United in Battle

Chapter 2

Kagome climbed form the ancient well and heaved her yellow bag over the side and onto the ground. She glanced around the forest as she took several cleansing breaths. Strange. Usually Inu-Yasha and Shippo are here to greet me. I wonder where they are. She rubbed the back of her neck slightly while she swung her feet back and forth. The only time Inu-Yasha isn't here is when Kikyo's nearby. I wonder...

Kagome turned slightly as an old woman stepped into the clearing. Kagome climbed from the edge of the well and waved.

The old woman moved closer to the well. "Ah, Kagome. 'Tis good ye have returned."

"Hello, Kaede. Where are Inu-Yasha and the others?" I thought they'd be here waiting for me."

"No one knows. They left over as week ago to do battle with some strange looking demons and have not yet returned." Kaede waited as Kagome slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Demons? It wasn't Naraku, was it?"

"Nay, child. Nothing has been heard from that monster in a month. The battle took place over there." Kaede led Kagome through the forest until they came to a clearing with demolished droids scattered through out it.

'These aren't demons; they're droids." Kagome dropped her bag and slowly approached one of the droids. "What the hell is going on?" She knelt next to the droid and began to examine it. "Oh! Sessho-Maru was here as well. Look what he did to this poor thing." Kagome looked up as a small green imp stepped into the clearing.

"Rin?!" The imp ignored Kagome and Kaede as he looked near every droid. "Where are you? Lord Sessho-Maru won't be happy if he discovers you have gone missing!"

Kagome recognized him as Jaken, Sessho-Maru's vassal. "Jaken? What are you doing here?"

Jaken squeaked slightly before shaking his two headed staff at Kagome and Kaede. "What have you done with my lord?"

"Look around you, little toad. I wasn't here but it looks like there was a battle." Kagome continued to examine the droid beside her. "And if you haven't noticed, my friends have disappeared as well."

"Do those metal demons have anything to do with it?" Jaken carefully poked one of the droids with his staff.

"Maybe. I'll know more once I examine them a bit." Kagome looked over at the trembling imp. "Jaken, did we just hear you calling for Rin?"

"Aye. Lord Sessho-Maru left over a week ago to help Inu-Yasha in battle and left Rin with me. Unfortunately, she wandered away and I have not found her yet." Jaken bowed his head. "Lord Sessho-Maru will kill me if anything has happened to her."

"I hope the child was not captured with the others." Kaede bowed her head slightly in prayer.

"I don't think she was." Kagome turned slightly to look at Kaede. "I can tell you one thing. These are not from Earth." Suddenly several twigs snapped in the forest. Kagome jumped to her feet and slid an arrow into her bow and pulled it back. "Come out where I can see you."

Three wolf demons came into the clearing. "Sister Kagome." Ginta bowed slightly. "Have you seen Koga?"

"No, Ginta. I haven't." Kagome whirled around to face Ginta, Hakkaku, and Ayame. "What do you mean? Has Koga gone missing too?"

The three demons nodded. Ayame stepped forward. "He saw a strange ship land and said he was coming to save you."

"Well, I wasn't here." Kagome glared at Ayame.

Hakkaku stepped between the two young women. "If you haven't seen him, perhaps Inu-Yasha has."

"He's no there. He and the others have disappeared as well." Kagome knelt next to the droid. "I think these droids had something to do with it."

"I like not the looks of it." Kaede started back to the village. "The two of you please bring the droid and mayhap we shall discover the purpose."

Ginta and Hakkaku picked up the droid and followed Kaede. Kagome, Jaken, and Ayame followed after them.

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

Peter Pettigrew, Jessica Stone, Albus Dumbledore, and Hagrid sifted through the debris scattered between the lake and the Forbidden Forest.

"No signs of any bodies, Professor." Hagrid hefted a droid slightly. "Looks like they really gave them a run for their money."

"Yes." Dumbledore turned to Peter. "What happened, Peter?"

"A spaceship landed. These things came after the five of us but I managed to get away." Peter shook his head slightly. "I didn't see what happened to the others."

Hagrid tossed another droids onto the growing pile. "These things aren't from around here, Professor. They look like they was made else where."

"Gather them into a pile, Hagrid. I'll contact Ted Tonks and Arthur Weasley and get them to take a look at them." Dumbledore picked his way across the clearing and into the castle.

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

A man stood inside a tent and stared at the table in front of him. An entire six mile area has been covered with people and now dogs. The chief of police continued to stare at the map of the area. Still nothing. Damn it. Where are you, Tori?

"Sir." A police officer stood on the other side of the makeshift headquarters.

"Tell me you found something, Grissom. Anything."

"Sorry, Chief Raider. My team has located nothing. It looks like there's no trace of her." Stuart Grissom shook his bald head slightly. "It's like Tori has vanished from the face of the planet."

"But how?" Chief Adrian Raiser pounded his fist against the table. "When was her last day off?"

"Tuesday. She called the wife to see if the kids were off from school. Something about taking them for a picnic." Stuart ran a hand over his bald head. "The kids were still at school so Tori said she'd go by herself."

"What time did she call?"

"Had to be close to noon. Why?"

"That gives us a time frame. She went missing sometime Tuesday afternoon." Chief Raider rubbed his beard as a female officer raced into the tent.

"We found something, Chief."

"What?!" Chief Raider and Stuart stared at Jennifer Drake.

"We found a droid and an indentation of some kind down at the park." Jennifer rushed out of the tent with Chief Raider and Stuart hot on her heels.

A crowd was gathered around a roped off area of the park. Chief Raider ducked under the rope as did Stuart.

"What do we have, Duncan?"

"Well, Chief. Tori dropped her pocketbook. We all know that's where she prefers to keep her gun when she's off duty." Alicia Duncan held up a black and plum purse. "Problem is the gun is still in it." "She never goes anywhere without her gun." Chief Raider took the purse. "Anything else?"

"We found the remains of a picnic tossed in the trash can over there." Alicia held up a wicker basket. "From what I can piece together is this. Tori must have come here, had a picnic lunch, cleaned up, and was headed home when she was attacked."

"Attacked? How?" Stuart crossed his arms. "It would take an army to get the drop on Tori."

"That must be what happened. This droid is only one of many." Alicia pointed at the droid lying behind her. "And that's not the weirdest thing yet. This droid isn't from earth. It can't be."

"How would you know?" Chief Raider knelt next to the droid.

"Easy, Chief. We're in the year 2000 but our technology is nowhere near this advanced. One of your bazookas wouldn't be able to damage it." Alicia whistled one sharp note causing Chief Raider to cringe slightly. Another CSI handed Alicia a blaster. "This was its weapon, Chief. We would never have beaten it."

"I don't give a flying fuck about droids or weird ass guns. I want to know where the hell Tori is!" Chief Raider's voice steadily rose with each word spoken.

"Chief, there's no way she's anywhere on Earth and she hasn't been here fro nearly a week. Let's hope that where ever she is, she's being well protected." Alicia turned back to the crime scene.

"If her father were alive, he'd kill me." Chief Raider watched as the CSI team finished processing the area.