This chapter has bit more action in and the story is finally picking up and starting to get somewhere. I hope you all enjoy this and can let me know what you think of it.

A BAD KIND OF LOVE

PART 4: "JOURNEY INTO DARKNESS"

.o.o.o.

The Falcon landed on the shoreline of the island. Slowly, as mechanism and machinery worked to lower the deployment lift. From the opening in the belly of the ship, the tube-like platform came down with Mighty the Armadillo and his unlikely companions, the twin weasel bounty hunters Nic and Nack.

Mighty turned to look at the two of them, noting their equipment. "What's with the weapons?" He asked them.

Nack smiled dangerously while Nic offered a more disarming smile to him. "It's better to play it safe in our line of work." She explained.

Mighty nodded, accepting Lady Bounty hunter's explanation at face value.

Mighty never was very good at dealing with females and tended to shy away from exerting himself. Surprisingly, Nic was no exception to this, proving- surprising- that she was more then feminine enough for him.

The shoreline lead up to a wall of palm trees, beyond which seemed to be only darkness. "I don't like this- there's something bad about this place." Mighty remarked, while crossing his arms and rubbing them.

Nack frowned. "You're letting your imagination get the best of you." He chastised. "A tough guy like you shouldn't be afraid of anything."

He could distinguish Nic stepping into his peripheral vision as he thought to himself. "...Yeah, I guess you're right." He conceded after a moment.

"Alright, that's the spirit!" Nack replied.

Nic stopped beside Mighty and gave him a smile that actually looked kind of cute, for a weasel. She leaned against him gently. "You'll protect me right?" She asked in a fake coquettish tone.

Mighty blushed. "Y-yeah!" He answered with a gulp. "I-I'm you're man." He replied, taking on a not of confidence.

"Oh I knew I could count on you." she replied happily.

Mighty blushed.

All the while, Nack subtly observed the actions of the two with a salacious grin, amused at his sister's display for the Armadillo.

After calming down, Mighty looked back at the jungle. "...hm, the Heart of Darkness." He thought to himself.

"Hey!" Exclaimed a new voice.

The three of them turned around to see two other figures making their way along the beach.

The first, an older fox with a straw hat on spoke up. "The riverboat is ready for use, Nic." He informed them.

Nic smiled. "Hello Puol." She began and then looked at the other creatur- a younger male cat with boots and an old denim vest. "Who's he?" She asked.

Puol smiled. "Him, oh he's my new… 'junior associate'. His name is Kass." He finished, introducing him to the others.

The cat looked up and smiled halfheartedly at them.

Puol looked over at Mighty. "Never seen him before, whose the new guy, dear?"

Nic smiled deviously and put a hand on Mighty's shoulder. "He's a friend of ours, we brought him because we figured we'd need his strength at some point." She explained.

"Oh." Puol spoke with a nod.

.o.o.o.

The medium-sized boat made its way down the river, moving slowly towards the heart where the ruins were believed to be located.

After studying the maps, it was realized that a river ran through the island, and made its way almost to the exact spot of the ruins. After that, it was only a short walk to the final destination. The two boatmen had been hired to take them to this point, as it was believed to be safer then making the journey on foot.

The boat was currently moored on the riverbed while everyone stopped to check their position on the maps.

Mighty was deep in thought, sitting on a small smooth rock, looking at the ground. He happened to glance down at the dirt, noting a strange round object. He became curious, having never seen something like this before.

He gave it an experimental tap with his foot, only to hear a faint reverberation through it. "Hollow, what is this thing?" He asked as he kneeled down to look at it.

By this point, Nic noticed Mighty's concern and walked over to him. "What are you doing?" She asked.

But Mighty didn't reply, he simply reached down and gripped the round hard object and began to pull on it. Sand and dirt fell loosely from it.

"Shit!" Nic swore as Mighty dropped it and scooted back from it. Her exclamation echoed through the jungle, sending birds flying and causing the others to snap to attention.

Nack took out a pistol and went off to check it out. Puol turned to Kass while picking up an old rifle. "Stay here and watch the boat while we're gone." He instructed him.

The cat nodded in acknowledgement as he lit a cigarette.

.o.o.o.

Nack and Puol arrived at were Mighty and Nic were. An eerie silence hung about them at the moment.

"What the hell's going on?" Nack asked, looking first at his sister and then at the Armodillo.

"Is everyone alright?" Puol asked them both, glancing around nervously and gripping his weapon.

They all looked down at the round object in the sand. It was a skull.

"Well, I think we found out why people don't come back fromhere." Nack remarked, looking down at the skull.

(- End of Part 4 -)

.o.o.o.