The Hunt for the Moon Orchid - Part 4 by T. Prince, tk_prince@hotmail.se The moon orchid has been found. Also, a huge battle is a-brewin'. MOON ORCHID WATCH, International Database Search query yielded 22 results. (X) Sort Results by Status RESULT NAME AGE COUNTRY OCCUPATION STATUS 1. Catclaw, Lady 26 UK Henchwoman Active 2. Escovado, Mariela 27 Brazil Bounty hunter Active 3. Federley, Miranda 39 Australia Adventurer Active 4. Goldfang, Erica 34 UK/Germany Supervillain Active 5. Grayson, Bridget (Dr.) 32 USA Botanist Active 6. Grimaldi, Penny 25 USA Assistant Active 7. McCoy, Melissa 20 USA Student Active 8. Morales, Jacintha 30 Portugal INTERPOL agent Active 9. Patel, Pujya (Dr.) 33 India Neurologist Active 10. Primula, Mystica 30 USA Unemployed Active 11. Ross, Carly 21 USA Assistant Active 12. Tang Su (Dr.) 30 China Botanist Active 13. Trix, Domina 24 Canada/France Henchwoman Active 14. Craft, Lora 28 UK Tomb raider Unknown 15. Stone, Kelsey 22 USA Hunter Unknown 16. Stone, Scout 22 USA Hunter Unknown 17. Dhital, Deepa 29 Nepal Mercenary Missing 18. Fairchild, Amanda 31 USA Actress Missing 19. Holt, Bethany 43 USA Millionaire Missing 20. Morrison, Nikki 26 USA Assistant Missing 21. Thapa, Ishani 28 Nepal Mercenary Missing 22. Wexler, Katherine 29 USA Filmmaker Missing *** Having escaped the underground tunnels by constructing a grappling-hook out of a vine and a chopped-off tree root, Tang and Melissa immediately began their journey toward the edge of the jungle. However, Tang's sense of direction wasn't adapted to the deep jungle environment, as became readily apparent when the two suddenly found themselves about to enter a canyon that none of them had seen before. "OK, so the good news is that there's a hill on the opposite side of the canyon, which means we can get our bearings when we get there," Tang said, biting her lip. "The bad news is that we have to walk through a canyon first." "I don't see any problem with that," Melissa groaned, sitting down to rest her legs for a while. "Beats walking in the jungle." "It's the best place on the island for someone to arrange an ambush," Tang replied. "So there's that, which is a huge downside. But then, getting out of the jungle as quickly as possible is worth taking a risk or two, even big ones." "So, I'll swoop in here and break the tie: we'll take the risk. There, that wasn't so hard." "Hmm," Tang mumbled thoughtfully. "All right, we'll do as you say." "Finally! Here's my next suggestion: how about we sit here and rest for a minute?" Melissa suggested, pursing her lips in a pleading fashion. "Overruled. We'll rest on the plane we'll catch out of here. Now let's go!" The canyon, which was flanked on both sides by tall, verdant ledges, was less than a mile long. It was also perfectly straight, and as such, it offered an uninterrupted view in both directions. The problem, however, was the ledges, which offered countless hiding spaces for potential enemies. "Hurry! The sooner we're out of here, the better!" Tang hissed to her companion, who was dragging her feet at every turn. "AYAYAY!! We hit the JACKPOT, blondie!!" a crazed Portuguese-accented voice echoed through the canyon. Tang rolled her eyes and swore in Mandarin. An ambush. Who'da thought? "Hold on! I recognize that woman! Dr. Tang Su, isn't it!?" a softer, American-accented voice cried out. Tang narrowed her eyes toward the ledge, and finally spotted the strangers' faces. There, next to the cheerful Brazilian was none other than Dr. Bridget Grayson, prize-winning botanist at Princeton University. The hotshot blonde scientist looked very different out in the wild than in the lab: wild-haired and streaked with dirt, her eyes gleamed with an unexpected ferocity, as if the savage landscape had awakened some long-dormant wild animal deep inside of her. "Dr. Grayson," Tang said, raising her hand in salute. "I don't think we've met in person. Hi." "Pleasure. Made any progress?" the blonde asked, putting on a forced tone of civility. "No, we're still on the lookout," Tang replied. "You?" The conversation was punctuated by a gunshot, which caused three of the people involved to drop to the ground in alarm. It was Mariela, who had fired into the air, with a look of disgust on her face. "ENOUGH! This is no EEEN-GLISH tea time ceremony! This is todos contra todos! Every man for heem-self!" She turned toward Bridget. "Let's tie them up and leave them for the buzzards! They're competition!" "I was *getting* to that," Bridget hissed, rubbing her forehead with visible annoyment. "No, wait!" Melissa suddenly cried, holding up her hands. Tang knew what was going to happen even before her companion had expressed her intent. She'd known it all along. Betrayal was written in her eyes. That lousy. Blonde. Bitch. "We've got the moon orchid! If you take me along, I'll show you where it is!" Melissa cried, stepping away from her companion so as to protect herself. "LIE. Obv-ee-ous lie," Mariela chuckled, cocking her sniper rifle and firing a bullet into the ground beneath the blonde's feet, inches away from her toe. "EEEEEKKKK!!! No, I promise, I promise, I promise!! Tang has it on her! It's in her back pocket!" "Shut up, you little-" Tang cloaked the rest of the Mandarin expletives in a raspy hiss. "She's telling the truth, Mariela," Bridget snapped. "Put down the gun." Melissa lunged forward and grabbed Tang by the legs, tripping her and sending her flying forward to a painful chest-first landing. Before she could get back up on her feet, Melissa had reached into her back pocket and pulled out the plastic bag containing the Moon orchid, which she was now waving proudly through the air. "She's got it! Let's go, what are you waiting for?" Bridget hissed, and began to climb down the ledge. Mariela waited until her companion had descended, and then followed her. Tang remained lying down, watching with defeat in her heart as her backstabbing companion bounced toward the enemies with perky, schoolgirl-ish steps which, just then, seemed like the perfect indication of just how little she understood the consequences of what she was about to do. Tang burrowed her gaze into the faithless harlot's cheerfully wiggling butt, which she had saved for certain doom so many times in the last few days, and concocted a vivid scenario of hellish tortures that she'd like to subject it too. "You!" another voice -- fuller and more mature -- suddenly boomed from the opposite ledge. "Girl! Don't move." Melissa froze mid-step, and instinctively raised her arms above her head. A laser pointer appeared on the ground behind her, and traveled up the girl's nubile body until it stopped on the back of her head. "Put down the moon orchid, and walk away from it," the voice continued. "This is BULLSHEET! Show yourself, you cowardly BEETCH!" the Brazilian bounty hunter cried, raising her sniper rifle in the general direction of the voice. "That goes for you too, Mariela Escovado," the voice continued. "Put down your rifle. Now." With a contemptuous snort, the Brazilian threw away her gun and placed her hands behind her head. Sighing defeatedly, Bridget Grayson followed her move. The next moment, the shrubs on the opposite ledge parted to reveal... Nicole Kidman's exact lookalike, carrying a scoped hunting rifle. With a series of nimble movements, the statuesque brunette slid down the slope on the side of her thigh, and ended with a little jump that brought her gracefully feet-first onto the ground of the canyon. Despite her rugged, outdoors-y demeanor, everything the woman did seemed to exude some kind of haughty elegance -- bringing to mind a 1950s movie star playing the heroine in a costly Tarzan-like adventure picture. "Pujya, the coast is clear," the woman called out. At her command, a nervous-looking Indian woman wearing a dirty white top and khaki hotpants that she didn't look particularly comfortable in, appeared on the ledge. "Dr. Pujya Patel," Tang mumbled. "This is turning into quite the international botanists' conference." "Good, good," the Nicole Kidman-lookalike said, after the blonde had put down the orchid and walked over to where Bridget and Mariela were standing. "All right, then, ladies -- my name is Miranda Federley, and I'll be relieving you of your precious cargo here and now. Don't take it personally -- it's just the way I do things." "You'll REGRET this, you snooty gringa cadela," the Brazilian growled between clenched teeth. "NO ONE upstages Mariela Escovado. We'll see how arrogant you are when you have my foot so far up your lily-white bunda you'll be tasting my FOOT-SWEAT!!" "Charming. But I've heard many threats like that over the years," Miranda added, with a teasing smile. "And yet my 'lily-white bunda' always remains... unkicked in the end. You see, when it comes to karma, I'm something of an escape artist. I always get away." "Well, not this time!" another voice cried out, nearby. "What the hell is this?" Tang muttered to herself. "The situation was bad enough as it was -- we don't need more latecomers to the party!" A black-haired, severe-looking woman wearing ranger clothing and dark sunglasses materialized behind Pujya, jabbing an automatic pistol into her back. With a shriek, the Indian scientist dropped her gun and raised her hands above her head. Having disarmed the lesser threat, the stranger then placed her pistol on Pujya's shoulder, taking aim at Miranda. "Miranda Federley, you're under arrest for theft of archaeological heritage. Put down your weapon and place your hands behind your head!" "Amusing," Miranda chuckled, and obeyed the INTERPOL agent's orders. "All right, we'll do things your way." "Hold on a moment," Bridget Grayson interrupted. "If that woman," she nodded toward the newcomer, "is after Miranda and not the orchid, then who gets the orchid? This is confusing." "No one does," the INTERPOL agent snapped. "It will be handed over to the U.N. immediately." A chorus of protests erupted from the various women, but Jacintha Morales hushed them down with an impatient wave of her hand. "Do we... get anything?" another voice asked shyly from the bushes behind Jacintha. Two young women appeared on the scene -- one black-haired and one redhead -- observing the complicated scene with unfazed acceptance (after all, it was no stranger than what had just happened to their boss, the famous movie star who had just been swallowed whole by a predatory plant). "You two? What did you do?" Jacintha asked, looking annoyed. "We... um... cooperated?" "I promised to put you both on a plane back to the States, and I intend to keep that promise. But the moon orchid goes to the U.N." "Actually, Jacintha," Penny suddenly began, her voice suddenly and unexpectedly taking on a darker, more confident tone, "I think you'll find that the U.S. government has the strongest legal claim on the orchid. The original specimen was brought to an American lab, which means that according to subsection 35 of the second amendment to the International Ownership of Botanical and Chemical Items with Exceptional Properties Law of 1966, the replacement specimen belongs to the same institution." "Huh... what? What are *you* talking about?" Jacintha grunted, looking confused. "Who are you again?" "Special Agent Penny Grimaldi, Central Intelligence Agency," the black-haired girl replied, pressing a silenced .44 into the small of the INTERPOL agent's back. "I'll be taking over from now on, thank you very much." "Penny!? Are you... how did... when did... WHAT!?" Carly asked, looking aghast. "Sorry, Carly, I couldn't tell anyone. Not even you," Penny said, blank-facedly. "It's nothing personal." As soon as the other women could process that some kind of exchange of power had happened on top of the cliff, a desperate race for control began on the ground. Mariela made a beeline for her sniper rifle, but was tackled to the ground by an even faster Miranda. Bridget managed to get hold of her pistol, only for it to be shot clean out of her hands by Tang, who had grabbed Mariela's rifle. "Nobody move!" Tang roared. "And that goes for you too, you treacherous BITCH!!" she added with emphasis when Melissa looked at her imploringly. "What's happening down there?" Agent Penny Grimaldi cried from on top of the cliff. "Anything I should know about? I told yo- OOOFF!!" While she was looking away, Jacintha had taken the opportunity to jab her elbow into the CIA agent's stomach and wrestle the pistol out of her grip. But her moment of power was short-lived -- immediately, she felt a different gun-pipe poke her squarely between the buttocks. "Give me your gun!" Pujya barked. Having dropped to the ground for protection, the Indian scientist had managed to slide out of everyone's attention during the commotion, and now found herself with an unexpected power on her hands. "NOW!!" she continued, sinking the gunpipe further into the surprised INTERPOL agent's hefty rear end. "What's happening UP there? Anything I should know about?" Tang cried, increasingly exasperated. "I feel like I'm playing a game of musical chairs here!" "Who's got the orchid?" Bridget suddenly remembered. "WHO'S GOT IT?" "SHE'S GOT IT!!" Mariela hissed, gesturing toward Miranda Federley, who was currently sitting on top of her, pinning down the Brazilian's back with her shapely derriere. "However much I'd like to, I don't," the adventuress replied. "You'll have to shake down the little blonde for it." "*I* haven't got it!! Leave me alone!!" Melissa whined. "Then who's got it?" "All right, enough jabbering!" Tang snapped. "All of you, up against the wall! I won't ask you again." Inwardly, she was just about to crack from pressure: there really didn't seem to be any way in which the situation could get worse. Of course, it could. And did. A chorus of frenzied battle cries alerted the orchid hunters that a much larger menace was afoot. Suddenly, Maati tribeswomen decked out in terrifying, ornate battle clothing descended upon the valley from both directions -- trapping the present company in the middle like a trapped animal. "Behold: the tribe of big bosoms!" the voice of Lora Craft declared from a safe distance. "I've kept my end of the deal, I hope you're happy!" A few seconds passed during which the many confused adversaries locked eyes with each other, trying to gauge whether the others were going to flee or fight, and if the second, fight each other or the natives or everyone. Tang's black eyes, livid with betrayal, burrowed into Melissa's blue ones, which were darting around in panic looking for a way out. Bridget's calm grey eyes were scanning the ground for a discarded gun. Mariela's enraged dark gaze zig-zagged from side to side, looking for an implement with which to pummel her tormentor, while Miranda's cool blue peepers were calmly assessing the possibility of a dastardly escape. Then, as if by a telepathic agreement, everyone realized the futility of trying to organize any kind of plan in a hopelessly chaotic situation, and suddenly it was each woman for herself once again. And so began the Rumble in the Orchid-Jungle, a brawl of such massive scope and disorganization that it would later become legendary. Bridget made a lunge for her discarded pistol, which she picked up and fired at Miranda in one fluid movement. Miranda, who saw it coming, dodged the bullet by throwing herself forward, freeing up Mariela Escovado to get back up on her feet with a wolf-like growl. The bounty hunter fired off a series of kicks at her Australian tormentor, but the latter blocked each blow with eerie precision, and retaliated by burying her rock-hard fist in the Brazilian babe's soft midsection, knocking the wind out of her. "I always suspected that you were second-rate," Miranda chuckled evilly in the gasping bounty hunter's ear, before landing a devastating uppercut to the Latina's clenched chin -- *CRUNCH!* -- sending her flying back through the air and dropping her flat on her back in the dirt. Tang, meanwhile, was trying to get the hang of her sniper rifle when the first wave of Maati natives came raining down from the nearby cliff, with their spears and clubs raised high over their fearsomely-painted heads. Tang took a shot at their leader and missed. Before she had time to reload, she had become involved in a melee duel with a particularly hefty native warrior: an athletically-built amazon brandishing a massive spiked club. "You've got to be KIDDING me!" the slender Asian botanist grunted, just before throwing herself out of the way of a pulverizing blow from the horrifying weapon. After dodging a few more blows by rolling back and forth in the dirt -- left! *THWACK!* right! *BAM!* -- she finally managed to clear enough maneuvering space to turn her rifle around, so that the glistening butt was located between the husky giant's powerful calves. A few feet above, the native's loincloth swung back and forth, occasionally providing a glimpse of a black tuft of pubic hair. "This is how you do it, you clueless brute!" Tang roared, bringing the butt of her rifle all the way up into the towering islander's crotch, smashing her soft, vulnerable womanhood with all the force she could muster. A grotesque *CRUNCH!* later, the native's face contorted itself into a look of absolute pain, just before her eyes rolled back into her sockets and she keeled over, hands clutching her brutalized groin. Up on the opposite ledge, the other orchid hunters weren't having as much luck. Jacintha, the INTERPOL agent, was trying unsuccessfully to fight off two much smaller-natives, one of which had leapt onto her back and was hanging on to her shoulders whilst laughing maniacally, and the other of which was holding on to the hem of her trousers, having pulled them down to reveal a good portion of her curvaceous bottom. "LET ME GO THIS INSTANT, OR I'LL- UMMMPPPHHH!!!" the flustered agent cried, but her efforts to escape only made her situation worse when her trousers finally came plummeting down to her ankles, causing her to trip clumsily forward. "OOOHHH!!" the disgraced officer moaned as her round, half-exposed breasts absorbed most of the blow, the pain causing her equally curvy backside -- now dressed only in a pair of un- expectedly frilly white panties -- to pop up behind her like a whack-a-mole. Cheering triumphantly at her conquest, the native promptly began to play the wiggling buns like a bongo drum, delighting in the beads of sweat that came flying off the shivering cheeks with each spank. "OOHH!! OOWW!! YOU'LL BE SORRY WHEN- AAIIEE!! -WHEN I- EEEKK!! -WHEN I- OOHHH, YOU'RE HURTING ME!!" Jacintha wailed with increasing desperation while the native slapped her defense- less tush red and shiny. Agent Penny Grimaldi had tried to flee the scene by leaping off the edge of the cliff, but a native had spotted her mid-air and decided to intervene. Consequently, the panicking agent had only taken a few steps down on the ground before she heard an ominous, rotor- like sound. *SCHWANG!* *BAM!* "AOOWW!!" A second after the native had thrown it, the sling had wrapped itself around the fleeing American's slender ankles, tied them shut and caused her to fall helplessly on her stomach in the dirt. "THIS IS BULLSHIT!" Penny growled as the native plopped down on her shoulders, tied her arms securely behind her back, and then promptly slung her over her shoulder like a felled deer. As she carried off her wriggling and protesting prey, the native casually placed her hand on Penny's pert rump -- as if by doing so, she was finalizing her claim to her new possession. Meanwhile, Tang had managed to fight off three more natives, and was just spotting an opening in the brawl through which to escape, when a busty presence appeared in the middle of the gap. It was a woman who Tang recognized from innumerable newspaper photos from a couple of years back. There was no mistaking that haughty face with the high cheekbones, the piercing blue eyes, the perfect hourglass figure and that iconic ponytail -- this was none other than the tomb raider Lora Craft, the thief of countless Chinese relics who had received her just desserts at the hands of Ling's Counter-Raiding Bureau. "Over here, specs," the tomb raider yelled, cocking her head. "I saw you swipe that orchid off the ground during all the commotion." She raised her two gold-plated pistols, which glimmered in the tropical sunlight. "Hand it over, please." "All right, then," Tang said as she untied her fanny pack and threw it toward the Englishwoman. "Take it. I'm not putting my life on the line for this thing anymore." Lora Craft smiled triumphantly as the bag soared through the air on its way to her greedy hands -- but her smile quickly died out when a knife pierced the bag mid-air, nailing it to the canyon wall. Enraged, the busty relic raider turned around to see who had interfered, only to find herself facing an unexpectedly formidable opponent: Miranda Federley, nonchalantly stretching her knuckles in preparation for the coming fight. "Miranda bloody Federley," Lora said, forcing a grin onto her face, "just what was missing from this mess." "Lora Craft. Haven't seen much of you lately," the Nicole Kidman-lookalike said cockily as she placed her hands on her hips and arched her breasts to their best advantage, "but then again I wouldn't be showing my face either if I'd gotten as royally spanked as you did back in China a couple of years ago." An indignant blush appeared on Lora's cheeks, and anger flashed across her eyes. "It was exaggerated in the papers. In reality, it was closer to a draw." "Come on, Lorie, we've all seen the pictures of your lovely little bum, spanked to shreds and branded with the Chinese emblem. Tell me, if I pull down your pants, will i still be able to make out the lines?" Lora's face was now beet red, and she aimed one of her pistols at Miranda. "All right. It's true that I got spanked, but at least I've still got my youth! You, on the other hand, must be pushing forty, and adventuring is a tough, physically demanding business. Tell me, grandma, at what point will it be time for you to start considering... retirement?" Miranda made a slight grimace, before regaining her composure. "I'm *thirty-nine*, and I still mop the floor with adversaries half my age. You don't know what you're talking about." "In that case, here's your chance to prove it against a healthy, vivacious twenty-eight year old in top physical form. Come on, you old hag, take a shot." She didn't have to ask again. The legendary adventuress, having kept a miniature throwing knife hidden in her fist throughout the whole conversation, threw the weapon at the tomb raider, who deflected the projectile with an expertly-aimed kick. A split-second later, Lora had regained her aim and began to spray her enemy with bullets. "Eat lead, you Australian harpy!" the busty Brit roared as she emptied her guns, but her enemy would not allow herself to be hit. With lithe elegance, the adventuress cartwheeled toward her foe, dodging every bullet, and finished with a drop kick that sent Lora's pistols spiraling off into the jungle. "Playtime's over, soccer-tits," Miranda purred, just before landing a righteous punch in Lora's face that sent spittle flying into the air in a glittering cascade. Lora took a few steps backwards, rubbing her smarting chin, all the while staring daggers at the older brunette. Miranda approached her confidently, and was just about to follow up with a second punch when a screaming native flung herself at her from behind, kicking and biting her in the shoulder. With minimal effort, the adventuress shook off the assailant, spun around, and delivered a spectacular kick to the enemy's -- still suspended mid-air -- body. The kick sent the wailing islander flying like a rugby ball before being knocked out cold against a rocky outcrop. "Now where were we?" Miranda asked nonchalantly whilst brushing the dust off her sleeve. The interruption, however, had given Lora Craft time to mount a sneak attack -- as soon as the adventuress had registered that her adversary was missing, a sharp knee propelled itself into her soft belly, pummeling her innards. "OOOFF!!" the Australian moaned and doubled over in pain. Lora, smiling with triumph, followed up with an elbow drop between the adventuress' shoulder blades -- *CRACK!!* -- which brought the latter plummeting stomach-first into the dirt. "You're *finished*, you washed-up Aussie has-been!!" the tomb raider cackled as she grabbed the coughing adventuress by the ankles and began to swing her around, back and forth until the duo was spinning like a centrifuge. Spinning faster and faster until her surroundings had blended together into an earth-colored blur, Lora couldn't help but evaluate her arch-rival's rear end, which hung exposed in the air in front of her. What a frustratingly beautiful rump! Still, it was no match for hers... or was it? Sure, the Aussie had a somewhat bigger and rounder bum than hers, but surely Lora's was much more fresh and pert. Also, the tomb raider thought with a surge of pride, her boobs were significantly bigger than the Aussie's comparatively modest (albeit perfectly-shaped) mammaries. "How's... tomb raiding... going by... the way!?" Miranda cried, sounding remarkably composed despite being swung around like a sledgehammer. "Not... very good... I hear!" "I'll put YOU in a tomb when I'm done with you, you dirty wallaby shite-kicker!" Whilst this duel was in full swing, Tang was attempting to reclaim her fanny pack, which remained nailed stuck to the canyon wall without anyone taking notice of it. However, she quickly found herself waylaid by Dr. Grayson, who stopped her by tugging her collar. "Dr. Tang, it seems we were never properly introduced," the American botanist whispered in her ear, just before landing a crippling punch to Tang's midsection, causing her to fall on her knees with an agonized shriek. "Pleasure's all mine." The unscrupulous blond scientist began to ascend the steep canyon wall to reclaim the bag, but had only arrived halfway toward her destination when she slipped on a loose rock and stumbled back down to the ground. Cursing her misfortune (as well as the pain in her ankle) she began a new, slower, ascent, but this time she found herself stopped dead in her tracks by a different sensation -- a set of cold fingers tugging against the waistband of her shorts. "If you want to play dirty, we'll play dirty," Tang hissed in her ear, just before tugging the surprised blonde's shorts all the way down to her ankles. The downwards pull resulting from this action caused the American scientist to lose her balance entirely, and she spun around, fell flat on her half-exposed, perky boobs and slid all the way down to the ground in the same position -- landing in a sorry-looking heap with her half-naked butt jutting upwards. "Unnngggghhhh," the dissheveled blond pile moaned, and the curvy white backside wiggled pathetically in an attempt to get the whole ship back up on track. Tang stood looking down on her rival for a while, inspecting the invitingly positioned posterior, which was now clad in only a pair of tight black panties with the text "PRINCETON UNIVERSITY" emblazoned in orange across the well-rounded cheeks. "Thanks, Dr. Grayson. But I think you'll find that the pleasure is not all yours anymore." Tang cried, just before grabbing hold of the hem of her naughty rival's stretchy underpants and pulling them all the way over her head -- *rrrrrrrrrrrriiiitssccccccccchhhhh!!* -- following which she deposited the sweaty waistband between the panicking blonde's wide-open, plushy pink lips. "AAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" the voluptuous American squealed as she immense force of the wedgie narrowed her undergarments down to the thickness of a fishing line, and caused them to saw into her sensitive slit and upturned derriere so agonizingly hard that she thought that they were both about to tear in two. "OOOOOHHHHHHHHHH, T-T-TAKE IT OUT OF TH-THERE, OOOOOOWWWW!! YOU'RE K-KILLING ME!!!" "I think I'll split -- and I think you'll be doing the same in a while," Tang chuckled as she gave Bridget's upturned white tush a farewell pinch. "AYAY, GET AWAY FROM ME YOU BEET-CHES!!" a voice suddenly shrieked, close nearby. Tang turned around and spotted Mariela Escovado, who, having successfully fended off half a dozen islanders, had finally fallen prey to the next half dozen. Two shrieking Maati were tugging at her arms, pulling them equally hard in both directions, which left the bounty huntress suspended in the air between them, howling with pain. Another Maati had peeled off her shorts, leaving her bodacious Brazilian booty exposed in its half-naked glory, covered as it was by only a minimal green g-string. Smiling mischievously, the Maati entertained herself by stretching out the elastic green string and allowing it to snap back against the round brown buns with an audible *THWACK!* -- cooing at the marvelous jiggle effect. "I'LL KILL YOU, YOU FILTHY, STINK- OOOWWW!! YOU'RE DEAD!! YOU'RE ALL DEAD!! EEEKKK!!" the busty bounty huntress wailed, her voice moving up into an unexpectedly girly soprano every time the g-string slapped her toffee-colored tush. *** Meanwile, Erica Goldfang watched the events through a pair of gold-plated binoculars. With a satisfied grin, she noted that a second tribe of Maati had arrived on the scene, eager to wage war against both the first tribe and the various orchid hunters. "Perfect," she purred as she put down her binoculars to light a cigarette. "Miss Trix, detonate the charges." "But-" the henchwoman began. "I know, I've considered the chance that one of them might have found the moon orchid and that by putting our plan in action we'll in fact be destroying it for good, but after careful deliberation, I've decided that that is a highly unlikely scenario. There are about a dozen orchid hunters too many on this island, and it is time for them to exit the stage. Detonate the charges. Now." *** An ear-splitting boom rocked the valley, even causing the ground to vibrate. Most of the combatants immediately stopped mid-brawl and stood back in fear and alarm. Some ten seconds later, a thunderous noise began to echo through the ravine, gathering strength all the time. Tang tried to identify the sound, but came up short. At first it sounded like very loud static. Then it started sounding more like an enraged stampede. Finally, she realized what it was, and her eyes grew wide with terror. "RUNNNNNNNNN!!!!" she screamed (to no one in particular), moments before a frothy cascade of water burst into the canyon from a smaller, adjacent canyon, and began to approach the combatants. The screams were deafening as everyone, orchid-hunter and Maati alike, began a mad scramble toward safety on the valley ledges. Those who had already been struck to the ground were generally less lucky, and many of were pounded into the dirt by the fleeing feet. Tang managed to reach the top of the ledge just as the torrent came roaring past beneath her feet, sweeping everything in its path along with it. In the tempestuous swirl, she could make out a significant amount of wet little heads and limbs, which flashed into sight before being pulled down under the surface. She turned around, intending to make for the jungle, only to come face to face with a very wet- looking British tomb raider. Lora had narrowly escaped the watery inferno, and now stood, dripping from head to toe, in front of the botanist, clenching her fists in preparation for a fight. Her t-shirt was plastered to her chest and had become completely see-through, providing Tang with a perfect view of her super-sized white melons. "This ledge is occupied, I'm afraid," the tomb raider declared in a menacing monotone, just before grabbing Tang by the collar and beginning to drag her off toward the edge. "You can't be serious, you MONSTER!!" Tang coughed. "Life's unfair, chinky -- get used to it!" Lora chuckled in response. But some benevolent Eastern deity must have begged to differ, because in that very moment, the villainous tomb raider slipped on the wet rock and fell flat on her naughty bottom -- the wet hotpants making a squishy noise as the impact evacuated half a gallon of water from them. "Someone should teach you a thing or two about karma," Tang replied coolly, before briskly pulling the Brit to her feet by her dainty white cotton panties -- "AAAAIIIEEEE!!!" -- giving her a monster of a wedgie in the process -- and finally delivering a well-deserved kick up the bad girl's round tush -- "OOOHHHHHHH!!!" -- buttocks parting to allow the foot entry all the way up to the puckering starfish of her tight little anus -- which brought the villainess flying off into the rushing white mist. "So, that's the second time that arrogant bitch gets her ass handed to her by an angry Chinese," Tang mused to herself as she stared off into the raging torrent. "And by *me*, nonetheless! Who knew I had it in me? Maybe I ought to turn this into a career..." *** A kilometer or so further away, the canyon made a steep hundred foot drop into a nearby swamp lake, and so this was where the torrent came to a dramatic stop. With a deafening roar, the massive body of water heaved itself over the edge, along with its cargo of shrieking Maati and water-logged orchid hunters. After the waterfall died down to a trickle, the sludgy green lake had swelled to ten times its former size, and been transformed into a gently swelling olive-colored miasma, peppered with unconscious half-naked bodies: here a tuft of black hair, there a motionless white arm, here a disembodied brown ass, there a shapely white torso with the bra slipped down to expose two erect pink nipples. Soon, the surrounding jungle was alive with movement. A whole family of Giant Trapper Pythons had spotted the main course for the evening, and slithered noiselessly down from the trees toward the feast. Just another Thursday evening in the rain forest of Kaabri. TO BE CONTINUED