El-Hazard is the property of Pioneer/AIC. All original characters are property of dooky. This chapter is dedicated to Princess Ayeka fans everywhere, and anyone who's ever heard of Trout Burger... EL-HAZARD: THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME The Shape of Things So Far- Mari adopts a newly hatched messenger bug, which she names Lora- chan. Qawoor discovers the Phantom Tribe's involvement in the war. Nanami becomes Shayla's Fire Proxy. Makoto develops a weapon to disrupt Phantom Tribe powers, whilst Shayla trains Nanami. The new Bugrom queen hatches- a younger version of Diva, with all of her memories, albeit more sensitive to the feelings of the Bugrom. Qawoor arrives back in Florestica in a modified transport built by Alielle's father. Mari sends Lora to Florestica with a message, which is received by Makoto. Fatora is relieved to hear that Alielle is still alive, and begins to plan her rescue. Amiri's clinic is bombed by anti-Opaque extremists. Tenax is comforted by Parnasse, but taunted by Mycea. The two girls fight, but Parnasse chooses to protect Tenax. Mycea leaves, and Parnasse and Tenax admit their feelings for each other. Miz proceeds with plans to give the Roshtarian Holy Order partial autonomy, while Fran discovers that Dorusland is full of Phantom Tribe spies, and flees... THE ELEVENTH MONTH: "THE DEVIANT ONES" Day 310 Seven words. The message from God was close. And if anyone was going to find it, it was her. Then why did it feel so hopeless? Afura was modest- most of the time, anyway- but she was well aware of her immense talent as a theologian. But was finding this message really within her capability at all? She had worked through the encrypted and the translated versions of the Heretic Prophecy time and time again, and yet no message was forthcoming. Seven words. If only she could work out where she was going wrong... She reluctantly opened her eyes. Morning already... Her heart skipped. Something felt different, and in a bad way. Shielding her eyes from the light, she looked around her quarters. At first she was afraid that the prophecy cube might have been taken. But no, the feeling was more fundamental than that. Besides, the cube was right there beside her bed, where she always left it. Right next to the... Afura gasped. No, they couldn't have! Jennown Doht was casually walking through the main hallway, wondering what he might have for breakfast, when Afura barged into him. "Priestess?" he said after regaining his breath. "Is everything alright?" Afura made it clear that everything wasn't alright by grabbing Doht by the collar in a display of uncharacteristic anger. "Where is it? You took it, didn't you?" "Took what? Please, I don't know what you're talking about!" Afura refused to loosen her grip. "The Lamp of Wind! It's gone! What have you done with it?" Doht's eyes widened. "Gone? Already? They didn't say they were going to..." He suddenly realised he was thinking aloud, and stopped. Afura released him. "So, you did know about this. I thought so. And who are 'they'?" Doht sighed. "I'm sure you're aware of the situation in Roshtaria. The Roshtarian and Muldoon priesthoods are trying to claim independence from the Holy Order. Yesterday, the Alpha Priestess decided her only option was to disband both priesthoods." "That's insane!" Afura protested. "And just why does this justify the theft of my Lamp?" "Now that there is no longer a Muldoon priesthood, the Lamps are not required. We'd be taking back the Lamps of Fire and Water too, if we could get to them." "And what happens once you have them?" Afura challenged. "Are you just going to file them away and pretend they never existed?" "A use for them will be determined at a later date," Doht replied. Afura frowned. "Why did they steal it from me? I've followed procedure, I've remained loyal to the Holy Order." Doht tried to look sympathetic. "We had to set an example, priestess. I'm sorry it had to be you, but obviously the Alpha Priestess felt it was necessary. But don't worry, we're aware of your loyalty. You'll be protected. Our friends in Roshtaria aren't going to be so fortunate, however..." "Excommunication?" Shayla shrugged. "Come on, Miz. You're acting like you're surprised." "I AM surprised!" Miz responded. "Just what have we done to warrant this?" "Well..." Shayla recalled, "we disagreed with the alpha Priestess, disobeyed her orders, tried to establish autonomy and ordained a proxy without her consent..." "Wow," Nanami said, reading the message again. "She's even excommunicated me. I don't think I was part of the Holy Order to begin with." Qawoor, who had taken the news worst of all, sat staring at the wall. "How could this happen to me? I was always such a good priestess." "Aw, lighten up," Shayla smiled. "It's not every day that you get excommunicated, is it?" Qawoor pointed to her copy of the message. "One of the reasons they gave for me being unsuitable was 'possession by demons'! It's not as if I could help that, is it?" She withdrew, and sighed again. "I'll never be able to explain this to my parents..." "There's no need to be ashamed, Qawoor," Miz said. "We're making a decisive stand. We still have the Lamps of Water and Fire, don't we?" Qawoor nodded. "I suppose..." "Exactly. Don't give up yet. They won't take this priesthood without a fight." "So, we'll be extending our battle lines in preparation for an assault on Laide..." Jinnai was careful to point out everything very clearly on the map. He still wasn't sure how he should be talking to her. The new queen, the diminutive Chibi-Diva, was a very strange character. She had the memories of the old Diva, so by rights, she should have been more or less the same person. And she was... some of the time. But she was also very much a child. "So we're going to attack?" she asked. Jinnai nodded. "Yes, that's right." "Is it going to hurt?" That was the other unusual thing about her. When the Bugrom felt pain, she felt it too. Perhaps this applied to the old Diva as well, but if it did, she'd never let on. "We have the advantage in numbers," he reassured. "There should be very few casualties on our side." Chibi-Diva looked away, starting to lose interest. "I hope this war doesn't take much longer..." "Oh, it won't," Jinnai replied. "We've got the upper hand. Sakura's getting stronger all the time... plus, we have prisoners! One of the Roshtarian princesses... kind of." "Why IS Alielle our prisoner anyway?" Chibi-Diva asked. Jinnai paused. "Well, you know... I'm not really sure. Nahato seemed to think it was a good idea." Chibi-Diva frowned. "I don't like Nahato. I think I like Alielle though." "Huh?" Jinnai responded. "What do you mean? She's our enemy! You're not supposed to like her!" "Oh," she said. "I suppose you're right. But I was talking to her earlier and she was very nice to me. The other girl was nice too, but I'm not sure about her. She looks a little scary." "You shouldn't be fraternising with the prisoners," Jinnai advised. "You're the Bugrom Queen!" "But they're so interesting. Did you know that they're both lesbians?" "Yes, I... wait, Kurai as well?" Jinnai raised an eyebrow. "She was always strange, but... hmm. I guess it must be catching around here." "Well, I'm going to talk to my bugs now," the queen said. She wandered off. 'So, they're BOTH that way?' Jinnai pondered. But if the two of them were locked in that cell, alone together... No, don't be stupid. Just because they were both lesbians, it didn't mean that... Well, they just wouldn't. Probably not. But, if what they said about Alielle was true... He felt a nosebleed coming on. Perhaps he'd better check on them, just in case. As he approached the chamber, he heard voices. "Ohhh... that feels great..." "Are you sure I'm doing it right?" "It's perfect. Just keep going. Oh, a little higher... Ahhhh, that's it." Jinnai gasped. No, they COULDN'T be... "Wow, I haven't done this for so long. I didn't get much of a chance back home." "I'll have to let Fatora know you're so good. She'd love this sort of thing." "You think?" He pressed himself up against the wall. He was afraid to look around the corner. There still might be an innocent explanation... "Mm-hmm! She'll be amazed when she finds out how good you are with your fingers!" WHAT? Jinnai ran out to confront them. "Alright, you two perverts! I don't ask you for much, but I am NOT going to tolerate this sort of... Hey, what are you doing?" Mari looked up from her position at Alielle's exposed feet. "What does it look like?" "She's giving me a foot massage," Alielle explained. "Yeah," Mari said. "It's very important for a pregnant woman to maintain the blood supply to her feet. What's wrong with that?" Jinnai hesitated. "Um... well, it's just that I..." "By the way," Alielle interrupted, "did you know your nose is bleeding?" "What? Aw, damn it!" Jinnai cursed. He was, however, saved from further embarrassment by the sound of a scream. He found Chibi-Diva collapsed on the floor, surrounded by some concerned but confused bugs. "What happened?" he demanded. The queen said nothing; she just lay on the floor and shook. Jinnai crouched down and took hold of her. "What is it? Did someone attack us again, is that it?" She managed to nod weakly. "Yes..." "Where? Who?" "Killed..." she said, terrified. "H... hundreds..." "All at once? How?" "Demon... God..." Jinnai gulped. If the Alliance had started using Ifurita against them, they could be in serious trouble. "Demon God? You mean Ifurita, right?" Chibi-Diva managed to shake her head. "N... no. Sakura..." "Well," Makoto sighed, "here they are. The finished product." Nanami studied the weapon. "Cool. They look just like ray guns." "Hey, Makoto!" Shayla called. "I want a ray gun too!" Makoto frowned. "Will you please stop calling them that?" "We haven't been able to make very many of them," Ifurita explained. "Only about three dozen or so." "The batteries have a limited lifespan too," Makoto added. "So they should really only be used when absolutely necessary." Rune nodded. "I understand. We're very grateful for this, Makoto. For the first time, we have a weapon which could work against the Phantom Tribe." "I just wish I had a way of deploying it on a larger scale," Makoto said. "I'm still working on it, but... no luck so far." "Hey, isn't Qawoor supposed to be here?" Nanami asked. "I thought she was supposed to be getting one of these ray guns too." "Patience, my dear Nanami!" a voice commanded. Fatora made her entrance to the room, with Qawoor in tow. "And where have the two of you been?" Shayla enquired. Fatora smiled. "Making preparations. Thanks to Qawoor here, I'm now able to put my brilliant plan into operation!" Makoto looked puzzled. "Um... brilliant plan?" "That's right!" Fatora replied enthusiastically. "My brilliant plan to rescue Alielle. I sat working on it for ages, but there was always one nagging flaw that I kept coming back to." "What was that?" Ifurita asked. "It wasn't going to work. Not a chance. Until, that is, Qawoor came to me with an interesting idea." Qawoor nodded. "We can use the customised transport I borrowed from Alielle's family to take us into Bugrom territory." "THAT'S your plan?" Makoto replied. "It's suicide!" "Not if we take enough firepower," Fatora countered. "Qawoor, Nanami, Fujisawa... and both Ifuritas. We'll be invincible!" "And who protects Roshtaria while all of this is going on?" Makoto challenged. "Look, I'm just as keen to rescue Alielle as you are, but this plan doesn't make any sense." "Doesn't it? I'd like to see you come up with a better one, pretty boy." "All I'm saying is that..." "I approve of the plan," Rune said quietly. Makoto looked round. "You do?" Rune replied in her usual diplomatic tone. "Roshtaria is more than capable of protecting itself for a while. We've managed so far. And I think it's important that Alielle is rescued soon." Her expression became distant. "The longer she's in Bugrom hands... the greater the chance that something unfortunate might happen..." Jinnai didn't know where to begin, so he aired all of his grievances in one go. "What the hell were you thinking, you imbecile? Do you have any idea how important troop numbers are to this campaign? The queen can still hardly speak! How could you make such a basic error? Are you listening to me? Do you realise what you've done? Oh, don't start crying!" "But it wasn't my fault!" Sakura wailed. "I don't remember what happened! I didn't do it on purpose!" "You must remember SOMETHING about what happened," Jinnai challenged. Sakura shook her head. "I don't! I can't understand it! I was okay one minute, then the next... Oh, I bet everyone hates me now, don't they?" Jinnai sighed, and turned to Nahato. "Do you have any idea what happened?" "Some of my operatives were around at the time," he replied. "All they know is that Sakura suddenly stopped communicating, then started firing randomly for around a minute. After that, she returned to normal. It was quite a mess... but fortunately, none of my people were injured." "Well, gee, THAT'S a weight off my mind," Jinnai snapped sarcastically. "You were the one who claimed to know how Sakura's powers worked. Isn't there some explanation for this?" Nahato shrugged. "She's a hybrid. Part human, part Demon God. We don't know how much of her original programming survived, or how it might be affecting her behaviour." Actually, Nahato was guessing. He knew very little about Sakura beyond the data on the Absolute Zero Type that had mysteriously appeared in the Phantom Tribe's databases. But Jinnai seemed to be satisfied with the explanation, so he said no more. Even heroes need day jobs, he told himself. Tyrasse Ralielle stood behind the counter and patiently addressed the customer with the obviously fake beard. "Good afternoon, sir. Welcome to Dorus Burger. How may I help you?" The man replied in an oddly forced manner. "Hello, worker. As you can see, I am a perfectly ordinary citizen." Tyrasse frowned. "Okay. Now, do you want a burger or don't you?" "Oh... yes, I would," the man said, consulting the menu. "I'd like to order... three Dorus burgers with Dorus dressing, five servings of Dorus fries with Dorus sauce, eight sugar based carbonated beverages, and... a trout burger with extra trout. "Well, okay..." Tyrasse began gathering up the food from the heated racks at the back. Was this guy really planning to eat all of this? "Right, that comes to... nineteen hilds, sir." The man looked surprised. "Oh. Ah. Um... yes, money. I forgot you needed that. Look, is there any chance that I might..." "Please hurry up and pay," Tyrasse frowned. "Well, you see, I... you look familiar. Have I seen you somewhere before?" "Don't try to change the subject!" he replied. "Are you going to pay for all of this?" The man gasped. "You look just like... her! That damn servant of mine who... You look exactly like Alielle!" "I do NOT!" Tyrasse insisted. "I'm much more masculine looking than her, and... what do you mean, servant? Just who the hell are you anyway, you weirdo?" "How dare you!" the man raged, tearing off his false beard. "I don't have to put up with insolence from the likes of you! I'm a king, you know!" Everyone in the restaurant stared at Fran, who had just blown his cover in spectacular fashion. "Oops," he said. "Not again." Day 316 "Nyymyyry! Yynsyys!" Mari stirred at the sound of the shrill voice. "Oh... good morning, Lora- chan." Alielle opened her eyes. "Is it morning already? It's so hard to tell in this place." Mari sighed. "I was having such a beautiful dream..." "Yeah?" Alielle replied. "What was it about?" She smiled. "Nanami... What about you?" "I was dreaming about Fatora, of course," Alielle said. "Oh, and Nanami." "Cool." Alielle placed her hand on Mari's shoulder. "You really love Nanami a lot, don't you?" Mari nodded. "Yeah. Not that it makes any difference, though." "No, you can't think like that," Alielle insisted. "You're never going to achieve anything just by wallowing in self-pity." "But Nanami doesn't love me." "Oh, how can you be so sure?" Alielle asked. "I never imagined that I'd win the heart of a princess, but I did. Look, maybe she doesn't love you, maybe she does. But if you don't face up to this, you'll never know for sure." Mari shook her head. "But if she rejects me... I'm just not strong enough to deal with that." "It'd be tough. But eventually you'd be able to move on and find someone else. Do you really want to be stuck in this situation forever, never knowing one way or the other?" "I don't know..." Mari replied. "I don't know." "What do you mean, I can't go on the mission?" Fatora shrugged. "Sorry, Shayla. But I had to choose candidates based on ability. You don't have any power." Shayla growled. "But I've waited YEARS to get back at Jinnai! You have to let me go!" Miz stepped forward. "Now, Shayla. I'm sure Nanami will do just fine in your place. I'd like to be going along too, but it's not possible. We have to think about what's best for the mission as a whole." "Then how come Fatora gets to go?" Shayla challenged. "She doesn't have any special abilities either! Unless she's planning to seduce the Bugrom queen..." "This mission needs a leader!" Fatora replied. "That's my function." "Oh," Shayla said. "I thought Makoto was leading the mission." Fatora laughed. "Him? Don't be ridiculous! I only let him on the team because his powers might be useful if we run into Sakura. Besides, it never hurts to have a decoy around..." "Hey!" Makoto called. "I heard that!" The team's various members were beginning to gather near their chosen mode of transport, the Bullet. Ifurita and Three were already there, as were Nanami and Qawoor. "I'm surprised you were so keen to come with us," Nanami said. "Considering your fear of bugs..." "I felt obliged to help," Qawoor replied. "I made a promise to Alielle's family that I'd do what I could to rescue her. Anyway, it's not the Bugrom that scare me the most..." "Well, what is it that scares you?" Qawoor looked away. "Arjah. He's already possessed me twice. If he comes for me again, it could ruin everything..." "Don't worry," Nanami smiled. "We'll all look out for you." "You seemed very keen to join the mission as well," Qawoor observed. "I think this is the first time you've ever closed the restaurant, isn't it?" "I didn't have any choice. Mycea's gone, and Tenax is busy with the clinic." She sighed. "And I have to go on this mission. It's important that I find Mari. I don't know why, but I know I have to do it." Nearby, Amiri stood with her son. "Now, Cerev. I want you to be good for Mrs Fujisawa while I'm away, okay?" Tenax, accompanied by Parnasse, watched the exchange. "You know, I could look after him." Amiri frowned. "Hmm. No offence, but I've got enough to worry about just leaving you in the clinic unsupervised." "I know what I'm doing," Tenax said defiantly. "I sincerely doubt that," Amiri replied. "Remember, don't prescribe ANYTHING without consulting the pharmacist. I'm serious about this one. I do not want to be sued." "You don't have to worry about a thing!" Tenax smiled. "I'll do a good job!" Amiri sighed to herself. "I suppose I have to do this. After all, I am Alielle's doctor. But at the same time, I hate to leave everything here. What if something goes wrong?" Parnasse smiled. "I'm sure Tenax will take care of everything." Tenax nodded happily. "This is going to be so cool! I'm gonna sit at her desk!" Amiri gasped. "If you so much as touch my things, I'll..." Fujisawa stood next to Miz. "It doesn't seem right, Miz. Leaving you and Mika alone here," "No, Masamichi," Miz replied. "You have to help your student. I'm glad you're doing this." He sighed. "You know, I suppose I never did have much time for Kurai. At first, I was satisfied just to leave her to her own devices. Then after we fought, I was so angry with myself for neglecting her that I avoided her even more. Even when she was kidnapped, I didn't react like I would have done if it was Makoto or Nanami." Miz smiled. "Well, you're doing what's right now, and that's what's important. I'm very proud of you, Masamichi." Fatora looked at her assembled team. "Okay, come on! We have to get moving!" Ura ran over, and wrapped around Makoto. "I think we're ready," Makoto replied. Fatora frowned. "Nobody said the cat was coming." "But I need Ura," Makoto argued. "Besides, why SHOULDN'T Ura come?" "Well... there might not be enough space." "Fatora, it's only a cat..." Fran stood indignantly in the hallway of the Ralielles' house, holding the laundry basket. "This is completely unacceptable! How can you expect a king to do housework?" Adena glared at him in response. "You should be grateful we're sheltering you at all, you horrible man. When I think of how you treated my lovely daughter..." "I refuse to do your laundry!" Fran thundered. "Do you? Well maybe I should just throw you out, and let the public deal with you!" One of the Ralielles ran past Fran, and kicked him in the shin. "Ow!" he complained. "One of your children just kicked me!" "That was actually my husband," Adena replied. "And it's exactly what you deserve anyway." He growled. "How dare you! You peasants have no respect for the social order of things!" "Peasants?" Adena echoed in disgust. "Let me tell you something. You're not a king anymore. You've been deposed, and you're one of us now. In fact... my daughter married into royalty, so I suppose that makes me more royal than you! So respect the social order and do my laundry!" Fran reluctantly headed off to the kitchen, muttering. Adena looked to one of her daughters. "You'd better go and help him, Valielle." "Do I have to?" "Oh, please. He's probably going to flood the house." The Bullet accelerated through the darkened forest at a remarkable speed, with Ifurita and Three flying outside it on lookout duty. Amiri was at the helm, and inside the main cabin, the rest of the mission's participants slept. Nanami and Qawoor lay silently at one end of the section. Fujisawa was at the rear, snoring. Fatora slept restlessly in her seat, slumped over her map. Ura slept at Makoto's feet. Makoto slept too. This time, the dream that had been haunting him did not come. Instead, he found himself staring into the eyes of Arjah. "Why have you come back?" Makoto asked. "What do you want from me now?" "Want? I want nothing. I simply came to inform you of my victory." "Victory?" Arjah laughed. "Yes. Thanks to Sakura, there is now enough zero energy in this vicinity to allow me to exist again. Once it has aggregated, I will be human once more!" Makoto gasped. "How? I don't understand!" "Of course you don't understand," Arjah mocked. "You don't have the intelligence to comprehend the complexities of zero energy. Do you even know what made me the way I am now?" "Yes," Makoto said. "There was an accident when you were working on the Absolute Zero Demon God. A release of zero energy..." "It should have killed me," Arjah reminisced. "But the balance between energy and zero energy was just right. My physical form was erased, and I became an echo in zero energy." "Wait..." Makoto said. "You're saying... you're actually a non-energetic negative copy of yourself?" "A little simplistic, but you've understood the basics. Oh, but my new form gave me so much more. I existed at the heart of a vast, multi- dimensional nexus. I could see and learn so much, but tragically my influence in these universes was tiny. I could manipulate a few electrons here and there, but nothing more. Until you came along. When dimensional portals are opened, I can exert more influence." His image flickered, briefly degenerating into fractal patterns before returning. "I'd known for some time that if I was to re-create the energy balance that destroyed me, I could restore my original self by the same process. You gave me that chance. The inactive Absolute Zero prototype still existed. When you retrieved Ifurita, I picked up a recruit from your universe to merge with it." Makoto's eyes widened. "So it was you! You were the one that brought Sakura and Mari here! I KNEW my calculations weren't off! But... why did you bring Mari here too?" "That was an error," Arjah admitted. "I had a choice of two people, Kurai and Tamaro. I considered using Kurai at first... she was an angry and bitter person, apparently the ideal candidate. But she was also too unpredictable and unstable to be trusted. Tamaro, on the other hand... she had a much less complicated personality. She was perfect. After bringing her here, I used my electrical power to deposit information about the Demon God into the Phantom Tribe's databanks. My victory was assured. Either the Phantom Tribe would use the information to make an alliance with the Bugrom, or they'd steal the Demon God and use it themselves. Whatever happened, the Demon God would be used, and the zero energy would be released." Makoto shook his head. "I don't believe you. Now, I may not know everything about zero energy, but I know it's not THAT simple. Your plan can't work, Arjah." Arjah laughed again. "Well, see soon enough, Makoto Mizuhara..." Day 323 The Bullet stood at rest in an unidentified area of Bugrom territory. Thanks to the reconnaissance work of Ifurita and Three, the group had managed to avoid the Bugrom patrols. The crew sat outside the transport. "Four more days?" Fatora moaned. "But look! We're so close now!" She jabbed at their position on the map. "Yes," Ifurita conceded. But the closer we get to the Bugrom hive, the more patrols we have to avoid." Amiri sat separate to the main group, staring at the barren landscape around her. "You specialise in reproductive genetics, am I correct?" She jumped, and looked behind her. It was Three. "Um... yes. That's one of my fields. Why do you ask?" "I am curious. Does technology exist that allows the synthesis of DNA?" Amiri nodded. "Yes. The Phantom Tribe have been doing it for some time." Three sat beside her. "What about making DNA of a specific base sequence? Can that be done?" "Well, yes," Amiri replied. "I used to have a machine that could synthesise DNA primers to order. It was destroyed in the bombing, but I think there's still a few around. She paused. "Just how long a sequence are you talking about?" Three's expression remained neutral. "Approximately six billion nucleotides." Amiri raised an eyebrow. "Six... BILLION? Are you serious? That's enough DNA to fill up all forty six chromosomes." "I'm aware of that," Three said. "If you were provided with the sequence data, could you do it?" "Now hold on a second," Amiri replied. "When I talk about being able to synthesise DNA, I'm talking about short stretches... maybe a few hundred nucleotides. What you're talking about is... well, reverse- engineering an entire genome." "So it can't be done?" Amiri pondered for a while. "I didn't say that... I mean, in principle, it's possible. But the technology doesn't exist right now. Just why are you so interested in this, anyway?" Three stood up. "I don't wish to discuss that." "But..." She walked away. "I said I don't wish to discuss that." Fujisawa surveyed the route ahead. "I guess we should be getting on. Looks like we've still got some way to go." Makoto nodded in agreement. "Okay, I'll just... what's wrong, Ura?" Ura was looking warily from side to side, as if trying to locate an invisible threat. "Something here... somewhere..." Nanami looked around. "I don't think so, Ura. Are you sure?" Ura leapt to protect Makoto. "Makoto! Look out!" The ground around them suddenly erupted. Hordes of Bugrom poured from the holes and surrounded the group. "Shit!" Fujisawa cried. "What the hell...?" "They were hiding underground," Ifurita said. "That's why we didn't detect them." Fujisawa and Nanami nodded to each other. "Okay..." Nanami said warily. "I guess this means we have to fight... Qawoor?" Despite her best efforts, Qawoor was completely terrified by the situation. She took one more cautious glance at the bugs, and then completely lost her nerve. "Help me!" she screamed, grabbing onto Fatora. "Get them away!" "You're the damn priestess!" Fatora said angrily. "Why don't you shoot water at them or something?" The first line of Bugrom leapt forward. Fujisawa did his best to intercept them, as Nanami summoned a pillar of fire around her. Ifurita took aim with her staff and fired. Three went to follow suit, selecting a conventional narrow-range attack. But something, somewhere within her, went horribly wrong. She collapsed. Amiri ran to her aid. "What's wrong with her?" Ifurita called. "I don't know, she just fainted," Amiri replied. "Are Demon Gods supposed to have a pulse?" Ifurita's response was drowned out in an explosion as she, Nanami and Fujisawa tried desperately to keep the advancing bugs at bay. Makoto, Fatora and Qawoor retreated towards the transport. "Ifurita!" Fatora shouted. "What's taking you so long? Can't you just blow them all up in one go?" "Not without killing all of you as well," Ifurita called back. "This is not looking good..." Nanami growled. "Hold on!" Amiri called. "I have an idea. Everyone, stop attacking and close your eyes!" Nanami looked round. "What? You're crazy! If we stop attacking, they'll..." "I know. But trust me! It's our only hope!" Fujisawa glanced at Ifurita. "What do you think?" "I think it's probably worth a try." "Okay," Amiri called. "All close your eyes... now!" The group did as they were told. As the Bugrom came forward in a final assault, Amiri did something she should never have been able to do. There was a blinding flash. The Bugrom fell to the ground, every one of them stunned. A brief silence followed. "You can open your eyes now," Amiri said. Fujisawa looked at the piles of incapacitated Bugrom. "My God... what happened to them?" "They're still alive," Ifurita observed. "It seems something caused them all to lose consciousness simultaneously." Makoto looked at the doctor. "Amiri, what did you do to them?" Amiri looked away. "Well?" Fatora prompted. "Come on, tell us!" Ifurita looked puzzled. "It's odd, but I detected a minor spatial distortion at that moment. Makoto, didn't you determine that spatial distortions are used by the Phantom Tribe to create illusions?" Nanami gasped and moved closer. "That's what you did, isn't it? You made an illusion, right? Something that stunned the bugs..." Fujisawa scratched his head. "But Opaques don't have the power to make illusions." Fatora stepped back. "Unless... you're one of THEM, aren't you?" Amiri finally spoke. "Wait, please let me explain!" "You aren't really an Opaque at all, are you? You're Phantom Tribe! I don't believe it!" "Hold on, Fatora," Fujisawa interrupted. "Let's at least hear what she ha to say..." "No way! I put my trust in you!" She pointed accusingly at Amiri. "All this time, you've been lying! Traitor!" "I wonder what they're doing now..." Shayla lay on a bench in the royal gardens, with her eyes tightly shut. "Priestess Shayla," a voice said. "What are you doing?" "What does it look like? Nothing." She opened her eyes. "Oh... princess." Rune smiled at her. "You don't seem very happy, Shayla." "Well, I'm not," Shayla replied. "I feel pathetic, stuck here while everyone else is off on the mission." "I felt the same way a few months ago, Shayla." Shayla sat up. "You did?" Rune nodded. "Yes. After I was attacked, I wanted to carry on with my duties, but I couldn't. I had to rest, and let Fatora and Alielle take over. And although I was pleased to see them doing so well, I was also angry... because I felt that I should be doing it." "So what did you do?" "I took Alielle's advice, and saw my time off as an opportunity. Just because you're not fit to go on this mission, it doesn't mean you can't do something else that's productive. Think about it. Is there something you could be doing that doesn't require your powers?" Shayla paused. "Now that you mention it... there just might be." She stood up. "Thanks, princess. I've just realised I have my own mission to go on." Without another word, Shayla walked away. Once again, she had a purpose. "The truth is... that I do have Phantom Tribe powers." Ifurita, Nanami, Qawoor and Fujisawa stared at Amiri. Fatora was still struggling to contain her fury. "But you were the first Opaque the Alliance ever encountered," Nanami said. "In all the time we've known you, you've never used Phantom Tribe powers." "Why did you claim to be an Opaque?" Ifurita probed. "I AM an Opaque!" Amiri insisted. "It's just that... well, it's sort of complicated..." "Go on," Fatora frowned. Amiri sighed. "For centuries, there had always been a handful of people in the Phantom Tribe who didn't have illusory powers. But suddenly their numbers started to increase. The leadership began to get very nervous about it. When I was a child, the hysteria was at its height. My powers didn't develop. At the age of five, I was classified as inferior." "But... you do have powers," Qawoor said. "You just used them." "I know. I must have been a late developer. When I was fourteen, my powers suddenly flared up. I'd been wrongly classified. There and then, I had the chance to be accepted back into normal Phantom Tribe society." "But you didn't take it, did you?" Fujisawa remarked. "Why not?" "I'd seen how the Phantom Tribe treated inferiors. I didn't WANT to go back and work for the system that discriminated against me. I didn't want to abandon my friends. So I never used powers. I kept them a secret from everyone, even my husband. I realise you're all angry that I lied to you, but I never intended to reveal my powers to anyone." "It's okay," Fujisawa said. "You've done nothing wrong. And if it wasn't for your powers, we'd be in trouble now." Nanami nodded. "Yeah. Right, Fatora?" Fatora just looked away. Makoto approached. "Okay, I've finished examining Three. She's okay, at least physically, but..." "What?" Ifurita urged. "Well, I linked with her, and her attack systems are all screwed. When she tried to attack the Bugrom just now, the whole thing locked up." "Did the Bugrom do something to her?" Qawoor asked. Makoto shook his head. "No, as far as I can tell, this problem has been bubbling under for a while. I think it most have started when she was attacked by Sakura a few months ago. She duplicated Sakura's zero energy attack, but I remember she had some difficulty integrating it into her systems." "And that's what's affected her?" Nanami asked. "How?" "Ifurita types just aren't designed to use zero energy. They're designed for conventional, energetic attacks. Their programming is pretty adaptive, so she managed to integrate it eventually... but it completely wrecked her conventional attack systems as a result. She's been re- formatted to deal with zero energy only." Fujisawa frowned. "Are you sure?" Makoto nodded. "You have to understand... zero energy attacks are totally different from energetic attacks, on the most fundamental level imaginable. That's why Arundel had to design a new Demon God to use them." He sighed. "And if what Arjah said is true, I don't think it's safe for Three to use zero energy at all." Nanami looked to Qawoor and Fujisawa. "Which means it'll be up to us to fight Sakura." "I'm afraid so," Makoto said. "But we should get moving nonetheless. It's obvious that the Bugrom know we're here now." The others nodded silently in agreement, and walked back to the transport. Only Fatora and Amiri remained. Fatora looked from side to side, making sure nobody was in earshot. "Um... it's possible that I may have overreacted a little there." Amiri smiled. "Oh my. Princess, is this an apology?" "Don't make it any more difficult than it already is," Fatora said guiltily. "You don't have to apologise to me, princess," the doctor said. "The Phantom Tribe tortured you, attacked your sister and kidnapped your wife. You have more reason than most to hate them. But they're my enemy as well..." She looked down at the ground. "They killed my husband." "They did?" "Yes. And I know which one of them did it, too. You know, I liked to think I was above petty feelings like revenge. But if I could see him now... I just don't know." Fatora sighed. "Look, I was thinking. The pretty boy's right. The Bugrom are onto us, and it's gonna be even more difficult to get to the hive now. But with your powers... you could cloak us, right?" Amiri looked sceptical. "I don't know. I've never really used them. I don't know how effective they are." "Well, you could try." Fatora stood up. "Come on." "Okay," Amiri smiled back. "And don't worry. Nobody will ever know you apologised." "Nyaaah!" a small voice said. "Fatora say sorry!" "WHAT?" Fatora noticed Ura hiding in the undergrowth. "How dare you eavesdrop on my conversations, you little orange vermin!" Ura darted away. "Nyah! Nyaaaah!" Fatora chased after the cat, waving her fist in the air. "I'll teach you! Let's see you laugh with a boot up your ass, you dumb animal!" Parnasse had it pretty easy- even he had to admit that. His job amounted to little more than running the occasional errand for Qawoor- and now that she was away, he didn't even have to do that. With Nanami's restaurant closed, he was now spending most of his time in Tenax's apartment, while Tenax went out to work at the clinic. He'd still found plenty of ways to amuse himself, though. Over the past few days he'd made several attempts to tidy up the ubiquitous mess that filled every single room. But no matter how hard he tried, the level of clutter seemed to remain constant, so he'd eventually given up. He'd tried to make himself lunch. But alas, his cooking skills weren't quite as refined as Tenax's. After slightly misjudging the heat of the cooker, he'd been forced to spend three hours trying to clean scorched carbon deposits from inside the pans. He'd even attempted to read one of the medical textbooks he'd found lying around. Two and a half hours later, he was still on page five, and discovered to his consternation that there were still one thousand and fifty nine pages to go. He heard the sound of Tenax's key in the door. She was late coming home tonight. As she stepped through the door and closed it behind her, he noticed that she was wearing a long coat, rather than her usual (somewhat more revealing) attire. That was a little strange... "Good day?" he asked. "Mm-hmm," she responded, a little distracted. "Parnasse..." "Yeah?" She suddenly looked straight at him with huge, adoring eyes. "Do you love me?" "Of course I do, Tenax," Parnasse replied, perplexed. "And do you want to be with me always?" Parnasse tried not to let his confusion show. "Yeah. Yes, I do." Tenax smiled wryly to herself. "Oh, good." With a single flourish, she removed her coat, revealing something that Parnasse had not expected to see. She was wearing a leather bikini, fishnet stockings and thigh-length boots. She produced a whip from behind her, and laughed in a most alarming way. "Oh my God!" Parnasse gulped. "It's... it's... an SM Queen!" "That's right!" Tenax laughed. "This is the Phantom Tribe secret bridegroom education! If you wish to be my bridegroom, then take this whip!" She cracked the whip menacingly. Parnasse dived behind a nearby pile of medical notes. "I didn't ask for this! Help!" "How impudent!" Tenax replied. "You won't be let off that easily! Come here!" "This is insane!" Parnasse said, shaking in fear. "Bridegroom education? I've never heard about this before! What is it?" "Well..." Tenax pondered briefly, "basically, I have to give you lots of punishment! Fun, huh? Now, just sit there..." Parnasse did his best to shield himself. "But I don't want to! I never agreed to..." He trailed off as he heard Tenax laughing. Not the domineering SM Queen laugh, but her usual mischievous giggle. He sighed. "Oh, I see. I get it. Very funny. Hilarious. Just where did you get that costume, anyway?" "I got talking to that Styrenian princess who's staying at the palace," Tenax said. "She recommended this store to me, and..." Parnasse shook his head. "You too tips from Formyka? Now I understand..." Tenax proudly displayed her costume. "Isn't it cool?" "Yeah..." Parnasse smiled weakly. "So it was all a joke... there is no Phantom Tribe secret bridegroom education?" "That depends," she blushed. "There COULD be..." "Well, come to think of it, I do like the outfit," Parnasse said. "Can we keep it?" Tenax beamed. "I suppose so. If you promise to call me princess." "Um, okay. Whatever you say..." The Bugrom served the queen. Such was the order of things. If the queen gave an order, the Bugrom followed- but the process was more innate than that. The hive mind meant that the Bugrom could anticipate the queen's desires and pre-empt her orders. The Bugrom served Queen Chibi-Diva well. But there was one Bugrom that served a different queen. Lora knew that her queen was curious. Her queen wanted to know what the Phantom Tribe were planning, and why they had felt it necessary to capture Alielle. Lora had located the Phantom Tribe leader, and followed him. It wasn't easy. He had a habit of cloaking himself and disappearing. But Lora continued on her quest for information, in the hope that she could relay it to her queen. Mari lay sleeping inside the cell. She was vaguely aware of something, somewhere, nagging for her attention. "Lora-chan?" Then she heard the voices. One of them she recognised as the Phantom Tribe boy. The other... she didn't know. They were talking... talking about Jinnai, about Alielle. She was so transfixed by the exchange that she never stopped to wonder exactly how she was able to hear it. The conversation lasted for around two minutes. Then it ended. Mari now knew why Alielle was here with her. She looked down at Alielle, who was sleeping peacefully. There was no point in waking her. She lay back down and stared up at the ceiling. She didn't try to sleep. She knew she wouldn't be able to. Day 324 Alielle sat studying Mari. There was something very different about her today. She wasn't talking. In fact, she hadn't so much as looked at Alielle. She just sat with Lora, occasionally stoking the bug and staring vacantly into space. "Mari..." Alielle ventured, "is something the matter?" "No." "It's just that you haven't said anything at all today. I can tell something's wrong." "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine," Mari said, more forcefully this time. Alielle refused to be deterred. "Come on. What is it?" Mari turned to face the princess. "God damn it, will you just shut up? I don't want to talk about it!" her expression of anger immediately cracked into one of immense guilt, and she collapsed over Alielle, crying. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to..." Alielle shifted nervously and tried to comfort Mari. "It's... okay. Just tell me what's bothering you. You can talk to me." "But... I don't know if I should tell you. It's too awful..." "I'll be the judge of that," Alielle replied. "Now, what is it?" "Okay..." Mari tried to compose herself. "Last night, I heard that Phantom Tribe kid talking. I heard him through Lora-chan. I... I know why they're keeping you here." Alielle moved back and paused. "Oh... Why?" Mari turned away, unable to look at Alielle's expression. "They don't want you at all. They want your baby." There was a long silence, broken eventually, by the sound of Alielle's quickened breathing. Mari looked back and saw the princess desperately trying to hold back tears. "Oh God, I knew it. I knew I shouldn't have told you." "No, no," Alielle insisted. "You were right to tell me. Why... why do they want her?" Mari sighed, more out of frustration than resignation. "It wasn't totally clear. Something about using her to control the Eye of God... but I couldn't understand all of it. They mentioned... conscious control? Yeah, that was it." "I know," Alielle said. "It's why their plan didn't work last time. They were able to activate the Eye of God using just one princess... but it needs to be controlled consciously. They didn't know that, and since they couldn't force Fatora to attack us, they failed." "I know your baby carries the gene for the Eye of God... but a baby wouldn't be able to consciously control a weapon, would it?" Mari asked. Alielle shook her head. "Not straight away, no. After a few years, maybe. I don't think the Phantom Tribe want to use the Eye against the Alliance anyway." "Of course... the Bugrom," Mari replied. "It makes sense. They let the Bugrom win the war against the Alliance, let them get comfortable... then once the child's old enough..." Alielle nodded in agreement. "This explains everything. The Phantom Tribe let us unseal the Eye, but then destroyed the Stairway to the Sky so we couldn't seal it again. But they must have found a way to control the Eye of God without using the Stairway." She sighed. "Now everything makes sense. This is why they kidnapped me, and not Fatora." "So what do we do now?" Mari wondered aloud. "I don't know," Alielle replied. "But my baby's due in less than a month. I can't let this happen. We have to find a way to get out of here." Afura walked along the corridor and took out today's copy of the Roshtarian Observer. It just didn't feel the same without the Lamp. Part of her was missing, gone. But she'd spent enough time in this system to know that she couldn't do anything about it for now, so she'd busied herself with other matters. She opened the newspaper and immediately realised that something wasn't quite right. Upon closer analysis, she found that a square had been neatly excised from one of the pages. Whatever report had been contained within that square had obviously been deemed unsuitable reading material. "Great," Afura sighed. "So they're censoring the media now." She reached the door to her quarters, and walked wearily inside. She set the newspaper down on the desk. She stopped. Suddenly, she felt as if she was being watched. Quickly, she surveyed the room. Nothing. She shrugged. This place was making her paranoid. "You... bitch!" Afura looked up just in time to see a figure leap from the cupboard towards her. The assailant landed on top of her, and they both landed on the bed. "For heaven's sake, Shayla," Afura said. "What's the matter with you?" "What do you THINK? You betrayed us!" Shayla tried to land a punch on Afura, but missed. Afura tackled Shayla, and pinned her to the bed. "How did you get here, anyway?" "I sneaked. I bribed. I beat people up." Shayla managed to grab a nearby copy of the Holy Scriptures, and hit Afura in the face with it. "Ow! Hey! You can't use a holy book like that! It's blasphemous!" Afura protested as she staggered backwards. Shayla stood up. "What are you gonna do? Excommunicate me?" "Oh, shut up." Afura picked up a chair and threw it at Shayla, who dodged it. "Now, are you going to calm down and let me explain?" Shayla looked defiant for a moment, and then relented. "Aw, what the hell. I'm exhausted." "Me too," Afura said, sitting down on the bed. "How about some tea?" The use of Amiri's powers had had an unquestionable effect on the mission's progress. No longer forced to evade Bugrom patrols, the cloaked transport had proceeded at full speed to the hive's location. Location being the operative word. Makoto stood in the cockpit and looked at the blank landscape outside. "I don't get it... the hive should be right in front of us." He was joined by Fatora and Fujisawa. "Well, it ISN'T there, is it?" Fatora snapped. "I suppose somebody must have misread the map." Makoto frowned. "What do you mean, 'somebody'?" "Well, the two of us were in charge of navigation. It must have been you." "Why me?" Fatora folded her arms. "Oh, come on. Everyone knows that men are worse at map reading. It's a scientific fact." "Actually..." Fujisawa began, "I always heard it was women who were worse at that." "What?" Fatora responded. "How dare you make such a sexist remark!" Nanami leaned into the cockpit. "Hey, what's the problem?" "Makoto got us lost," Fatora said. "I did not!" Makoto insisted. "What are you talking about?" Nanami challenged. "The hive's right there in front of us." Makoto looked out at the wilderness. "Um... are you sure?" "I get it," Fujisawa said. "The Phantom Tribe must have cloaked it, just like we cloaked the transport." "Yeah," Nanami nodded. "Here, give me one of those ray gun things and I'll show you." Makoto handed her one of the pistols. "You know, they're not really called..." "Now, watch." Nanami opened a window and held the weapon outside the vehicle. She fired, and a patch of purple briefly became visible in the distance. "Oh..." Makoto said. "I see. So, princess, what comes next?" Fatora looked up. "Huh?" "In your plan, I mean. How do we find Alielle inside the hive?" "Well... I don't really know. In truth, I didn't really expect us to get this far." Makoto sighed. "The hive's enormous. It'd take forever to search the whole thing." "What about Ura?" Fujisawa suggested. "When we rescued Fatora, Ura recognised her scent and guided you to her." "Great idea!" Makoto agreed. "Hey, Ura! Come here!" Ura ran into the cockpit and jumped onto the dashboard. "Ura, do you remember Alielle's scent?" Makoto asked. "Hmm." Ura tilted her head to one side. "Not sure..." Nanami frowned. "Fatora, don't you have something of Alielle's that could remind Ura of her scent?" Fatora blushed- a sight rarely seen. "Well... yes. But..." "Okay. Get it out, come on!" "Um... if you insist." Fatora reached into her pocket and took out a pair of almost impossibly skimpy undergarments. Nanami put her head in her hands. "Oh boy. I should have seen this coming." "Do you really carry those around with you all time?" Makoto asked with incredulity. "They have sentimental value to me!" Fatora replied, defiant. She held them out to a rather intimidated Ura. "Well? Do you want to get her scent or don't you?" Ura leapt back. "It okay! I remember! I remember!" Alielle paced nervously around the cell. "Come on, Mari. We need to think of a way out of here!" Mari nodded. "It's okay. It's all in hand." Across the chamber, Lora was locked in debate with a much larger Bugrom. "Mnsbklr jnkvrb?" "Nyysymyy!" "Blsfnsg nlvthbr." "Yymyyn. Yssryyyn." The Bugrom looked puzzled, then walked over to the cell. "Stand back," Mari warned. It swiped at the bars, which broke upon impact. Mari tentatively stepped out of the cell. "What did you do?" Alielle asked, amazed. "Jinnai uses the messenger bugs to carry his orders to the rest of the Bugrom. I used Lora-chan to get this guy to break us out. As far as he's concerned, it was Jinnai who gave the order." She took Alielle's hand and helped her out. "That's... pretty clever," Alielle conceded. "Now what happens?" Mari paused, deep in thought. "Okay. Lora-chan, I want you to make a diversion. Get all of the Bugrom out of here. Can you do that?" "Yynyyr," Lora replied enthusiastically. "That's my girl! Thanks, Lora-chan!" The messenger flew out of the chamber. Alielle looked confused. "Now we just... run?" "I suppose so," Mari said. "But shouldn't we at least think of a plan first? If we just start running through the hive, someone might see us!" Mari shrugged. "It's worth a shot. What's the worst that could happen? You're a valuable hostage- they're not going to kill you." "No, but they might kill you," Alielle said. Mari sighed. "Yeah, well... that's not especially important to me." Alielle moved closer. "What? What are you saying?" "Look... I've never really cared that much about anything or anyone, including myself. The world treated me like crap for so long that I wouldn't have given a damn if it all just... ended. But last night, when I heard what they were planning, I felt something different. I care about this, and I'll be damned if I'll just stand by and let them do it to you." She frowned. "I don't know. Maybe I still don't care about myself, but I know that I care about helping you. You don't deserve this." Alielle looked at Mari with undisguised concern. "Mari, I..." "We can talk later," Mari interrupted. "Come on, let's get going." "But where do we go?" "We'll look for a hangar or something. Steal one of those big flying things." Alielle hesitated. "Um... but we don't know how to fly them..." "You're a pilot, aren't you? I'm sure it'll come naturally." Lora flew through a narrow series of tunnels into one of the specialised chambers. Only the messengers were small enough to reach this area, and this was where they resided. She flew up to one of her identical colleagues, and passed on the message. "Yyssyynyy, syymyr." The second messenger dutifully carried the message to another. Lora moved on to the next bug, and the next. In less than a minute, the chamber was buzzing with the messengers' tiny voices, as they each ensured the others got the message. And then they left the chamber, ready to spread the word to the other Bugrom. Afura shook her head and sighed. "Oh, Shayla. Did you honestly think I'd betrayed you?" "Well..." Shayla responded, embarrassed, "actually, it was mostly Miz who..." "Sometimes, one has to play the system, as it were." Afura took a sip of her tea. "I thought that by allying myself more closely to the leadership here, I'd have a better chance of seeing the Alpha Priestess, just as Miz asked me to." "Obviously, that didn't work," Shayla said. "You still haven't seen her, and they've taken away your Lamp." "True, but I haven't been excommunicated yet. I can only interpret that as an endorsement." Shayla's expression changed back to a frown, as she remembered another grievance. "Hey, what about the prophecy? Why'd you give it to Doht?" "Doht already had part of the prophecy," Afura replied. "Besides, there's a lot of evidence that the prophecy contains some sort of encrypted message from God." Shayla seemed unimpressed. "Oh." "Oh?" Afura echoed. "Shayla, just what motivated you to become a priestess in the first place? Any other priestess would be stunned by news like this." "Okay, fine, it's interesting. But I've got other things to worry about at the moment. The Alliance is in trouble, Afura. You've got to come back and help." Afura shook her head assertively. "No. I can't leave when I'm this close." "Close? Close to what?" "Something. I don't know." Afura looked serious. "I've been investigating this place for months now, and something's up. There are too many coincidences, too many things that don't make sense. It looks to me like some of the people here have another agenda." "Damn it, I didn't realise this place was so big," Alielle complained. Mari checked the coast was clear, and pulled Alielle around the corner. "It's okay. I'm sure there must be a way out around here somewhere..." "Hmm," Alielle smiled as they hurried down the passageway. "I think that's the first optimistic thing you've ever said to me." "Don't dwell on it too much," Mari replied. "I was lying. I don't think we have a hope in hell of..." "Hey!" a voice called from behind. They stopped and looked back. Chibi-Diva stood watching them in a pose which, considering her small stature, was actually quite intimidating. "Oh. Hi!" Alielle said nervously. Chibi-Diva frowned back. "You're prisoners. You should be in your cell." "Well, that's true..." Alielle bluffed, "except that we're... exercising!" "Yeah," Mari nodded quickly. "It was Jinnai's idea. He let us out for a while so we could get some exercise." The queen narrowed her eyes further. "That doesn't sound like something Mr Jinnai would do." Alielle gave a weak smile. "We're as surprised as you are. But... how else could we have got out of the cell?" Chibi-Diva stopped and thought. "Hmm. I suppose you're right." She brightened suddenly. "Oh well. Enjoy your exercise!" "We will," Alielle assured her. They turned and ran. "Hey! Wait a minute!" Stopping again, they looked back at the queen. "What is it?" Mari asked cautiously. "Princess Alielle," Chibi-Diva said. "Please be careful. You shouldn't push yourself too hard if you're pregnant." "I... I won't!" Alielle replied, relived. "Bye!" Sakura looked at the map. "So, um... where are they now?" "Not here," Jinnai smiled. "Following my brilliant ambush, they just disappeared. They probably fled back to Roshtaria, the cowards!" "It is strange that we haven't seen them since," she mused. "Hey, maybe I could go out and..." "Oh, no you don't," Jinnai interrupted. "You're not leaving my sight until we know what's wrong with you." Chibi-Diva entered the chamber. As she did, there was a muffled explosion, shaking the whole room. "What was that?" Jinnai demanded. "It sort of sounded like a big explosion," Sakura said unhelpfully. Jinnai growled. "You dummy, do you think I'm deaf or something? Groucho! We need to mobilise the troops immediately!" "Most of the troops aren't here," Chibi-Diva said. Jinnai stopped. "What? Why? What do you mean?" "I saw them all leaving. I asked where they were going, and they said you'd told them to go out on manoeuvres." "I gave no such order!" Jinnai insisted. He pointed at two other bugs standing nearby. "You two! Find out where they went and bring them back, now! Sakura, Groucho! You're with me!" Nanami and Fujisawa stepped through the hole in the wall and looked around. "Nobody here," Nanami said. "That's odd. I expected this place to be swarming with Bugrom. Where are they all?" Ifurita joined them. "There doesn't seem to be any here." "Oh. Really?" Qawoor entered the passageway, followed by Three and Ura. "Well, that's a relief." Fujisawa picked up Ura. "Okay, Ura. Think you can get Alielle's scent?" Ura sniffed the air. "Hmm. Don't know." "You'd better do your job, you dumb animal," Fatora warned as she joined the others. "Hey, Nanami... this plan of yours. Are you sure it'll work?" Nanami nodded I know my brother better than anyone. It'll work." Ura suddenly looked up. "I got her! This way!" "What? Okay, let's go!" Fujisawa said. But before he could take another step, he heard the mechanical click of a weapon above him. "Don't move," Sakura said. She slowly descended from the ceiling, keeping her Power Key Unit trained on the rescue party. Jinnai and Grouch hurried down the passageway to join her. "Well," Jinnai laughed, "I have to admire your determination. Nobody's ever made it this far into our territory before. A shame that it all has to end here." Nanami stepped forward. "Oh yeah? What are you gonna do, set your flying idol singer on us? You always were a coward, Katsuhiko. You never had the guts to do anything yourself." "Hey!" Jinnai screamed. "Watch what your saying! As a younger sister, you should have respect for your... Why are wearing that weird outfit?" Nanami smiled. "It's because I'm the new Priestess of Fire- at least, for the time being." "Huh?" Jinnai paused. "Wait... this means something must have happened to that violent, red-haired lunatic! Yes!" A flame appeared in Nanami's hand. "But she gave all her powers to me. And don't think I'm afraid to use them, brother." "Yeah!" Fatora said, shaking her fist. "So you'd better give me back my Alielle, or else!" Jinnai stood in a moment of mock consideration. "Hmm... oh, what a tempting request. Throw away my big trump card? Let me see..." He began to laugh. "You know what, princess? I don't think I will!" He continued to laugh... until abruptly, he stopped. He suddenly scrutinised the rescue party with a worried expression. "What's up?" Sakura whispered. "It's Mizuhara!" Jinnai hissed. "There's no sign of him! Where is he?" "Maybe he didn't come," Sakura suggested. Jinnai shook his head. "That's ridiculous. Mizuhara ALWAYS participates in these schemes. He's probably the mastermind behind the whole thing! Besides, my nemesis would never miss an opportunity to come here and make life difficult for me." "But he isn't here," Sakura said. "We'll see about that. Alright, listen up! Wherever you're hiding, Mizuhara, I demand that you show yourself NOW!" Fatora laughed. "I can't believe how paranoid you are, Jinnai. Makoto's not here." "Right." She was joined by another, identical Fatora, who climbed through the hole in the wall and stood next to her double. "Nobody here but us princesses." Jinnai leapt back. "Aaagh! Sakura! Do you know what this means?" "Wow," Sakura replied. "Princess Fatora has a twin sister!" "Yes... no! That's not what I mean, stupid! Don't you get it? If there's two Fatoras, then that means one of them must be Mizuhara! But which one?" He clutches his head in frustration. "Ohh... this is obviously part of some brilliant strategy devised by him!" Sakura shrugged. "No problem. Why don't I just shoot both of them?" She went to approach the rescue party, but was pulled back. "No, you fool!" Jinnai hissed. "That's what he expects us to do! We could be falling right into his trap!" "Then what do we do?" "We'll just have to remain here until one of them makes a mistake," Jinnai said, tension evident in his voice. "What's the matter, Jinnai?" the first Fatora asked. "Yeah," the second Fatora said. "Can't you tell us apart? Is it really that difficult?" Jinnai's fury grew. "Well, it's hardly surprising that you look so similar! A cowardly, conniving, transvestite deviant and a cowardly, conniving lesbian deviant!" "You missed one of us out!" cried a voice from behind Jinnai's back. He looked around to see Makoto charging into Sakura, causing her to drop her weapon. "What? THREE of them? But how..." Jinnai looked between the Makoto behind him and the two Fatoras ahead of him. "This isn't fair! Are you mocking me?" The second Fatora's image began to ripple. The illusion dropped, and Amiri fell to the floor, exhausted. "I can't keep it up... anymore..." she panted. "That's okay, you did your job," Fujisawa said. Makoto continued to wrestle with Sakura. "Damn it..." he cursed. "Why can't I link with you?" "What are you doing?" Sakura demanded as she fought back. "You've got some nerve trying to... hey!" Makoto pressed his hands against Sakura's metallic armour. "This should be working..." She gasped. "Now I know what you're trying to do!" She took in a deep breath, and screamed at the top of her voice- "PERVERT!" "No!" That's not what I'm doing!" Makoto protested. As he recoiled, Sakura took the opportunity to pick up her Power Key Unit. "Excellent," a voice said. To the surprise of everyone, the voice belonged to Qawoor. "What's going on?" Fujisawa asked. Ifurita answered with a worried expression. "I think she's been possessed again. It's Arjah." "Sakura, this is your master speaking," Qawoor said, expressionless. "I want you to kill Makoto Mizuhara immediately." With glazed eyes, Sakura pointed the Power key Unit at Makoto. He only had one more chance. He grabbed the end of the weapon. He didn't expect it to work, but oddly enough, it did. The two bodies froze as their minds linked. "Damn," said Qawoor. "Too late." Then she passed out. Makoto was surrounded by light. He was familiar with this experience, but this was not the welcoming mind of Ifurita. He allowed himself to drift. Sakura was in here somewhere... There was somebody up ahead. A figure, sat alone. Could it be... "Sakura?" Makoto asked cautiously. "Is that you?" The mists cleared, and he could see her at last. "Yeah," she said moodily. "What do you want?" "It's... you," Makoto said. "You, like you used to be." This wasn't the Demon God Sakura that they'd grown used to. This was Sakura Tamaro, Japan's Favourite Solo Artist. She was wearing her usual idol singer's uniform- platform shoes and a scandalously revealing dress, she shock value of which was somewhat reduced by the fact that she rarely wore a dress which WASN'T scandalously revealing. "What have you done to me?" Sakura demanded. "What's with all this light?" "I'm here to help you," Makoto said. "You don't have to carry on like this, Sakura. You don't have to obey Jinnai's orders." Sakura looked puzzled. "I know." Makoto hadn't expected to hear this. "Um... you do? But then why DO you obey him?" "Well, because..." She paused briefly, trying to gather her thoughts. "I just... I mean, it's just what I do." She frowned back at Makoto. "So what's your problem?" "But this is wrong!" Makoto insisted. "The Sakura I remember from Earth was... well, she may not have been perfect, but she certainly wasn't the type to cause mass destruction. Why are you doing this?" "Because she wants to," said a cold, commanding voice. "Because WE want to." Another figure joined Sakura. It took Makoto a moment to realise that this was also Sakura, albeit a very different Sakura. She was a Demon God, fully mechanical; with so may modifications that she was rendered almost unrecognisable. "I see," Makoto nodded. "You must be Sakura's Demon God half." "We destroy because that is what we were designed to do," the Demon Sakura said. Makoto shook his head. "No. That's what YOU were designed to do. You're not the real Sakura!" He turned to the human Sakura. "You must realise she's controlling you. You can't tell me you actually enjoy causing such misery..." The human Sakura looked momentarily vulnerably. "Well... sometimes I..." "Quiet!" the Demon Sakura commanded. "You enjoy it as much as I do. Power, Sakura. Isn't that what you've always wanted?" "Yes, yes!" the human Sakura agreed. "I want people to love me!" "But they don't!" Makoto said. "People don't love you. They're afraid of you." "It's the same thing," said the Demon Sakura. "Either way, they respect you." Makoto continued his mental assault. "Do you really want to be this way forever?" "Of course she does," the Demon Sakura laughed. "She 's the most powerful, most feared entity in the world!" "But I don't!" the human Sakura shouted. "I don't want to stay as a Demon God forever! I don't!" Her Demon half frowned at the challenge to its dominance. "You don't know what you want. You're too weak to make decisions by yourself." "But I hate being a Demon God!" the human Sakura cried. "I hate it! It's horrible!" "Right!" Makoto encouraged. "You hate being responsible for all of this horror, don't you?" She continued to cry. "I mean... how am I ever gonna get a rich boyfriend when I've got metal underwear and a hole in my back?" Makoto sighed. "Well, I guess that works too..." The link severed, and Sakura fell to the floor. Makoto backed away and ran towards the rescue party. "Okay! Now's our chance! Let's go!" "Hey!" Jinnai yelled. "Mizuhara, you bastard! What did you do to her?" He wasn't given the benefit of an answer, as the rescue party escaped deeper into the hive. "Amiri," Nanami said as they ran, "I know you're tired, but do you think you can cloak us, just for a while?" "I'll try..." the doctor replied. "How's Qawoor?" Three had the unconscious priestess slung over her shoulder. "Still asleep. I hope she wakes up soon, we may need her powers..." "What did you see, Makoto?" Nanami probed. Did you manage to free Sakura?" "Well, not really," Makoto sighed. "It's as if there's two of her. The old Sakura, and a Demon God Sakura. They're conflicting personalities." "You mean like a good and bad Sakura?" Fujisawa asked. Makoto paused. "Um... sort of. But to be honest, they were both pretty obnoxious..." Alielle fell to her knees. "It's no good... I can't run any further. I'm sorry." "It's okay," Mari said. "Come on, I'll carry you." She lifted Alielle, and found it to be surprisingly difficult. "Shit, when did you get so heavy?" "Well, I AM pregnant," Alielle replied. "It's not just me, it's the baby." "Yeah, yeah, blame someone else," Mari said as she struggled along the passageway. Alielle glanced at their surroundings. "Mari, I don't think this is going to work. All of these passages look the same, and we don't even know where the hangars are." "Don't worry," Mari reassured. "I'm not sure why, but I've got a good feeling that we're going to get out of this." Five large Bugrom marched around the corner. Mari turned to retreat, but found that the way back was blocked my even more Bugrom. Mari sighed. "You might want to ignore what I just said." Alielle climbed down, and surveyed the wall of Bugrom that surrounded them. "Damn. They must have got wise to your plan, Mari." "Yeah," Mari nodded. "So this is how it ends. Just as meaningless as I thought it would be. It's a shame, you know... I really wanted to sleep with more cute girls..." "Me too," Alielle added. "And to think I was so close to the big one thousand..." Mari gasped. "Oh my God!" "Don't act so surprised, Mari. You were one of them." "No, I just thought of something," Mari said excitedly. She stood in front of Alielle and addressed the Bugrom. "Alright, you... Bugrom! If you want her, you'll have to come through me. And you can't! You know why? Because I'm Death, and if you touch me, you'll die!" One of the bugs walked up to Mari and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "Um, Mari?" Alielle said. "I don't think regular Bugrom can understand human languages." "Oh." Mari looked down at the floor. "I suck." There was an explosion, close by. Mari, Alielle and most of the Bugrom were thrown to the ground. Alielle shielded her face from the smoky air, and extended her other hand in search of a solid object to pull herself up. She felt a hand in hers. "Need some help there, lover?" a familiar voice said. She looked up in disbelief. "F... Fatora?" Fatora lifted her up. "Alielle, my sweet. How I've longed for this moment. Through the endless nights I... wow! You've got so fat!" Makoto sighed. "Charming." Alielle giggled. "Oh, Fatora. You don't know just how much I've missed you." As Ifurita picked off the remaining bugs with energy blasts, Nanami saw Mari lying amongst the debris. "Mari? Are you okay?" Mari looked up. "Oh... oh my... Nanami!" She scrambled to her feet and threw herself into Nanami's arms. "You came to rescue me! I don't believe it! Oh, I love you so much, I..." She stopped, as she realised what she was doing. She let go of Nanami and stepped back. "Well, anyway... yeah. Hi." Nanami looked guilty. "Listen, Mari. You should know that I..." "Come on!" Fujisawa yelled. "This place is gonna be full of Bugrom soon! We have to go!" "What if the Bugrom see us?" Alielle asked. "That won't happen," Fatora replied as the team retraced their steps. "Amiri's got us cloaked." Alielle blinked. "Huh? But I thought that..." "I'll explain later," Amiri said. "Damn, this is hard work..." "I think Qawoor's coming round," Three called. "Okay," Makoto called back. "Just keep an eye on her for now." Ifurita frowned. "We don't seem to be encountering as much resistance as we were before." "That's good, isn't it?" Fatora asked. "Not really. It suggests that they may be concentrating their forces further ahead." Nahato stood at the head of a small army of troops- mostly Bugrom, with a lesser number of Phantom Tribe marksmen at the front. They were coming, he could hear them. But when they came around the corner, he saw something surprising. There was a distortion. Of course, Nahato couldn't be fooled by illusions, but he could tell that one was being projected. "Stop!" he commanded. Finding themselves cut off, the rescue party halted their advance. Nahato stared, trying to disguise his confusion. "What is the origin of this illusion?" he asked. "I am." Amiri walked to the front of the rescue party, and returned Nahato's stare. "You wish," Nahato replied. "If you could do that, you wouldn't be cowering behind the Roshtarian government." "Not all of us wanted to be part of your little dictatorship," Amiri said, her voice wavering. "By the time my powers developed, I had my own loyalties." "I had no idea," Nahato hissed, "that anyone could be so stupid." He walked straight up to the doctor, and smiled. "You're just as misguided as your husband was, Amiri." Silence. The two adversaries glared at each other, neither prepared to make a move. "Makoto," Ifurita whispered. "I think I have an idea. But it's... risky. And it's going to require some careful timing." Makoto turned his head. "Timing?" "I'll need to wait until Nahato moves away from Amiri." The stand off continued. "Come along, Amiri," Nahato taunted. "I know how long you've waited for this opportunity." Amiri didn't respond. "If I'd realised how treacherous you were all those years ago, I'd have killed you at the same time as I killed your husband." Nobody expected Amiri to tolerate this comment, but she did. "I'm sorry, Nahato," she said at last. "But I'm not like you. I don't play your games." Nahato shook his head and stepped back. "How disappointing." "Ifurita!" Makoto called. "Now!" The rescue party was suddenly engulfed in a brilliant white light. Nahato shielded his eyes. "What are you waiting for? Fire!" The Phantom Tribe marksmen obliged with volleys of weapons fire. "Sir! The shots aren't making contact!" one of the soldiers said. "They're being repelled by the energy barrier!" "What ARE they doing?" Nahato pondered. A few seconds later, he had an answer. The energy folded in on itself, and collapsed back into the fabric of space. "They're gone!" exclaimed one of the soldiers. "Yes," Nahato nodded. "But where?" "Where are we?" Fatora demanded. Makoto smiled nervously. "Well, we're still not..." "Where are we? Where are we? Where are we? Where are we?" "I'm still trying to calculate our exact position," Ifurita interrupted, "but I believe this is Dorusland." Fujisawa looked up at the trees. "Damn. All these El-Hazard forests look alike to me. Still..." He brightened. "That was clever thinking back there. Using dimensional transport to take us to a new place inside the same dimension... Genius." "Unfortunately, it took a lot of power," Ifurita replied. "And I wasn't able to target very efficiently. It's not an accurate process." At the other side of the clearing, Nanami watched a figure who sat amongst the trees, hunched over, silent. She'd done what she was supposed to do. So why did she still feel this awkwardness? "I thought you'd be happy to see her back," someone said. "Oh... Alielle!" Nanami responded, surprised. "I... I am happy." "Could've fooled me." Nanami sighed. "Okay... so I'm not. I don't know why." "You should talk to Mari," Alielle advised. "I know, I know!" Nanami said, frustrated. "But she's just so... I mean, why does she have to make everything so difficult?" Alielle put her hand on Nanami's shoulder. "Aw. It's sweet that you don't want to hurt her feelings. But she deserves an answer, Nanami. You have to say something." "Master Makoto? I'm... so sorry." Makoto smiled. "Thanks, Qawoor, but you don't need to apologise. To be honest, I was almost reassured by what happened when Arjah took control of you." "But didn't he try to make Sakura kill you?" "Well, yeah... but when Arjah spoke to me a while back, it really freaked me out. I still don't understand how his plan works, but he was convinced he'd already won. I was even starting to believe him... but if he's already won, why did he try to kill me?" "He must know that you still pose a threat to him," Qawoor reasoned. "Exactly," Makoto nodded. "That means there must still be a way to stop him. It means there's still hope..." "Cerev!" Miz called. "Dinner's almost ready!" There was no response. "Where is that boy?" Miz sighed. "Cerev?" She ascended the stairs and looked into each room in turn. She finally located him on the balcony. "There you are," she said. "Come on, Cerev. Your dinner's waiting." "Thank you, Mrs Fujisawa," Cerev replied, getting up. "Oh... Mrs Fujisawa..." "Yes?" He pointed out at the sky. "What are those spots?" Miz looked puzzled. "Spots?" Then she saw them. All over Florestica, people were noticing the spots in the sky. They were just large enough to see, but far too small for anyone to make out any detail. They hung in the sky at an unknown altitude. Some people even claimed they were moving, but if they were, it was very, very slow. One feature, already remarked upon by some people, was that the spots were particularly concentrated around the Eye of God. TO BE CONCLUDED "The Deviant Ones" featured- Makoto Mizuhara, Princess Alielle, Mari Kurai, Princess Fatora, Katsuhiko Jinnai, Doctor Amiri, Nanami Jinnai, Sakura Tamaro, Shayla- Shayla, Masamichi Fujisawa, Queen Chibi-Diva, Afura Mann, Ifurita, Qawoor Towles, Tenax, Parnasse Ralielle, Miz Fujisawa, Nahato, King Fran, Ifurita Version Three, Princess Rune Venus, Arjah, Ura, Jennown Doht, Tyrasse Ralielle, Adena Ralielle, Lora-chan and Cerev. dooky 7th April 2002 Proofreading courtesy of the magnificent Firebird... you should probably call her princess.
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