Xelloss admired his dimly lit, state-of-the-art command center,
complete with multiple large display screens, industrial refrigerator,
microwave, dartboard, and Playstation 2 (with widescreen TV and
surround screen) before turning to face his newly-elected second-in-
command, a hardened battleaxe of a warrior who would probably be
replaced in a few days and so needed no name. The villain's formidably
ridiculous smile, which was easily enough to terrify his lesser
subordinates when brought to bear on them, had no effect on the man.
Which is unfortunate for him, thought the antagonist in a disturbingly
violent manner.  I'll be forced to break him to my will with my...
[evil]... laugh...

"I believe," he said slowly, "that it is time to send the trigger."

"Of course, my lord," came the crisp reply.

It was at last time to set plans laid long ago into action, thought
Xelloss in supreme satisfaction.  It was time for...


------------
Chapter 32 : Valor and treachery... what else need be said?
------------

Otaku Wish Fulfillment Theater

Started by Scott Schimmel



Deep, penetrating blackness spread across the sky.  Scattered upon it
were uncountable billions of white pinpoints of light, broad bands of
which were indiscrimately scrawled on the backdrop.  Free from the
effects of atmospheric distortion, the stars were far more brilliant
and numerous than most people realized.  This is the scenery that Kate
found herself gazing at in utter fascination.

Shiny...  Her thoughts were temporarily broken from complete absorbtion
by a flashing red warning light next to the three-dimensional radar
display to her right.  After a few seconds had passed, the automated
speaker system in the DanZig(tm) issued a general alert in a slow,
monotonous female voice.

"WARNING:  UNINDENTIFIED SATELLITE DETECTED."

Steve, who had seated herself in the copilot's seat, looked over at the
radar console, mentally extrapolating the course of the blinking yellow
dot which was steadily closing in on the solid green dot which
represented their ship.  Well, it's not going to hit us, anyway, she
thought, somewhat relieved.  She looked around at the rest of the crew
of the dimly lit technological marvel, namely, the destined heroes and
mascot, who had taken whatever seats they had felt like sitting in when
the DanZig had launched.  As a result, Illyria had found himself in the
pilot's chair and was at that moment contemplating the multi-levered
throttle control.  Scott was near the enormous array of buttons and
viewscreens on engineering consoles of the oversized (though
impressively simple) Zig.  Kate had unwittingly commissioned herself as
the radar operator, although the ninja didn't seem terribly interested
in her post.  Ardweden had promoted herself to weapons officer, which
considering the martial artist's nature would not have been her first
choice.  Damole, who had been entirely silent for the duration of the
flight, had suspiciously vanished into the engine compartment.  As for
Damien, he was sandwiched in near the back of the large fighter.

The sidekick searched the forward view for some sign of the rogue
object, but couldn't see anything remarkably out of place in the
dazzling sea of stars.  Her concentration was broken by a sudden
outburst from Kate.

"Maybe we'll get to go to a space station!" said the ninja excitedly.
"Wouldn't that be cool?!"

Steve considered the concept.  If Garrett had really escaped into
space, as the Melkor stones had revealed, the odds of encountering a
permanent structure in orbit weren't bad.  She did, however, have some
doubts as to the accurracy of the information given by the devices that
did something 'really cool'.  After all, beam of light they were taking
direction from could easily have come back down, just as it had done
when they told it 'Find Steve'.  Where it would have come down was,
however, anyone's guess.

Her thoughts were again interrupted, this time by the computerized
voice, which impassively droned, "INCOMING TRANSMISSION."  The heroes
turned their attention to the centrally-mounted holographic display on
which an image was slowly flickering to life.  As the figure slowly
materialized, it began taking an uncanny resemblance to someone they
knew all too well.

Upon seeing the final shape of the small form, Scott promptly planted
her face on her palm.  It's not fair, she brooded unhappily.
Meanwhile, the projection of someone in a billowing purple cloak had
begun to speak, it's mouth and had motions uncoordinated with its
words.

"HOW ARE YOU GENTLEMEN ?!" it said, shaking a gloved hand at its
audience well after it had stopped speaking.

The DanZig shook with the loud "..."s emanating from the party.  Kate,
the first to recover from the shock caused by the horribly abused and
burned-out gag, realized that the person was not actually CATS, but
someone far more logical and relevant to the plot.

"XELLOSS!" she cried, pointing a finger at his hologram accusingly.

"Indeed," he replied, his voice not matching the sinister costume very
well.  "I would like very much to stay and chat, but I'm afraid that
you've driven in to my little trap sooner than I expected."

"WHAT YOU-" started Steve.  She was abruptly cut off by Xelloss, who
continued to speak and gesticulate seemingly at random.

"However, I would be more than obliged if you dropped in some time."
His excrutiatingly painful laughter then echoed through the ship as he
cackled at the (as yet unexplained) pun he had managed to pull off.  At
least, it did so until Steve, covering her ears, flipped the 'Mute'
switch.  After a few moments the image vanished and the lights on the
holographic transmitter fell dark.

"..." commented Illyria.

"I know," said Kate.  "What was that all about?"

Nobody seemed to have a valid answer, which was not terribly surprising
considering the circumstances.  The heroes stared at one another
blankly for a while, until at last Steve, being more prone to deep
thoughts than some of the other heroes, proposed a solution to the
question.

"Maybe he's trying to divert our attention from something else," she
said.

"Like...what?" asked Ardweden, whose attention was on the verge of
returning to the shiny, incredibly distant lights outside.

"..." proposed Illyria.

"Right!" agreed Kate, finding the idea much to her liking.  "Maybe he
wanted us to turn around.  Which must mean we're going the right way!"

In her excitement, the ninja had spoken much louder than the relatively
quiet speaker, which had plainly stated, "ELECTRO-MAGNETIC PULSE
DETECTED," just moments earlier.  Also, her attention was obviously not
on watching the radar display, which showed a spherical outline of a
shockwave emanating from where the sattelite they had largely ignored
earlier had been.  Accordingly, the heroes were taken totally off guard
when all of the electric systems on the DanZig unexpectedly shut down.
This included the light systems, and they found themselves plunged into
total darkness.

"That can't be good," commented Steve, or rather, Steve's voice, as she
might as well have been invisible to the others.  However, her analysis
of the situation proved exceedingly accurate, as the low gravity level
slowly but surely pulled the nose of the ship around until they were
facing back towards the world they had launched from.  Actually, the
view wasn't too bad, decided the sidekick.  From their altitude, the
small islands and continents looked immaculately green, their subtle
ridges of mountains barely disturbing the otherwise smooth plains.  The
surrounding blue ocean silently shimmered in the first traces of golden
sunlight.  She subconsciously traced the receding shadow line far below
which marked the slow retreat of night over the near side of the
planet.  Thin regions of brilliantly white clouds floated lazily in the
front viewscreen, and, as she watched, grew steadily larger.

"..." noted the astutely observant Illyria.

"Yep," agreed Steve as the descent rapidly picked up pace.  "We're
doomed."

------------

On earth, it is well known that an object attempting reentry at too
steep and angle is liable to burn up from friction with the atmosphere.
It is also well known that too shallow of an angle can result in the
object bouncing off of the same atmosphere.  Both of these results
would of course have been disastrous for the plummeting DanZig and its
crew of destined heroes.

However, it is a long-established fact that many RPGs contain laws of
physics which are either radically different from those we are used to
or, as in the later Final Fantasy games, are prone to multiple
standards.  For example, for those of you familiar with Final Fantasy
7, Cloud's Meteorain limit break would be impossible under the
traditional laws of physics.  However, under the modified rules in his
world, he is easily able to leap twenty feet into the air, where his
upward velocity is promptly stopped by a sudden increase in gravity,
which is summarily nullified in the local space around Cloud, allowing
him to remain hovering at that height.  Then, he is able to
spontaneously generate matter (or energy, which is converted to matter)
in the form of superheated rocks, which must also contain a significant
amount of spontaneously generated heat energy.  The gravitational law
is then reinvoked for the meteors, which inexplicably home in on their
intended targets and nothing else.  Furthermore, the necessary reaction
caused with propelling the massive boulders forward is negated.
Finally, Cloud also falls once more under the law of gravity and
returns to the ground.  Although this may seem like a rather long
example, it is essential that this rule is established, and this
principle kept in mind whenever RPG or RPG-like material is in
question.

That being said, the uncontrollable ship continued to pick up
tremendous velocity as its potential energy was dramitically converted
kinetic energy.  To an observer on the ground, the impressively fast
fall would have looked much like a fiery plume of smoke as the air
directly ahead of the craft was violently compressed and forced into
combustion.  To those inside the vehicle, the event was significantly
more terrifying, as the giant Zig began a brutal spin on it's axis and
the cabin temperature rose exponentially.

"WE'RE GONNA DIE!!!!" squawked Damien, molting in distress to emphasize
his point.  None of the other heroes were able to respond, as they were
plastered to the scorching walls by the tendencies of inertia, which
for now were relatively unmodified.  The phoenix, who was better suited
to resisting the heat, stared with terror out of the front windscreen.
Through it he could see the cloud banks effortlessly give way before
them, and soon he observed the small, gray, teardrop-shaped island
spiralling ominously closer by the second.  However, it soon became
obvious that the ship would collide with the placidly rolling sea
first, now visible in disturbingly clear detail.

"Brace...for...impact..." said Steve through clenched teeth.  However,
the sidekick realized that there was no way that anyone, herself
included, could free themselves and comply with the order.  She was
sweating profusely now, both from the unbelievably hot metal she was
anchored to and the expectable anxiety arising from watching the world
spin rapidly towards her.  She took a deep breath just before the
vehicle connected with the unsuspecting waters.  Contact, she thought,
and then all went black.

------------

When she finally opened her eyes, she found herself resting on a soft
patch of grass, her head propped up on a remarkably comfortable smooth,
flat rock.  Steve observed the position of the sun in the sky, noting
that at least a few hours had passed since they had made planetfall.
Did that really happen? she wondered in disbelief.  Struggling, she
pushed herself up onto her elbows and had a good look at the
surrounding scenery.

To her left, Ardweden and Kate were both unconscious, and both looked
fairly bruised and battered, considering what they had just gone
through.  To her right, Scott was sitting down and leaning against the
squat trunk of a low, leafless tree, which provided her with marginal
shade.  Upon closer examination Steve noticed that the magical girl had
an ugly skid mark on her left shoulder, and seemed covered from head to
foot in a layer of brownish dust.

The sidekick, feeling somewhat more capable capable of standing than
she had a minute earlier, slowly got to her feet.  No broken bones, she
observed.  Amazing...  She had not escaped unscathed, however.  Her
arms and legs were covered with various bruises, and, after running her
hand through her hair, found that it was well singed in areas.  Still,
she felt functional enough.

Looking around some more, Steve saw that the party was on a narrow
peninsula jutting out into the lapping waves of the ocean, which
stretched as far as the eye could see before her.  Light, wispy clouds
had begun forming far overhead, partially shielding the soft morning
light from the sun.  A mild sea breeze blew inland, rustling the
occasional tufts of grass peeking out from between low mounds of
granite.

"Welcome back, Steve," came a voice from behind her.  She turned to
face the speaker and found none other than the group mascot lazily
plucking charred feathers from his plumage.  After a moment, Damien got
up and indicated the red-suited figure on the ground to his right,
which the sidekick had completely failed to notice before then.  "You
might want to make sure Dan's alright.  He's been through a lot, you
know."

Steve was surprised by the phoenix's remarkably calm attitude as she
went to investigate the sleeping mecha.  Although she had never thought
about it, Dan had probably taken the most damage from the crash.
However, he didn't look all THAT terrible.  His suit was scraped up,
and dented here and there, but still looked servicable.  His helmet was
off, showing only a bruised forehead and a few minor cuts and
abrasions.  And at least he was able to return from his Zig form, she
thought.  That was definitely good.

After a minute the mecha opened his eyes, which looked somewhat hazy as
they squinted in the comparatively bright light.  His first action was
to rub his forehead, and he slurred the question, "Where...am I?"

"Uh..."  Steve wasn't really sure, and so just replied, "Right here."

Dan had by now become fully aware of just how pain he was in.  "Damn.
I feel like crap."

"Don't we all," consoled the sidekick, helping the leader get shakily
upright.  She noticed his repeated attempts to undeploy his mecha
outfit, all of which ended in failure.  "You're suit's been drained of
power," she explained.

"No, really?" remarked the mecha sarcastically.  "Sorry," he added
after a long silence.  "Like I said, I don't feel so hot."

For lack of anything better to do, Scott had wandered over during their
conversation, and was now leaning against a weathered outcropping
nearby.  After a while she finally decided to speak up.  "Where's
Illyria?" she asked, looking around and noticing only five others.

Steve and Dan also looked around, and both found that the bishounen was
indeed missing from the peaceful little stretch of land they were
standing on.

"Hey, Damien!" called Steve, Damien having wandered off to check on
Kate and Ardweden, who were still fast asleep.  "Where's Illyria?!"
The phoenix glanced over at her and eventually pointed with one of his
wings to a line of foothills rising behind the sidekick.  Turning, she
saw a pair of dots far up on the gentle rise of one of the great,
grassy mounds.  To the right of the two figures there seemed to be some
herd of small animals grazing lazily on the foliage.  Further still to
the right was a narrow dirt path which ran between the crests of two of
the larger hills.

"I wonder what they're up to?" she thought out loud, indicating the
distant people.

------------

"..."  Illyria looked over the shepherd for the third time in as many
minutes.  He was thin and somewhat haggard in appearance, clothed in a
simple, frayed burlap robe and relying heavily on his gnarled staff for
support.  His sheep-like flock was busy making short work of the gently
waving grasses and occassional wildflower.

"Don't ya speak English, laddie?"  The man wasn't quite sure what to
make of this strange warrior with a practically nonexistant vocabulary
and a charred trench coat.  Maybe he just can't speak at all, he
thought.  Or maybe he doesn't want to talk to me.  But then, why's he
been standing there for so long?  It was all very perplexing to the
simple herdsman.  Eventually, he decided to pass the responsibility on
to the people living in the village over the hills.  If nothing else,
he figured, it would get him out of my hair for a while.

"Thar be a town just over dat ridge, there," he said slowly, nodding
his head toward the ridgeline to his right.  "Maybe you can get some
help there."

"..."

"You're right welcome, lad."  And with that he returned to the tending
of his white, furry beasts.

------------

"So," asked Kate, who had just woken up and yet appeared as ready for
adventure as ever.  Excepting, of course, the nasty headache she
appeared to have contracted.  "Ow."  She paused to rub the sides of her
head before resuming her sentence.  "How did we end up on land?  I
thought for sure we were gonna hit the ocean."  She vaguely indicated
the royal blue expanse behind her.

"We did," explained Dan, who would logically be the authority on this
subject.  "Or rather, I did," he pointed out.  "You guys were nice and
safe inside a sealed cabin."  Noticing the battered state of the
others, he added, "Well, sort of."

Steve, who felt like doing some explanation too, picked up where the
mecha left off.  "Once we impacted with the water, we probably skipped
two or three times befores sliding to a rest on this peninsula."  She
pointed to the long, shallow trench leading from well down the
coastline to near where the party was standing.  It was pretty much
unremarkable except for being very straight.

Kate attempted to visuallize the Zig bouncing across the waves like a
stone.  After a while, she resumed questioning.  "So, why are you still
in your mecha suit, Dan?"

Steve spoke up before the mecha could get a word in.  "The
electromagnetic pulse caused us to fall from orbit because it shorted
out all of Dan's electrical systems, like the engines and manuevering
thrusters," she said, quickly establishing herself as technical advisor
for the rest of the destined heroes.  "These systems were shielded
specifically to prevent any permanent damage from such an attack, but
they will need to be reset... something we can't do without the proper
equipment.  Also, his batteries were discharged, so he'll have to
refill those, too."

"Why isn't he still in 'Zig' mode, then?" asked Kate, following that
information to its logical conclusion.

"Uh... I don't have an answer for that one," replied the sidekick, at a
loss.

Dan, not altogether comfortable with constantly being referred to in
the third person (while he was standing right there), was somewhat
relieved when the subject was spontaneously changed by Kate, who had
just done a visual sweep of the area.

"Hey, wait a minute!" she said.  "Where's Damole?"  It seemed that they
had completely forgotten about the strange addition to the party, and,
after looking around, the heroes came to the same conclusion.

"He's gone," said Steve, speaking for everyone.

"I hope he didn't get hurt in the crash," said Ardweden, who had also
risen from sleep and who seemed to get completely left out of dialogues
from time to time.  (Actually, this happened fairly often with Damien,
too, but he was, after all, the mascot.)

"Not likely," commented Dan.  "In fact, he probably took off right
after it happened."

What the heck is going on here? thought Steve.  The character's sudden,
unannounced departure seemed just a little too convenient.  Almost as
if it was planned that way, she decided, becoming reasonably concerned.
Had she known better, she would have seen the action as one author
shamelessly removing a previous author's creation from the story to
further serve his own twisted purposes.  As it was, the sidekick was
left with little clue as to what the case was.

Her musings were abruptly ended by Illyria's reappearance from his
information gathering quest.  The bishounen inexplicably appeared to be
in much better condition than any of the other heroes.

"What did you find out?" asked Ardweden.

"There's a town," said the bishounen quietly, indicating the hills
behind him.

Good, thought Dan as he promptly but wordlessly led the party to the
trail.  I could use some rest.  Of course, he realized, I doubt I can
sleep in this stupid outfit...

------------

Dan looked over the village quickly, which had rapidly grown from a
distant speck into a nearby speck.  Indeed, the town was little more
than a few shabby, diminutive houses arranged in a circle around some
ridiculously out-of-place ultra-modern edifice, which gave all
appearances of being decommissioned.  It was certainly disconcerting
for him to have his suit fully drained for so long, and he began having
doubts about finding any viable recharge station in the archaic
community.

Steve, on the other hand, took a far more optimistic outlook.  Maybe
there's a store around, she thought.  And that means...  Well, she
decided, I suppose I'd better not get my hopes up.

The disheveled party made their way through the main entryway and into
the heart of the settlement, earning them puzzled stares from a local
woman busy at work washing clothing in her yard and a pair of children
who had previously been playing "pin the tail on the chocobo" (an
activity that understandably made Damien nervous).  Aside from them,
there seemed to be no one else on the dusty street, or anywhere else
for that matter.

"It's quiet," commented Kate, wholly absorbed in the simple wooden
construction of the nearby abodes.

Too quiet, finished Dan mentally.  Something's not right, but what?  He
looked around at his surroundings, seeing a blanket fluttering on a
clothesline in the yellow morning sun, a dog (or what passed for one)
sleeping silently in a patch of shade, small tufts of grass sprouting
here and there around some of the small huts.  In short, nothing that
should have aroused his suspicions.  Still, he just had one of those
bad feelings, and would have said something had this been a Star Wars
movie.  As it was, he kept his thoughts to himself.

All further contemplation was cut short by Illyria's authoritative
voice.  "..." he said, pointing.

"Wai!" cried Kate, jumping up and down in excitement.  "A store!"

Steve also took great interest in the object in question.  Maybe, she
thought.  Just maybe...

Dan, without comment, headed off in the direction of the somewhat
larger, though no more technologically advanced, building, and the
other destined heroes (and one mascot) followed eagerly after him.

------------

Once inside, Kate instantly gravitated to the relatively small
selection of various weapons, ranging from a set of small throwing
knives, to a multi-headed flail, to a simple, heavy-looking two-handed
sword with a long, thick handle.  The last item caught her attention,
and she considered it for a while.  That's strange, she mused, I never
thought of it before, but nobody in our party wields an impractically
heavy sword.  She continued pondering what the significance of this
information was for a few more seconds before returning her attention
to the boxed set of giant shuriken.

Meanwhile, Steve had made her way through the dimly lit store to a
dusty glass case near the front desk.  She attempted to peer into it,
but could barely make out the labels on the myriad vials and flasks
inside.  Eventually, the store manager, an elderly gentleman with only
traces of white hair on the edges of his sunburned head, saw her.  "You
looking for something?" he asked, his voice shaky from age and the
uncertainty of how to deal with the first outsiders he had seen in a
long time.

"Yes," said the sidekick, taking a deep breath.  "I was wondering if
you had any revitalization potions in stock."  She then waited
anxiously as the man opened the sliding back of the case and slowly
examined the extensive array of containers.  After a long pause he slid
the glass panel shut and shook his head.  Well, thought Steve, it was
worth a shot.

"Thanks anyway," she said, wondering how long it would be before she
returned to her male form.  Maybe I'm doomed to be like Scott for the
rest of this adventure, she thought dejectedly.  I guess I'll just have
to get used to it.

Then, something totally unexpected (by Steve, at least) happened.  "No,
I have a few," said the storekeep.  "I just forgot that I haven't taken
the new batch out of storage.  Don't get a lot of customers around
here, you know."  With that he headed out of the back door, which was
kept covered with a crudely woven rug.

While waiting expectantly for him to return, Steve took the opportunity
to check in on what his traveling companions were up to.  Kate had
picked up an elegant, brightly polished scimitar and was marvelling at
the shininess of it, which was still very apparent in the dull indoor
light.  Dan had wandered off in search of a recharger at the modern
structure that they had observed coming into town.  Ardweden had
likewise wandered off, considering the food supplies sold in the store
terribly unappetizing and searching for a decent place to eat some
breakfast.  Damien was outside, doing his best to avoid the two
children who had long since dropped their game and were at the moment
attempting to keep him still long enough to mount a saddle on him.
Scott was currently in the process of trying to remove a silver ring
which she had found on a table and subconsciously slipped on.  Illyria
stood in the corner (if circular buildings can be said to have corners)
with arms crossed, brooding over an large knot in the redwood floor.

It was not long before the man returned, carrying a small wooden crate
which he set down on his desk.  "Now, let's see here..."  He checked
the various bottles one by one, and eventually found one labeled
'ReVit'.  "Ah, here we are," he said, picking it up and handing it to
the anxious sidekick.

"WAI!" she cried, taking it eagerly and examining the narrow, tinted
container filled with a liquid which would hopefully get her back to
normal (so to speak) once more.  She went just outside the door and
experimentally held it up to the sun while sloshing its around,
attempting to determine if the potion was indeed the one she had been
looking for.  It was quite a while before she realized that her chemist
powers had been stripped from her, and that she would just have to
trust the label.  After this somewhat discouraging insight, she ducked
back into the store.

"So," said the manager as Steve walked up to the desk, "are you
interested in purchasing it?"

The sidekick's spirits sank straight to the floor.  Dangit, she
thought.  I bet we can't afford it, and there probably won't be another
store for days, maybe even weeks.  Without really paying attention, she
replied, "How much?"

"115 GP," he said, taking no notice of her sudden reversal in attitude.
"Quite a bargain, I must say."

Kate, who had by now thoroughly examined every remotely shiny object in
the rustic establishment, had taken interest in Steve's attempted
purchase.  Incindentally, she was also in charge of party finances,
and, while habitually digging around in the small bag the money was
kept in, automatically responded, "Nope.  Sorry, don't have any-"  The
ninja stopped suddenly, finding something of interest buried deep
within the little brown leather sack.  "Wait a minute..."  She dug
around some more, and at last produced a pair of well-worn square coins
made of (ironically) silver.  "Wai!"  Kate handed them, worth 200 GP
together, to the manager, who opened a dusty cash register and
dutifully placed them in.  He then pulled out eight smaller round coins
and an even smaller hexagonal one before closing the device again.

"That's 85 GP in change," he said, dropping them into the ninja's hand
with the distinctive clink of coinage.  "Enjoy!"

Steve barely heard him.  No way! she thought as she moved the center of
the room.  Her doubts quickly got the better of her, though.  Maybe it
isn't the right one after all, she considered, or maybe fixing my
problem won't be that simple, or what if I drop it, or what if...

She realized that regardless of whether the plan worked or not, the
potion was bought and paid for already, and so she decided that she
might as well put the hypotheses to test.  What went through the old
man's head when the sidekick suddenly turned herself into a bishounen
is anyone's guess.  However, Steve soon found herself not a she
anymore, at least temporarily.  This in itself was comforting, (s)he
was still doubtful as to whether the plan would actually work.

Here goes, he said, taking a swig from the bottle.  He nearly spit it
out once his tongue informed him of just how incredibly bitter the
stuff really was.  Yuck, he thought, actively suppressing his gag
reflex and forcing the liquid down.  I don't remember it tasting this
bad before.  He stood there for a few moments, waiting impatiently for
something to happen.  When nothing did, he remembered that he would
have to return to his non-emulating form to determine if the potion had
done its job.  With much anxiety he did so.

"..." commented Illyria.

"Hey!" said Kate.  "It worked!"

Steve could hardly believe that he was back to being a guy.  There
should be some catch somewhere, he thought.  Or maybe it will only last
a few minutes.  Or maybe-

"That seemed suspiciously easy," commented the sidekick, eyeing the
bottle he still held in his hand.  It seemed odd that such potions
never displayed an ingredients label, even though they were obviously
intended for consumption.  What's in this stuff? he wondered.  Maybe
it's poisonous.  Or maybe it contains the ebola virus.  Or maybe-

"Well," reasoned Kate, "some things have to be easy in order for the
difficult things to seem difficult."  The ninja was then distracted by
the sudden reappearance of Ardweden, who revealed that she had failed
in her quest for decent food.  She also told the others that Dan had
found a place for them to rest nearby, and he was waiting there for
them.

The party purchased some additional food supplies (which were on sale),
and were obliged to spend 5 GP on the cheap ring that Scott was still
unable to get off her finger, before exiting the stuffy building and
heading off to a much needed break.

------------

Dan opened his eyes.  In front of him stood a tall, lawyerish man in a
blue suit jacket and tie carrying a dark brown leather briefcase.  He
seemed to be talking to a very exited Kate, although his speech was too
quiet to hear.  The mecha unconsciously checked to make sure that the
rest of the party was nearby, and seeing that this was the case, got up
from the bench he had been resting on.

On doing so he felt instantly dizzy, as the blood flow to his brain was
temporarily reduced.  He shut his eyes and in a few seconds the
sensation went away, replaced by an ache somewhere in his right
forearm.  He was thankful to himself for picking a spot underneath a
large oak tree, as the noon sun seemed to fairly intense before being
filtered through the rustling, dark green leaves.  At least I didn't
oversleep, he thought.

The suited person noticed the mecha's movements, and pointed in his
direction.  Kate looked up, and, seeing Dan finally awake, said, "Hey,
Dan!  Come here!"  In a few seconds the mecha had joined them, still
looking very much the worse for wear.  After another few ackward
seconds, the ninja spoke up.

"Dan, this is Mr., uh, Mr..." she faltered.

"Trustnot," finished the particularly suave businessman.  Extending his
hand to Dan, he added, "You must be the leader of Destined Heroes."
The mecha nodded affirmatively but looked at his hand as if it covered
with the Andromeda strain.  Not blinking an eye, the man put his arm
back down and straightened his tie.

"I have a favor I would like to ask of you," said Mr. Trustnot, placing
his briefcase on a conveniently placed bench and undoing the clasps
next to its handle.

Not again, grumbled Dan mentally as the enigmatic figure produced a set
of topographical maps, one of which was plainly marked with a neat 'X'.
The self-proclaimed leader was only half-listening when the man
launched into a long-winded dissertation.  The other heroes, noticing
the commotion, were just beginning to show signs of consciousness, and
eventually joined in the discussion as well.  The man's description of
the 'favor' ended up being repeated several times in order to
accommodate the latecomers, but was at long last finished.

Dan absently watched the mysterious person pack up his supplies and
wander off into the aging village.  His head had started throbbing all
over again, and his hearing was resultingly impaired, to the point
where he barely heard Kate's cry of "Onward!"  In a daze he followed
the others to the narrow dirt road winding through the foothills to the
south, leaving the simple town far behind.

And so began no less than another side quest for the party, and with
it... well, I'm not going to spoil it for you.

------------

Scott looked up at the forboding wall of snow-capped mountains rising
far above her through the thin golden clouds.  The glaciers picked up
the various hues of the slowly setting sun, and lengthening shadows
traced out imperfections in the granite face.  Ahead she could see the
dirt path winding rapidly up through a stand of pine and around a
jutting rock feature.

"Do we HAVE to?" she whined.

"Of course," replied Dan, getting somewhat irritated at her incessant
complaining.  "Why else would we be here?"

Kate had, meanwhile, begun ascending the slope.  She turned around
after a few moments, and, seeing everyone else well behind her, called
out, "Come on, you guys!  We're almost there now!"  She then pointed to
their distant objective, a well-hidden outline of a gray, crumbling
tower mounted on a ledge cut into the tallest peak in the mountain
range.

As the party had been traveling nearly the whole day (on foot, due to
the technicalities concerning Dan's suit), the others were somewhat
less enthusiastic about getting to wherever it was they were going.  I
hope that guy back there was right, thought Dan to himself.  Although
the businessman seemed friendly enough when he informed them that they
should search for a white tower in the southern mountains of the
island, Dan couldn't shake the nagging doubt about his honesty.  Still,
if nothing else, they would just end up losing a day or two, and in the
big scheme of things that really wasn't all that bad.

Showing varying degrees of weariness, the six heroes and one mascot
trudged slowly but steadily on.

------------

"I'm TIRED," said Scott, making her voice sound tired for greater
effect.

"We can't stop now!" chided Kate.  "We're almost there!"

"You go on, then.  I'm staying here and going to sleep."

Unfortunately for Kate, everyone else sided with Scott on this issue.
Night had fallen at last, and with it any appreciable visibility, as it
was a new moon and a hazy upper cloud layer shielded much of the
starlight.  Additionally, ahead lay the start of the snowfield, and
they weren't particularly interested in traversing it until they were
well rested.  Consequently, camp was set up a few minutes later, and
the customary fire was built.

"What's for dinner?" asked Ardweden.

Steve was unloading Damien (who had been converted to a pack...mule?
chocobo?) at that point, and at the suggestion he rummaged through one
of the saddlebags and produced six cans and a tighly-wrapped bundle of
some sort of greenery.  "These," he said, indicated the items.  "For
each of us, a can of canned food."

"What kind?" asked Scott after a few seconds.

"Not sure.  They're just labeled 'Food'."

"Sounds really appetizing..." muttered the magical girl sarcastically.

"For Damien, I picked up some ghysal greens when-"

"I am NOT a chocobo!!" interjected the angry manlike-birdlike-manlike
one.  "I won't eat them!!"

"Sorry, but that's all we bought for you," pointed out Kate, who was as
previously mentioned in charge of group finances and purchases.  "Of
course, we've got some sylkis greens for tomorrow if you'd rather-"

Damien, completely exasperated, stormed out of the firelight, grumbling
about the well-known fact that he bore only minimal resemblance to a
chocobo.  At least, he would have liked it to be well known.

Everyone else settled around the low blaze and cooked their 'food',
which ended up being totally flavorless, although remarkably filling.
Once dinner was completed, the heroes retired to their respective
tents.

------------

Steve awoke to a thumping sound coming from outside the tent.  A
muffled "Get up, you guys!" pinned the disturbance on the party's
resident ninja.  He shook his head to clear it and blinked his eyes to
try to remove the surrounding darkness.  It was then that he realized
that it was so early in the morning that the sun hadn't risen yet.
Still practically asleep, he shook Dan to wake him up.

"What...time...is it...?" said the mecha, making a half-hearted effort
to roll over.

Steve didn't respond.  He had slept poorly, haunted by repeated,
disturbing nightmares, real enough to make him afraid not only in his
dreams but in his conscious mind as well.  Indeed, he could barely tell
them apart from the reality he actually lived, to the point that he
often lost track of when he was awake and when he was not.  I'm really
losing it, he thought dejectionately.  Taking consolation in autonomy,
he eventually got himself up and out into the frigid air.

------------

The noon sun glared down upon the party as they made their way across
the blindingly white drifts.  Their progress was greatly limited by the
thin air and exceptional difficulty involved in traversing soft powder.

"This isn't so bad," remarked Dan, relying heavily on the natural
advantages that his suit provided, such as a nice layer of insulation
that had remained pretty much intact.

"Speak for yourself..." panted Damien, whose feet kept sinking into
several feet into the cold snow.

"It's...COLD," shivered Scott during a brief rest.

"..." commented Illyria, bending over to adjust one of the snowshoes
that they had picked up the day before.

"We're almost there!" said Kate, much too cheerfully.  However, this
time she was close to accurate.  The dilapidated tower stood upon a
broad overhang directly above them.  Long, blue icicles hung
precariously from the underside of the ledge.

"How exactly do you plan on climbing that?" asked a now-skeptical Dan,
noticing the sheer ice face that appeared to be the only way up.  Had
his suit been fully working, this would not have posed a problem.
Things being as they were, he was at a loss for some way past

Ardweden nodded in the direction of the group mascot.  "Why don't we
just fly up on Damien?"

The manlike-birdlike one glowered at her.  "I'm a chocobo, not an
elevator!"  He stopped short once he realized just what exactly he had
said.  "I mean... uh..."

"..." noted Illyria.  Everyone turned in the direction his unsheathed
sword pointed, and observed a very obvious hole in one side of the
cliff.  Upon closer inspection it seemed that access to the crumbled
stone structure seemed to be provided by a narrow, spiralling tunnel
carved directly into the mountainside.

After another minute of resting, the heroes set off in the direction of
the opening, hoping for relief from the brilliant light if nothing
else.

------------

"THAT'S IT!!!"  The others looked at the incredulous magical girl as
she stomped her foot.  "WE CAME ALL THAT WAY FOR THIS!!!"

"Chill out, Scott," said Steve, concerned about the creation of
unnecessarily loud noises on a snow-covered mountain.  He couldn't
blame her totally, though.  The partially collapsed building was just
that, a partially collapsed building.  At one point it appeared to have
been at least four stories tall, judging from the heavily reinforced
circle which formed the base of the tower.  However, the sidekick was
at a loss as to what purpose it was constructed for.

Illyria had taken the liberty of examining it more closely, along with
the ever-excited Kate.  "It's empty," he pointed out.

"Well of course it's-" started Dan.  He then noticed that the edifice
indeed lacked anything besides an outer wall.  There were no remnants
of floors, rooms, or anything else that one would expect to find in a
building.  "Well, that's pretty weird..."

Unexpectedly, a biting north wind wailed to life, and all further
insight was put on hold while the party scurried into the comparitive
protection that the hollow shell provided.  With the wind came light
snow particles stripped from the expansive field, causing a total
whiteout of anything more than twenty feet away.

"Well, it looks like we're stuck here," commented Ardweden.

"Cold... hungry... " complained Damien, his outer feathers frozen stiff
and his feet completely blue.

"And whose fault is that?" asked Dan accusingly.  "We offered you
greens this morning, but no, you had to-"

"Forget it..." Damien began to run in place in a vain attempt to warm
up.  However, he couldn't keep it up for long, and eventually sat down,
exhausted, on the cold floor.

Kate, who for some reason seemed immune to the effects of the weather,
had been scouring the ground and walls as if in search of something
important.  "Kate, what are you DOING?!" demanded Scott, seeing the
ninja tearing down a section of their makeshift shelter.  "It's already
freezing in here!"

"There's something back here," she explained (exitedly, of course), now
half-hidden in a hole created by the removal of several stone blocks.
For lack of anything better to do, the heroes moved to inspect her
handiwork.  On the ground was a stack of the heavy-looking granite
bricks.  How Kate had managed to move them remained a mystery until
they spotted one of the pieces cracked open.

"It's empty," said Illyria, unwittingly repeating himself.

"Almost as if they were intended to be moved," commented Steve.  "Maybe
for a secret passage?"

The ninja had by this time disappeared from view.  "Kate," said Scott,
taking an unprecedented interest in the proceedings, "what's back
there?"

Kate's face reappeared in a few seconds, showing streaks of brownish
dust.  "Come on!  There's a tunnel!"  She then disappeared, followed by
the others following one at a time.  Damien had a difficult time
squeezing in, and so went last.  Unfortunately for him, he got stuck in
the opening, and for all his efforts remained that way.

"Look on the bright side, Damien," said Scott wryly, "you're blocking
the cold wind for us."

A muffled response which was probably best left unwritten was his
response.

------------

The passage was claustrophobically narrow as it spiralled steeply
downward.  Stranglely, it was lit here and there with smoldering
torches, which seemed strange considering that everything else seemed
totally undisturbed for a very long time.  Dan led the way, being the
leader.  Also, although this was never mentioned to him directly,
everyone else felt that if an unexpected trap should be encountered,
his armor might provide marginally better survivability.

Scott, ever tired, not surprisingly said, "I'm... tired..." after about
twenty minutes of unsure footing on the rapid descent.

Her complaints were cut off by dual cries of, "WAI!!  SHINY!!".  The
corridor suddenly opened into a broad cavern, easily tall enough to
hide the ceiling from the eerily fluctuating dim bluish light.
Enormous, intricate crystalline structures which shimmered quite
visibly appeared to be the source of the strange light effects.
Smaller crystals, which seemed to protrude from nearly everywhere
conceivable in the otherwise smooth limestone walls, were much more
difficult to see (as Steve's head unluckily found out), but just as
detailed.

The complexities of the chamber were, predictably, not what had
attracted everyone's attention.  OK, almost everyone, as Steve was too
busy rubbing his head.  Raised on a pedestal placed exactly in the
center of the room sat some indeterminate metallic object, which,
although not identifiable immediately, was certainly the objective of
the party's current side quest.

An uncomfortably bright white light illuminated the said object, which
resulted in the dazzling display which had temporarily disabled
Ardweden, Kate, and Scott.  Dan, being the leader and, incindentally,
immune to the wainess factor of shiny objects, slowly ascended the
conveniently placed steps, leaving the others to observe from a (safer)
distance.

Once basked in the blinding glow of some unreferenced light source, the
mecha finally realized that he had a pair of sunglasses which would
work just fine without power from the suit.  Putting these on, he saw
that the strange device was a work of art in itself.  Apparently
intended as an amulet, although somewhat large for the purpose, it was
in the shape of a great dragon with outspread wings.  The arms and legs
were bent as if to clutch something fairly massive.  Maybe a gem that
got stolen or something, thought Dan.  Although he wasn't sure as to
the material, it seemed to be made of silver, with some details left
unpolished to improve the overall appearance.  He considered it for a
while, and was finally preparing to pick it up, when Illyria's voice
broke the silence.

"...!"

Kate, who had been freed from her trance by Dan's enlongated shadow,
nodded to him.  "Illyria's right.  It might be trapped, like the gold
idol in Raiders of the Lost Ark!"

Dan was about to respond negatively when he was cut off by Steve.
"DON'T say no.  If you do, it will be trapped for sure."

"That's ridiculous," said Dan.  "If it's trapped, then it's trapped.
If not, then it's not."  Muttering about sidekicks, paranoia, and
leadership issues in general, he proceeded to lift the remarkably light
figure from its place of rest.  On doing so, he noted that its
structure was far too stiff for silver, and, as mentioned, much too
light.  Of course, he said to himself.  The obligatory supermetal,
mithril.

His musings were abruptly cut short as all of the crystals in the
cavern suddenly began resonating, loudly and brightly, and proceeded to
do so at an ever-increasing rate.  The floor began moving, and the
stairway he was still on began to rapidly disassemble itself.

"COME ON, DAN!!" cried Kate, over the oppressive noise.  Fortunately,
the leader was able to escape from the total collapse of the entire
central section of the chamber, which sank into a pitch-black opening
that seemed to extend deeper than he cared to find out.  With it went a
brutally strong wind which nearly pulled an unprepared Scott into the
great pit.  However, possessing the strange invulnerability that the
destined heroes had exhibited up to now, she managed to catch herself
on a long outcropping and hold fast until the air became deathly still
again.  Soon afterward, the crystals were abruptly silenced as well,
and the tinted light slowly fell off to darkness.

"This can't be good," said Steve, nervously looking around, although he
wouldn't have been able to see a dragon if it was about to bite his
head off.  Which, as it happens, wasn't such a bad metaphor.

Rising from the depths of the impenetrable blackness came a low,
rumbling growl, which echoed a thousand times over in the otherwise
perfect quiet.  Following it came a hot blast of air which nearly
knocked the heroes over, and ear-splitting scrapes of hard metal on
solid rock.  Instantly, the party became aware of another, MUCH larger,
presence, even though they could certainly see nothing.

"No, Steve," said Dan.  "THIS can't be good."

A thundering crash signaled the advance of some beast which, by the
volume it could produce, seemed large enough to fill half the cave.
With the noise came the introduction of two slits of reddish light,
which quickly widened into a pair of very large, very sinister-looking
eyes.  An earth-shattering roar, which was not so much heard as felt to
those too close to it (which was everyone), cracked nearly every
crystal formation in the room, demolishing several entirely.  As for
the party, they were picked up like a bunch of plushies and thrown
forcefully into the opposite wall.

After coming to his senses, Dan quickly brought order to the well-
drilled warriors, who would bring swift vengeance down upon the
creature that dared challenge their superiority.

"RUN AWAY!!!"

OK, it was too much to ask.  How the heroes managed to find the exit in
total darkness is remarkable, but having something that would eat Omega
Weapon for breakfast would certainly give rise to an enormous incentive
to recall the point of egress.  Regardless, they soon found themselves
running headlong back the way they came, Dan naturally in the lead
("because I'm the leader").  No sooner had they gone ten steps when
Ardweden tripped over his sprawled form.

"Get up, Dan!!" cried Kate.  "We have to get out of here before that
thing kills Steve!!"

"It's not my fault!" protested Dan, struggling quickly to his feet.  "I
can't see a darn thing!"

"Take your glasses off!!"

"Oh yeah..." Dan had completely forgotten that he still wore the
sunglasses from earlier.  On removing them, he found that the line of
torches had started up again in the passageway.

"Can you guys move just a LITTLE faster?!!" yelled Steve, who was in
the (terribly) unsafe position of being at the back of the line.

"Right..."  Dan set off again, and the others followed, not necessarily
because of an undying loyalty within them, but because he happened to
be going the same way they were.

------------

Long after the footsteps had receded into the passage and fallen
silent, two cloaked figures remained and surveyed the chamber.  At
least, they would have, except for a certain lack of visibility
characteristic of pitch-darkness.

"Turn the lights on, will you?"

"You sure they're gone?"

"Yeah."  After a few moments, the stark black was immediately replaced
by a comparitively brilliant flourescent light.  Blinking, a basically
nondescript person removed his hand from the well-concealed light
switch.

"Well," he commented, "that was kind of fun!  I think we're interfering
with the destined heroes just a little too much, though."  After a few
seconds, he added, "Not that that's bad.  And I must say, the pay is
pretty good."

"..." replied the other, sitting high up in the head section of a
skeletal steel frame.  Some sections of it had hydraulic pistons
connecting various beams to provide for rudimentary motion.  All over
it were strategically mounted speakers, and directly below the head was
slung an enormous fan and heater.  The whole apparatus was mounted to a
track which allowed it to rise out of a broad, shallow hole in the
ground.

"Next time," continued the shorter figure, "YOU get to do the sound and
light effects, and *I* get to drive that thing."  After a muttered
reply and a long, ackward pause, he added, "Dev, are you even listening
to me?"

Devast8or slowly shifted in his captain's chair and looked down on the
one called Nayrb-Merc, at the same time surveying the destruction his
explosives-related handiwork had caused to the low-budget plastic
crystal imitations.  Damn, I love setting up of bombs, he thought to
himself.  He addressed the other person eventually.  "The answer is...
no.  There won't be a next time."

"What you-" The Nayrb fragment caught himself just in time.  "Uh...
what do you mean?"

"Why would the destined heroes ever come back?"

"Of course they- oh, yeah, huh?"  The Saikyo-Nayrb practitioner put two
and two together after another long, ackward pause.  "So... that means
we're out of a job right now.  At least we've got another one lined
up."  The Nayrbian paused again, then continued.  "Dangit, I wanted to
drive the robot and scare people with it once or twice.  Or maybe paint
it green and throw people like in Captain Commando..."

Devast8or considered the flimsly-looking mechanical creation, and
couldn't help noting, "I can think of much scarier things than this."

Nayrb-Merc immediately took up the subject.  "Yeah, like if all the air
in the world turned..." (dramatic pause) "...to WOOD!"

"Oooooooooooh... " said both of the DEC members in unison, making the
universal "ooooooooooh" hand motions as well.

"You do realize," said Devast8or after a minute or so, "that that would
be nothing compared to Sinbad getting another TV show."

Nayrb-Merc [stared] at him, and then, finally, said, "You shouldn't
scare people like that!  You know the networks have all kinds of
safeguards against that sort of thing!"

"So you think," came the ominous response.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!  WE'RE DOOOOMED!!!"

------------

On the surface again, the destined heroes stopped to catch their
breath.  Dislodging Damien from the entrance had proven exceptionally
difficult, and his being pretty much frozen solid, and resulting
inability to move around, had become the temporary object of
discussion.

"I still say we should roll him down the mountain," said Scott.  "Like
one of those giant snowballs!"  She clapped her hands gleefully, which
under the circumstances was very disturbing.

"What if we just leave him up here?" proposed Kate.  "I mean, he'll be
well preserved in this cold weather, and then we can come back later
when Dan's 'Zig' mode is working and-"

She was cut off by a slight movement in the manlike birdlike one.  It
appeared that Damien's native element, being a phoenix, was fire, and,
despite being externally weakened by the opposing element, ice, he
still maintained enough body heat to remain somewhat alive.  The motion
was accompanied with a host of crackling sounds, which came from his
outer layer of frozen feathers snapping under the stress.

"...co..ld.....hu..n..gry..." he wheezed.

"He's hungry!" said Ardweden, grabbing a handful of greens from the
party inventory and running over to Damien, who, if he wasn't frozen,
might have made some protest.  "Here!  You'll feel much better!"  With
that, she shoved the chocobo feed into his beak, which he was unable to
close in time.

"There!"  The martial artist evidently was very satisfied with her
work, despite the fact that Damien tried his very hardest to spit out
the repulsive weeds (which was not saying much, considering his
condition).

In the meantime, Scott had taken particular interest in the device that
they had retrieved from the cave now far below them.  Dan was
eventually compelled to yield it to her, writing it off on the
shininess factor, which in full sunlight was admittedly fairly high.
The magical girl, after turning it over and over in her hands, put the
amulet around her neck, and afterwards adamantly refused to give it
back.  Eventually, Dan appeared ready to give up and let her keep it.

"But you might lose it!"  Alright, maybe not.

The magical girl stamped her foot in a horribly cute manner and put her
fists on her hips, attempting to get her point across.  "Will not!"

"But what if-"  Dan stopped when he saw Steve shaking his head.

"Just let her have it, will you?" said the sidekick.

"..."  The red-clad leader returned to his part-time occupation:
leading.  Noting the sun starting a slow fall into the western sky, he
decided that he would rather not be at the top of a freezing cold
mountain once night came around.  "OK, let's move out!" he ordered.

"What about Damien?" asked Kate as everyone began putting their
snowshoes back on.  "He started breathing again, so we can't just leave
him here, can we?"  If not for faint traces of the phoenix's breath in
the now exceedingly still air, this first point would have been
difficult to back up.

Eventually, it was decided that Dan (who protested this solution very
much) should carry Damien since, unlike the others, he had an insulated
suit and would be most able to do so.  The prohibitive weight involved
in carrying a large manlike birdlike being (that was frozen solid to
boot) was obviously not much of a factor in the decision-making
process.  After another moment of rest the party set out, the mecha
still grumbling under his load.

------------

About ten seconds after beginning their descent down the stairway the
heroes had a major setback on account of Dan having stumbled and
unintentionally rolled down the rest of the ridiculously steep stairs.
The others immediately rushed down to help their leader and the
unfortunate mass of feathers he had dropped.

When they reached the opening of the tunnel onto the remaining
mountain, very out of breath, Damien had gotten to his feet and
(remarkably) seemed to be nearly unharmed (his sudden thawing was due
to his enormous potential energy being converted to kinetic energy as
he fell, which was in turn converted to heat energy upon the multiple
impacts with the granite steps).  Dan appeared to just be coming to,
and both Kate and Illyria helped him up.

"Gosh, Dan, are you OK?" asked Kate, noting his bruised forehead.
Dan's response was somewhat garbled, but certainly not happy.

"..." commented Illyria, indicating the back of the mecha's battered
suit.

Steve was last down the stairs and quickly analyzed the situation.
Noting the same crack that Illyria had spotted, he quickly put his
technological prowess to use.  "You ruptured your central power
nexus," he said, addressing Dan.

"...?" asked Dan in response to this, the wind still knocked out of
him.

"You broke the battery pack."  Steve paused, then continued with his
bad news.  "You'll have to get it fixed before you can recharge again."

"...It's so not fair," replied the self-proclaimed leader, now almost
back to full functionality (so to speak).  With at least some relief,
he noted that Damien appeared fully capable of motion.  "Well, no sense
in hanging around.  Let's move."  With additional grumbling about the
weight of a particular "chocobo" in the party, he set off back down
over the expansive snowfields.

------------

Twilight had just begun to set in, and a few of the brighter stars had
become visible above the reddish-blue horizon, when the party reached
the place they had camped the night before.  Thoroughly exhausted by
the cold and the soft snow, the heroes eagerly set up their tents and
prepared a large fire of branches gathered earlier.  Ardweden, who had
by now convinced herself that Damien was a wild chocobo that they had
caught, planted one of the sticks in the ground, and tied the phoenix
to it with some rope from the party inventory.  Needless to say, he
didn't comply willingly until he realized just how flimsy the rope was,
at which point he decided to just go along with it until nobody was
watching, then break free.

"OK, time for dinner, I suppose."  Kate produced another six cans of
the miraculous canned 'food', which she distributed.  An attempt was
made to provide Damien with some leftover sylkis greens, but he
steadfastly refused these and was finally left alone.  After the
'food' was cooked and brutally dispatched, the heroes fell to idly
sitting around and staring into the mesmerizing yellow flames.

After a long period filled with only the slow crackle of the fire and
the occasional collapse of the burning wood, Steve looked up and
observed the broad black sky covered by innumerable white points which
flickered in the shimmering heated air.  Suddenly, he seemed to take a
decided interest in the stars overhead, and eventually got up quietly
and moved out of the circle of light.

He slowly made his way to the edge of a cliff near where the party was
encamped.  Although it had escaped everyone's notice earlier that day,
the ocean was quite visible from that altitude, and starlight caught
the faint ripples in the dark surface.  He gazed out over the great
expanse stretching out as far as the eye could see below him, taking in
the still panorama and breathing in deeply of the crisp night air.  A
light wind picked up brushed through his disorganized hair.

His reverie was broken by a brilliant streak which cut straight across
his vision and plummeted in a distant pillar of flame into the deep
waters, where it was quenched with a violent crash and long hiss.  From
Steve's vantage point, the sound was barely discernable, but the image
was plain enough.  What the heck? he wondered.  A meteor?  As he
watched, another white line materialized out of the surrounding stars
overhead and careened into the ocean as its predescessor had done, this
time somewhat closer to the island than before.  Meteors, he realized.
Really close to us, too.  The sidekick decided that the others should
probably be made aware of what was going on,  and soon.

"Hey, guys, there's a meteor shower going on!" he called.  The other
heroes, who hadn't really noticed his absence, looked in the general
direction of the voice, although they couldn't really see Steve because
of the firelight.  However, his voice was unmistakable.

"Wai!" cried Kate, springing up to get a better view.  "Meteors!
Shiny!!"

"Shiny!!" echoed Ardweden, following Kate's lead.

Dan, Illyria, and Scott eventually went along with them to where Steve
had resumed stargazing.  Damien decided that this would be an excellent
time to free himself from his tether, and so brought up the rear.

Several minutes of nothing remarkable passed.  "I don't see anything,
Steve," said Dan, looking up for some indication of a meteor trail in
the otherwise static sky.

"Patience," said Illyria, breaking custom for the third time that day
and using an actual word to communicate.

Several more minutes passed.  At last, Dan pointed out that they would
have an early start in the morning and should all get some rest.  Kate
and Ardweden, whose attention spans had run out at that point, turned
with him to go.

"Weird," muttered Steve, "where'd they go?"  As if on cue, another
white line extended out of the heavens and plummeted to its doom,
farther away than the other two had been.

"..." commented Illyria, who had taken to contemplating the little
white specks suspended in the blackness overhead and had resultingly
spotted the meteor as well.

"Of course, they had to leave *right* before..." Steve's voice trailed
off as he noticed Scott standing a little way off, head bowed and
clutching her new amulet tightly in her right hand.  "Scott, you
alright?"

"..." came the response.  The magical girl turned away suddenly and
returned to the camp, muttering to herself.

"..." said Illyria to Steve, indicating Scott's unexpectedly brooding
behavior.

"Yeah, I know," he said, heading back to the fire himself.
"Whatever..."

------------

Steve awoke with a start.  At first he thought that he was still
dreaming, but somehow quickly realized that this was not the case.  The
walls of the tent were, expectedly, still dark.  He was currently
trying to recall why exactly he had woken up when he heard a quiet but
distinct *thump* in the distance, seemingly from somewhere on the upper
slopes of the mountain.

He was slowly pondering this terribly out of place noise when he felt
the ground under the tent start moving.  It started out as a minimal
shake, but quickly picked up in intensity to the point where he knew he
couldn't possibly be imagining it.  In the corner of the tent, his pack
(which had never been mentioned until now) rattled softly as the cans
of 'food' inside clattered against on another.  What the heck? he
thought.  What's going on now?  The tremors had now become somewhat
disorienting, and a distant rumble gradually clamored to life.  Now
fully awake, the sidekick quickly found a solution to his question-

"[[[AVALANCHE!!!!!]]]"  Kate's voice resounded through the camp.
Apparently, Steve wasn't the only one to notice something amiss.

As if by magic, the heroes rapidly appeared outside of their tents and
began scrambling to gather what supplies they could.  Dan, being the
leader, was naturally calm and preparing to lead an orderly retreat
from the impending fate of getting horribly crushed.

"RUN AWAY!!"

Or not.  The party made a mad dash down a long, steep gulley, which
under the circumstances would have been a bad idea had there been
another option.  All around them, the snowpack had begun to tremble and
dislodge from the rock face, heralding the rapid advance of the deadly
wall behind them.  After a heart-pounding minute of half-sliding
descent, the noise had become unbelievably loud, to the point that
Steve actually felt his body shaking because of it.  Spontaneously, Dan
pointed to a small cave he had managed to spot despite the minimal
light while turning to face the others.

"INTO THE CAVE!!" he yelled over the din of the shuddering earth.

Ardweden, who was the only one close enough to hear him, looked
skeptically at the tiny opening.  "ARE YOU SURE?!!" she yelled back,
searching for some better means of escape.

"NO TIME TO DISCUSS THIS IN A COMMITTEE!!!" shouted Dan, jumping into
the cave himself and directing others to follow.

"I AM NOT A COMMITTEE!!" came the indignant reply.  However, lacking a
better plan, Ardweden went ahead and leapt into the cavern anyway.  She
noticed that Dan was holding his helmeted head with one hand,
apparently from an impact with some jutting piece of rock.

Directly behind her came a floundering Damien, whose inferior traction
had caused him to slide ahead of the other heroes.  After that came
Illyria, Kate, and Steve, all of them unable to slow down in time and
crashing into the far wall of the cave.  The enormous volume of sound
was greatly reduced inside (something the heroes were all thankful
for), but communications were still difficult to maintain.  Steve
rubbed his head painfully and examined what he could of the poorly lit
enclosure, seeing that the quarters were uncomfortably tight with all
six of them in there.

"Wait a minute!" said Steve, thankful he had done a headcount.
"Where's Scott!"

"She's right-" started Kate, looking around.  "OH NO!!" she cried
frantically.  "SHE'S STILL OUT THERE!!"

In a panic she ran to the narrow entrance, quickly spotting the magical
girl sprawled on the quivering snow, desperately trying to get up.
Kate glanced quickly to her left and saw the blurred front of the
avalanche come crashing down the ravine- straight at Scott.  The
helpless figure put her hands up to hide her face from her now-certain
fate.

"!!!"  Illyria, heedless of the impending danger, knocked Dan aside and
rushed to Scott's aid, trenchcoat turning a terribly plaid.  The
resident bishounen would have made it outside had Kate, Steve, and
Ardweden not bodily restrained him.  And then the heroes were suddenly
sealed in darkenss.

------------

It was well into the morning by the time Dan's head appeared above the
snow bank.  He wearily pulled himself out of the hole he had made and
stretched out on the eerily smooth surface.  Soon afterwards, Kate
appeared from the same hole, likewise dragging herself up and lying
down to rest.  Following her came Damien, who significantly widened the
opening.  After that came Steve, Ardweden, and lastly, Illyria.

The six breathed heavily in the thin, frigid air for a long time.  All
hung their heads from the terrible loss they had incurred just hours
earlier.  Kate attempted to say something, but closed her mouth after
an ackward pause.

"I can't believe she's gone..." said Ardweden finally.  No further
comments were made after that.

Steve finally looked at his surroundings, seeing that he was seated on
a long, broad flow of snow riddled with debris that stood out against
the blinding white.  He glanced up at the sheer mountain face, seeing
that a large area was fully devoid of snow, while the surrounding
surfaces seemed to be as they were the day before.  Even though he
didn't feel like considering about this discrepancy, there was
something about the whole thing that just didn't seem quite right.

Illyria surveyed the spot where Scott had been, now buried under ten
feet of heavy snow.  Could she have survived? he wondered.  No, of
course not.  He shuddered with a sudden burst of anger.  Dammit!  There
is treachery afoot!  He bitterly glanced at the others, who had their
minds elsewhere and failed to notice.  Who was it?!  I swear, if I find
out who, I'll-  The bishounen trembled again, furious at not having a
target to strike at, unable to exact retribution from the rat who dared
double cross the party.  Who is it, dammit? he thought, shaking with
rage.  Who?!

The sun had moved almost directly overhead before the order to move on
came, probably from Dan.  Slowly, as if coming to life for the first
time, the depressed heroes came to be on their feet.

"Shouldn't we at least look for-?" Kate's voice was cut off as she
noticed the others completely ignoring her as they trudged off.  Yes,
she thought sadly, I suppose they're right.

------------

"Where to?" asked Steve wearily, looking at their battered leader.  The
party had at long last returned to the small village.  It seemed an age
since they had last been there, its few log huts clustered around the
anachronistically modern building, a sleek, black, low-slung structure
housing what they had previously learned was a little-used
teleportation center.  The dim, warm glow from a pair of torches which
lit the entrance to the community illuminated the shabby row of houses
lining what passed for the market square.

"Back," said Dan.  When he noticed the puzzled expression on the
sidekick's face, he elaborated, "To the city."  He indicated the
central building, which he began heading toward.

"Why?" asked Kate, lacking enthusiasm for once, although she could
hardly be blamed.

"Because," explained the mecha, "I'm tired, as I'm sure we all are.
Garrett has probably taken cover there as well.  We need to find him
still."  He turned and faced the others, seeing that they were more
depressed and worn out than he could ever remember them being.  It was
weird not having Scott there, but such was the way of things, he
thought to himself.

"No," continued Kate, "what I meant was-"

"We have to keep going, Kate."  Dan could see that she was, not
surprisingly, pretty upset.  "I'm sorry, but that's how it goes."

In a minute they had crossed the dirt plaza and had reached the
teleportation building, which, unlike the surrounding structures, was
lit by pole-mounted flourescent lights.  A small booth stood to one
side of the main door, and inside it a guard dressed in a blue uniform
slept at his desk.  On the approach of the party he shook his head and
opened his eyes, taking in the six dim figures before him.  After a few
seconds, he seemed to realize just where he was and what he was
supposed to be doing.

"Oh..." he yawned sleepily.  "Go on in..."  He flipped a green switch
with his elbow, triggering the lock on the broad hydraulic doors to
rotate and disengage.  The massive pistons silently retracted, pulling
the doors apart and revealing a pristine metal chamber with a
teleportation pad taken straight from Star Trek.  On one side of the
pad was a pedestal with an illuminated control panel mounted on it.


The heroes silently made their way in to the little-used facility and
onto the humming black platform.  Dan went over to the multitude of
glowing buttons and screens which commanded the awesome feat of
engineering the heroes were about to employ.  He input their
destination, New Hamsterdam, and instinctively set the party size at
seven.  After realizing his mistake, he set it to six and then rejoined
the others at the center of the pad.  Soon afterwards, the great doors
swung shut and warning sirens could be dimly heard outside.  The lights
in the room changed to a flashing red and, following a countdown of
five, everything flashed white and then fell suddenly dark.

------------

Ardweden surveyed the establishment with a certain level of doubt,
regardless of how weary she was and all she had gone through in the
past forty-eight hours.  The stone facade was crumbling in portions,
and even though the only light was provided by an old-style lantern
(electric, of course) hanging over the low entryway it was clear that
the building was in need of a thorough cleaning, at least on the
outside.  On the plus side, the ground floor appeared to have been
partially converted to a stable, which would certainly bypass most
complications involving Damien.

Apparently, the phoenix had noticed this feature, too, and was somewhat
reluctant to get any closer to the five-story hotel.  It was
uncomfortably wedged between the black outlines of two much taller,
darker buildings more typical of megacities like the one they were in
now.  Opposite was a wide, green park lined with enormous oak trees and
lit here and there with solitary light posts.  A light mist covered the
well-tended lawns, and for some reason seemed very ominous and
foreboding to Damien, although he couldn't say why.  After all, it was
just a park, albeit a very gloomy one in the middle of the slums
district of a large metropolis which was likely a haven for all sorts
of thugs, villains, and otherwise seedy characters.

Dan was the first in the door, and was addressed by an elderly woman
attending the front desk.  Kate came in right after him, noting the
fraying red carpet and the old, faded photographs of various
unidentified, picturesque regions.  More notable was a massive rack of
antlers mounted directly over the doorway to the rooms upstairs,
although the ninja was in no mood to try and identify them.

Eventually, the remaining party members had made their way into the
lobby, except for Damien, who was required to remain outside on account
of his being a "chocobo" (which naturally resulted in the now-customary
response).  Because it was so late, because there were hardly any other
tenants, and because the party looked so dejected, the woman agreed to
let them spend rest of the night there free of charge.  She also
allowed Damien to be quartered in the stable, which he had to be
forcefully convinced to accept.

A few hazy minutes later, Steve collapsed on his small, uncomfortable
bed and immediately fell into a deep sleep.  Dan looked over at him
once, then fell asleep as well, indistinct visions of the past and
plans for the future flying chaotically through his mind.

------------

Scott cracked her freezing eyes open and looked up at the quickly
widening hole above her.  Although the snow kept her shielded from the
sub-zero winds blowing violently in the falling evening sunlight, it
wasn't exactly all that warm to begin with.  Also, she hadn't had
anything to eat for over quite a while now, and her stomach made a
point of telling her so.  Instinctively, she clutched the ice-cold
figure still hanging around her neck.  She heard voices above her, but
they were muffled and came as if from another world.

"Hurry up, Dev!  Her life signs are falling off, fast!"

"If you're so concered, why don't you do the digging, Nayrb?" came the
somewhat irritated reply.

"Uh... move 'Dev', move 'Dev', you know what you doing!"

"..."  At last the sharp crunch of a shovel biting into the snow near
the magical girl's head stopped, and, blinking, Scott could just make
out the vague outline of a hand reaching down to grab her from her dim
grave.  She felt herself being pulled up by a powerful arm, and
shivered weakly before blacking out.

------------

When she awoke, Scott found herself lying on a bed covered by several
layers of heavy wool blankets decorated with simple yet colorful
geometric designs.  She was soon aware that she was in the middle some
sort of small, round, wooden building with a narrow skylight in the
center of the conical roof and a square opening which served for a door
directly opposite her.  Propping herself up on her elbows (with an
effort), she looked around more carefully, noting the low, simple table
and chair.  Other than that, the room appeared completely empty; at
least, on first glance.

She eventually noticed that something wasn't quite right, and peered
more closely at the strange shadow which seemed to meld almost
seamlessly with the dull planks forming the rough walls.  Much to her
surprise, the shadow suddenly moved, revealing (what else?) a tall,
imposing man in a black full-body cloak.  The figure then took a step
toward the door and leaned out into the white light of the sun
(although this didn't have much effect on his appearance).  Scott could
just tell that a quietly whispered conversation was going on, although
she couldn't make out the exact words.

The conversation ended up being fairly brief, and soon afterwards the
cloaked person returned to the shaded interior of the shanty,
accompanied by someone else, similarly shrouded although about a foot
shorter.  Scott wasn't exactly sure if she should say something, and so
wordlessly rolled out of the sheets and stood barefoot on the dusty
floor.  Man, I'm stiff, she thought, trying her best to stretch out in
her uncomfortable situation of being stuck in a small room with two
completely still, completely silent individuals who were probably
watching her every move.

The first figure abruptly shifted, slowly removing his hood but
revealing little in the broken rays of light filtering through the
thatched roof.  The second followed suit, similarly remaining pretty
much a mystery.  However, the magical girl had been given some
information, and realized that these were probably her contacts.

"Dev, is that you?" she asked, addressing the taller of the two.

"Of course," replied Devast8or, indicating that the three of them
should head outside into the warming air.  They did so, Scott being the
last out of the humble abode.  She squinted as her eyes adjusted to the
overwhelming brightness of the low morning sun.  Once she could see
again, she noticed that she was on the outskirts of the ancient village
that the party had been in not long before.  As expected, it looked
pretty much the same as it did before, lacking signs of life as always.

After they had wandered for a while in the general direction of the
town center, Scott began having doubts all over again concerning the
agreement she had been essentially forced into.  She also realized that
the worst of it was over now, and she had survived pretty much
unscathed.  Now all that's left is to deliver this stupid thing, she
thought, absently fingering her dragon-shaped pendant.

In time, she began wondering about the other person that was with them,
and eventually became curious enough to risk a question.  "Who's he?"
she asked, indicating the second of her two escorts.  "I don't believe
I've met him before."  Although he does look terribly familiar, she
thought.

"This," said Devast8or, stopping in front of a round hovel built on a
low mound and motioning to his fellow cloaked one, "is Nayrb-
Mercenary."

The Nayrb fragment, seeing that he was the one mentioned, nodded his
head toward Scott.  "We're both operating under the same contract, as
you probably guessed.

Whatever, thought Scott, noticing for the first time that the building
they had stopped at was not their intended destination.  "Wait a
minute," she said, "why are we here?"

"We both figured that you would probably be hungry by this time,"
explained Devast8or.  "We assumed you would be less... agreeable... if
you didn't eat something."

Scott glanced inside, noticing that the structure was indeed a dining
establishment, complete with a few round tables and wooden-backed
chairs.  On the walls were dark, hanging works of art, which a lone
employee was lazily cleaning off.  However, what most caught the
magical girl's attention was the faint smell of various foods simmering
in a hidden kitchen behind a false back wall.  All else was forgotten
as her forgotten hunger flared back to life.

"Food!" she cried.  "Wai!"

"Why?" asked Devast8or, puzzled.  "Usually people's dispositions are
changed when they-"  He stopped midsentence, noting the "..." emanating
from his charge.  "Well, shall we?" he said, indicating the restaurant.
Soon the three made their way up a few chipped flagstone stairs into
the small eatery.

------------

Dan opened his eyes.  It was nearly dawn, but he hadn't been able to
fall asleep in his rigid suit, regardless of how hard he had tried.
And now, he thought to himself, it was time to go.  His eyes, which had
become accustomed to the faint moonlight long ago, saw that the door to
the plain room had been left unlocked.  Which is good, decided the
mecha.  Locks tend to be fairly noisy to undo.

He glanced over at the snoring form sprawled on the bed opposite his,
realizing that it was unlikely that he would wake Steve up no matter
what he did.  After spending a few more seconds debating whether he
really wanted to move just yet, Dan swung his legs out over the floor
and half-rolled to his feet.  The hard soles on his boots made a quiet
*thump* sound on the creaky floorboards, but as far as he could tell
nobody heard him.

The mecha pondered what to do with his helmet, which had been cracked
right down the middle during the frantic escape from the avalanche.
That was only yesterday, he brooded, setting the broken piece of
equipment down on a cheaply-constructed lampstand.

And now, he thought, quietly opening the door and shutting it behind
him, to find her...

------------

Kate sat upright on her firm mattress, ninja-grade senses bristling,
intently listening to the footsteps softly but distinctly past her dark
room.  Who could that be? she wondered.  I thought we were the only
ones in this place.

She had first been awakened to the sound of booted feet treading on the
hardwood floor nearly a minute before.  Since then, she had realized
that there was someone moving around in the inn, something that made
her concerned that early in the morning.  Kate searched under the
covers of her bed and found the hilt of her sword, vaguely reassured,
although she hoped that it wouldn't be needed.  At long last the noises
vanished down the stairwell at the end of a long hall, and the ninja
breathed a sigh of relief.

She was alone in the cramped little room, and had only a shadeless lamp
and her Quadruple Bypass collection to keep her company.  On the plus
side, her lodging came with a window, and, as she couldn't go back to
sleep just yet, she turned around to face it.

The oldest district of New Hamsterdam did not make the most attractive
picture, with its narrow, poorly illuminated cobblestone streets and
the sheer walls of its tall buildings in varying states of disrepair.
Kate's room was below the rooftops of the other surrounding structures,
and resultingly her view was fairly limited.  Still, she could easily
see that the roadways were totally deserted, except for what appeared
to be a few shady characters hiding in the numerous shadows thrown by
the inadequate streetlights.

A blur of motion caught her eye, and she shifted her gaze to better
observe the out-of-place red object.  Wait a second! she thought.  That
looks an awful lot like Dan!  She peered through the dark night at the
mecha stealthily remaining out of direct light while moving along the
base of a decrepit brick building opposite the hotel.  Kate followed
his careful progress, watching with keen interest when he suddenly
stopped in front of a rusted fire escape ladder mounted on a shaded
portion of the structure.

She froze instinctively when his head turned to look over his shoulder.
For a second the ninja thought that Dan, his identity now plain enough,
had spotted her in her dark room, and was relieved when he began a
rapid, although clumsy, ascent of the ladder.  After he had vanished
from sight over the raised edge of the roof, Kate was left wondering
what had possessed their leader to leave them so abruptly.  She was
reluctant to inform the others of what had happened, and so remained
right where she was for a long time.  And even though she tried very
hard to force such thoughts from her mind, she couldn't help wondering
if the mecha had long ago formed his own agenda.  This can't be good,
she decided.

------------

Damien picked his head up off of the cold straw-covered ground.  The
faint light from an old lantern hanging from the ceiling outlined the
crudely built walls and door of his cramped cell.  He was pondering the
wooden constructs and mentally swearing to take vengeance on every
chocobo he ran into from that day forward when he heard the noise
again.  It sounded a lot like the rotten planks of his shelter were
getting broken in two, and the phoenix once more became painfully aware
of being totally alone in the small stable.

The sounds grew louder, then suddenly stopped.  They were replaced by
the crunch of two pairs of boots moving somewhere just outside his
enclosure, and soon afterwards the voice of a child not much more than
eight seemed to fill the room.

"Uncle Bill, you sure old Samson's in here?"

"I just knows it, Billy," came the reply, giving Damien the impression
of someone getting to be fairly old.  Farmers, concluded the phoenix,
judging by the accents of the two.  He was soon proven correct... more
so than he wanted to be.

"I don't see any chocobos in here, though," said Billy, apparently
trying to peek into the various stalls for some sign of life.  Damien
was doing his very best to hide in a dark corner from the moving
shadows of people visible through cracks in the wood when a beady eye
appeared through a hole in the door.  His efforts failed miserably, and
his position was revealed.

"Uncle Bill!" cried the child, jumping up and down in his excitement.
"It's him!  We found him!"

The phoenix realized at that point that he was in it deep.  Without
further hesitation he smashed out of his cage, which splintered under
his panicked strength, and ran full tilt for the exit.  The boy was
forcefully thrown out of the way, and he landed in a hay bale on the
other side of the enclosure.

"Get him, Billy!" yelled the elder Bill, who was revealed to be not
nearly as old as his voice indicated he was.  As for the farmer aspect,
his worn blue overalls pretty much confirmed that.

Damien didn't really know where he was going in the inadequate light,
and so he opted to run straight at the wall instead of waiting to find
the gate leading outside.  This was accomplished, albeit with the price
of a major headache to the manlike-birdlike one, and the phoenix
blindly ran off as fast as he could into the broad parkway which spread
before him.

Had he put more thought into his escape plan, he would have realized
that even though he was somewhat on the large size, he could easily
have found cover in the myriad streets and alleyways winding between
the tall buildings.  As it was, he remained plainly visible on the very
flat lawn, and although he possessed an innate speed advantage over his
pursuers, he had not counted on their level of preparation.

"Let me fire the tranquilizer gun, Uncle Bill!" said the boy, tugging
on his elder's arm.  After getting a negative answer, he reverted to
begging.  "Please?"

"Not this time, Billy," said Bill, leveling the crosshairs of the scope
on the quickly retreating form.  He took a deep breath, let it out
partially, and pulled the trigger.

The quiet sound of the dart being propelled out of the barrel by
compressed gas went unheard by Damien, who was far too absorbed in
getting as far away from the two as possible.  He barely felt the prick
of the needle under his left wing, but soon found himself inexplicably
slowing down.  His feet grew unbearably heavy on the springy grass, and
at last he collapsed under the flickering light of a lamp mounted high
above him on a stylized black metal pole.

"Oh boy!" cried the child, running happily though the thin fog layer
over to where the phoenix had fallen into a deep sleep.

"Alright, Billy," said the older Bill, slinging the weapon over his
shoulder as he followed in his nephew's footsteps.  "Let's get this
chocobo back to the ranch."

------------

Dawn had just broken over the varied rooflines, and with it the
spontaneous return of life to the older parts of the city of New
Hamsterdam.  Peddlers begain their daily routine of setting up their
trinket stands, and merchants drove their chocobo-pulled carts along
the uneven streets.  Light had not yet reached the lowers levels of the
town when Kate noticed a suspicious, grey-cloaked figure through the
warped panes of her window.

I'd swear that looks just like...  The ninja's thoughts were silenced
when the person suddenly ducked into an alley, accidentally causing the
hood of the outfit to come off.  Kate's heart nearly froze, and she
blinked several times before she finally believed what she saw.

"Scott..."  Filled with an immesurable surge of relief, her curiousity
quickly got the better of her, and she resolutely determined to track
down the magical girl that she had assumed was M. I. A.  She rapidly
got to her feet and silently hurried out of her room and into the
shabbily upholstered hallway.

I wonder what Dan has to do with this? she wondered.  The ninja was in
such an absent state of mind that she completely failed to notice the
still form of Illyria sitting down at the far end of the hall behind
her, intently watching her every move.

------------

Where are you off to? asked the bishounen silently as Kate vanished
down the stairwell.  He had long been considering the circumstances
leading up to what had happened, and had never really suspected the
ninja of foul play.  Truth be told, he had his doubts about their self-
proclaimed leader, but as far as he knew Dan was still fast asleep on
his uncomfortable bed.

Still, he decided, quietly rising and following after her, it's my only
lead right now.  And that, he decided, would have to suffice.

------------

Ardweden blinked her eyes open in the morning sun and lazily stretched
out.  She had slept moderately well, considering the situation, and
slowly put her feet over the edge of the bed and stood up.  On doing
so, she examined her apartment for the last time, seeing that it was
similar in size to Kate's, but had only a small window to the outside
world rather than a larger one.

I hope everyone slept alright, she thought after making her way into
the poorly lit hall.  She wandered over to Kate's room, which was
directly opposite of hers, and knocked softly on door.

"Kate?" she said.  "Time to get up."  The martial artist waited a few
seconds for a response, and, after not receiving one, repeated,
"Kate?"  Still nothing happened, and Ardweden decided to try the
doorknob, which she found was unlocked.  After opening the door, she
found that everything was just as it had been the night before,
except... no Kate.

"Oh no!" she cried, her feet thumping on the padded floor as she
hastily ran over to Illyria's chamber.  She pounded on the paneled
door, but the bishounen's voice failed to answer her.  On searching the
room, she found that he, too, had mysteriously vanished, seemingly
without a trace.  Ardweden glanced out of the window, looking for some
sign of the two missing heroes, but could only see the streets now
choked with swarms of people noisily buying and selling pretty much
everything that there was to buy or sell.

She hurried to check the room that Steve and Dan had shared, fully
expecting them to have similarly disappeared.  Why would they all leave
me here? she wondered, overcome by fear and self doubt.  I haven't been
getting in the way, have I?  Is it something I did?  Filled with
apprehension, she threw the impeding door open and rushed into the
double bedroom.

Through the thin rays of light filtering into the otherwise dark room
from the doorway, the martial artist instantly noted that the mecha was
indeed missing.  However, the perfectly still form of Steve was still
there, muttering incoherently in his sleep.  On her way to rouse the
sidekick, she tripped over Dan's broken helmet, which had fallen off of
its post on the solitary lampstand by the foot of his former bed, and
nearly fell flat on her face.

"Steve!" called Ardweden.  "Get up!"  She shook him violently to
emphasize her words.  Despite these actions, the prone figure refused
to be awakened, and after assuring herself that he was indeed still
alive (he had not fallen silent since she had entered the room), she
decided that the sdiekick was just really out of it.

Now what? she thought, sitting down on Dan's bed distractedly.  After a
minute of internal debate, she decided to go and look for the others
herself, a choice made against her better judgement.  She looked around
for a piece of paper to leave a note on, and, finding a stack of post-
it notes and a pen on the previously mentioned lampstand, she left her
message.  Checking once more in each of the rooms to assure herself
that she was not dreaming, Ardweden quickly headed down the many
flights of stairs and out into the warm morning air.

------------

"Hello, Steve."

The sidekick turned, the voice unmistakable this time as it had been so
many times before.  He was standing alone on the rooftop of a very tall
concrete building, and from his vantage point he could see the horizon
formed by the great, rolling ocean.  The noon sun was heavily masked by
thick, black clouds which stretched as far as the eye could see in all
directions.  However, these features were not what he turned his
attention to.

"What do you want with me?" he asked, addressing the ominous person
standing a mere ten feet from him.  The man was outfitted in the all-
too-familiar blackened chain mail armor, and around his neck hung the
winged amulet clutching the same burning red gem that it always had.
The dual-bladed staff was strangely absent.  On looking more closely at
the pendant, Steve saw that it was hauntingly similar to the one they
had recovered just two days before.  That's odd, he thought.

"I have come to show you the way," said the one known as Mortavis.

"You're going to help me?" asked Steve incredulously.  "Right..."  The
sidekick had quickly realized that he was in another one of the strange
dreams he had been having lately, and as such was relatively
unconcerned.

Mortavis hesitated before continuing, seeming to look straight through
his opponent in a way that made Steve suddenly nervous.

"You do not fear me now," he noted, as if he had expected nothing else.
"Why is that?"  His tone implied that an answer was expected.

"Because you aren't real," replied the sidekick.

This response drew a dark smile from his adversary.  "Perhaps.  But
then, do you understand what real is?"  He watched Steve carefully, but
got nothing more than a blank expression.  "Is it where you will be
after you leave this dream world?  Is death real there, then?"

Steve, who had not been following the logic terribly well, said, "I'm
sorry, but you totally lost me."

"Reality cannot be found in this existence.  I know that you do not
fully understand this, or you would not be so reluctant to die."  He
paused, seeing that the sidekick was still not fully getting what he
meant.  "Death is real if you choose to believe it; if you choose to
fear its grasp, it will strangle you as surely as you think it will."

"Meaning...?" asked Steve after a few seconds.

"In this place, for new life to rise, old life must be forsaken.  One
form must die for another to take its place.  Fear not death, for it is
of your will, and yours alone."

Before Steve could get some further explanation, Mortavis suddenly
vanished, and the sidekick found himself in total darkness.  These
dreams get weirder all the time, he mused.

------------

The sidekick snapped his eyes open, taking in the cracked ceiling and
bare walls of his room.  He didn't feel like moving for a long time,
his thoughts on the bizarre dreams he had tended to have lately.  After
failing to draw any conclusions from the most recent one, he decided
that he might as well get up, as he figured that the day was probably
well on its way already.

The first thing he noticed was the distinct lack of a certain mecha on
the bed next to his.  Uh oh, he thought worriedly.  This observation
was followed by his spotting of the cracked helmet lying upside-down on
the carpet near the door.  On picking it up, he saw a small yellow note
flutter out of it, and he bent over to pick it up off of the shaggy
carpet.  After looking it over, he quietly read it aloud to himself.

"Steve-  Went to find others.  -Ard."  Well, that was descriptive,
thought Steve wryly.  He fell to wondering what exactly his next move
should be, and eventually felt that the best course of action would be
to go and look for everyone himself.  It's not as if they blend in all
that well, he reasoned.

He had nearly made it to the stairs when he decided that he should
probably take the helmet along.  Dan would kill me if it got stolen, he
decided.  With that, he left the aging hotel, seeing that it was
getting late in the morning.  I just hope they aren't too far ahead of
me, he thought.

------------

Dan looked up from the poorly maintained roof.  He had been traversing
such surfaces for several hours now, and the mecha was becoming aware
of the disadvantages of using the "theif's highway"; namely, there was
no shade anywhere.  The temperature itself wasn't unbearable, but being
in the direct sun for so long was definitely getting to him.  Still, he
realized that it was probably better than being spotted by someone that
knew him.

He hadn't been entirely sure of where to begin his search, but he
figured that the odds of finding Scott would be greatly improved in
some of the more populous regions of the city.  Dan wasn't entirely
sure where these were, either, but he figured that something would turn
up before long.

So lost was he in contemplation that the darkly cloaked figure dashing
from cover to cover in his trail went unseen.  As the slow minutes
passed, Dan's pursuant gained steadily on him, moving about quickly and
silently as any person wearing a dark cloak should.  With patience born
of years of training, the shadow readied himself to spring at the
unsuspecting mecha from behind.

"YAAAAHH!!!" he yelled, throwing off his cloak and drawing his carbon-
black katana from its sheath at his side.  Crap! thought Dan, spinning
around and attempting to protect his face with his armored forearms.

The impact never came.  Instead, Dan found his head ringing with an
ear-splitting crack of thunder which sounded like it came from directly
over his head, and, putting his arms down, he saw the attacker become
the attacked.  A blinding flare of light shot straight down seemingly
out of thin air, and the ground he stood on shook with the force of
something landing heavily on it.

Dan had to blink his eyes several times to restore his vision to
normal, and his ears informed him that they were in intense pain.
After the cloud of smoke that had spontaneously engulfed his former
enemy began to dissipate, he could just make out the dim outline of a
taller figure similarly garbed in a full-body cloak (well, what did you
expect?) standing where his fomer assailant had been.  A few seconds
elapsed before the person noticed the mecha's presence and advanced on
him.

I'm in trouble, thought Dan, looking around at the surrounding tops of
battered high-rises and trying to figure out what his best avenue of
escape would be.  His delay proved to be fatal; at least, it would have
had the situation been different.

"Are you alright?" asked the shrouded form of the person, who had
somehow managed to end up directly in front of the mecha without his
noticing.  Dan got his first decent view of the newcomer, and noted
that his cloak seemed to change to various shades of black and grey
according to the background, providing for superior camouflage.

"Who... who are you?" inquired Dan, discreetly taking a step backwards.
The hidden face underneath the hood seemed to be looking at him,
although he couldn't be sure.

"Devastator," came the reply, after a pause required for proper
dramatics.

Really? thought Dan, somewhat doubtful.  He looks similar, but there's
something... different.  "Devast8or?" he asked, clearly indicating that
there was an '8' in the name.

The cloaked one laughed to himself.  "No, Devastator.  You must have
met one of my avatars."

"Um... what?"  Dan looked puzzled by this cryptic response.

"Sorry," replied the one calling himself Devastator, "I'm not supposed
to talk about it."  He paused before continuing.  "You should really be
more careful up here, especially with your suit damaged."

Dan looked at him in surprise.  "How did you know that?" he demanded,
wondering who this person was.

"Trust me, it's something I would know."  The mecha apparently wasn't
satisfied with this response, but no further explanation was offered.

The noon sun broke free from behind a small cloud bank, and Dan once
again felt the energy of its rays beating down upon him.  His suit's
cooling unit had been deactivated along with everything else, and he
began to get uncomfortably hot again.  He was relieved when Devastator
resumed speaking.

"Let's move.  You seem to be going in the same direction that I am."
With that he found a conveniently placed metal ladder and headed down
it.  Dan followed, still wondering why he always seemed to run into the
strangest people and contemplating how the man in black avoided cooking
to death in his outfit.

------------

Scott stepped out from behind the corner of a solid brick building and
into the violent sea of humanity.  People filled the street to the
point where simple movement was nearly impossible.  Dazzling arrays
multi-colored clothing surged past the magical girl in every direction,
and she tried very hard just to stay on her feet.  In short, it was a
perfect place to disappear.

Her instructions were clear enough.  She was to deliver the device to a
person living in a nondescript house at the end of the broad road.
Instinctively, she clutched the dragon-shaped pendant.  She had become
sort of attached to the cool weight of it around her neck, and wasn't
really eager to give the object of power away so soon.

Scott looked around once more to make sure that she wasn't being
followed, and then headed off past the rows of noisy peddlers lining
the concrete walls and toward her destination.  This had better be
worth it, she thought.

------------

Kate, who had been hot on the magical girl's trail for some time now,
finally caught a glimpse of the gray form weaving through the thick
crowd.  There you are! she thought, winding between the slow-moving
people with the innate dexterity that ninjas tend to possess.
Unfortunately for her, just moments after her pursuit began, she had
the rotten luck of running into an old acquaintance.

Again? she thought, facepalming.  Facing away from her at a cheap
jewelry stand was none other than Mr. E, apparently absorbed in a
transaction concerning a large bundle of gold necklaces.  The
conversation appeared to be deteriorating rapidly, and after a few
seconds the ripoff character's voice rose above the commotion of the
marketplace.

"What you talkin' 'bout, foo!" he said, picking up the scrawny salesman
with one hand.  "I done paid you enough for dese chains!"

The salesman, obviously terrified, said something which was inaudible
above the general roar of the growing number of spectators.

"Dat's it!  I'm throwin' you, foo!"  As good as his word, he sent the
doomed being through the far wall of the street.  After that, he
gathered the bundle of chains and added them to his already impressive
collection.

"He throws helluva far," commented someone.  That said, the circle of
observers dispersed, and everything went back to relative normality in
the bustling commercial center.

Kate, who had been distracted by the incident, suddenly recalled her
original reason for being there.  Oh no! she thought, quickly making
her way to where she had last detected the elusive Scott.
Understandably, once she got to the spot there was no sign of the
magical girl anywhere.

Dangit, she said to herself, cursing her misfortune.  Now what do I do?
The ninja pondered that question, oblivious to the rapid pace of
everyone else around her.  At last, she hit on the concept of getting
some outside help from someone skilled in tracking people down.
Someone... 'in the know'.  And there was only one place to find people
like that.

Reluctantly, she set off for the restaurant district.

------------

Damien found himself on rough, straw-covered ground.  At first, he
thought that his capture had all been a really lousy dream, that he was
still happily living in the chocobo stalls beneath the crumbling inn.
However, his nose begged to differ.  Man, it smells bad, he thought,
not entirely certain of what it was.

The phoenix got to his feet, surveying his surroundings.  He was
confined in a stall very much like the previous one, except that this
one had lower door that he could easily see over.  Taking advantage of
the opportunity, he poked his head out and looked around.

What he saw was the high, peaked ceiling of a wooden barn, high planked
walls rising from an occasional concrete footing, and a long dirt
walkway leading to a pair of great rectangular doors in the distance.
Long beams of broken light made their way through the broken roof to
the ground below.  However, what really caught Damien's attention were
the two seemingly endless rows of pens, one on his side of the
building, and the other set facing his.  And in each...was a chocobo.

This can't be happening, decided the phoenix, sitting down on the dusty
floor of his cell.  His brooding did not last long, as he was soon
interrupted by the same irritating child from before.

"Uncle Bill, he's awake!"

The elder Bill in overalls came over to inspect his latest catch.
"Well, it ain't old Samson, that's for sure."  He scratched his head as
he examined the phoenix from head to foot.  "I don't rightly know what
breed it is, either."

"Maybe it's one of those rare ones that are extinct now!" cried the
younger Bill.

"Whatever it is, we'd better feed it.  Billy, go get some of those new
greens I bought yesterday!"  Once the boy had scampered off at this
command, the older man wandered off to tend to one of the giant birds
two stalls over from Damien's.

The phoenix, who had not moved from his position on the floor, was
acutely aware that he had eaten nothing in days.  If they think I'm
gonna eat chocobo feed, though...  His thoughts wandered off.

It was not long before the overly energetic kid returned, this time
with a large bundle of haylike grasses.  "Here you go!" he said,
dropping them on the floor of the cage in a heap.  "These are the best
money can buy!"

Damien sat there for a while, considering the pile.  Well, he thought,
maybe if I just nibbled on the ends of them...  He shook his head
resolutely, grimly determined, vowing that he would never allow himself
to become like the rest of the inhabitants of the prison he was trapped
in.

"What's the matter?" asked the child.  "Not hungry?"  After getting no
visible response, he became impatient.  "Hello?!  Can you hear me?!"
The phoenix remained motionless, ignoring the annoying little brat.

Following many repeated attempts at communication, the boy wondered if
the simple creature was aware of what was going on or not, and so tried
his best to work patiently with bird that could easily have kicked him
across the room.  "DO... YOU... UNDERSTAND... THE... WORDS... THAT...
ARE... COMING... OUT... OF... MY... MOUTH?"

Damien had by this time become downright irritated with him.  "Look,
kid, I'm not a chocobo, and I don't want to talk to you.  Get lost."

The young Billy seemingly didn't hear him at all.  "Why aren't you
listening to me, Mr. Bird?" he asked, distressed at being unable to
speak with the newcomer.

"You idiot!" said Damien threateningly, "I'm [talking] to you, dammit!"

The older Bill had taken an absent interest in the conversation, and
turned to address his nephew.  "Billy, they don't understand English.
You have to say 'wark'."  He put cupped his hands around his mouth as
if to imitate the characteristic chocobo call.

"Oh... right, Uncle Bill!"  The upstart farmer returned his attention
to the angry phoenix.  "Wark!  Wark!"

"YOU FRICKIN' IDIOT!!" yelled Damien furiously.  "I'M #%$@ING TALKING
TO YOU!!"

"Uncle Bill, I think he understands me!" cried the child, clapping his
hands joyfully.  "Wark!"

"&^$% @*#$ING *&^# PIECE OF @*$^ING @#$%!!!"

The phoenix's ranting had no effect on the boy.  However, he was spared
from further humiliation by the entrance of a short humanoid in a red-
striped shirt and tattered overcoat.  Additionally, the stumbling
figure sported a black cane and patches over both eyes, pirate-fashion.

He was not long in annoucing his presence.  "HA HA HA!!!  BILLY BONES!!
IT'S ME, BLIND... PIERRE!!"  The said person drew out the 'ie' in a
manner obviously intended to sound imitant of French.  How he had
managed to get inside unnoticed was baffling to everyone.

The young Billy, realizing that he was probably being addressed (and
ignoring the obvious fact that there was absolutely no way that Pierre
could possibly have seen him), unwisely spoke up.  "Can I help you?" he
asked, thankfully diverting his attention from Damien.

Suddenly alerted to the voice, the one known as Blind Pierre began
stumbling around the hay-covered ranch and crashing into the occasional
stall, searching for the speaker.  "I know you're hiding somewhere,
Billy!!"  After recovering from a stunning run-in with a heavy wooden
post, he added, "You sniveling chowderhead!"

"Hello?" asked the younger chocobo farmer, obviously not too sure what
to make of the bizzare turn of events.  His uncle seemed to have no
advice for him, either.

"Over... HERE!"  Pierre swung his cane hard at him, although whether it
was an intentional action or not is anyone's guess, as he
simultaneously tripped on an empty metal water bucket.  Regardless, he
naturally missed the target by about five feet, the hard stick making a
loud *crack* against a heavy wooden post forming a corner of the
phoenix's pen.

Undaunted, the blind fiend continued moving forward.  "Or maybe... over
HERE!"  This time the cane came crashing down near where chocobo Billy
had been a few seconds before...right on the bar lock of Damien's door.
By random luck, the mechanism managed to come apart, and the prisoner
lost no time in freeing himself.

"There he goes!!" cried the elder Bill.  "Get him!!"  He and Billy took
off down the broad pathway in pursuit, trampling the obscure character
reference beneath their feet.

Unfortunately for the manlike-birdlike one, the massive red-painted
doors at the end of the barn had been swung shut while he wasn't
watching.  Damn! he thought, heedlessly making a mad dash for them
anyway.  Having the speed that large birds are known for, it wasn't
long before he reached the sealed opening, crashing headlong into them
in a desperate effort to escape his captors.  This was immediately
followed by a solid pounding on the blockade, which continued until the
two farmers bound him in ropes and with difficulty dragged him bag to
his cage, kicking and screaming all the way.

------------

Ardweden was at a loss as to where she should look for her fellow
heroes.  She had been wandering the shadowed, sunken roads of the city
for well over an hour, and the martial artist had yet to find a trace
of the others anywhere.  Realistically, they could have passed right by
her in the stifling crowds that flowed like blood through the great
cobblestone streets, which were worn smooth from many long years of
heavy usage.

She was once again debating the causes for everyone's sudden departure
when she stepped from a hazy back alley into the formidable host of
people that was the marketplace of Old New Hamsterdam.  Ardweden was
instantly lost in attempting to sort out the endless stream of people
stampeding chaotically past her and the broad rows of stands covered in
merchandise.   She was about to turn around and leave the deafening
roar when she suddenly found herself rooted to the ground.

There, not twenty paces from where she stood, was Scott's face looking
directly at her from amid the tumultous swarm.  The incident was over
in a fraction of a second, and the dazed martial artist blinked once.
She glanced around absently to assure herself that she was in fact
still right where she had been moments earlier, and when she returned
her eyes to where she had spotted the anomaly, it had vanished just as
mysteriously as it had appeared.  In its place was a low hood of a
cloak hurrying directly away from the martial artist, retreating into
the consuming mass of humanity.

Possessed by a will that seemed not to be part of her, Ardweden
immediately pursued after it, her thoughts absorbed with unanswerable
questions.

------------

Dan looked up wearily from his plodding feet, and saw exactly what he
expected: the same tall black form rapidly leading him through the dark
alley lit with broken rays of the early afternoon sun.  His mecha suit
had proven less than agreeable for long-distance travel, and the self-
proclaimed leader of the Destined Heroes was very aware that he had not
had any food or water for quite a while.

To his relief, the enigmatic figure stopped suddenly and turned to the
mecha.  "I'm sorry," said the face buried somewhere underneath the
shroud.  "I forgot that you haven't eaten today."  He produced a flask
of some deep-orange liquid from under his cloak and dutifully handed it
to Dan.

The mecha accepted it, by now accustomed to the disconcerting effect of
seemingly having his mind read by this strange person called
Devastator.  Unscrewing the lid of the container, he thirstily took a
swig.  Immediately afterward, he shut his eyes tightly as the
overpoweringly sweet drink spread its orange flavoring over his tongue.
However, it was not long before he felt his dimished strength returning
to him.

"What is this stuff?" he asked after having some more of the sugar-
filled liquid.

"Tang," explained Devastator, taking out a canteen apparently filled
with the same stuff and draining it without a pause for air.
"Quadruple strength."

Dan watched as his recent ally pulled something else from beneath the
subtly changing black shades of his cloak.  "And this," he said,
casually tossing it to the mecha, "is your weapon."

The small object proved much heavier than Dan had anticipated, and he
nearly dropped it on the dirty concrete pavement.  The gleaming silver
metal and black grip surface of the handle were unmistakable, and he
ran his hand over the vented barrel in admiration of the large-bore
pistol.  He experimentally sighted down the length of it, wondering
what kind of force the handgun produced when fired.

"What's this for?" he asked, still turning the elegantly simple device
over in his hands.

"This is a rough part of town," said Devastator forebodingly.  "We're
bound to get ambushed."

"Ambushed?"  Dan looked up, and saw that in both directions the
alleyway had been blocked by two tall, wicked-looking beasts that
seemed completely alien in the human city.  The creatures were much
like snakes, if snakes were half-upright, had heavily modified arms
obviously designed for slashing unsuspecting prey in two, and featured
thick armor plates on their bodies.  In fact, if this story had been
set in the Starcraft universe it would have been safe to call them
hydralisks.  The one closer to Dan emitted a low, rumbling growl which
would have scared the living hell out of anyone lesser.

"I've got this one," said Devastator, his voice totally calm.  In one
smooth motion he threw off his cloak, revealing a sheathed sword
strapped diagonally across his gray mail-covered back.  He considered
his opponent for a fleeting moment, then drew the two-handed blade in a
brilliant flash of white light.  After Dan's blinking eyes had adjusted
to the sudden absence of darkness, he realized that the illumination
came from the sword itself, which was slowly pulsating from a yellowish
tint to flawless white and back again.  Devastator's grip on the long
handle tightened, and the mecha could make out the silhouette of the
weapon's broad hilt.

Dan's observations were interrupted by another blood-chilling sound
from the combat-hungry monster behind him.  Instinctively, he knew when
the beast lunged at him, and he spun around, bringing his newly-
acquired gun to bear on the rapidly closing animal.  His finger
tightened on the stiff trigger, and a deafening explosion almost
knocked the pistol out of in his hand.  Before the echoes of the first
shot had died away, he adjusted his grip and loosed round after round
at his target, which staggered under the hail of deadly fire.  After
three adrenaline-charged seconds, the hydralisk collapsed, twitching
sporadically, to the hard, broken floor.

Dan casually walked over to his fallen adversary and planted his booted
foot beneath the split jaw mounted on its powerfully writhing neck.
His countenance narrowed, and he leveled the pistol at a point between
the small, flame-red eyes.  Shortly after the sound of four shots fell
silent, the scaled eyelids fell shut and the creature's long body
ceased its futile struggling.

Good job, Dan! he thought to himself, somewhat pleased at his
handiwork.  He once more examined the now-warm barrel, and became
curious as to just how many bullets were held in the large clip.  The
mecha was just about to press the release button on the handle when he
heard a particularly deep, malicious rumble from over his left
shoulder.  More? he wondered, quickly spinning to face the new arrival.
His first shot rang loud and clear down the high-walled alley as the
pistol roared back to life with a blinding flash.  The shoulder of the
hydralisk moved visibly with the impact, but the projectile glanced off
of the hard armor.  The monster continued to slither toward the
surprised mecha without breaking stride.

Dan aimed the weapon at a more vulnerable location and depressed the
trigger again.  A lot of nothing happened.  Desperately, he attempted
to fire it again, but still all he got for his efforts was a faint
*click*.  This is bad, he thought, hastily jumping to the right as the
beast leapt at him, brutally sharp blade-arms prepared to slice him
apart.  Unfortunately, in unpowered combat armor, his speed was no
match for a thoroughbred war machine.  It caught the left half of his
chestplate and slit it open like tinfoil, just barely missing the
actual Dan underneath.

Too close! he exclaimed mentally, dropping his useless weapon and
racking his mind for some foolproof escape plan that would get him out
of the situation in one piece.  For some reason, such a plan
successfully eluded him, and he nervously backed away as the monster
coiled up, preparing to strike out violently at the defenseless mecha.

Dan couldn't help blinking when it was spontaneously split down the
center by a streak of piercing light.  Through the acrid smoke of
burned flesh he saw Devastator watching him from a crouched stance,
sword resting on the ground where the enemy had stood moments earlier.
After a few seconds, his guide slowly stood up and sheathed his great
sword, causing the surroundings to fall uncomfortably dark once more.

"Whoa..." said Dan, duly impressed.  He walked over to where he had
left the pistol and picked it up, finding himself feeling much better
once he had the heavy weight of it back in his hand.

"We're almost there," said Devastator, retrieving his cloak and
shrouding himself in it once more.  He pulled a clip from on of his
belt pouches and wordlessly handed it to the mecha before resuming his
fast movement down the narrow alley.  Dan reloaded the weapon and
followed.

------------

Steve took in his surroundings with a great deal of concern.  Not only
was he totally lost, he had ended up stumbling into the "Dead Zone"
(although he was not aware of this).  It is a well known fact that
every good city has an abandoned warehouse district, and New Hamsterdam
was no exception.  The sidekick simply had the rotten luck of finding
it.

He looked up at the burned out shell that had once been a great
concrete structure towering over him.  He could just see a pair of
large, glassless windows sunken into the thick, water-stained wall, and
a broad roof connecting the building with another opposite it shielded
the still-bright sky from Steve's eyes.

The lone sidekick hesistantly proceeded along the broken asphalt
driveway, wondering how he was ever going to get back to the more
populated regions of the city.  I have a very bad feeling about this,
thought Steve, glancing over his shoulder.  He was painfully aware of
being unarmed, and wasn't quite sure what he should do if he got jumped
by a bunch of thugs.  Probably run away, he decided.

He did not have long to wait, although it was just one man that
materialized from the shadow of a recess in the soot-covered wall.
Steve looked him over with great apprehension, noting the hard, matte
black body armor plates and helmet outfitted with a pair of vision-
enhancing goggles in place of a visor for his eyes.  A pair of wickedly
sharp claws extended from each gloved hand, which were brought up in an
aggressive combat position.

So much for running away, thought the sidekick, shuddering nervously as
the warrior started threateningly circling his prey, apparently
searching for an opening to launch an attack.  Steve's options being
suddenly reduced, he saw that there was only one viable solution
remaining.  It was time to do the unthinkable.

Using the one true power given to him, the sidekick focused on the
ruthless assassin ominously spiraling in on him, and after a brief
flicker of dull light he found himself arrayed in a jacket and thick
jeans similar in color to that of his assailant.  The transformation
sequence complete, breathing in slowly as he flexed his arms, relishing
the feeling of the new power flowing his body.

His opponent took this as his signal to attack, and slid forward with a
side kick that nearly caught Steve in the abdomen had he not
sidestepped to the left in time.  Amazed that he had successfully
avoided the move, he was taken completely off guard by the hard impact
of an elbow strike on his right shoulder as the blindingly fast enemy
spun dexterously around.  Staggering backward into a concrete pillar,
the sidekick countered another advance by placing one foot on the faded
wall and snapping his hips over to deliver a solid round kick to the
warrior's exposed head.

At least, that was the plan.  Steve had not counted on having his foot
grabbed from midair and being summarily thrown into the side of a long-
abandoned dumpster.  Shaking his head to keep the world from spinning
around, he struggled to his feet just as his adversary threw a punch at
him, narrowly missing the sidekick's head and sinking a pair of claws
deep into the steel trash bin.

Steve instinctively kicked his opponent's feet out from under him, and
followed with an axe kick intended to break his neck.  Once again, the
armored individual displayed inhuman speed and strength, flipping
himself to his feet while knocking the sidekick back with a kick to the
solarplexus.  Steve found himself suddenly unable to breath as his
diaphragm was unnaturally compressed.  This provided his silent
adversary ample time to execute a fast ridgehand strike.

Despite the blinding pain, Steve managed to duck the blow, feeling the
stiff armor graze the top of his head.  Feebly trying to raise his
hands to a guard his vulnerable body, he did his best to stand erect,
and resultingly caught a spinning heel kick from his enemy on the ridge
of his cheekbone.  His vision flashed white, and he distantly was aware
of his hair being violently grabbed.  Through a dim haze he saw the
steep walls of the crumbling buildings lining the derelict road, the
mild wind disturbing forgotten relics of a lost land, and above all the
cold red sensors set into the dark mask before him.  He was remotely
aware of his feet dangling well above the ground, and gasped faintly as
he received a hard uppercut to his stomach from his captor, the twin
blades finding no resistance and going clean through him.

No longer fully aware of himself, the sidekick felt the world rapidly
closing in around him as he was carelessly dropped to the unforgiving
earth.  And at this moment, the words returned to him: "Fear not death,
for it is of your will, and yours alone."

Resolutely, he forced himself to stand, and defiantly glared at his
motionless assassin until he could do so no longer.  And then all was
comfortingly dark.

------------

Where did she go? wondered Ardweden, scanning the shadowed alley for
some sign of the magical girl that she had been attempting to follow.
The martial artist had decided that it must have been Scott, and
refused to change her mind no matter how impossible that conclusion
seemed to be.

Her pursuit had quickly led her out of the packed marketplace and into
a dizzying set of turns down dozens of unmarked side streets, but at
long last she had lost sight of the running grey form ahead of her, and
as a result was thoroughly lost.  She could tell that it was not yet
late in the day, but due to the construction of the city, light had a
difficult time making its way to the surface unless the sun was not
directly overhead.  A now-familiar lack of sufficient electric lighting
certainly did not help matters.

Forced to choose between three paths at an unremarkable, totally
deserted intersection, Ardweden opted to continue in a straight line,
as that way seemed to offer the most visibility and fewest
obstructions.  It was then that she truly began considering the full
implications of her discovery of Scott being very much alive, and
seemingly very busy as well.  Was this all a setup? she thought.  Just
what exactly is going on?  Not surprisingly, the best she could do was
form a guess based on what knowledge she had.

The traitor... is Scott?  She pondered this idea for a while, paying
little attention to her drab surroundings as they shifted from silent
commercial storefronts to silent residential housing.  The concept was
possible, she admitted, but the martial artist didn't really think it
was very likely.  In fact, she was reluctant to consider any of her
fellow heroes as traitors to the common cause.  Maybe the prophecy is
wrong, she thought, also keeping in mind that this was rarely the case
with such matters.

She was abruptly brought back to reality by a strong, gloved hand
clamping firmly over her mouth.  Ardweden was also made aware of a very
sharp, serrated knife held to her throat.  Seeming to speak right into
her ear, the subdued voice of someone she vaguely recognized broke the
silence of the rows of apartments.

"You... will be coming with me," he said dangerously.  The person began
leading her slowly backwards, keeping the blade up in order to
discourage any attempt to get away.

Uh oh, thought Ardweden as she was led off down a narrow alley.  I'm in
trouble...

------------

Scott surveyed the dingy structure doubtfully.  It's boarded-off
windows and disintegrating brick footing made it seem unstable to say
the least, and she decided that the only thing keeping it upright were
the buildings on either side of it, both of them appearing to be in
remarkably better condition.  Still, she was told to speak to the man
there, and so after checking around to make sure that she was
unobserved, she knocked once on the heavy door.

It was opened almost instantly by a completely nondescript man wearing
a white T-shirt and faded blue jeans.  In fact, he looked like
something straight out of Generica, and his speech further backed up
this hypthesis.

"You have it?" he asked plainly.  The magical nodded fractionally,
indicating her large amulet.  "Alright," said the man, "come in."  He
held the door open long enough for Scott to squeeze inside, then shut
it behind her.

The crumbling room was lit by a solitary lamp set on a table in the
center of the room.  A shredded sofa lined one wall beneath cracking
sheetrock, and opposite it was a large television (connected to a PS2,
no less).  After barring the door, the man turned to address the
magical girl.  "Give me the device," he said, skipping all traditional
formalities.

Scott removed the dragon pendant from her neck, considering its
exquisite detail and impressively light weight for its size.  She
remained considering it for quite a while, to the point where the man
became impatient.

"Well?" he asked, indicating the necklace.

Taking a deep breath, she clutched the item of power one last time.
This had better work, she thought, and reluctantly handed it to him.
The man looked it over, eventually determining that it was indeed
genuine.  He then returned his attention to Scott, who had been
watching him intently.

"You seem to have kept your end of the deal up," he said.  "I'm sure
the boss will keep his."  He waved his hand in dismissal of the magical
girl, who adamantly refused to budge.

"What about the rest of the bargain?" she demanded.

"Huh?"  The man seemed not to understand her for a second.  "Oh,
right..."  He paused, unsure of whether or not he should continue.
"Well, you see... those particular dresses got back-ordered, so-"  The
man stopped when he saw Scott angrily glaring at him.

Great, she thought.  So much for getting something decent to wear.  She
looked back up at the generic person and asked, "What should I do now?"

The man looked at her calmly.  "You should probably get back to your
friends.  They must be searching for you by now."

Without a reply, the magical girl walked out of the dingy building and
back onto the dark street.  She hadn't planned on her cover lasting
very long, but she had been spotted  by Kate and Ardweden much sooner
than expected.  And maybe others, too, she realized.

As Scott headed off in the general direction of the area where the
others had separately happened to end up, very much by chance, she
hoped that her course of action had been the right one.  She was
beginning to seriously doubt if the end result would be worth the
subjection of herself to an avalanche.

------------

A crisply-dressed communications officer delivered the message to
Xelloss's private chamber.  With a notable degree of hesitation, he
opened the double black metal doors and addressed his superior, who was
facing away from him in a giant leather chair.  "My lord," he said
nervously, "we just recieved a call from on of our safehouses in New
Hamsterdam."  The head villain slowly rotated his seat to face the
arrival.  The officer paused before continuing.  "They said that 'they
have it'."

Excellent, thought Xelloss happily as he dismissed the man.  He opened
a drawer of his broad curved desk and pulled out a box, which he
quickly opened.  Inside was nestled a long, hexagonal crystal
shimmering with an unearthly blood-red glow, situated just as he had
left it.

"Soon," he said to it comfortingly.  "Soon you will be merged again..."

------------

Although commonplace knowledge in underground circles, very few people
realized how popular the restaurants of New Hamsterdam were for the
conducting of shady dealings and other various activities, most
strictly illegal to the civilized world.  This was partially due to the
fact that they were very unlikely places to be checked for such
proceedings, as they just didn't seem like the kinds of places that
would harbor such things.  How it was that Kate had come to know this
bit of information was a mystery, but regardless, she found herself at
the front door of a little cafe tucked under a prominent overhang of a
large corporate building on the edge of the district.  Behind her
throngs of people were moving in and out of the hundreds of similar
establishments, and many more were seated at tables, noisily enjoying
their food in the bright sun of one of the few open spaces that the
city had to offer.

The ninja's attention was suddenly caught by a darkly cloaked figure
leaning on the smooth metallic wall of the small eatery.  How he
managed to remain there undetected by the authorities was impossible to
determine, but there he was, all the same.  He had apparently been
watching her for some time, and was not at all surprised when she
approached him.

"Hello, Kate," he said, taking the ninja off guard by the usage of her
name.  However, she was still able to identify the voice.

"Garrett?"  She peered more closely at the seeming void underneath the
hood, and was unable to positively confirm his identity.  Of course,
she had never seen him with his shroud off before, and so eventually
gave up.

"Of course," he replied.

He must have backup, concluded Kate, noting the thief's total lack of
concern.  Better not try anything.  The ninja realized that he would
probably be just as able to help her as anyone else.  Still, she
understandably hesitated before asking for his help.

Eventually, she decided to go ahead with it.  "I'm looking for someone.
One of our party members that's been missing."  The formless
countenance considered her, revealing nothing.  "I need your help
finding her."

Garrett was silent for a while.  "I assume you'll pay me something for
my assistance."

Kate thought about this, not really sure about what she could offer in
compensation for his time.  She decided that that would just have to be
a detail worked out later.  "Of course."

"Very well," he agreed.  Had the ninja been aware of it, the thief was
actually fairly suspicious of her, too, and thought he saw a setup in
progress.  "Meet me inside in ten minutes."  He indicated the
restaurant to his left.

Kate nodded and headed off into the seething crowd in order to allow
Garrett time to get inside without appearing to suspicious.  As if that
was possible, she thought wryly.

------------

Illyria watched her as she skillfully vanished into the mass of
humanity.  Standing a fair distance away, the bishounen had been unable
to make out most of the conversation over the white noise of the fast
food district.  However, he had heard the ending portion of the
interaction well enough.

Kate? he thought, considering the evidence.  It was difficult to
condemn the exitable ninja, but it seemed clear enough now.  She would
be expecting a payoff, he decided.  And guess who'll be waiting for
her?

He tightened the loose cloak that he had managed to procure during his
pursuit, and as casually as possible made his way through the low door
of the restaurant.  He picked one of the upholstered booths in a far
corner of the room, keeping his head down to conceal his identity from
anyone watching.

------------

"Explain to me again... whatever it was you just said," said Dan, doing
his best to keep up with the quickly moving figure ahead of him.
"Something about what you were doing here?" he added, apparently not
getting something.

Devastator stopped and turned to him.  He was not really surprised that
the mecha was confused at his cryptic description of his situation.  It
was probably better that way, he decided. "I am here to hunt down the
avatars I created to assist me with my work."

"Which is...?" asked Dan.

"I ensure that the Story is in accordance with the will of the Master.
If it is not, I modify things as I am able in order to get it so that
it is."

The mecha looked at him blankly.  "Huh?"

"I am not allowed to say more on that."  Dan motioned him to continue
with his explanation.  "The avatars were intended as tools to improve
my control over the Story.  However, they have developed beyond their
intended limitations, and have come to become far more of a hindrance
than an asset.  Some of them have even gone renegade.  I cannot allow
that."

"Which means...?"  Dan still wasn't sure what exactly the cloaked one
was talking about.

"They're in trouble," replied Devastator.

------------

Ardweden had been blindfolded soon after her capture, and as such was
completely unaware of what building she had ended up in.  When her
vision was restored, she found herself strapped to a chair at the end
of a long, completely empty room lit only by the open door opposite
her.

As for her captor, he chose this time to make an appearance,
silhouetting his cloaked form in the yellow light behind him.  His long
shadow stretched as he moved toward her, two thug-type villains dressed
in traditional stormtrooper garb (well, what did you expect?).  He
stopped directly in front of her, his two guards taking up positions on
either side of him.

"I see you've been following our business a little too closely," he
said.  "That was a not a good idea."

"Who are you?" demanded the martial artist, looking up at where she
suspected his head was.  It was difficult to tell, since he was
blocking pretty much all of the light.

"You don't recognize me?" asked the man, feigning surprise.  He removed
his hood in an effort to simplify identification.

Like that's gonna help, thought Ardweden sarcastically.  He might as
well be a cardboard cutout.

Noting her delay, the captor decided to reveal himself.  "I am...
Devast8or!"  As usual, he managed to make it clear to everyone present
that there was an '8' in his name.

He turned to the stormtrooper-like person on his right.  "Has Nayrb-
Merc been informed yet?"  A long pause followed.  "Well?"

The guard shifted uneasily in the near-darkness.  "Uh... he... left."

"What you say?!"  Devast8or was incredulous.  "...Shoot," he concluded.
Good help was too hard to find these days, he decided.

Ardweden had taken the scene in silently, wondering what was happening,
not just in the room, but in the overall picture as well.  I wonder if
they've started looking for me yet? she thought.  That would be
horribly ironic...

The cloaked one returned his attention to her.  "Don't think that
you're going to get off too easily.  You have some information that I'm
sure you're dying to share with me."  The martial artist looked
puzzled, although it was difficult to tell as she was totally covered
by Devast8or's shadow.  However, he could see just fine in low light.
"Being difficult, are we?"  He extended his arm to the guard on his
left, obviously demanding something.  "Very well..."

Ardweden was relieved to see that all the white-armored person handed
over was a pair of headphones, which were fitted over her ears.  What
now? she wondered, seeing her captor adjusting a previously unseen CD
player which was connected to the miniature speakers mounted over her
ears.  What followed was more horrible than anything she could have
possibly imagined.

"I hope you'll enjoy my 'Dan Hibiki Sings' album," came Devast8or's
muffled voice as the first track slowly increased in volume.  "Perhaps
you'll be more willing to discuss things afterwards."  With that he
turned around and strode out of the door, black cloak flaring
dramatically in the light from the entryway.  The two guards followed
him.

The martial artist desperately struggled to remove the offensive item,
but it steadfastly clung to her head, and after several minutes she
gave up.  I'm in hell, she thought.

------------

Steve opened his eyes slowly.  His surroundings appeared the same as
they had been before.  The sun had visibly moved, but not any
significant distance.  The breeze that had started up earlier had yet
to die down, as the rustling pieces of loose trash attested.  The walls
of the abandoned warehouses were as desolate and uninviting as ever,
horrible, darkened cracks running up their sheer sides.  Yet something
was very different.

The sidekick effortlessly got to his feet, placing his hand over where
the two claws had torn through his insides just a short time earlier.
Or had it? wondered Steve, feeling no trace of the wound anywhere.  He
clenched his fists experimentally, unnatural strength flowing through
his veins.  What... happened? he asked himself, not entirely sure of
how he had changed, but certain that he had, somehow.

He detected a presence behind him, and he turned to find the back of
the dark-armored warrior, who was sitting in motionless contemplation
on the worn road surface.  After a few still moments passed, he
silently stood up and likewise turned around, haunting eyepieces
glowing the same ghoulish red.

What seemed an age passed as the two faced each other, the only sounds
coming from the gentle hand of the wind pushing debris as it went.
Steve calmly studied his opponent, noting the bladed gloves with little
concern.  Although there was no way that he could have known, he swore
that the noiseless figure wore a thin smile of satisfaction.

Without warning, the enemies simultaneously lunged at one another.

------------

Kate dutifully entered the restaurant at the appointed time, searching
for her contact and finding him seated in a corner booth next to a wide
window and well away from most of the other customers.  Without pause,
she hurried over to the table and sat down on the bench opposite him.
He seemed to be hiding his face more than usual, but she thought little
of it, having far more important things occupying her mind.

"So..." she began when he failed to initiate a conversation.  "About
payment..."  She searched for some sign of recognition in the cloaked
figure, but it seemed that he took no notice of her.  Is he asleep? she
wondered, concluding that this was the best explanation.  The ninja
debated whether to attempt to wake him up, and eventually decided that
there wasn't much she could do.  She leaned across the table and tapped
him gently on the shoulder.

She was completely taken off guard when his right hand snapped out from
under his cloak and grabbed hers.  "Gotcha..." said a familiar voice
dangerously.

Kate identified it instantly.  "Illyria?" she said.  In response the
disguised bishounen silently removed his hood without loosening his
iron grip on her wrist.  "What are you doing?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," he replied in a way that made
the ninja suddenly nervous.  "But I don't think that will be
necessary."

"What are you talking about?" asked Kate, trying to free herself from
captivity.

"We trusted you, Kate," continued Illyria quietly, staring coldly into
the ninja's eyes.

Suddenly understanding what the bishounen was getting at, she
desperately tried to explain herself.  "No, no, it's not what you
think!" she said in distress.  However, something about his lack of
expression made her seriously doubt that he would believe her.  She
therefore decided to go with plan B.

With a sudden burst of strength, she twisted her arm from Illyria's
hand and in one blindingly fast motion leapt from a crouching position
on the bench seat through the glass window, which shattered profusely
upon impact.  Surprised, the bishounen was on his feet nearly as fast.
He followed Kate through the new opening and hit the ground running in
pursuit of what he believed was a rogue ninja.

------------

Damien looked up dejectedly from his corner in his small enclosure.
The annoying child had returned, and had resumed his calls of 'wark'
nearly ten minutes earlier.  After a while the phoenix had tired of
attempting to reason (calmly, of course) with the boy, and had resumed
his former position on the straw-laden floor.  What had happened after
the unexplained arrival of Blind Pierre was fairly hazy, as they had
given the manlike-birdlike one a powerful sedative to keep him from
single-handedly tearing the barn down.

His relatively contented ignorance was shattered by something that made
his flesh crawl; something that the elder Bill said.  "Gee, I wonder
what kind of offspring that fella' will produce?"

"Ooh!  Ooh!" cried they younger Billy.  "Can we try it?  Please?!"

"Well... Alright.  Billy, go grab a nut, and I'll get a female."  With
that the two disappeared from in front of Damien's doorway.

"HEY!!" yelled the indignant phoenix.  "I HAVE RIGHTS TOO, YOU KNOW!!"

The upstart farmer returned first, carrying an enormous nut-like object
easily a foot long and about twice that in circumference.  Putting
himself in great personal danger, the child squeezed between two bars
of the gate to the cage, taking the nut with him.  "Open up, Mr.
Chocobo!  Don't you want to eat this nice tasty Zeio nut?"

The phoenix looked at the object with anything but appetite, even
though he had gone without any food for a very long time.  "NO
FRICKIN' WAY!!!" he exclaimed, backing as far into his corner as was
possible.

"Oh, that's right," remembered the young Billy.  "Wark!  Wark!"

"YOU &$^#ING #$-"  Damien's voice was silenced as he found the oblong
object wedged into his open beak, and despite everything he tried to
get the intruding nut out, it wouldn't move an inch.  It was at this
point that he heard the older chocobo farmer returning, and a set of
heavy footsteps following him.

Due to the ackward position that his opened beak forced his neck to
assume, the manlike-birdlike one was unable to view the ongoing
proceedings.  However, he became acutely aware of another presence in
the room, and one much larger than either of the two farmers.

"You know, Billy, we've never gotten old Boom Shaka-laka to
successfully breed before," said the elder man.  He then addressed
Damien.  "Good luck, fella'."

And then-

[CENSORED]

OK, let's just say it would be safe to say that if the phoenix's throat
wasn't jammed, his screaming would have easily raised the dead.  The
mascot of the Destined Heroes was never the same afterwards.  That's
all I'm going to say about that.

------------

The mecha looked over the horribly misplaced barn-like structure stuck
between two towering commercial structures.  Emblazoned in faded red
letters over the entrance which opened onto a small parkway were the
words "Chocobo Bill's Chocobos", apparently the name of the
establishment.  He saw his guide pointing to the building.

"He's in there," said Devastator from their vantage point on the
opposite end of the grassy field.  "And I'm sure he'll be glad to get
out."

Dan nodded his agreement, and the two headed off quickly over the
springy greenery.

A minute passed before they reached the massive front gates, which had
begun to lose their white coat of paint from constant exposure to the
sun.  The mecha tried pushing them open, but found them barred from
inside.  "Great," he said.  "Now what?"

"This," replied Devastator, drawing his brilliant sword from its sheath
and sinking it to its spiked hilt into the wooden planks of the door,
which offered almost no resistance.  The cloaked one rapidly made a
hole large enough to extract a large bird through, then headed through
it into the comparatively dark establishment.  Dan followed quickly
after him.

Once inside and standing on the slick hay-strewn floor, Devastator had
put his sword away and so was able to effortlessly slip by the older
chocobo farmer and his nephew.  The mecha, wearing a bulky red suit,
was naturally not as lucky and was confronted by the two.

"Hey!" said the elder Bill.  "What's the big idea?!"

"We're looking for a lost party member," explained Dan, scanning the
endless rows of stalls for Damien's distinctive appearance.  Not
finding it, he returned his attention to the two farmers.

"Oh," said Bill.  "Well, what's he doing in a chocobo ranch, then?"

"I don't know," replied the mecha honestly.  Further conversation was
negated when Devastator reappeared, supporting an unusually pale,
featherless phoenix with one arm.  He soon reached where Dan was
standing.  He quickly noticed the comatose state of the group mascot
and moved to help with carrying the dead weight of the manlike-birdlike
one.

"Hey!" cried the younger Billy.  "You can't take our prize chocobo!"

"Watch me," replied Dan, giving the little brat no further notice.  The
elder Bill made a similarly indignant comment and attempted to block
their progress.  His efforts earned him a shove from the mecha, who
effortlessly pushed him out of the way.  On reaching the opening in the
door, the self-proclaimed leader of the destined heroes and the
enigmatic figure shoved Damien through the hole and resumed their
interwoven quests, although at a much slower pace owing to the
additional drag from lugging the phoenix along.

------------

Kate ran as fast as her legs would carry her toward some sort of
shelter.  The bishounen had been hot on her trail for longer than she
had expected, and the ninja was starting to get tired.  She examined
stretch of low, uninviting doorways on her right quickly, noting
offhand that the band of light cast on the high red-brick walls by the
sun from over the rooftops of the buildings to her left had slowly but
surely moving upward.  Which one? she wondered, realizing that any
significant delay would result in her being spotted by a vindictive
Illyria.

Running out of ideas, Kate picked the fifth door from the one she was
currently in front of, and dashed to try the handle.  As she half-
expected, the door was locked.  Ready to move on and try the next one,
she had the dumb luck of having a pair of thug-type villains (in
stormtrooper regalia) come out of the doorway before she had a chance
to move on.  Seizing the opportunity, she darted inside before the two
startled guards had a chance to react.

It should be noted here that not only do most RPG-based stories feature
modified laws of physics, but that many also have altered rules of
mathematics, especially concerning probabilities.  In fact, the
Probability Theorem for Role Playing Games states that situations that
would ordinarily have only a very small chance of occuring under
traditional probability rules, if the situations are expedient and/or
important to the flow of the story, the odds are modified to a much
greater number than they ordinarily would be.

Kate found herself in a narrow, undecorated white hallway which led to
a T-intersection not far from where she stood.  Lacking a better plan,
the ninja darted down the corridor and took a left turn, finding
another short hall which stopped at an unremarkable dead end.  A door
not far along the left wall was open, and she thought that she could
just make out faint music of some sort emanating from the dark portal.
Again, not having a better course of action, she curiously stepped
through the door.

The ninja started as she recognized the dazed figure sitting in a crude
metal chair.  "Ard!" she cried as she hurried over to remove the black
cords from around the martial artist.  "Are you alright?"

Kate noticed that Ardweden's eyes were closed, and concluded that the
loud volume of the pair of headphones over the martial artist's ears
prevented her from hearing anything else.  She removed the intefering
item, and was rewarded with the sudden opening of Ardweden's eyes.

"...Kate?" she asked, blinking.  The ninja had produced a small knife
and was busy slicing the thin ropes apart.  "Thanks.  You saved me from
certain doom."  In seconds Ardweden found herself free to move about
again, and took the opportunity to smash the offensive CD player into
as many pieces as humanly possible.

Kate was somewhat surprised at the martial artist's strange actions.
Ardweden noticed her puzzled expression.  "You have no idea what I just
went through," she explained.

The ninja merely nodded, wondering if Illyria was still searching for
her.

------------

The bishounen grimly considered the half-circle of stormtrooper thugs
surrounding him on the asphalt street, gripping his long katana
tightly.  He scanned for a weak point in the ring, and, finding none,
decided to take out the far left edge of his adversaries first.

Illyria had just seen Kate slip into the building behind her, vanishing
inside before the two guards knew what had happened.  Unfortunately,
backup had magically appeared in seconds, and his chase was interrupted
by a wall of what was best known to most people as cannon fodder.  The
bishounen was unsure of just how many more of the blatant references
would show up, and so decided that his time to strike was now.

As dazzlingly fast as lightning, he leapt into the fray, sword
indiscriminately slashing at whatever targets happened to present
themselves.  However, the warrior had underestimated his opponents, who
ignored their numerous fallen comrades (which turned into red polygons,
of course.  This isn't a PG-13 story yet.) and swarmed around him,
eventually pinning his arms and legs.  Illyria struggled valiantly, but
without the ability to use his sword he was essentially incapacitated.

It was not long before the ubiquitous cloaked figure loomed before him.
"Hello, Illyria," he said, revealing himself to the observant bishounen
as none other than Devast8or.  The shaded face contemplated him darkly.
"What are you doing here?"  Illyria remained silent.  "Not after your
friend, are you?"  After still receiving no response, he signalled for
the bishounen to be taken into the building.

------------

"Now what?" asked Dan after he and Devastator had set their heavy
burden in a recessed doorway a few yards back.  Both had observed the
tail end of the proceedings outside of the apartment complex, and the
mecha was now considering what the best way to break into the dull, but
obviously well-fortified, structure was.

"It's time for some cleanup," said Devastator quietly, setting his
visually impressive cloak down and drawing his even more impressive
blade.  Dan followed him, not sure what the plan was, but not caring
much either.

------------

Kate looked up in alarm as Illyria was shoved into the room by four of
the armored guards, who then remained just inside the door.  The
bishounen gave her a cold glare, but this was interrupted by
Devast8or's entrance into the chamber.  Ardweden subconsciously put her
hands to her ears, filled with horrible memories of not long before.
The cloaked one glanced at the ninja for a moment, evidently pleased at
the inadvertant additional of a third prisoner to his collection.  He
paused for dramatic effect before offering his customary greeting.

"How are you, gentlemen?" he asked from beneath his dark hood.

All further commentary was abruptly ended by sound of very loud gunfire
just outside the door.  The four thugs by the door rushed out of the
room to assist their comrades-in-arms.

Devast8or smiled, although nobody could really tell.  "So nice of you
friends to walk into my trap."

------------

Dan fought with one of the seemingly hundreds of guards, struggling for
control of his massive pistol.  Shots were randomly being fired into
the low ceiling, sending showers of brown, broken tiles down on the
chaotic mob.  Before long a different guard stumbled and crashed into
the red mecha, causing the gun to go flying somewhere into the crowd.
Glancing over the sea of bobbing white helmets, he easily picked out a
bright flash as Devastator's sword came into contact with those foolish
enough to stand in his way.

It was then that Dan noticed that the warrior was rapidly heading away
from him.  "Hey!!" he yelled over the suffocating noise, looking down
as his left arm was grabbed by some nondescript hand from the swarm.
"Can I get a little help here?!"

"Use the Force, Dan!" came the distant reply, and then Devastator
darted into the poorly lit room.

Oh... yeah... thought Dan, delivering a solid backfist to the front of
an unsuspecting guard's helmet.  The blow was enough to stun the person
long enough for the mecha to squeeze by him.  He had by now observed
just how incredibly ineffective the guards had proved to be; even
though he was the only possible target in the room, nobody seemed able
to directly confront him.  Perhaps this was because it was difficult
just trying to move from one place to another in the packed chamber,
let alone engage in reasonable combat.  As such, Dan slowly but surely
'Forced' his way over to the open door.

------------

Devast8or casually turned his head, taking in the armed silhouette
standing behind him in the illuminated doorway.  Kate, Ardweden, and
Illyria, who had put his differences with the ninja aside for the
moment, were dimly aware of a derisive laugh from their captor, who
slowly rotated to face the new arrival.

"I expected you earlier," he said, unconsciously betraying his
nervousness by taking a step backward as the other took an ominous step
forward.  The newcomer continued moving slowly forward, his broad sword
seeming to burn with rapidly pulsating light in the darkened room.  It
was not long before Devast8or found himself cornered against the hard
concrete wall, and for a moment Kate wondered why the cloaked one had
allowed himself to be trapped so easily.

Unexpectedly, the outline of a trap door materialized in the smooth,
gray surface, and the tall figure slipped rapidly through it before it
closed silently behind him.  The three heroes intently watched the
mail-clad warrior to see how he would handle the situation, and were
duly impressed when he displayed his physical prowess by charging,
shoulder lowered, into the impediment with a resounding crash,
disappearing in a cloud of whitish particles backlit by the brighter
atmosphere outside the building.

Well before the dust had settled, the trio spotted the bulky form of
Dan's suit backing into the room, apparently fending off some unseen
opponent hidden behind the doorjamb.  "Illyria!"  The mecha glanced
over his shoulder, and was surprised to see the ninja and martial
artist there as well.  "Kate!  Ard!" he called, steadily giving way
before the onslaught.  "Help!"

Illyria observed the ninja through narrowed eyes as she rushed off to
her leader's aid.  I'm still watching you, thought the bishounen,
plunging into the confused jumble of stormtrooper thugs in an attempt
to locate his sword.

------------

Devast8or thoroughly looked over his adversary for the first time.  The
ever-present breeze rustled through the tall, narrow alleyway, gently
stirring the cloaked one's black shroud.  With a sudden sweep of his
arm, he threw the garment off, revealing his veritable arsenal of
sharp, pointy objects strapped to his back and legs.  Of these, he
decided to use his enormous dual-bladed sword, which he drew from its
sheath in a slow arcing motion, the dull-red gemstone rooted in its
hilt glowing darkly.

The other stood his ground, and at last spoke solemnly in the near-
silence.  "You have gone against me," said Devastator, facing his
avatar with total lack of emotion.  "That... was a fatal mistake."
Without further delay, he sprung forward in a blindingly fast streak of
yellowish light, bringing the long edge of his blade brutally down.

Devast8or barely stopped the swing with a fast block upward, but
immediately afterwards he was still able to launch into a string of
attacks executed in quick succession.  His opponent effortless parried
these, displaying his superior ability and swordsmanship with his two-
handed weapon.  After the final blow had landed, Devastator jumped high
overhead, pushing off of one of the brick walls and rotating in midair.
His quarry once again shifted to deflect the falling strike, but the
enormous force delivered by the clearly superior warrior cracked his
heavy sword in two, the halves clattering to the impassive ground as he
staggered from the impulse delivered through the handle to his armored
forearms.

All too easy, thought Devastator, stepping forward and sending the
point of his gleaming blade straight through the blackened chain mail
covering the rogue agent's upper torso.  Blinking, the stricken one
collapsed to his knees, clutching his wound in agony as the burning
weapon was withdrawn from his seared chest.  After another second, the
avatar fell lifelessly to the rough pavement.  Devastator tested him
once with his foot to ensure that he would not be getting up again,
then turned away from the dead figure.

And now, he realized, my work here is finished.  He hurried over to
where he had left his cloak, noting the persisting state of chaos
through the roughly-made opening he had created in the nearby
structure.

------------

Illyria, risking great bodily harm, had managed to recover not only his
katana but Dan's recently acquired semi-automatic pistol as well.
Expertly dodging a poorly-aimed punch from a thug-type villain who
stood in his way, the violently slashing bishounen quickly dispatched
the offending individual and ducked back into the room.  He tossed the
latter weapon to the mecha, who was being steadily pushed back by the
mob of clunky white forms.

Dan had, meanwhile, decided that their options would be decidedly
better if they had some more room to manuever in.  "Everyone!  Out
through the door!" he ordered, firing an indiscriminate shot into the
swarming psuedo-stormtroopers which bounced off of some random piece of
armor and collided with the far right wall.  The four heroes turned and
fled out of the exit so conveniently provided for them, with the
stampeding horde right on their heels.

Ardweden was the first out and so was the first to notice the wall of
essentially identical white-clad thugs that had assembled out of thin
air, so to speak.  Kate bumped into the martial artist, and Dan and
Illyria noticed the change in circumstances and similarly stopped.  Had
they not been outnumbered a hundred to one they would have attempted a
fighting retreat.  As it was, the self-proclaimed leader looked blankly
ahead when the others asked him what the plan was.

An unexpected cry of "WAI ULTIMATE DAZZLING SPARKLY WAIING 'Y' OF
WAI!!!" disturbed the uneasy silence, and a sparkling energy beam shot
out from some hidden source and forked as it leapt from thug to thug,
stunning them as it traveled.  And then, from behind a projecting
ledge, stepped-

"Scott!" cried Kate and Ardweden, running over to the magical girl
excitedly.

Scott? wondered Illyria, his understanding of the how things stood
suddenly dashed.  He felt somewhat foolish for his suspicions of the
ninja.  Which was just fine, decided the bishounen.

Dan was not nearly as surprised, as he had come to believe that the
magical girl had not died in the fateful avalanche of a few days
before.  Still, he was nonetheless relieved to see that his predictions
had been correct.

So absorbed was the party in the mysterious return of the missing hero
that the five of them failed to notice the mass of stormtroopers
simultaneously recovering from their dazed states and advancing
menacingly on the group.  "RAGE!!!" they yelled, breaking into a
frenzied charge.

The center of the seething white mass was suddenly disrupted by a two
black-clad figures which launched themselves headlong into the fray.
Not waiting to identify the newcomer, the heroes joined in the
counterattack, and needless to say made short work of the hopelessly
out-classed stooges.

------------

Scott examined the now re-cloaked individual curiously, apparently
impressed with his deciding influence on the outcome of the epic street
brawl.  The heroes had assembled themselves into a narrow semi-circle,
and were preparing to bid the enigmatic person farewell, although most
of them weren't sure about who he was exactly.  The magical girl then
glanced over at Steve, who was now outfitted in some sort of heavy
black leather jacket and equally black jeans.  He still retained a
cloth headband around his messy hair, but this, too, had become black,
with crimson lettering.

"Are you sure you can't join us?" asked Kate, addressing Devastator as
he turned away from the party.

The shrouded warrior chuckled, and said, "I appreciate the offer, but I
must decline."  He extended his hand in front of him, and a flickering
rift of bluish energy parted before him.  Accompanying the emergence of
the portal came a deafening roar like that of thunder which rattled the
flimsy walls of the nearby houses (had the heroes recognized it, they
would have easily identified the occurence as the fourth wall being
broken).  Wordlessly, he stepped through, and the anomaly closed behind
him.

A while passed before Kate decided to ask Steve about his sudden change
in fashion sense (which was remarkably improved, I must say).  "What
happened to you?" she said, indicating the sidekick's new clothing.

"I'm not entirely sure," he replied, taking a deep breath prior to the
long explanation that followed.  "My base form seems to have been
overwritten, and I seem to now possess various abilities acquired from
every person I've impersonated up until now."  He paused.  "I also seem
to be able to emulate others beyond their basic level now," he added
happily.

Ardweden had by now noticed the rescued phoenix's pale, atrophied
condition.  "Damien, are you OK?" she asked, concerned.  The manlike-
birdlike one gave her no response, but simply stared directly ahead,
mouth slack-jawed.  It was difficult to tell if he was breathing or
not.  The shock had aparently not left his system yet.

"Where to?" asked Kate after the heroes had fallen silent again for a
minute.  "We still have to recover the Bishounen Pages from Garrett."
The ninja sighed, considering how easily she could have acquired the
needed item at one point.  Too late now, she realized.

The sidekick spoke up.  "Do you guys remember the meteor shower that I
told you about?"  Illyria nodded, followed by Scott, who seemed to
hesitate slightly.  Steve waited a second for dramatic purposes before
resuming his train of thought.  "Right before the avalance, I saw
several of them land in the ocean not far our camp, and I'm pretty sure
I heard one impact with the mountainside.  Now, you hopefully realize
that the odds of that many falling rocks landing in that small of an
area are pretty low, right?"  He waited only a moment before moving on.
"*I* think there was some sort of orbital weapon that was firing at us,
and we should probably go check it out."  The sidekick allowed the
others to absorb this proposed course of action.

"Regardless, I need to get my suit fixed," said Dan, observing the
battered condition of his mecha equipment.

"Well, then!" cried Kate, pointing off down a randomly selected
roadway.  "ONWARD!"

------------

Author's Notes:

"Can't you read the sign?!  'NO SETTING UP OF BOMBS!'"

"...What you say, officer?"

"That's it!  I'm impounding your 'Zig'!"


The time before this part is due vanishes before me.  I apologize for
any blatant spelling of grammatical errors.  I will submit corrections
shortly after I submit this.

And yes, I know.  It's a chibi.

- Joel "Devast8or" Extra