Demonstration II
by Sonya Blade

"Whew! Any more of them?" Flint gasped with relief. Duke shaded his eyes as he looked over to the retreating Cobra Dragonfly, "Why? You want more of them?" Scarlett wiped the sweat from her brow, "My gosh, this place is HOT! By the way, what did those jerks want?" Lady Jaye shrugged, "Who knows? Let's check on the kids."

They made their way to the Arena. "What the...?" Lady Jaye said as she saw Ian come staggering out of the building holding his head. "Ow, ow, ow....What happened?" Ian muttered as he limped out.

Scarlett rushed to help him on his feet, as Duke peered iniside the Arena."Uh, oh. Kids are gone." Flint went inside and looked around, "I think I know who got them." He called to Scarlett and Lady Jaye, "Get Ian to the First-Aid center, pronto!" Lady Jaye nodded, "Will do."

A rough voice broke the silence, "Right about that, Mate." Flint and Duke turned around. From the darkness, Dreadknocks came. "Dreadknocks! Pretty obvious it was you. Now, where's Zartan?" Duke said.

"Right behind you, Joe." Before Duke could turn around, a hand slammed down behind his neck, knocking him down. He barely saw one of the Dreadknocks do the same to Flint before everything went black.

After Scarlett and Lady Jaye brought Ian to the infirmary, they went to check on the guys. "I hope nothing happened to the kids." Scarlet said.

As they entered the Arena, Zartan appeared in front of them, grinning.

"Zartan! We might've known it was you. Where are Duke, Flint and the kids?" Lady Jaye growled at him.

"They're in good hands. For now. By the way, pleasant dreams." Zartan narrowed his eyes.

From behind, strong arms gripped them in arm locks. Scarlett tried to do a throw.

No use. No leverage from her position. The best they could do was struggle against their restraintants.

Zartan moved closer and sprayed a green gas in their faces. They stopped struggling as the gas took effect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~= ~~~~~~~~~~

Brent stirred as the knock-out gas wore off. He shook his head and tried to stand up, but his balance was all wrong and he fell back down again. He shook his head again and sat down untill his head cleared. He looked up and scanned his surroundings.

They were in an aircraft, maybe a jet or something. Flying over what seemed like a dense jungle.

The rest of the group, including the Joes, were still lying on the floor unconscious. He got up and shook the nearest one, Angelo.

Angelo jolted up, and held his head in his hands. "What happened?" Brent walked over to Pearl, "I recall we were inside the Arena when this bomb came in at the window and knocked us out." He shook Pearl.

Pearl slammed her fist into Brent's arm, "I said I wanted to sleep, so buzz off." She turned over and returned to sleep.

"Ow! Okay then, sleep." Brent said, rubbing his arm. Angelo crossed over to the Joes and shook them.

"Yo, guys. We ain't in the Sports Plaza anymore. I doubt we're still in the Philippines."

Scarlett was the first one up. Shaking her head, she asked, "Is everybody alright?"

RJ shook his head, "Yeah, as long as head injuries don't count."

Lady Jaye stood up. "Okay, we gotta get outta here and call HQ." Anybody got a plan?" By this time, everybody was up.

Jax and GJ stood up and grinned, "Care to listen?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~= ~~~~~~~~~~~

A short while later, the Cobra posted outside the door heard metal rattling. He opened the eye slot and looked inside the cell. From his point of view, he could only see GJ, RJ and Pearl on the floor.

"What the.....?" He slid the door open, and growled as he came in, "Okay, small fries, where are the rest of you Rugrats? Tell me, or..... "

He never got to finish the rest of his threat. Scarlett swung down from above the door and kicked him on the back. The gaurd stumbled in. Kristyl ran toward him.

Before Kristyl could hit him, he managed to press an alarm button on his vest, which set off a loud siren. Jayme back-flipped toward him and delivered a kick to his head, which knocked him out cold.

Duke limped to the door, "More snakes coming. Be on your toes, people." Both Duke and Flint were still a little groggy from the blow to their necks.

Suddenly, Cobra Vipers rushed into the room. The taekwondo students took fighting stances. Almost immediately the Vipers were on top of them, but unfortunately, they underastimated the kids. All of them demonstrated their fighting prowess to the Joes.

"I gotta hand it to these kids, they know how to take care of themselves." Lady Jaye commented as she watched them and fought her own battle.

It seemed hopeless. It seemed like the more they fought, the more Vipers came into the room. At last, Flint shouted to the remaining kids and Joes still not held by the crimson-clothed warriors, "Get out of here while you still can. Call for help from HQ!"

Scarlett nodded, still kicking her opponent, "Jayme, Kristyl, Pearl, GJ, Lady Jaye! Let's hightail it outta here!!"

Duke, Flint, Angelo, Brent, RJ and Jax were armlocked by the Cobra soldiers, as the rest of them cleared a path to the door. "Good Luck." Brent murmured.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The escapees arrived at the door of the Control Center of the large aircraft, after disposing of the Cobra soldiers trying to barricade them. Pearl looked inside, "Two Cobras seated at the cockpit. What's say we take them out?" Scarlett nodded, "Okay, but be careful. On my count, bust the door open, then we take them out. Got it?"

The others nodded. "Okay, 1..2..3..GO!" Lady Jaye kicked the door open, and rushed inside, followed by the students.

The pilots didn't have time to react as they were unconscious in a matter of seconds. Scarlett took the controls and Lady Jaye sat in the other one. Slowly, stealthily the aircraft dipped as they tried to land it.

Jayme and Kristyl stood alert on opposite sides of the entrance, waiting for any attacking Cobras. Once in a while, two or three came but they knocked them out without any trouble. After a few minutes, the airship landed, or rather crashed in a dense part of the jungle. Pearl smashed a window on the side, "Everybody, get out, now!"

One by one, they jumped out of the broken window, starting with GJ, and Scarlett and Lady Jaye in the rear. They disappeared quickly in the Jungle dense greenery with their battle cry, "YO JOE!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"YOU LET THEM WHAT?!?!!?" Cobra Commander pounded on his armrest. The remaining prisoners, Duke, Flint, Angelo, Brent, RJ and Jax, were held before him. "Because of this, you'll pay dearly, "he pointed at them with an accusing finger, "lock them up

"Hey chief! What we gonna do with these losers?" A Viper asked. Cobra Commander fumed in his seat. "Throw them in the dungeon! The others won't leave without them. And when they come for you, we'll be waiting...."

The Vipers pushed them abruptly out the door, and into a dark cell.

"Great. Just great. What are we gonna do now?" Jax muttered sarcastically. "We wait, I guess." RJ replied. Duke scanned the walls. "Maybe we won't have to wait." He pointed to a rat disappearing into a hole in the wall. "Maybe we just have to follow them."

Angelo and Brent knelt down on the floor next to the hole. Brent tapped the stone wall, it made a thunk! sound. "My guess is, it's hollow." Angelo scraped at it, and little fragments came off, "Wouldn't be too difficult to clear a large enough space to fit us all in it."

Flint motioned for them to move aside. "Well? What're we waiting for? The others are out there somewhere, and we got to get a move on if we want to lend a hand!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scarlett brushed large fan leaves out of the way as her troop made their way back to the Cobra Fortress. It was getting kinda late, "I suggest we camp out here for the night and get a fresh start in the morning. "

"How far are we anyway?" Pearl whined, "I'm tired" GJ looked up a large tree, "Wait here, I'll check it out." He shinned up the tree in almost no time, he looked around and slid back down, "The Fortress is about half a mile in that direction, " GJ pointed straight ahead.

"Good job. Now, we try and get something to eat. "Lady Jaye said. Kristyl kicked a tree and something fell from it. She went to it and picked something up. "How about some fresh bananas?" She said, holding up a bunch.

GJ ran to her and broke off a piece. He peeled it and started eating. Soon, everyone was eating.

Jayme sat down beside Scarlett and Lady Jaye, "Hi guys. Listen, you both seem like experienced adults, so do you mind if I ask you a question concerning...well....uh....a guy?" Jayme asked.

Pearl came up and she had obviously heard, "Is this discussion about Brent again?" Then she covered her mouth, "OOPS! my bad." Jayme gave her an angry look, "I'm gonna kill you."

Lady Jaye laughed, "Go ahead. Me and Scarlett have our share of guy-problems. Right?"

Scarlett nodded, "Well? What's the problem with...uh..." she looked at Pearl, "Brent."

Jayme blushed, "Okay, but promise you won't tell anyone. Especially not to the boys."

Scarlett and Lady Jaye looked at each other and smiled, "Okay, we promise."

"Well, it's like this: From the first moment I saw this guy, I fell head over heels in love with him", she lowered her voice, " I know it sounds crazy but I'm not kidding. Now I don't know wether he likes me or not. I'm nervous to talk to him, and as you know, he's very shy. For a guy." Jayme leaned back. "You know any signs that a guy likes you?"

Kristyl spoke up, "I'll add to this: I noticed, in case Jayme hasn't, Brent has been making sneak glance passes at you. And I think that teddy bear he gave you has a meaning."

Pearl added, "Just because he doesn't talk to you, doesn't mean he doesn't like you."

"Yeah," Scarlett said, "Give him a chance. I also noticed him do that earlier." "He looks like a gentleman. Kind of quiet and mysterious. Is he shy?" Lady Jaye asked.

Jayme nodded, "Yeah. Could you talk to him? I mean, once we get inside?" Kristyl replied, "I'll do it." "Jayme looked at her, "Thanks. I owe you one."

"Okay, everyone done? Now, hit the hay. We continue tomorrow very early to avoid Cobras, so make sure you get some sleep." Scarlett said.

Kristyl, Pearl and Jayme curled up under a tree, while Lady Jaye kept watch. Later in the night, she would swithch places with Scarlett.

Soon, they were asleep, except Lady Jaye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, inside Cobra dungeon, Duke, Flint, Brent and Angelo continued to kick and scrape at the hole continously while RJ and Jax slept. Once in a while, they took a break.

"How much longer until we reach outside, Duke?" Brent asked. Duke looked at the hole in the wall. "Hmmm...I'd say about daybreak, we reach outside."

Flint looked up at the doorway, "Now, let's hope no one goes in." "Or else we're dead meat." Angelo muttered. "Yup."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

to be continued..........