There's nothing in this world can make me joy:
Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale
Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man;
And bitter shame hath spoil'd the sweet world's taste
That it yields nought but shame and bitterness
               King John
               Act 3, Scene 4
               William Shakesepare

Starburst Crystal

Chapter 3

Bitter Shame


Yumi bounced down the road, Kit Kat snuggled in her arms.  While most
people's lips were slightly downturned when their faces were relaxed, Yumi's
appeared to be raised in a perpetual smile.  Tsugiko, as she wiped the sweat
off her forehead, found that highly irritating.

"Hey, Yumi," she found herself saying.  "It's, like, *so* hot out here.  How
can you not sweating?"

Yumi beamed at her.  "Girls don't sweat."

"They do so!"  Tsugiko found the insinuation insulting on many levels, none
of which she could find a way to express.  "You...  I...  Don't try...
You're so..."

A slightly exasperated sigh floated from somewhere behind her.  "Try to
relax, Tsugiko."

"Gika!"  Kit Kat echoed in apparent confirmation.

Tsugiko glared at Kit Kat and Kyouji in turn.  Kit Kat merely smiled in an
oblivious cat-ferret sort of way while Kyouji avoided her gaze, evidently
embarrassed at having given her even a mild rebuke.

Just as well.  Didn't he see that Yumi provoked it?  She was just too darned
perfect for her own good, and...

...and she'd cried when Tsugiko had been trapped in the Watchamacallit's
bubble.  Tsugiko sighed and held on to that image.  Yumi really did care,
even if she was unintentionally condescending much of the time.

"So, the Spree," Kyouji said in a forced tone of voice.  "What do we know
about them?"

"They're engaged in a civil war over a crystal shard," Yumi said brightly.
Yumi said everything brightly, a snide voice inside Tsugiko's head
commented.

"That's it?"  Kyouji frowned.  "Anything else?"

"This road leads to their land."

Kyouji's frown deepened.  "You know, we have *got* to improve on our
intelligence-gathering."

"Yeah, yeah," Tsugiko said, still annoyed at the world in general.  "We'll
find out when we get there."

"Hey!  Lookit here!"  Yumi called.

Tsugiko followed Yumi's pointing had.  The road was splitting into two, one
leading off into a desert, one descending down into a valley.  There was an
extremely worn sign with barely-discernable arrows pointing in each
direction.

Tsugiko walked up to the sign and bent down, trying to read the lettering.
"I... don't know what language this is.  I don't know which way to go."

"Gika!"  Kit Kat sprang out of Yumi's arms and bounded down the road
descending into the valley.

Straightening, Tsugiko met Kyouji's eyes.  He shrugged.  "It's supposed to
be our guide."

"He!  He's supposed to be our guide!  Kit Kat's not an 'it'!"

Her eyes still locked with Kyouji's, Tsugiko saw one corner of his mouth
lift in amusement.  For one brief moment that shared perfect understanding
of the occasional annoyance Yumi could be.

Then he broke the gaze.  "All right.  Let's, um, go."  He walked down the
valley road, Yumi following in the wake of his cape.

Tsugiko tightened her lips, then trotted to catch up.

---

Yumi frowned at the lush vegetation.

"Say, this looks promising," Kyouji spouted.  "See the fence up ahead?"

Yumi moved her gaze from the purple-and-red plants to the yellow wood fence
ahead.  It was about four feet high and ran close along the road.  Fighting
off a sense of foreboding, she ran up to it.

"Hey!"  Tsugiko called out from behind.  "Don't run off like that!"

Yumi ignored her and ran up to clasp two of the fence poles.  The field
beyond was unkempt.  It looked as if at one time it might have been growing
corn - bright green corn, but corn nonetheless - before having been
abandoned.  Most of the plants were wilting, choking on the thick growth of
weeds.

Kyouji bumped into her from behind, almost bowling her over.  "Sorry," he
mumbled.

He had *such* a talent for seemingly inadvertent physical contact.  She'd
have to talk to him about it sometime.  "That's all right," Yumi murmured
for now.

Tsugiko sounded a little breathless as she ran up.  "Yumi, what's wrong?"

Yumi turned her head to smile widely at her friend.  "Nothing.  I just
wanted to look at the field."

Tsugiko tilted her head.  "Are you sure?" she asked with a hint of concern.

Yumi nodded rapidly.  "Yup."

"Then... why are you holding on to the fence so tightly?"

Glancing at her hands, Yumi realized that her knuckles were white.  "Oh,
nothing," she said, releasing her grip on the fence posts and clasping her
hands primly in front of her.

"C'mon, Yumi," Tsugiko prompted somewhat gruffly and somewhat... something
else.  "You've been on edge since we started down into the valley.  What is
it?"

Yumi swallowed, noting the fact that Tsugiko was a very observant person
when she wasn't acting annoyed for reasons Yumi couldn't figure out.
"It's... this place doesn't... feel right."

"Oh?"  Kyouji looked around.  "How so?"

"It's... sick."  Yumi shuddered.  "The whole land is sick."

"That's... very nonspecific," Tsugiko said as she looked nervously around.
"What's it *mean*?"

"I can't figure it out," Yumi admitted.  "I've never felt like this before.
It's just that the farther we go, the sicker to my stomach I get."  She
looked up at her two friends, tears suddenly brimming in her eyes.  "It's
frightening."

Kyouji looked mildly panicked.  He lifted his arms as if he was about to put
them around her, seemed to change his mind in mid-motion, and ended up
putting his hands on his hips in a very silly heroic pose.  "Don't worry,
Yumi, I'll protect you."

She couldn't help herself.  Yumi laughed.  A little to her surprise, Tsugiko
joined in.  They continued giggling at Kyouji until he blushed.

"Gika!  Gika!  Gika!"  Kit Kat appeared to be enjoying the moment, too.
Yumi looked at the cat-weasel affectionately, still laughing.  After a
moment of bouncing up and down, he turned tail and ran down the road.

Yumi choked herself to a half.  "I think Kit Kat is getting impatient with
us."

Tsugiko grinned.  "Well, let's not keep him waiting.  C'mon, Oh Brave Knight
Protector."

Kyouji's blush deepened.  Mumbling something incoherent, he walked quickly
down the road, trying to look determined and gallant, sending Yumi and
Tsugiko into a new fit of giggling.

To his credit, Kyouji managed a self-deprecating grin as he looked over his
shoulder.  "Say, do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Tsugiko managed to splutter out through the laughter.

"That noise.  Sounds like... buzzing."

Yumi put her hand over her mouth, stifling herself.  And yes, she could hear
something.  A low buzzing that sounded a little like a whine.  She walked
down the road alongside Kyouji, trying to localize the noise.  Yumi tried to
reach out her senses, past the icky wrongness of the plant life, into the
open, beyond, beyond...

...into evil.

The road turned sharply at a cliff overlooking the valley floor.  Yumi heard
Kyouji gasp.  She looked into the distance, knowing already what she'd find.

The valley was patchwork black-and-purple.  Purple for the plants.  Black
for the ashes.  Indeterminate figures swarmed along the valley.  Distant
shapes launched bright globes of yellow light that trailed sparkles like
comets and keened like distant fireworks.  When the globes landed - usually
near a cluster of the scurrying figures - they exploded spectacularly.  The
globes were being launched almost continuously from various points in the
valley in a somber buzz.

"Oh God."  Tsugiko sounded horrified.  "That... that looks like..."

"War," Yumi finished.  "They're fighting.  *Really* fighting."

"Oh man."  Kyouji sounded near tears.  "I mean, it can't be like this!
They're not... they're not..."

"Supposed to be actually killing each other?"

He glanced at Yumi.  "How... how can you be taking it so calmly?"

She gazed at him mildly.  "Because if I start screaming I won't ever, ever
stop."

Kyouji swallowed and looked back out onto the war.

After many long minutes, Tsugiko grabbed their arms.  "Let's go.  The sooner
we get down there, the sooner we can try and stop it."

"Gika."  Kit Kat sounded unusually subdued.  "Gika gika."  He bounded off
down the road.

For the very first time, Yumi didn't feel like rushing after him.  But she
forced herself to follow, putting one foot numbly in front of the other.

"Gika!"  Kit Kat was bouncing up and down in the open door of a small
cottage.  Small, but apparently human-sized.  He whirled and ran inside.
Yumi followed him.  The inside of the cottage was still furnished but had
obviously been abandoned some weeks previously.  She pulled aside a curtain
hanging in a doorframe to reveal Kit Kat curled up on a large feather bed,
breathing deeply and regularly.

Yumi managed a small smile.  "I think Kit Kat's trying to tell us
something," she said as she heard Tsugiko and Kyouji wander up.

"Subtle as a furry rat, that one."  Tsugiko's bantering reply seemed only a
little forced.  "I suppose we should follows its- his advice."

"Yeah."  Kyouji looked around the room.  "I only see the one bed."

"Well, that means one thing," Yumi said, smiling up at him.

His eyes lit up.  "Yeah?"

"Of course," she replied.  "Tsugiko and I will sleep here.  You can sleep on
the floor out there."

Kyouji's face fell.  "Oh.  Yeah, of course."  He seemed to be struggling to
come up with something to say, then abruptly whirled and left.  "Well...
good night."

Yumi smiled and gently grabbed his arm.  "You don't have to run away.  Let's
fix something to eat first, and you can tell me all about your school and
what you miss most about home and then we can try to get some sleep
afterwards.  'Kay?"

Kyouji grinned, a heart-wrenching smile that made Yumi feel very good.  "All
right.  I'll unpack the supplies."

"Let me help."  Yumi brushed past Tsugiko on her way to the cottage's living
room-cum-kitchen, noting in passing that for some reason Tsugiko looked
annoyed again.

---

Kyouji turned onto his side, noting that wooden floors made a poor
substitute for a futon.  His backpack made an adequate if not quite
comfortable pillow, and his cape managed to work quite nicely as a blanket.
Still, the whole thing wasn't his idea of luxury.

His mind buzzed, not allowing him to sleep.  The images of the yellow comets
blazing their way across the sky wouldn't leave him alone.  For some reason
he'd thought a "war" in this strange land would consist of tribes of people
throwing silly wooden spears at each other that would utterly fail to hit
anything and would end with much fist-shaking and cursing before both sides
stomped home to dinner.  In a land with orange skies and purple trees, it
wasn't supposed to be *real*.

The floor creaked.  He glanced up and saw... her.  Black hair.  Brown eyes.
Blue dress.  And, in the middle of her forehead, a blue crystal caught the
starlight streaming in from the open door.

Her.  Him.  Himself, earlier.  Was it?  "T-Teru?"

She gazed at him steadily, then slowly turned and walked out the door.

"Hey!"  Kyouji bounded to his feat and followed after her.  "Where are you
going?  Who are you?  Why are you here?"

She stopped suddenly and pointed.  "Danger," she said in a soft voice.

He followed her gloved hand and blanched.  There, kneeling in the dirt, were
Twix and Twix.  He could see them in profile, but they weren't looking in
his direction.  Instead, their heads were bowed deeply.  They looked...
frightened.

"Twice you have failed me."  The voice was sultry, seductive, resonant.
Kyouji felt it in his bones, in his soul.  Something in him was terribly
afraid of the voice, and something in him wanted to fall to his knees and do
whatever the voice told him to do.  "Twice you were sent to kill the Warrior
Priestesses, and twice you have fled before them."

"My Queen," the male Twix replied in a voice that sounded as if it were
trying to be brave but was failing miserably.  "We chose the wrong forms to
summon, I see that now.  Next time-"

"Next time?"  Only now could Kyouji see the shape Twix and Twix were
kneeling before.  Tall, thin, seated on a throne covered in shadow.  A hint
of green hair acting as a shroud, covering much of the shape's face.  "Do
you two incompetents realize what you are doing?"

"My Queen," the female Twix replied quickly.  "We are carrying out your will
to have the Warrior Priestesses and their Knight Protector killed so that
your reign may be perfect."

"Perfect?"  The voice had turned many degrees colder.  "You know nothing of
perfection!  Do you realize that with each battle you have made them
*stronger*?  Your incompetent attempts at battle have only allowed them to
reawaken their powers.  I do not want them honed into the fighting warriors
they were.  I want them *dead*.  Do you understand?"  Something bright and
blue manifested itself in the shape's claw-like hand.  "Or shall I
demonstrate what 'dead' means?"

"N-no, my Queen."  Male Twix's voice no longer contained any hint of
bravado.  "We understand."

"One failure I can forgive.  Two, I cannot."  The shape leaned slightly
forward.  "I shall have to deal with them myself."  It turned its head, and
something glinted from underneath the hair, something dark and soulless
where eyes should be, and they were staring at Kyouji and sucking the life
from him and he was screaming as he was dragged into the black pit and the
world was left behind him and the blackness was *everything* and his nose
was wet-

With a start he jerked awake, his heart beating furiously.  He gaped into
the eyes of Kit Kat, who was still making a concerted effort to lick clean
every square inch of Kyouji's nose.

"Gyah!"  He flinched violently away from the furry abomination.  "Leave me
alone, you-"  Kyouji screeched to a halt, the memory of what he'd just been
awoken from burning in his mind.  With a hand that he fought to keep from
trembling he reached out and petted the cat-ferret thing.  "Oh, Kit Kat."

"Gika," Kit Kat said primly.  He arched his back under Kyouji's hand, poked
his nose under the cape, found a space underneath the ersatz blanket next to
Kyouji's stomach, curled up and made a sound suspiciously like a
high-pitched purr.

Kyouji sighed shakily, reached underneath the blanket and gently stroked Kit
Kat's fur.  It was quite relaxing, and in far less time than he might have
imagined he was back asleep, and his dreams were good.

---

Tsugiko grumbled as she put on the skirt, almost wondering why she bothered.
The stupid leotard was just as well.  Tsugiko decided that when all was said
and done, she would have a long talk with the Warrior Priestess' Fashion
Designer.

Yumi, she noted, appeared to have no objection to her outfit, or any trouble
putting it on.  She beamed at Tsugiko.  "Ready?"

Tsugiko twirled the skirt around her waist a bit, then sighed.  "Yeah, I
guess."

"Great!"  Yumi peeked through the bedroom door.  "Are you decent, Kyouji?"

"C'mon in.  Kit Kat led me to some berries that taste pretty good."

Her stomach growling, Tsugiko followed Yumi through the door.  She noted
that Yumi appeared to have recovered her bubbly personality.  The girl was
amazing in her own smart-yet-air-headed way.

Yumi bounced over to the bowl of what looked to be blue cherries that Kyouji
was offering.  She delicately put one of the berries into her mouth and bit
down.  Yumi looked up at Kyouji and smiled her approval at him.

Tsugiko was too hungry for grace.  She grabbed a handful stuffed them into
her mouth.  They crunched between her teeth.  She nearly spat them out but
retained just enough presence of mind not to look *too* much like a pig in
front of Kyouji.  But she was really hungry, and after getting over the
initial shock, Tsugiko realized the crunchy berries actually tasted pretty
good.

When they were done, Tsugiko looked at the other two faces.  "So.  Are we
ready?"

Kyouji nodded soberly.  Yumi's smile dimmed slightly.  Tsugiko took that as
an acknowledgment.  Squaring her shoulders, she walked out of the cottage,
the other two trailing in her wake.

There was little banter as they made their way down the trail.  Tsugiko
couldn't hear any buzzing now.  Hopefully the fighting was over.  Forever.
She swallowed suddenly.

"Did anyone have any strange dreams last night?" Kyouji asked casually.

Tsugiko frowned at him.  What an odd question.  Sometimes he seemed normal
and sometimes he seemed weird.  "Not that I remember."

"Oh.  Just wondering," he said a little too quickly.

Tsugiko's frown deepened.  He was hiding something.  A question reached her
lips and died there as Kit Kat growled.

The creature was seven feet tall.  Its skin appeared to be covered with very
fine scales that scintillated as they move in the sunlight, with
yellow-green appearing to be the predominant color.  The creature had a very
tiny head and a very big mouth.  In its hands it help a large,
complicated-looking device that was unmistakably a weapon of some sort.  A
weapon that was pointed at them.

Tsugiko reached behind her back and grasped the handle of her hammer but
didn't pull it loose.  The creature - a Spree, she was guessing - had the
drop on them and it wouldn't do to provoke it.

A lesson evidently lost on Kyouji, who sprang in front of them and raised
his cape as if to shield the rest of them.  "Halt!  Do not attempt to harm
the Warrior Priestesses or I will, uh, flower you to death, seeifIdon't."

The creature stared at Kyouji with the same incredulity Tsugiko was feeling.
Finally it spoke.  "Did you say the Warrior Priestesses?"

"Uh, well, yeah," Kyouji replied, a little nonplussed.

"Wonderful!"  It lowered its weapon.  "I am Dolles of the Spree.  We have
been awaiting the Warrior Priestesses for a thousand years.  Come, come,
your destiny awaits!"

Dolles turned and ran down the road.  Kyouji looked back, blinked, then
shrugged and walked after the Spree.

"Enthusiasm, that's good.  At least they're not cowering inside their
houses," Tsugiko said almost under her breath.  She put her hand on Yumi's
shoulder.  "Coming?"

Yumi had that weird frown on her face again.  She nodded absently, looking
down the road at the retreating form of Dolles.

They made their way into an increasingly urban area.  It still looked fairly
medieval to Tsugiko's eyes, very much like the Skittle village and the
abandoned cottage they had stayed in.  But at one point they passed what
looked like a factory that poured out voluminous black smoke through its
three chimneys.

Dolles, meantime, had managed to stir up quite a crowd.  In ones and twos
they joined the procession until they were surrounded on all sides by a
wildly cheering mob.  Tsugiko smiled tentatively, not sure if she was
enjoying it tremendously or scared out of her wits.  In the incoherence, she
could only make out one oft-repeated phrase: Warrior Priestesses.

Eventually the road ended in a town square.  Dolles motioned for them to
wait, then ran off.  Tsugiko found herself back-to-back-to-back with Yumi
and Kyouji as the crowd pressed around them.  Those Spree that appeared
before her appeared to be trying to offer her something, but she couldn't
make out what.

A tremendous crash of thunder washed over the crowd, silencing them.
Tsugiko whirled to see Dolles, weapon pointed at the sky, call out into the
surfeit of sound, "Make way for the Warlord!"

Another Spree, even taller than Dolles and wearing a bright orange robe,
approached Tsugiko and her friends.  It walked with a stiff grace that
practically screamed "I'm important, so bow already!"

Dolles seemed to have taken up the secondary role of court page.  "Warrior
Priestesses, I present to you al'Toid, the Warlord."

Kyouji managed a half bow, flourishing his cape clumsily.  "Warlord.  Our
pleasure."

The Warlord made a placating gesture with its hands.  "Please, offer me no
obeisance.  It is my great pleasure to have you here.  With the Warrior
Priestesses at our side, we cannot fail!"

Tsugiko took a step forward until she was even with Kyouji.  "Fail at what?"

"Our duty.  The duty of the True Spree."  Its voice became loud and ringing.
"To guard our sacred heritage and to take our place at the side of the
Warriors!  To wage with them the Final Battle against the forces of our
oppressors!  To fight and die in glorious battle as is the deepest hope of
all the True Spree!"

The crowd cheered lustily.  Tsugiko shuddered and took a step back, pulling
Kyouji with her.  She brought her head down next to Yumi's and Kyouji joined
them, his cheeks a little red as they brushed hers.

Tsugiko decided to ignore that.  "Do you know what he's talking about?"

"I know as much as you do," Kyouji shouted above the noise of the cheering
Spree.

Yumi winced and said something inaudible.

"What?" Kyouji prompted.

"They're sick!" Yumi shouted.  "Just like the plants.  They've all got
something inside them twisting them up!  It's not right, it's not natural,
it's just *oozing* everywhere!"  She grabbed Tsugiko's arm.  "We have to get
out of here!"

Tsugiko and Kyouji looked at each other for a moment.  Then Kyouji turned
back to Yumi.  "Let's at least find out where the crystal shard is first.
Then we can leave.  Okay?"

Yumi merely stared at them wide-eyed.  After a moment, Kyouji looked back at
Tsugiko.  She bit her lip, then straightened and turned back towards
al'Toid.  And with good timing, as the crowd was finally quieting down
again.

"Warlord," she yelled.  The nearby crowd started shushing the rest, and
Tsugiko was able to continue in a normal tone of voice.  "We are on a quest
to recombine the Starburst Crystal.  Snickers of the Skittles told us that
there was a shard in your village.  Can you tell us where it is?"

The Warlord squared its shoulders and puffed out its chest.  "Yes, of
course.  It is in the Sacred Shrine in the center of the valley.  Soon, very
soon, we will be able to present it to you."

"Great!"  Tsugiko tried a grin.  "How soon?"

A look of effrontery covered al'Toid's face.  "As soon as... as those
*heathen*, those Spree that call themselves the Chosen, though they are
indeed fallen rather than chosen, those whose very existence fouls the Spree
race, those who-"

"How *soon*?" Tsugiko interrupted.  She did not at all like how ugly the
crowd's mood was becoming, the almost inaudible hissing that made gave her
goosebumps.

The Warlord seemed to gather itself a bit.  "As soon as they withdraw from
the battlefield, then the way will be clear."

"The battlefield?"  Kyouji looked a little apprehensive.  "The Sacred Shrine
is in the middle of a battlefield?"

The Warlord's hands curled into fists.  "They would dare deprive us of our
true heritage, our sacred trust.  This cannot be allowed!"

"What?"  Kyouji asked almost pleadingly.  "What are they trying to deprive
you of?"

"The honor," the Warlord relaxed its hands and regained a regal pose, "the
privilege of presenting the Warrior Priestesses of the Crystal shard.  We
have held watch over it for many years, and it will be by the hand of the
True Spree that you will receive it!"

The crowd cheered as Tsugiko stood there in shocked silence, mouth agape.
After a moment, she shouted as loud as she could.  "Are you insane!"

The Warlord frowned at her, looking more puzzled than anything else.  It
motioned for silence from the crowd and got it after a few seconds.  "What
is your concern, Priestess?"

"This can't be right!"  Tsugiko found herself trembling.  "You can't be
killing each other over who gets to give us some stupid crystal!"

The Warlord's head snapped back in surprise.  "You do not understand,
Priestess.  It is our duty to protect the shard from your enemies.  Those
fallen Spree think they have been chosen to do likewise, and endanger all of
Mars with their dangerous insistence.  By fighting them back from the shrine
and keeping them from the Crystal fragment, we protect you from the foulness
of their existence."

"But... but... but..."  Tsugiko tried to bring some order to her appalled
thoughts.  "That doesn't *matter*.  We *need* the shard to fight
Wintergreen.  *She's* the one that will destroy Mars, not the True Spree or
the Chosen Spree or the Anointed Spree or the No-Thanks-I'm-On-A-Diet Spree
or *any* kind of Spree!  What's *important* is that we just *get* the shard.
For the sake of *all* Spree!"

The Warlord studied Tsugiko for a long time.  She stared back at al'Toid,
her chest heaving, still trembling slightly because of the adrenaline
rushing through her veins.  Never had she spoken so passionately about
anything, and it was exhilarating and scary at the same time.

The Warlord finally bowed its head.  "You are right, Warrior Priestess.
Your words ring true."

Tsugiko sagged, blowing out a breath.  Thank goodness.  It had worked.

"Therefore, we must redouble our efforts!"  The Warlord's voice was loud and
determined.  "Let the factories be sped up, let every True Spree arm
themselves, let no one rest until we have built up such an overwhelming
force that the so-called Chosen are driven back like leaves before the
righteous fury of the storm!"  The Warlord pumped its fist.  "For the glory
of the Warrior Priestesses and the True Spree!"

The crowd's cheering was truly deafening.  Tsugiko choked back a sob and
covered her eyes, pressing the tears back.  How could they?  How could it
get this awful?  What was *happening* here?

An arm was put around her shoulders and she leaned gratefully into Kyouji's
chest.  The situation was just too horrifying for her to notice how nice
this felt, she told herself.

After long minutes, the cheering died down.  Tsugiko gathered her emotions
and pushed herself off of Kyouji.  She strode forward until she was just a
couple of feet in front of the Warlord, the crowd at her back.  Yumi and
Kyouji walked up to either side of her.

Tsugiko waited until she was sure her voice would be sure and strong.
"Warlord al'Toid, we are truly... amazed at your show of devotion.  But it
will not be necessary for you to fight the Chosen Spree.  We ourselves will
go to the Sacred Shrine and obtain the shard for ourselves.  We can protect
ourselves from the other Spree just fine.  Thank you for your...
enthusiastic support.  I'm sure we'll need it against our true enemy,
Wintergreen."

She felt her sleeve being tugged.  "Tsugiko," Yumi said very softly.  "I
don't think that's a good idea."

The Warlord's tiny scales appeared to be standing on edge, making it look
big and puffy.  "No!  We must be the ones to give the honor to you!  Wait
here and we shall fetch the crystal!"

"No," Tsugiko said irritably.  "We'll get it ourselves, there's no need-"

"You cannot.  You cannot deprive of us our honor.  The Chosen Spree would
try to stop you, would try to defile the shard."

"Tsugiko..."  Yumi's voice was more insistent.

Tusgiko shook her head.  "Warlord, don't worry about the Chosen.  If
necessary, we'll talk to them and-"

"You would consort with those foul creatures!"  The Warlord's voice was a
roar.  "This is blasphemy!  If we cannot have the honor of presenting the
shard to you-"

"Tsugiko!"  Yumi was shouting now.  "Run!"

"-then we will present the shard to your next incarnations!"  The Warlord
reached for Tsugiko.

She was violently grabbed and shoved.  Not by the Warlord, but by Kyouji,
who shouted, "Run!"  Tsugiko stumbled once, then ran, following a path
behind the Warlord, away from the crowd.  She had no sense of where she was
and concentrated on following Yumi, already a good distance in front of her.

The Spree crowd roared.  There was a sound like thunder and a cottage
exploded off to Tsugiko's right.  She screamed and ran faster, struggling to
remember how many of the Spree had been carrying weapons.  The only she'd
seen with one was Dolles.

"Yumi!"  Kyouji shouted from close behind Tsugiko.  "The right, go to your
right!"

Tsugiko watched as Yumi, without hesitation, turned to run along a new path.
Tsugiko followed after her, feeling the heat of the Spree's fury on her
back.

---

Kyouji felt like he should be exhausted.  They'd been running for hours,
slowly leaving the shouting Spree behind them.  But although he was no star
athlete, he didn't feel tired at all.  He could run a marathon right now.
The crystal in his forehead had given him superhuman endurance.  And, he
couldn't help but think, a reason to need it.

"Wait!"  Eventually he and Tsugiko had caught up with Yumi and they'd run
side by side.  Kyouji grabbed each of their shoulders and pulled them
underneath what looked an empty watchtower.  "We have to stop here for a
minute."

Tsugiko leaned forward and clasped her knees.  Although she was panting
slightly, she really didn't look any more worn out than he was.  She looked
up at him, giving him an unfortunate view down the front of her strange
uniform.  "How do you know?"

He forced himself to look at her eyes.  "Know what?"

"To wait here?"

Kyouji shrugged uncomfortably.  "I dunno."  As they'd run, the village had
given way to a battlefield, complete with fortified positions, trenches,
mazes made out of nasty-looking thorny vines, and numerous craters.  He'd
constantly led them one way or another, having them run through some open
spaces and avoid others, sometimes taking wide turns around apparently empty
tents and right past lit watchtowers.  "I just get this feeling that
something awful will happen if we do certain things.  Like just now, I felt
dreadfully sick about the thought of moving forward, and nothing bad at all
about waiting under here."

Tsugiko, a bit to his disappointment, straightened.  "Ah.  Useful, that."
She walked over to Yumi.  "Hey, are you all right?"

Yumi had not said a word as they'd run.  The few times they'd stopped she'd
just stared blankly into space.  She was doing it now.

Tsugiko grabbed her shoulder and gave it a little shake.  "Yumi?"

Slowly, Yumi turned her head and focused her eyes on Tsugiko's face.  "I'm
fine.  I'm going to be fine.  Once we get away from the sickness."  She
looked back over the battlefield and shuddered.

Kyouji could sympathize.  The scale of the destruction was awe-inspiring.
For every active structure he'd been able to make out, they'd come across
three in total ruins.  He felt certain that this war couldn't last much
longer.  Very soon the Spree would bomb each other into extinction.

"That'll be soon, I'm sure," Tsugiko said reassuringly.  "I think we're
quite near the shrine.  If it's the white building we kept seeing up ahead."

Something raised the hairs along the back of Kyouji's neck.  He whirled just
as Kit Kat, who'd been snuggled inside his cape during the long run, began
growling.

"Well, well, what a sorry bunch we have here," said Twix.  She looked them
up and down.  "You've only been here for- what, two days?  And already
everyone hates you.  Not even our Queen could boast of such a feat."

Twix laughed, his silver hair catching the light of the setting sun.
"Really, we should let you continue.  Already the True Spree mass to attack.
The Chosen Spree have noticed this and are preparing their counterattack.
This will be all over before morning.  Perhaps if you were to visit the
other people of Mars you could be equally... effective."

Tsukigo left Yumi to stand next to Kyouji facing the Twix's.  "It wasn't
*our* fault!  They were fighting already!  Don't you try to blame us for
that!"

"Why shouldn't we?  They were fighting in *your* name, don't forget."  Twix
casually pointed her right palm at the ground.  Twix did the same.  Before
Kyouji could move, Twix called out in his deep voice, "I summon thee..."

Tsugiko unstrapped the hammer from her back.  "Get ready!" she shouted.

Well duh, Kyouji didn't say.  He reached underneath his cape and drew out
Kit Kat.  With just a small amount of annoyance he set Kit Kat down, reached
back underneath his cape, drew out a poppy and prepared to throw it.

Surprisingly, he had lots of time.  The Twix's appeared to be struggling
mightily.  This was no instant teleport like the previous two times.  Sweat
poured from their faces, and the yellow light streaming from their palms to
the ground appeared wild, like slow-moving lightning attempting to break
free.

Kyouji spoke quietly to Tsugiko.  "Maybe we should stop them before-"

Twix gasped.  She appeared to be trying to say something.  Kyouji readied
himself anew.  Now that Yumi and Tsugiko had a better grasp on their powers,
this shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Finally, Twix managed to begin spluttering a name.  Kyouji leaned forward
slightly, trying to make it out.  "Wintergreen!"

Oh damn.

The ground exploded.  Kyouji flinched.  With dread, he looked at the figure
that had appeared before him.

Tall.  Thin.  Face almost covered with green hair.  Pale green tight-fitting
dress.  Fangs for teeth.  And... familiar.  This was her.  The... *thing*
from his dreams.  Kyouji shuddered and called out, "Her eyes!  Don't look at
her eyes!"

"Oh, *great*!"  Tsugiko sounded terribly afraid.  "Ask me not to think about
pink elephants at the same time, why don't you?"

"Children, children."  The voice was just as terribly seductive as before.
"No need to fight.  Especially now, before you die."

Kyouji blanched and tried to assess the tactical situation.  Twix and Twix
appeared to have passed out, so they weren't a factor.  He couldn't see any
Spree anywhere; he wasn't sure whether that was a blessing or not.

Tsugiko again appeared to be trying to be as brave as possible.  "You won't
kill us.  We won't let you.  We-"

"YOU!"

Kyouji jumped.  The angry, screeching shout had come from behind him.  At
almost the same time he was shoved aside by pure fury encased in a pretty
pink dress.

"You!"  Yumi was pointing her wand at Wintergreen.  "You're the source of
the sickness!  You *are* the sickness!  You're the one that spoiled the
plants, spoiled the Spree, spoiled this whole place!  You... you... you..."
Yumi screamed and grabbed the wand with both hands as her body began to glow
pink.  "YOU'RE VERY ICKY!"

And power exploded from the wand.

Kyouji felt himself being flung back.  Instinctively he reached out and
grabbed Tsugiko in mid-flight.  He cradled her in his arms, turned in the
air, and hit the ground with his shoulder, tumbling over and over,
protecting Tsugiko from the worst of it.

They came to a halt.  After a couple of seconds, he drew his arm back from
Tsugiko, his whole body protesting every movement of his muscles.  She had
her eyes scrunched tightly shut.  After a moment, she opened them and said,
"Wow.  That's quite a backlash."

Kyouji nodded.  He looked up and noted that they were now in front of a
marble temple.  At least, the shattered remains of a marble temple.  The
damage looked years old.

Suddenly his mind refocused on priorities.  A surprising distance away he
could see flashes of light.  Pink light, bright blue light, alternately
illuminating the surrounding terrain.

His skin prickled.  "She's in terrible danger," he managed through a
cotton-filled mouth.

Tsugiko nodded in acknowledgment and leapt to her feet.  Kyouji followed
suit a little slowly, still feeling the effects of the impact.  He stumbled
after her.

Several things happened at once.  Blue light erupted, brighter than before.
Kyouji felt something twist in his stomach, as if someone had punched him in
the gut.  And Yumi screamed in pain.

With a gasp, Kyouji increased his lumbering gate.  Guided more by instinct
than anything else, he fell to his knees next to the prone form of Yumi.  He
lifted her up slightly and cradled her head and shoulders in his arms.
Kyouji wasn't even sure she was breathing.

Fighting back tears, Kyouji leaned forward and spoke into her face.  "Yumi.
Please, tell me you're okay.  Yumi.  Yumi."

Her eyes fluttered open.  "Ky-Kyouji?"  Her voice was soft and pained and it
stabbed his heart with ice.

"Hush," he said thickly.  "You need to rest."

"Winter- Wintergreen, she... she... where-?"

Kyouji looked up.  Tsugiko had her fully engaged.  Her fury was just as
extant as Yumi's had been, but it appeared to be more controlled, focused.
She was stalking Wintergreen, her mallet burning with green fire.  The Queen
was wielding a blue spear that glowed with its own light.  The Spear of
Mint, Kyouji realized.  Wintergreen was holding it defensively, holding off
Tsugiko's continuous attacks.  Kyouji felt his heart beat with sudden hope.
Tsugiko had Wintergreen on the run.  As soon as he joined her they'd be able
to bring her down.

First he had to take care of Yumi.  "Don't worry, Tsugiko's got her," he
said as he gently lowered her head to the ground.  "We may not be able to
imprison her today, but we can at least beat her off."

"N-no!"  Yumi sounded desperate.  "You- you d-don't under... understand.
Her spear, it's two... two..."

The gloom was suddenly brightened by another flash of light.  Kyouji whipped
his head up in time to see that Wintergreen was now holding a spear in each
hand.  She used one to fend off Tsugiko's hammer.  The other she threw at
Tsugiko's forehead.

"...two Mints in one," Yumi finished.

The second spear hit Tsugiko's gem.  She screamed and fell forward, dropping
the hammer, clutching her forehead.  Tsugiko writhed on the ground in agony
as Wintergreen stood over her and laughed.

Kyouji couldn't breathe.  His jaw had dropped down as far as it could go but
no air was getting into his lungs.  Water fell into his mouth and he tasted
salt water.  Idly, he wondered where it came from.

Wintergreen looked up at him.  Her laughter grew louder, more derisive.
With a gesture, she indicated the two fallen teenagers.  "Behold the
handiwork of the Knight Protector!"  She laughed again.

Kyouji, despite himself, looked down.  Yumi appeared to have lapsed back
into unconsciousness.  Tsugiko had stopped writhing but she still had an
occasional uncontrolled muscle spasm as she continued to clutch her
forehead.

Wintergreen finally stopped laughing.  "I should have done this to begin
with.  You children will now cease to be a threat to me."  She hefted her
spear.  "Next to die?  The young gentleman in the cape, I believe."

"No," Kyouji whispered.

"Yes."  Her voice was no longer mocking.  It was harsh, hard, ice.  "Oh
yes."  She walked purposefully towards him.

"No."  Yumi screaming.  "No."  Tsugiko falling to the ground.  "No, no, no."
Yumi.  Tsugiko.  Dead.  Because of him.  His fault.  All his fault.  "NO!"

His forehead tingled.  Instinctively, he grabbed the edges of his cape and
lifted up his arms.  Electricity shot through his head, neck, and back.

And the poppies flew.

Dozens.  Hundreds.  Thousands.  They erupted from his cape, each crackling
with blue energy.

With a shriek of surprise, Wintergreen lifted her spear.  But it was hardly
enough.  A few poppies she could intercept.  The rest struck her legs, body,
and head.  She shrieked again, this time in pain, and took a step back.
Kyouji took a step forward, the poppies focused squarely on Wintergreen, his
whole world nothing but the effort to make her be gone.

"Child!  You cannot win!" she cried over the sound of the torrent.  "You
have failed in your duty as Knight Protector twice already.  You will do so
a third and final time.  This I prophesize!  I could have spared you the
agony of that knowledge with a clean death, but now you will suffer
exquisite torture hour after hour, day after day, until the Warrior
Priestesses fall by your hand."  Something under the hair covering her face
glinted, and Kyouji quickly averted his eyes from it.  "And I will enjoy
watching it come to pass!"

Wintergreen turned and fled.  Kyouji took three steps after her and stopped.
He couldn't follow her.  He couldn't leave Yumi and Tsugiko behind.
Something inside of him simply wouldn't allow it.

The torrent of poppies stuttered and stopped abruptly.  Kyouji dropped
bonelessly to the ground, sitting cross-legged as he stared at where
Wintergreen had stood just seconds ago.

But not for long.  As much as he wanted to descend into a numbed daze, the
others were hurt.  Kyouji forced himself to stand up, and quickly he made
his way over to Tsugiko.  She had stopped twitching and she was no longer
clutching her forehead.  She, too, seemed to have passed out.  Kyouji
watched to make sure she was breathing.

"Gika!"  Kit Kat's cry sounded a little muffled.  Kyouji looked over and saw
that the cat-ferret had a large crystal shard in its mouth.  Kit Kat dropped
the shard at Kyouji's feet, then bounded over to Yumi.  "Gika!"  He began to
gently lick her face.

Kyouji looked around.  He could see Yumi and Tsugiko, unconscious but in no
apparent immediate danger of dying.  He could see Twix and Twix, still
passed out amidst the shattered remains of the watchtower.  And, at his
feet, a shard of the Starburst Crystal glowed very softly in the last of the
sun's rays.

"Never," Kyouji whispered to the sleeping forms.  "I will never fail you
again."

In his mind, he heard Queen Wintergreen's derisive laughter echoing in
response.

---

Author's Note:  Much thanks to Arwen, Ravi, and Mechalink for their
invaluable pre-reading.  I am especially indebted to Ravi for the crunch
berries.

Rolles is a brand of taffy.  I assume I don't have to explain al'Toid.  :)

Let me know what ya thunk of it.  ^_^

-Richard Lawson
8/31/2000