he was talking? "So this means the trade is canceled?" the Zith said. "Did they get you two Savass?" Looking past everyone else, the Zith stared directly at the human snake. "Not at all master," he answered. "I was just about to leave you a nice little trail." Hareyle glared at Savass, who was transforming yet again, while Arthur just blinked as he tried to wrap his head around what was happening. It wasn't until Savass was done, this time taking his Dhani form, that Arthur finally caught on. "Hey, you're betraying us aren't you?" That made everyone want to smack him and call him stupid. "Wait so you lied about him trying to kill you and all that riot talk?" Savass simply shook his head without saying anything, probably because he spoke snake in his dhani and snake forms. "I keep him around as a personal slave," the Zith explained. "He watches the slaves while I'm away. I can kill him any time I wish. As for the riot..." He trailed off when he noticed Arthur wasn't even paying attention. He even seemed to be yawning, though he wouldn't even dream of cutting a Zith off. "If you're done," Hareyle cut in, "maybe you can answer one question for me. Why did you spare my life but take the life of the healer? Surely someone who can take care of any wound would be better than somebody who's only skills is morphing." The Zith's only answer to that was because Hareyle was stronger. "You can't do labor with medicine. And your skills could have made you the perfect watchdog. I thought I'd taken the fight out of you last time. Unfortunately, if we're in this situation, then maybe torture isn't good enough for you. I'm sure I could find a kelvic who could make an even better watchdog..." Glancing back, the Zith could see the sun still high in the sky. He knew it was better to take Arthur and Hareyle out in the warehouse. At the same time, they knew that it would be better to go outside if they were going to battle the Zith. They had to find some way to get past the Zith to reach the outside. Lucky for Arthur, he always carried something as a final defense against the Zith. "Cover your eyes," Arthur whispered to Hareyle. Since she asked why, Arthur forced her eyes closed just as the Zith turned out the lights. He didn't need them anyway. With one hand over Hareyle's eyes, Arthur used the other to pull something out of his pocket. It looked like a money pouch, but it actually contained powder. Taking his hand away, Arthur opened the pouch and poured some of the powder in his hand. "Just close your eyes!" Arthur shouted as he threw the powder on the ground.

[Arthur Graystone]

Failure. As the dust fell to the ground, all that followed was silence. With the big deal Arthur was making about it all, everyone expected the powder to be some form of high grade explosives. Instead, it turned out to just be flour. Blinking at it, Hareyle wondered whether that was supposed to be a distraction or something powerful. Unfortunately, when she looked to Arthur for an explanation, he was already speeding towards the door. “First that bastard took my clothes,” Arthur thought, “and now he foils my escape. That does it. If I live through this, I’m still gonna kick that guy’s ass.” That was a big if. He was being hunted by two predators that thrived in darkness, he had a bear that didn’t seem to WANT to transform, and he had another Zith that was going to come if the fight was drawn out. Yeah, that was a big if. By now both Savass and the Zith had recovered from the shock of Arthur’s little stunt and were back on the hunt. Arthur wasn’t even three feet from the door before the first attack came. While Arthur’s eyes were adjusting to the darkness, he still wasn’t nocturnal. So when a giant rattle struck him in the ribs, all he could do was get sent flying across the floor. Spitting up blood, Arthur pulled out his assassin’s dagger and one of his throwing daggers. “Hey H! You gonna transform or what?” Actually, Hareyle was already in the process of morphing. The only problem was, it took her longer to shape shift than Savass or the kelvics. So far, she’d only been able to transform her hand into a paw and one eye. Still, it would have to do. Navigating through the darkness, she found the wounded Arthur and helped him to his feet. “It might take a while before I’m full bear,” she explained. “Right now, though, I’ve got one good eye so I can at least see. Just follow my lead and we’ll live through this.” Arthur had no objections, since he was just playing by instinct anyway. “Here they come.” Raising a dagger at the ready, Arthur felt Hareyle push him out of the way. If she hadn’t he would have just got bitten by the giant snake. Finally seeing Savass, Arthur tossed his dagger at what he assumed was his eye. Instead, he just ended up stabbing him in the head. Seeing that he was injured, Hareyle was about to go after Savass when the Zith showed up. She didn’t even have time to act before she was thrown across the room. Arthur would have helped if the injured Savass hadn’t turned on him in anger. While he managed to scratch Arthur, the gauntlets kept poison from entering his body. Turning to face the snake, Arthur hurled yet another dagger, making the snake even angrier. “This is getting us nowhere,” Arthur thought. “Time for a desperation maneuver.” Reaching in his pocket, he pulled out his pouch of flower. When the snake tried biting him again, he threw the open pouch right in Savass’s mouth. The reaction he got was just what Arthur hoped for. As the snake cough and tried to hack up the powder, Arthur took the opportunity to escape. “Alright H, le-“ He cut off when he saw her under the Zith’s strangle hold.

[Arthur Graystone]

“Every man for himself!” Arthur shouted as he ran out the door. Hareyle was too weak to even yell at him, though even if she did, Arthur wouldn’t hear her. He had more important things to worry about...like getting to the hot springs as fast as possible. Arthur could already hear the hissing and beading wings behind him. He’d managed to piss off two apex predators in only a few minutes. “Dammit! Why does this only happen to me?!” Looking back, wasn’t really that much of a surprise they were so angry. A few minutes ago, Hareyle was being choked to death by the Zith, her consciousness slowly fading away. She was beaten, but it wasn’t as bad as last time. All she had was blood dripping down her head. Her clothes were only a little tattered as well as opposed to being completely ripped off. She still had a chance to live, but Arthur had to act fast. Without even thinking of the consequences or the potential dangers, Arthur threw all his remaining daggers at the Zith’s eyes. The dark mixed in with Arthur’s lack of real skill made him miss the first two shots completely. If it wasn’t for the Zith glancing at Arthur, the dagger wouldn’t have been able to hit its mark. Dropping Hareyle in pain, the Zith let out a wail of pain before dropping to one knee. Knowing this was his only chance, Arthur ran over and lifted Hareyle off the ground. As he did this, though, he stabbed one of his assassins daggers into the Zith’s other eye. Better to be blind than a pirate. And then he was off. Busting through the door, he the first thing he thought to do was ditch Hareyle. He couldn’t run with her in his arms. So he threw her behind a crate, which led to his “every man for himself” line and the subsequent chase. Leaving Hareyle behind the crate saved her from having to run as well. It was one of Arthur’s few ideas that were actually good. If only he could have enjoyed his brilliance instead of having to worry about getting away from danger. Glancing behind him, Arthur saw Savass closing in fast. The Zith, on the other hand, was a bit behind. Sure he could still hear Arthur, but he wasn’t used to relying solely on his ears. Still, if Arthur was unlucky enough to be caught, the Zith probably wouldn’t have even needed to hear Arthur. He didn’t know if Ziths really could smell fear, but his experiences in Sunberth made him believe. “Where the hell is Aquillar?!” Arthur called out. He was completely exhausted and lost, but he hadn’t even been running for five minutes. “I really am outta shape,” Arthur thought. He needed to hide somewhere. Luckily, the perfect opportunity presented itself in the form of…a crowd of pedestrians. Who cares if he ended up endangering many of the Sunberth citizens? At least he’d get away. So he dove into the crowd of people, mimicking them as they came and went in his best attempt at normalcy. Of course his pursuers didn’t care about that. They just went on a rampage and tore through the mob. Arthur had to duck inside a building to avoid them. From the sounds outside, he guessed somebody must have been fighting them. “Now’s my chance,” Arthur thought. Running to the home’s owner- yes, Arthur broke into somebody else’s home to hide- Arthur started shouting “where’s Aquillar Hot Springs” over and over. Blinking, the woman pointed right across the street. Literally, Aquillar Hot Springs was right across the street from him and he hadn’t even noticed it once. Even he had to call himself “dumbass” after that. Running to the door, Arthur opened it to look around only to be abruptly kicked outside by the woman he’d just talked with. “Even the quiet chicks here are crazy,” Arthur thought. Rubbing his backside, he flinched when he finally realized that he was outside. What’s more, the street was empty. The crowd had either left or been killed in the fight. Unfortunately, Savass stayed behind. However, even he didn’t come out unscathed. It appeared that he took the blunt of the mob because he his holy body was covered in bruises. He was in his dhani form, stretching out his body at full length. However, most of the attacks had been aimed at his face, seeing it as a weak spot. With all the knives sticking out of him and his sorry state, Arthur of course assumed he was dead. But there was still a little bit of movement. Savass was still clinging to life. “I almost feel sorry for him,” Arthur thought. Walking up to the snake, Arthur put a hand on his head, making Savass believe that he actually cared. However, he showed his true colors when he proceeded to pluck the knives out of the snake’s head. He just wanted to resupply after he’d lost all his daggers in the escape. “If you’re still alive,” Arthur told him, “I’ll go get some healer to find you.” And then he was turning to head into the hot springs. He almost pissed himself when his Zith friend showed up.