It was a warm and sunny day down at Zack Island, where the next supposed Dead Or Alive Tournament was reported to be held. One by one, the participants scrambled in as the day wore by. None of them really took notice that there were only female combatants checking into the resort hotel. Zack, with his normally multicolored hair now died white, grinned from ear to ear as he watched the women he invited to the island on the security monitor. His plan was almost perfect, too perfect in fact. And the silly thing was that none of the girls knew what was going on. Well... actually Christie was probably the only one that did know, only being that she had joined Zack during the outset of the last tournament, the casino, the purchase of the island, and the boat cruise that they took to get there.
Zack shivered as he remembered the end of the cruise and the fool that he had made of himself. Not saying that it wasn't any fun, but it was a bit too dangerous for his tastes. At least he arrived in style though!
Zack sat back in his chair and began devising means to accomplish the goals that he had set for the week, which were the following:
Now, the first goal on the list was extremely simple to pull off. He owned the whole island, and all of its services. Selling a few swimsuits, or even laying them out for free in all of the rooms, would be simple enough and at practically no expense to him.
For the traps, the easiest to setup would be the one with Ayane and Kasumi. Zack setup both of their rooms so that they be next to one another and lead directly onto a private, and very much closed off section of the island's beach. The reason for this was that the area is where Zack gained more of his already enormous wealth, oil! The entire area was a small opening to a larger section where black crude oil occasionally bubbled out at predictable rates, which tended to be about 5PM on Tuesdays and Saturdays. With the sun beaming its beautiful rays on the island constantly, the beach was sure to be a small tar trap, perfect for his plans with the sisters. Now all he needed was the right sort of bait.
Zack thought about this for a moment and figured that setting up a tranquil scene, full of the already beautiful scenery combined with an invitation to an event that would take place at the beach.
The whole plot excited Zack and caused him to spin in his chair and bellowed out his classic, "Oh yeah!" phrase, which startled most of his security guards behind him. With a sudden surge of energy, Zack quickly jumped out of the chair and ran down to his office to get the rest of his plan finalized and in motion, grinning the entire way.
A few hours later...
Ayane finally got off that accursed plane what she spent the last two hours of her life on and could not be any happier. Turning her head slightly, she caught a glimpse of her sister Kasumi getting off the same fight with a few other passengers and in the midst if a deep, "If you could call such a thing deep" thought Ayane, conversation with Tina Armstrong - the now aspiring model and actress.
Ayane angrily dashed off from the pair as they neared her with their boring prattle and took the shuttle to the hotel. She would have preferred to check out the area in more detail, but she was more concerned with getting away from her half sister.
As the shuttle rounded the last corner to the hotel, Ayane sat in shock of the place.
"At least Zack has some taste in other area, aside from fashion," she thought mockingly.
She got off the shuttle and proceeded inside and was surprised once again by the hotel's interior. It appeared to be a mix between a high priced hotel and a casino, without looking overly busy or crowed. She couldn't help but smile at this and aimlessly walked over to the front desk. A man dressed in a tuxedo looked up from the computer terminal and smiled at Ayane.
"Hello, Madam, he said as he took a small bow. "Welcome to the Zack Island Resort Hotel, where you less out of character and more relaxed with each passing moment. Do you have a reservation or would you like to book one of our fabulous rooms for your stay?"
Expecting this question, Ayane had already pulled out the envelope, which contained her return airplane ticket to Japan, a map of the island, and her reservation card and handed it to the hotel clerk.
"Ms. Ayane, correct?" the clerk said as he waited for her to respond, and then proceeded to input some data to the terminal. "Well, since your taking part in the next Dead or Alive tournament that Zack Island is hosting this year, you and the other guests have been given special accommodations. And with that, it looks like everything is in order with your room. All food, shopping expenses, and the use of our casino have been taken care of by tournament's host, so if you need something, just feel free to ask." He clerk waived a bellboy over to the desk and handed him a card key. "All you need to do now madam is to follow our bellboy to your beach side room and enjoy your stay!"
"Madam," the bellboy said as he came up to her left side, "do you have any baggage that you need to be carried to your room?"
"Just this bag and what I'm wearing right now."
"Well, Ms. Ayane," the bellboy said with a bow, "allow me to show you around so that you will be familiar with shopping area, for future use of course; then I'll take you to your room." Ayane nodded and the bellboy began the tour of the hotel.
Meanwhile...
"Sir, it appears that all of the female participants of this year's tournament are here on the island and checking into the hotel."
"Excellent," Zack said as he watched the video screens. "Are they aware of what's really going on?"
"No, they all think that they are here for this year's Dead or Alive tournament; but, a few of them are wondering where their male counterparts are. Is there something specific that you want us to tell them?"
"Tell them that we're still finalizing a few things with DOATEC and that the other fighters should be here within the week. Aside from that," Zack leaned back and smiled from ear to ear, "tell them to relax, it's not like they are going to be able to when tournament really starts anyway."
"Will do Sir!"
A door to the room opened and closed, and a woman wearing a white bikini and matching sarong walked over to Zack, and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Zack," said the voice in a soft and sinuous tone, "just what do you have planned for these girls when they get to their rooms?"
"Oh," Zack turned his head so that he could look up at Christie's bust and nearly fell over, "hey Christie. I'm just... setting up some practical jokes on them. You know... just for fun!"
Christie turned her cold gaze at Zack and replied coolly, "Just what sort of practical jokes are we talking about?"
"Jones, bring up the northern beach side camera and give me control."
A moment later, an image appeared on the main screen. Zack panned around until he found what he was looking for. From all appearances, the section that Zack aimed at looked like a normal beach that is unless you didn't catch the warning sign.
"And?" Christie said mockingly. "Just what am I looking at here?"
"It's the first and best part of the show," Zack got up and grinned manically, "and it's also the place that helped me to amass my great wealth!" Zack continued to laugh, while Christie stared at him.
"Oh wow," she said sarcastically and started looking over her nails. "This is going to be boring as ever."
"Well, wait till you get a load of who is going to making an appearance!" Zack pressed a few keys and images popped up on the screen.
Christie looked at the screen and turned back to Zack. "Ayane and Kasumi, you chose those two? Out of every person that's coming here, you chose the two hardest people to capture and manipulate? What ever you're planning, I still think it would have been better with Tina, Helena, Hitomi or Lei-Fang."
Zack looked back in disbelief and his eye began to twitch. "What I have planned," he began, trying to contain his anger and shock, "is something that will, quite literally, stick with them for the rest of their lives! AND HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT I CHOSE THE WRONG PEOPLE!!!!" Zack started waiving his hands in the air, thinking that it would help the situation. "What, do you want to be in on this too?"
"That would be nice," Christie said as she turned her back to Zack and stretched out a bit, "and it would be more interesting that watching you 'try' to do something."
Without saying a word, Zack just stood there bewildered beyond belief on what he just heard, she said she wanted to be in on what happened! Zack grinned as an idea came to mind, she would be in on what was going on, only in more ways than she would realize.
"Christie, would you like to talk this over at lunch? The chef has an excellent menu for today."
"Sure, why not! It's not like I'm doing anything, other than lounging around in my bikini." She walked over to the door and turned her head slightly. "You are coming, right?"
"Oh yeah, I'm coming alright!" Zack turned to Jones and motioned him to come close. "Jones, I need to you get Christie's room in order using the Type B setting. Got it?"
Jones grinned from ear to ear. "Yes, sir! How much time does that leave us to do this?"
"If everything goes normally, about an hour, if not I'd say about 30 minutes tops."
"More than enough time on both counts sir. We'll get right on it."
Zack then dashed out of the room to catch up to Christie, hopping that she didn't hear any of what he has just said.
Back at Ayane's room...
"Sheesh..." Ayane said as she finally got the bellboy to leaver her at the hotel room, "who knew this place was so big! At least I know where to shop if I need anything."
Using the key card that the bellboy gave her, Ayane opened the door to her room. The room was just as they said it would be, located in front of the beach, or at least a very private one.
"He he..." Ayane devilishly thought as she looked over the room and back toward the sliding doors, "this is going to be perfect for working on a tan, and going on a nightly swim."
She then went to check out the rest of the room, mainly to make sure that Zack didn't plant any surveillance equipment in her room. She knew he was a bit on the pervert side, as some men are, and she didn't like taking any chances when it came down to doing her job. She found one camera in the bedroom, along with some very nice swimsuits on the bed, another in the living room right above the large flat screen television, and one pointed toward the door from the sliding doors leading to the beach. Wanting to deprive Zack of any viewing satisfaction, she disabled the first two cameras, but left the last one locked in place so that it would only show the front door.
"That should keep him from looking where he's not wanted," Ayane looked around to see what she could do next. She looked out the doors again and gazed out at the afternoon sun. "I guess a tan should be in order, not to mention relaxing on such a nice day!"
She ran back to the bedroom and started looking over the swimsuits that were laid out. There were a total of six suits, each varying in color and all the right size for Ayane. This made her wonder about how much Zack knew about her, and every other female that was visiting for the tournament this year. Casting the thought aside, she decided to go with the bikini that had an overall appearance of white, and then turned gray when viewed at various angles, with blue straps. To further accent the look, she put a blue bow through her brightly died purple hair.
Ayane then walked to an area next to the bed and began to model; she used the reflection to check for areas that she couldn't otherwise see made corrections here and there. Being thoroughly impressed by what she saw in her reflection, she stepped up to the sliding doors leading out to the beach and began to walk on the concrete patio.
The moment her bare feet touched the concrete, Ayane felt a burning sensation starting from her toes to her heels. She cursed, hopped, and jumped her way back into her room, then dropped to the floor to hold her burned feet.
"Ouch!" she began and let off a flurry of curses in Japanese while rubbing her feet more. "I didn't expect it to be that hot out there! If I want to avoid a repeat of that, I seriously need to find some sandals to wear."
When she finally managed to get rid of the pain, Ayane started searching around her room for something, anything, that would protect her feet from the hot surfaces that kept her from getting to the water outside.
Zack's lunch date...
"Well," Zack began as he sipped some juice, "Where were we...? The last I remember was that you were telling me that my plans were not to your liking."
Christie flashed a smile as she ate a piece of fruit. "You know, every one of your hair brained schemes usually end pretty badly. It's a wonder on how you even one the last DOA tournament and got this place!"
"Well," Zack said wryly, "one of those schemes seemed to have impressed you enough to come here with me!"
"Watch it Zack. You and I both know that I could easily kill you, here and now and at the tournament."
"Yeah, and that's the great thing about mercenaries," he said and ran his hands through his multicolored hair, "better pay always means a new place to work!"
"Hmm..."
"But anyway, you seem interested in what I have planned for the Mugen Tenshin sisters, not that I'm going to say anything until it has happened..."
"Zack, what in the world do you think you're doing?" Christie raised her hands so that they would cup her face and put her elbows on the table. "If either one of them dies during 'your prank' people are going to be very upset."
"I do know what I'm doing," he leaned over the table, "and I'm not dumb enough to let them die doing something that's pretty much harmless!"
"Define harmless."
"Um..." Zack started coughing incessantly as he knew he couldn't tell her, "that's... kind of complicated." He then stood up, trying desperately to change the subject. "I'll tell you what though, you'll understand what I have in mind a little later."
"Oh, getting ready to leave so soon Zack?" Christie said coyly. "Did I say something to upset you?"
"No, no, I'm just getting up so I can escort you back to your room."
"How kind of you," she said and stood up from the table, showing off her well-shaped body. She then jumped up a bit, grabbed Zack, and put him in a headlock. "I know you're up to something Zack, and you need to cough it up. Right now!"
Zack coughed a bit and she put the squeeze on his neck. "Christie, I just want to escort you back to your room! Nothing more, I swear!" He already knew this was a lie, but he still was not going to tell her what he did to her room.
"Hm... fine," Christie let got of Zack and he was able to grasp air once again. "I still don't trust you though."
"Yeah, you'll be the only one then. Can we go now?"
"Sure," and that, she walked out passed Zack to her room.
"She really is a piece of work."
After a short walk back to Christie's room, Zack bids her farewell and leaves her to her own devices. She watched Zack, oddly giggling like a schoolgirl, turn the corner and turned back to her door.
"Silly jerk," Christie thought as she slid her card key into the door's security lock, "Just what does he think he's up?"
The door clicked open, she stepped inside and quietly closed it. Wiping her hand across her head, she felt that she suddenly needed a splash of water to wake her up from her foolish thoughts about Zack and his plans. Casually, she plodded her way into the bathroom and proceeded to dowse her face in water, then wiped away the excess fluid from her face and neck.
"Zack, Zack," she thought as she walked out of the bathroom, "you always seem to have something going on. Just what is it that you are doing?"
As she padded around her room with her bare feet, she felt something tug on the ball of her left foot. Since she had been waling around all day without her shoes or sandals on, she thought she might have accidentally stumbled through someone's gum or a piece of food, and he movement made it start to stick to the carpet.
"That's what you get for going barefoot! Gum, or something worse, stuck to the bottom of your foot where shoes should be."
The sticky sensation started to get more and more intense as she moved to the couch and set down to inspect her foot. Her findings were oddly peculiar.
"What the..?" Christie started as she looked down at her left foot, which was now propped on her right knee. "This stuff, it looks like carpet, but sticky! What in the world is going on?" She propped her other foot up and found it to be covered with the same sticky substance.
Christie, now justifiably angry, stomped on the floor as she got up and tried to take a step, only to find that her feet were not responding. Right then, she noticed that both of her soft and freshly manicured feet and toes were now plunged up to the ankle beneath what deceivingly appeared to be carpet, and they showed no signs of stopping their descent.
"So," she cried out as she worked at pulling one foot out, "this is what you had in mind for 'being involved' with your scheme?" She laughed at how silly the whole thing was and finally managed to free one foot from the glue carpet's clutches.
"To think, if I weren't so pissed right now, it might actually be interesting."
She looked around the room hoping to find something that would be safe for her to place her foot on, and failed to realize that her other leg was slowly sinking.
"Ick, this stuff is completely covering my foot! I need to..!"
As of not of her own will, her body began to tilt and wobble backwards and forwards like a building ready to collapse. Thinking of maintaining this depreciating balance, she made the conscious choice of planting her foot directly in front of her, only to watch in horror as it sank faster and forced her to fall toward the floor.
"ZACK!!!! I'll get you for this!!"
"So," Zack said enthusiastically while he ran up to his chair, "what did I miss?"
"Not much, sir," Jones then put on a sly grin, "plus, we're recording everything that's happening in Christie's room."
"Perfect! And what about Ayane and her sister?"
Jones coughed a bit, and showed signs of him being a bit nervous. "Well, nothing yet. The last we saw of her, she was running around the hotel looking for some sandals that would fit. That was less than 7 minutes ago."
"No matter, she'll be out there soon enough. Then, and only then, will the REAL FUN BEGIN!" Zack started laughing manically and shot his hands up in the air.
"Um, sir," Jones said with a look of contempt on his face, "you're doing it again."
Zack put his arms down and smoothed out his suit. "Um, yeah... anyway, let's just watch this before it's over." They both turned their eyes back to the screen with Christie struggling to be free of her predicament.
Trouble, Beach Style...
"Finally!" Ayane exclaimed as she found a pair of over sized flip-flops, then her smile fell as she realized they were a bit too large for her feet. "Um, excuse me."
One of the store attendants turned to Ayane, and being a man that he is, he nearly fell from the site of her standing in her bikini holding up a pair of yellow flip-flops. He regained his composure and straightened himself up.
"Oh," the store attendant started as he looked at Ayane's irritated expression, "um, I think we sold out a short while ago." The man began to laugh nervously and put his arm behind his back, as to scratch an imaginary itch. "It looked like a group of women picked out all of the other styles that we had available this morning. That's all that we have left, unless you want us to order you some."
"No, these will work for a simple walk. Where can I pay for these?"
"Oh no, no, madam. You don't need to worry about that. Every person that is participating in the tournament is free to shop to his or her hearts content. Didn't someone mention that to you when you checked in?"
"Yes, the person working the front desk in the lobby told me the same thing. I guess it's just something that I had a hard time believing. Thanks though."
"Not a problem!" The attendant watched as she started to walk away and grinned all to happily and felt a sudden breeze.
"Now," Ayane said softly as she now stood behind the young man, "if I catch you doing that again, you'll be most painfully sorry. Please take care and remember that."
Not knowing what to do, the attendant stood in utter shock at what she said and in the manner she appeared behind him. He just nodded, and dashed off in the opposite direction of Ayane, not caring where he went and what he knocked over. She grinned as she watched him go and dashed off to her room.
Upon returning to her room, Ayane decided that she would go ahead and try on her new flip-flops. She made a few steps near the double sliding doors and noted that she would have some slight trouble, but like she told the man in the store, she wouldn't need them for long. Stretching out her toes, she pushed the tip of the sandals in closer in to her feet and proceeded outside, this time without recoiling from the pavement.
If one thing Zack did well, it was the choice to build his hotel as the view from nearly any place on the beach was truly spectacular. The sun was shining brightly in the summer light and there were no clouds around to obscure the far off coastline. The water beamed the brightest of blue where it was deep and absolutely clear where it touched the shore. The entire scene looked completely tranquil, almost too tranquil; but, to Ayane, it was the perfect place to get a nice tan and a good swim afterwards.
Ayane plodded along aimlessly from the patio that connected her room to the beach out to sand filled space that kept the sea at bay. For the most part, she took in the sites and sounds of the ocean and of the birds chirping as they flew along with their own business to carry out. Occasionally, she would loose her footing in the hot sand, no thanks to her large flip-flops, and have to stop to shake them out. The further to the coast she came, the more she had problems with keeping her sandals on.
Toward the end of her walk, Ayane spotted a sign close to the water, but she was not able to read it. Being interested in what it had to say, she unknowingly walked closer and closer to it, not really noting what possible dangers the sign might be there to ward careless beach strollers. She came within twenty yards of the sign, but to her dismay, it was to weather worn to be legible from even that distance.
"Stinking sign," Ayane thought as she sighed as she squinted, "what's the point in something like that being out here if you can't read it? Hm... I can almost make out what it says, I just need to get closer."
Ayane began to take a step in the direction of the sign, a relatively simple action to close the distance between her and the object in view, when she met a familiar resistance from her sandal clap feet. She tugged on them a bit as she had previously on her way up the beach, but for some reason unbeknownst to her, the refused to cooperate this time.
"STUPID FLIP-FLOPS! Why won't you work with me here!" She tried persistently to remove her flip-flops from the sand, but they, to no avail, did not lift up from the sand. "I just have the best of luck! ARGH!"
While she was normally calm and collected for nearly any situation, but this little inconvenience was setting her off in more ways than one. By now, Ayane was fuming at the loss of her newly acquired footwear. They simply refused to become free of the sand!
"Forget this!" She cried out and waived her hands angrily through the air. "I can live without those flip-flops! Besides," she placed a foot cautiously on the sand, expecting it to be boiling hot, "it's not that hot over here."
Without thinking, Ayane stormed away from her sandals and made for the sign, stomping the entire way in anger. However, on her fifth step, she made a startling discovery. Her right heel sank into the warm sand to the point that all that was visible was her neatly painted pink toes. Taken back by the sudden problem at hand, Ayane attempted to free herself. She tried to pull her heel out of the sand by grabbing her right leg and leaning back; but, that failed to work as only the top layer of sand moved in response. She then tried to walk forward, digging her left foot into the sand with all of her might.
At first, it appeared to be working; her left foot was beginning to rise out from the sand's clutches and she was able to move her heel more. She, on the other hand, did not take into account that her left foot was sinking as result. Within seconds, her right foot was free and she momentarily flew in the air, and met a grim reality as her left foot pulled her back down to the sand and forced her to brace hard fall.
Putting her hands out in front of her and positioning her body as to take the brunt of the shock to her knees, she plunged to the gritty ground to learn a very dangerous fact. Under the layer of sand, there was nothing to suggest there was more of the gritty material; but there was something far, far worse, tar. And now, she had managed to break the thin layer that kept the goop at bay, and had her plunged herself up to her elbows and covered her knees.
"NO!!!!" she cried out in horror upon learning this sticky fact. "This can't be happening, it can't!"
Again and again, she tried to pull her arms free from the tar's grasp, only to fail as her legs betrayed her and sank further and further into the sand mixed, black muck. Her futile attempts at freeing herself began to make her predicament even more pronounced as the pit she struggled in widened more and more; allowing more of the black goo to bubble to the surface.
After moments of contending with the tar, she managed to extract her left hand and made a hasty attempt to grab at the surrounding and supposedly solid ground in front of her. Ayane bore her gunk-covered hand into the sand and found that it did feel to be solid. With all of her strength, she gripped the sandy ground and tried to pull herself free.
"I..." she started with a panting breath, "I can make it. I just need to reach!" She nearly pulled her other arm free and began to have it slid through to goo toward solid ground.
Just then, the ground that she had so firmly grasp beneath her left hand gave way and forced her body into a horizontal position against the tar. Now, she had just part of her well shaped butt out, most of her backside, and head were visible from the tar.
Realizing that she had no other choice, she began to cry out for help as loudly as she could, hoping that someone would get to her in time. "Help me! I'm stuck and I'm sinking! PLEASE HELP ME!!"
Some distance away, Hitomi was playing volleyball with a few of the other women at the resort when she thought she heard someone cry out. Telling everyone that she needed to get something from her the hotel, she headed toward the direction of the wailing. Unknown to her, Kasumi knew whom the cry for help came from and, using her ninja techniques, she followed Hitomi to her half-sister.
Closer and closer she came to voice, wondering why someone would be in trouble in such a place this beautiful and, practically, safe place. When she finally came within a decent earshot of the cries for help, she realized how desperate the woman was and started picking up speed. When she finally got within viewing distance, she was shocked at the scene before her.
"Ayane, is that you?" Hitomi said as she ran up to Ayane.
"Hi.... Hitomi?!" Ayane exclaimed as she tried to turn her head to Hitomi. "Hitomi, watch out! There's this goo under the sand!" 
Hitomi looked at the ground before her and scanned the area the best she could. Unable to tell if there was any firm or treacherous ground beneath the sand, she started to cautiously step closer and closer to Ayane. By the time she was able to reach out to Ayane, Hitomi had a good idea of her predicament. Ayane's stomach, breasts, and chin were now under the tar's grip and her face was covered in tears.
Hitomi carefully started getting to her knees and leaned out. "Try not to move too much Ayane. I'm going to try to help you out and if you move, I might fall in with you." She flashed a reassuring smile to Ayane. "Can you do that?" Ayane nodded in agreement and Hitomi began to grab and pull on her left arm.
From a distance, Kasumi watched Hitomi's attempt to extricate her half-sister from the black goo that bubbled out of the sand. Hitomi obviously never had the chance to pull someone out of quicksand or tar before, so she had no real idea how to safely pull someone out of it's clutches. It was obvious that Ayane wasn't going to fair very well with her help, left alone come out clean at all. This made her chuckle a bit a she remembered Ayane being something of a neat freak when they were growing up together.
"What a perfect way to have it all thrown in your face," Kasumi thought cheerfully, "you little brat!"
From her hiding place, she could see that Ayane had somehow missed the sign's warning, even if it was washed out, and stepped into the very place it warned about. This made her giggle even more, almost to the point that she practically fell over laughing silently. To think, one of the best ninja in their clan got herself caught in one of the simplest traps of all, one made by nature. Kasumi could barely contain her laughter and began to stumble out toward her helpless sister and Hitomi.
Still laughing, Kasumi bent over to emphasize her point. "Oh... My... Goodness!"
Both Hitomi and Ayane looked toward Kasumi, Hitomi with startled surprise and Ayane with hate mixed with dismay. Neither of them had expected Kasumi to show up, especially laughing as hard as she was.
"Kasumi?" Hitomi started as she tried pulling on Ayane's upper body more, only to succeed in having the rest of her body plunge into the goo and completely covering her.
Ayane only looked back at her half-sister strained furry as she watched Kasumi laugh harder.
"I can't believe that you actually did something like this! Its just Sooo unbelievable! Just look at you" Kasumi pointed at how far under the tar Ayane was, "your whole body is covered in the mess and you, you of all people, can't even get out by yourself!"
She could barely contain her laughter as she said those words and proceeded to put hands on her knees to maintain her balance. "The rest of the people here are going to get a kick out of this when I tell them what happened to you!"
"Kasumi," Hitomi said as she continued to help Ayane, "this is your sister! You should be down here helping me get her out, not standing there laughing like that!"
"Let her," Ayane said angrily, "I don't need help from some 'runaway shinobi'! She should be somewhere planning on how she would defend herself from our clan catching up to her and removing her from this place!"
Still giggling, but taken back from Ayane's comment, Kasumi folded her arms and glared down at her hapless sister. "If that's the way you feel," she started to walk away, "then you wouldn't mind if I left you here."
"Kasumi, no!" Hitomi cried out as her grip on Ayane slipped just a bit, allowing her to slid back into the gelatinous mess. "I can't do this alone, I need your help!"
Kasumi stopped and turned back around to face them, once again folding her hands over her chest. "If I help you out Ayane, I want you to make a promise that you will honor and not try to use to your advantage. Anything less, and I will walk away leave you here."
Before Ayane could say anything, not that she wanted to anyway, Hitomi spoke up, "Yes, whatever it is she'll do it, just help me get her out before anything else happens!"
Kasumi smiled "That's good enough for me," and proceeded to help her seriously angered half-sister out of the pit.
The effort required to free Ayane from the tar's clutches were extremely taxing on both Hitomi and Kasumi. When they pulled her out halfway from the pit, Kasumi mockingly pointed out that Ayane's top had been pulled off by the tar and laughed. Ayane's face began to burn with heated malice toward her sister, but kept it to herself as she was not completely free. When finished, Ayane had her hands on the ground, trying to pull herself up while Kasumi looked onward.
"You..." Ayane said almost under her breath as she crawled away from the pit, "You think this is funny?"
Kasumi moved up behind Ayane, with Hitomi in tow. "Why I certainly do, especially when I know how you are. Maybe it'll teach you a lesson in humility?" Kasumi leaned in so her words could be heard a bit more. "But knowing you, that'll never happen."
Hitomi wiped the sweet from her brow and looked at the pit, then back at Kasumi. "Thanks for helping out Kasumi." There was no response, aside from a slight giggle. "Now, can you saw what it was that you want her to do, before you two try to do something stupid?"
Kasumi made her right hand into pointing position, as to think for a moment; but she already knew what she wanted to say. "When you go back to our clan, or see Hayate, I want you to tell them what had happened today. Also, I want you to tell them that since I saved your life, they have either the opportunity to let me back into the clan respectably or allow me to leave without chasing me down for every moment of my life."
Ayane shook her head and watched as the tar slowly slid off her body and collect into a small pool around her. "No," she said, but almost inaudibly so.
Kasumi leaned in more as she cupped her hands around her ears. "What was that? You need to speak up!"
"I said," Ayane raised up inhumanly fast and faced her sister, "NO!" While Kasumi looked surprised, she quickly kicked out her left foot into her stomach.
"Oof!" was all Kasumi could said say as she slammed into Hitomi, forcing the poor girl into the tar pit that they had just help Ayane from just moments ago. Kasumi staggered back a few steps and regained her composure just enough to see Ayane coming straight at her."
"You think that because you saved me that I, and the rest of our clan would forget what you did?!" Ayane adjusted her stance as best she could to launch another attack. "Then you're more of a fool than I ever could be!"
Ayane let out a flurry of punches and kicks to Kasumi, flinging tar across the sand and over parts of Kasumi's exposed body. Even with the tar covering every inch of her body, Ayane was still just as lethal as she ever was and it became apparent that it would be a long while before the fight would ever be considered over. They even forgot that Hitomi was now mired in the same sticky substance, her legs kicking frantically in the air. Only the fight mattered to them and they wouldn't let up until either someone ended up dead, or they bother were too tired to fight any longer.
As they traded blows, more of Kasumi's body became covered in tar and they approached the pit once again; yet they paid little notice. Ayane came in for a punch to her midsection, which ended with Kasumi catching the blow and tossing her a few feet back into the sand. Ayane quickly recovered, leaping up and brought mounds of sand up with her and prepared to run at her sister. Kasumi took a blocking stance and planted both feet firmly to the ground to ready herself for the attack, she then noticed something was horribly wrong.
With the both of them being so focused on the fight at hand, neither of them had taken into account the section that was filled with tar. On the other hand, Kasumi had planted her foot into an open spot of the goo and made a foolhardy attempt to extricate it before Ayane barreled into her. With a splash, both sisters were now black goo's grip and equally covered.
Hitomi, now sunk to her stomach with her knees under her, looked at them with irritation. "Serves you two right! I tried to help out and look at what happens!" She raised her voice as she became angry "NOW WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? WHO'S GETTING US OUT!?"
Ayane and Kasumi looked at each other as they floated in the tar at the level where their breasts began to touch the sticky goo, and back at the tar. "HELP!!!"
Back inside Zack's office...
"Well, it looks like everything has gone as planned, sir!" Jones let out a smile as he watched the screen.
Zack also smiled as he watched he viewed the magnificent display in front of him. "I'd say that it went even better! WHOHA! Three for the price of one!"
"Oh, I almost forgot," Jones pulled out a PDA and started bringing up files. "What do we do with them when they're finished?"
Zack's moment of glory had been shot down; he had forgotten about that very little detail and his face betrayed his thought. "Um... I think we should just get a clean up crew out there and help them."
"Help, sir?"
"Yeah, pull them out and get them cleaned up. Oh, and have then fix the sand so that it looks as if no one touched it." Zack sighed in relief as he made a quick recovery from his lapse of minute planning. "At least it was a grand viewing!"
"Yes, that it was, sir. That it was."
A loud slopping noise, followed by a low plop sounded behind both men. Zack's chair was forcibly revolved around and the man looked up in shock at the half naked sight before him.
"Christie," Zack swallowed hard, "um... how..?" He looked her up and down, especially at her where the brownish-red glue covered her breasts.
She smiled defiantly toward Zack, taking in his fear. "How did I manage to get out of my room?" She then grabbed the collar on his expensive shirt and brought him to his feet. "Ooh, I can show you how!" Christie then dragged him down out of his office and down to her room, leaving glue-covered footprints as she walked.
"Do not worry, sir!" Jones bellowed down the hall to Zack. "We will get right on it!"
"JONES! Don't let her do this to me! JONES!!! JOOOONNNNEEES!"
Jones turned back to the office and sat in Zack's chair. "Now that is how you end a show."
Christie yelled down the hallway as she dragged Zack further from the office. "Don't get to comfortable Jones, I'm coming back for you!"
Not wasting any time, Jones got up and ran for cover, not caring where it was as long as it was not near Christie.
End
