Yumi lay with her head resting against Kyouji's chest.

     Not far from the two of them, the Sparkling Elite's
celebration was in full swing.  But, even though they were
outside, foliage and the remaining tents of the enemy camp
provided the two teenagers with a surprising amount of privacy.
They were largely hidden from the view of the main party.
However, occasionally some revellers would pass into sight; once
in a while Tsugiko was among them.  The green-clad girl even waved
at them once, with the arm that wasn't intertwined with one of the
knights'.

     Despite their isolation, the fire that burned at the centre
of the camp was enough to illuminate the entire area.  Even the
tents proved no barrier, as under such bright light they were more
translucent than opaque.

     After a while, Yumi tuned out the raucous voices and wafting
smell of food, focussing instead on her thoughts.

     Fortunately, they were no longer centred on the casualties of
the battle they had participated in.  She continued to feel guilty
that the sacrifices Mallo and his knights had made had been
necessary, but everyone was right.  It had been their choice to
make, not hers.

     Instead, she was reflecting upon what Kyouji had just told
her about his conversation with Tsugiko.  She remembered
counselling him just days ago that love wasn't something that
could be rushed or forced, and she was glad he had agreed.
Tsugiko could be such a dominating presence that Kyouji might have
allowed himself to be pressured into something he'd regret.

     But Yumi doubted that Tsugiko was as untroubled as the boy
claimed.  The pink Priestess knew that her former roommate was
strong, but the other girl was also plagued by doubt, anger, and
jealousy.

     Shortly after they had arrived on Mars, Yumi had seen
firsthand what her friend's soul held.  The blonde girl had
largely repressed the memory in the ensuing weeks, but it came
back to her now.

     Inside Tsugiko's mind, the green-garbed girl had attacked
Yumi.  Even in that dreamworld, her roommate hadn't been able to
go through with it, but she had no doubt of the pain that had
driven the other girl's assault.  It ran deep, perhaps deeper than
anything else about Tsugiko, and even these unbelievable months on
Mars were unlikely to have completely eradicated it.

     Kyouji had said that Tsugiko was finding comfort in her
newfound popularity among the knights of the Sparkling Elite.
Yumi desperately hoped that was true.  She recalled the rants that
had accompanied the dream attack, the accusations that the blonde
girl would always be better.  Well, today's heroine was
indisputably the other Warrior Priestess, and the knights
definitely realized it.

     Yumi had stayed away from the party on purpose.  She had been
depressed, and tending Kyouji, but also she had wanted to allow
her friend to bask in the much-deserved appreciation.

     A loud chorus of laughter, mostly male but unmistakably
including Tsugiko's, carried over to the pair of Crystal Warriors,
and Yumi smiled.

     She turned to look up at her companion, saying, "Kyouji-"

     And he kissed her.

     His mouth met hers, blocking her words.  For a second she
almost pulled away, but then she felt the softness of his lips on
hers, and she didn't.

     It wasn't how she had imagined it.  In her mind, in the
thousands of times their first kiss had played out, it had been
somehow chaste and spiritual.  This was very much a thing of the
body.  That didn't make it worse or impure; it was just different.
For one thing, it was far less under her control.  SHE was far
less under her control.

     She could feel the warmth of his skin, and of his breath.  It
seemed to be all that she *could* feel.  His mouth opened and
closed slightly as it pressed against hers, and she realized she
was doing the same.

     Her heart was racing.

     Her every sense was consumed by him.  She could see into his
eyes, so close to her own that they seemed huge.  She could hear
his accelerated breathing, could smell the slightly stale sweat
that still clung to him after the day's exertions, could taste the
salty dried blood on his mouth he hadn't had a chance to wash away
either, could feel his tongue poking just through his lips though
not pushing past her own.

     He reached an arm around her, drawing her up towards him.
Despite his injuries, he lifted her without apparent effort,
sitting back upright as he did so.  She in turn reached around his
back, pulling herself to him, until her body was pressed against
his, her chest pushing into him.

     Their lips hadn't parted.

     Yumi moaned softly.

     He finally broke the contact, gasping slightly as he drew
away from her.  "Yumi-" he began.

     Then the girl punched him in the face as hard as she could.

>o< >o< >o<

The Starburst Crystal
Created by Ardweden

Chapter Forty-Two: Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice
By Nicolas Juzda

>o< >o< >o<


     She looked so sweet.

     In life, that could not have been said about her.
Attractive, sexy, beautiful: certainly.  But never "sweet".  Cute
was as close as she could conceivably have come.

     Twizzler stood in the hallway of Wintergreen's palace.  Her
buxom form was flattered by a fabulous scarlet dress whose various
rips and tears did it some disservice but her beauty none.  Her
red hair, a shade lighter than the dress, hung trailing behind
her, frozen in the air as if caught in a perpetual breeze that
existed solely for her.

     The only flaw in the presentation was her face.  The look of
confidence she had normally possessed would have made the statue
quite dramatic.  Likewise, the more sultry expressions she had
occasionally adopted would have made the piece a representation of
desire incarnate.

     Instead, her face was contorted in supplication and surprise.

     That vulnerability, forever memorialized, was what leant
Twizzler's appearance the inappropriate sweetness.  The cost had
been her fire.

     It was this which Riesen liked most about Twizzler's fate.
His rival had been not just eliminated, but at the last she had
been *reduced*, and made into the very testament of that
reduction.

      His favourite spot in the palace of late was sitting across
from her frozen form.  He would stay for hours, staring at her and
weaving his plots.

     The downfall of Twizzler had been his first success since
Werther in his quest to eliminate his rival lieutenants.  Aided by
Clorets and the red girl's own stupidity, he had seen to it that
she had fallen out of favour with Wintergreen, resulting in her
current state.

     The girl was trapped within transparent crystal.  She was
definitely alive, and possibly even conscious, but she couldn't
move the slightest muscle, couldn't even breathe.  The penalty for
failing Wintergreen was not light.

     Some time earlier, Riesen had planted a bomb (timed to go off
when he was far from the palace, of course, to minimize suspicion)
on the statue the red girl had become.  He had been afraid that
Wintergreen would change her mind and release the sorceress.  The
Dark Queen had no mercy, but she also felt no compunction about
reversing her decisions when the need arose.  If Twizzler had
suddenly appeared useful in some capacity, she might have been
released.

     The explosion had done little more than char the outside of
the crystal, leaving its captive utterly unharmed.  This had
annoyed the manipulator, and he had stood before the frozen red
girl, silently cursing her, when he had suddenly realized what
pleasure it gave him to look upon her plight.  So much so that,
despite the continued risk of her revival, he had made no further
attempts to usher her to a more permanent doom.


     Though Riesen prided himself on always acting in the manner
that would best further his own good and not based upon passing
emotions, he could not suppress the personal satisfaction that
simply seeing Twizzler's downfall gave him.  She had been more
than a rival; she had been *annoying*.

     He shuddered (almost imperceptibly, his control being as
impeccable as always) as he recalled her physical displays of
affection, her endless prattling about the Knight Protector, and
worst of all her usage of that idiotic nickname she had had for
him.

     Of course, besides being both annoying and a rival, she had
also been dangerously unpredictable.  He recalled the
confrontation he had had with her during his attempt to stop the
Crystal Warriors from securing the ring Pop.

     He had had the perfect opportunity to kill the thrice-
accursed Yumi then.  The other Warrior Priestess and the Knight
Protector had been in another chamber of the cave, leaving just
him, four Tridents at his command, the blonde girl, and Twizzler.

     Logically, the various persons and beasts in that room who
served Wintergreen should have ganged up on Yumi.  Once she had
been dispatched, the others would have been easy.  Perhaps the boy
could even have been spared, to amuse Twizzler.

     Instead, the sorceress had defended the enemy girl!  Twizzler
had attacked his Tridents, and shortly thereafter brought the
entire cave down upon them.

     Riesen had recounted the entire incident to Wintergreen,
along with a request that the errant lieutenant be disciplined.
But when the Dark Queen had confronted her unreliable servant, the
red girl had reported that she had still been dazed from
attempting to seize the ring Pop and in her confusion had come to
the conclusion that helping him kill Yumi would have "risked
blowing her cover", as nonsensical as that sounded.  Obviously, if
the two of them had succeeded in killing the Crystal Warriors, her
primitive charade would have no longer mattered.

     Incredibly, Wintergreen had accepted this explanation.  It
had been at that moment that Riesen had realized he had no choice
but to take matters into his own hands.

     Perhaps Twizzler had been telling the truth, and the
encounter with the ring Pop really had temporarily disabled
whatever reasoning faculties she possessed.  Even if that were the
case and she really didn't deserve blame for that fiasco, Riesen
wasn't likely to lose sleep over having brought her other, even
less disputable, treacheries to the Dark Queen's attention.

     Now, if only he could do the same with Krackel.

     Riesen suspected that the swordsman was engaged in some plot
to rescue his sister.  The other lieutenant's research into the
Starlite would admit to few other explanations.  And there were
other things that aroused Riesen's suspicions, if not his liege's.

     This affair in the Taffy Swamp was one.  Krackel had reported
to Wintergreen that the Crystal Warriors had beaten him to the
shard, and that he had been unable to switch if for the fake she
had provided.  He had claimed that the intervention of a
Jawbreaker was to blame for his failure, but Riesen was sure that
something was being omitted.

     In a few days' time, he would know for certain.  One of the
men who had been in Krackel's squad on that mission was loyal to
Riesen (or to his funds, at any rate).  When they returned to
Wintergreen's castle, all would be revealed.

     And the Dark Queen would know as well.  For the seeker she
had placed with Krackel was one of her most loyal minions, though
too specialized and powerless to remotely qualify as a lieutenant.
Yes, Wintergreen would be presented with evidence of Krackel's
betrayal soon enough.  It was just a matter of time.

     Riesen cursed the peculiar elements of Martian geography at
work.  Though the land of Guylian and the nearby Taffy Swamp were
only a day or so away from Wintergreen's palace as the Mambo
flies, in between lay the Three Musketeers Mountains.  They were
completely impenetrable, and it would take a skilled rider a week
to detour to the sole pass through them.  An army would have to
circle the range entirely, effectively putting Guylian far more
towards the outskirts of Wintergreen's ever-expanding realms than
it would otherwise be.

     There was, however, one shortcut through the mountains: the
Mines of Chupa Chups.  But the ten hour walk through the mines
involved near constant battle against monsters whose names were
not even known.  Only the bravest went into the mines; only the
most powerful and skilled emerged.

     Krackel had been going back and forth through them every
night for nearly a week.  To the swamp, back to Wintergreen, to
Frango, back to Wintergreen, and now he was heading back to
Guylian again.  It was actually quite impressive, though Riesen
didn't argue that his intellectually-challenged fellow lieutenant
was good in a fight.

     But the other members of the ill-fated Taffy Swamp group had
decided not to enter the dreaded mines, and so were still en route
somewhere.

     In the meantime, Riesen had not been idle.  In case the Taffy
Swamp did not prove Krackel's downfall, Riesen's current gambit
would.

     He snickered at how easily the swordsman had been fooled.  As
if Riesen would need to have Krackel return the boy's sword in
order to earn the Warrior Priestesses' trust so that they could be
lured into a trap!  Riesen had twice already infiltrated their
group, and could easily do so again should he feel the need to
manipulate them.  Even Twizzler had managed it, by the Dark Queen!
And she hadn't needed to bear gifts to do it.

     No, the trap that Krackel would lead the Crystal Warriors
into would be for him.  When the Dark Queen saw that he had
returned the sword and sided with her enemies, she would slaughter
both man and children.

     To further escalate matters, Riesen had for the past few days
been slipping ground Aspertame root into the swordsman's food.
Normally it was instantly deadly, but that would be far too
suspicious.  Wintergreen hated when her lieutenants killed one
another.  But in minute quantities, it served to render the
ingester mentally unstable, prone to sudden violent rages.

     Under the influence of Aspertame root, Krackel might well
attack the Dark Queen outright.  That would be amusing.

     The drawback was that it made dealing with the swordsman even
more delicate.  That confrontation in the library could have gone
very badly.  Despite the potential repercussions from Wintergreen
to him or his sister, Krackel had very nearly killed Riesen.  Only
the manipulator's forethought in bringing along the hand cannons
had saved him.

     But the Aspertame root had been a necessary precaution.  For
its other property when used in non-lethal doses was that it made
following complex chains of thought difficult, thus eliminating
the already infinitesimal possibility that the brute would figure
out what Riesen was up to.  There was no way this plot could
possibly fail.

     Nodding in satisfaction, Riesen stood up and stretched.

     "Soon," he whispered to the motionless Twizzler.  "Soon
you'll have company.  And all Mars shall be given unto me for a
time, half a time and a time, until the appointed hour..."

     Then he turned and walked down the hall, contentedly
reflecting on all that his schemes had wrought.

>o< >o< >o<


     "Okay," Kyouji said.  "I probably deserve that.  I have to
admit that I really didn't think you'd slug me, though.  That's
more Tsugiko's..."  His voice trailed off as he looked up at the
girl standing over him.

     She was glowing pink, and it wasn't the gentle halo that
normally surrounded her when she used her healing abilities.  This
was a battle aura.  Even Tsugiko's rarely approached the blinding
intensity Yumi was radiating.

     Kyouji had to squint to see the Warrior Priestess' face, and
the expression it held was one he had never seen there before.
Her eyes were narrowed almost to slits, and her teeth were bared.

     "I'm really sorry," the Knight Protector said.

     "I don't know who you are or why you've been impersonating
Kyouji, but you're going to tell me right now."  Despite the anger
her appearance was making evident, the voice that emerged through
her clenched teeth was eerily soft and totally level.  That
somehow made it even scarier.

     Kyouji realized that he was very possibly about to die for
the stupidest reason imaginable.  "Yumi!  It's really me!
Honest!"

     "Do you truly think I'm gullible enough to believe that?  How
dare you play with my feelings?  Or Tsugiko's?  Do you know how
much pain you've caused us?"  She aimed her wand at the fallen
boy.

     Kyouji winced.  "I didn't mean to.  I just, I never meant to
hurt anybody.  I honestly wasn't trying to play with your
feelings, but I couldn't see any way out that wouldn't...  Oh.
You meant the impostor hurt you.  Not me."

     The glow surrounding Yumi began to flicker and die down.
"Kyouji?"

     He gave a weak smile.  "Yeah.  It's really me."

     "Oh, I'm so sorry!"  The girl's face was a picture of
horrified embarrassment, and she brought her free hand up to cover
her gaping mouth.  "Please forgive me."

     "No problem."  Kyouji paused to wipe away the trickle of
blood pouring down from his nose.  "I didn't realize you had such
a right cross.  I think you hit me harder than Tsugiko."

     And Yumi started to laugh.  The boy was momentarily taken
aback, but then he realized that it sounded more like a release of
nervous tension than genuine mirth.  "I'm better at punching you
than Tsugiko?" the girl managed to get out through her hilarity.
"And I didn't even have to practice or try hard.  You can't ever
tell her that.  Not ever."

     "Uh, sure."

     The Warrior Priestess' laughter had died down quickly, and
was gone by the time she spoke again.  "Here, let me heal that."
The wand that she was still pointing at him glowed for a second,
but instead of delivering pain, his nosebleed stopped.

     Grunting at the effort required, Kyouji brought himself to
his feet.  "Thanks.  I am sorry, though.  For kissing you."

     Yumi's face fell.  "Oh."

     "No!  I meant, I should have asked first."

     "Don't worry about it.  But..."  The Warrior Priestess
hesitated, biting her lower lip.  Taking a deep breath, she
continued.  "What did it mean?  About how you feel?"

     The boy paused for a second, gathering his thoughts.  "Yumi,
ever since I met you, you've been a good friend.  You're kind, and
thoughtful, and considerate, and, geez, I sound like I rehearsed
this.  But the point is that I really like you."

     "I like you too," Yumi said softly.  "You know that."

     "Yeah."  Kyouji reached an arm around to scratch the back of
his neck.  "That whole misunderstanding-whatever a couple of days
ago kinda did away with any doubt I had left.  And now I, well, I
want to be with you."

     "But Tsugiko-"

     "She can take care of herself, Yumi.  You're a good friend to
her, but it's not always your responsibility to look out for her.
Tsugiko's made her decision about where she and I stand, and it
was pretty clear.  Now I need to respect that.  And so do you."

     The girl nodded hesitantly, but her face was still covered
with obvious worry.  "I just don't want to see her hurt."

     "This isn't about her," Kyouji said with uncharacteristic
forcefulness.  "She's the one who made sure of that.  This is
about us."

     His words seemed to dispel his companion's doubts, at least
for the moment.  "'Us'?  Just so there's no more
misunderstandings...?"  She gave a shy smile.

     He returned it.  "Yeah, I suppose you want this to be
absolutely clear this time."  He took a deep breath.  "Want to be
my girlfriend?"

     "Are you sure?"

     "Well, 'sure' is kind of a relative thing.  By my standards,
though, I'm sure."

     "Oh, Kyouji."  She reached out to embrace him, and he hugged
her back.  This time it was utterly chaste.  "Yes, I want to."

     A moment passed in silence as they held each other.  Kyouji
didn't know what Yumi was thinking about, but his own thoughts
were centred around blaming himself for the indecision and
cowardice that had caused him to delay this moment.  All the
doubts and conflicts that had tormented him seemed so trivial now
that he was in Yumi's arms.

     Kyouji was the one who finally spoke first, without letting
her go.  "So, how'd you figure out it was me and not an impostor?"

     He couldn't see her face, but he suspected she was grinning.
"No one else could have, in the face of that much danger, been
that self-chastising about his indecisiveness."

     The boy chuckled.  "Thanks.  I think."

     They were interrupted by a polite cough coming from behind
Kyouji.  With a start, he released Yumi and turned to see one of
the Sparkling Elite standing a few feet away.  "Can I help you?"
Kyouji asked.

     "I saw the Warrior Priestess' aura, and I came to see if
there was some trouble," the knight replied.  He didn't seem in
the least embarrassed.

     "No.  We're fine.  Thanks for asking.  Go rejoin the party."

     "Very well."  The knight gave a slight bow and departed.

     "Well, that hasn't done wonders for the mood," Kyouji said
when the two Crystal Warriors were once more alone.

     "Kyouji?"  Yumi looked troubled again.

     "Yes?  Is something wrong?"

     "I know you said this wasn't about Tsugiko, but I keep
wondering.  Why did you choose me tonight?  I told you that you
didn't need to.  I'd have waited.  And, from what you said, it
sounds like you didn't tell Tsugiko that you were picking me..."

     The boy sighed.  "I wasn't then.  I didn't mean to.  It's
like I said, I just wanted to maintain the status quo.  I know it
hurt both of you.  It hurt me too, believe it or not."

     "I believe it."

     Kyouji flashed a smile at Yumi.  "Thanks.  Anyway, despite
that, I was still trying to put things back the way they were.
When it didn't work out that way, I guess I-  The only thing
keeping me from choosing her was you.  And the only thing keeping
me from choosing you was her.  When she said that I had used up my
last chance with her, well, uh-"

     "Without her to consider, you were free to choose me."  Yumi
seemed unable to meet his eyes, gazing instead down at the ground.

     "Oh God, that sounds terrible.  I didn't mean you were second
choice."

     "I know.  I understand."  She turned her head back up to face
him.  "I was the only choice."

     "I mean, I didn't choose her, right?"  Kyouji looked at Yumi,
trying to read her face, but is was inscrutable.  "I, uh, I turned
her down."

     "It's almost fitting," Yumi said.  "Such a complicated
situation deserved a complicated resolution."

     "Uh, right.  Are you mad?"

     The girl shook her head.  "No.  I have no right to be.  I
have you now.  And that's all that matters."  She reached out and
brushed away a lock of his hair that had fallen in front of his
eyes.  "My Kyouji."

     "For real this time."

     "Yes."  A touch of humour had entered her tone.  "No
impostors.  No misunderstandings."

     He leaned towards her, and she toward him, and they kissed a
second time.  It lacked the explosion of long-delayed emotion that
their first had, but it was more comfortable.

     Then Kyouji's leg buckled out from under him, and he
collapsed onto his right side, a small cloud of dirt rising into
the air from the impact.  He almost knocked Yumi over as well when
he fell to the ground, but she was able to keep her balance.  "I
really hope that someday I can kiss you without it immediately
being followed by pain," he said.

     "Are you okay?" Yumi asked, leaning over him.  "Was it
something I did?"

     "No.  I shouldn't have tried to stand.  I'm still pretty
weak.  And kinda tired."  The Knight Protector yawned.  "I'm
sorry, Yumi.  I'll try to stay awake.  I promise."

     "No.  You need rest.  Go to sleep."

     The soft sound of snoring indicated he already had.  Yumi
smiled and sat down on the ground beside him.

>o< >o< >o<


     The creature looked roughly like an eight-foot long, six-
headed worm.  Each of the half-dozen mouths gaped wide enough to
bite a man's head off, and the three rows of teeth all sported
were sharp enough to do it.  The low lighting didn't bother it,
since it had no eyes, and hunted its prey by sensing body heat.

     Krackel had faced worse.

     The trips through the Mines of Chupa Chups had started to
become routine for him, and this particular monster was hardly the
worst of the lot.  Six quick slashes with his sword, and the way
was clear.

     Fortunately, that had been the last one.  A few hundred feet
beyond it was the Guylian exit from the mines.

     Krackel blinked as he emerged.  His vision had adjusted to
the flickering torchlight that had seen him through the
subterranean passage, and the morning seemed blinding by
comparison.

     The mount he had left tied to a tree when he had last entered
the mines from this end was still there, grazing contentedly.
Krackel nodded in satisfaction.  If it had been stolen or somehow
gotten free, he'd have been delayed in his task.

     Which task, exactly, was something he was less sure of.  He
rubbed his temples, trying to force his thoughts into order.  It
took effort, moreso than his entire trip through the Mines of
Chupa Chups had.

     Krackel was starting to suspect there was something wrong
with him.  He knew that there was some truth in Riesen's gibes; he
had never been a thinker.  But even so, he wasn't stupid.

     And the flashes of anger he had been experiencing troubled
him.  He wasn't sure why he had suddenly escalated his attack on
Zagnut in Frango.  He had been holding himself back for the
friendly match.  Then, without warning, his patience had seemed to
run out, and before he knew it the Nerd Warrior had fallen.

     It disturbed him.  Krackel's emotional control wasn't
particularly good, but he didn't normally lose his cool in combat.

     Aside from the harm to Zagnut, which the swordsman regretted
without feeling much actual guilt, it had stupidly sabotaged his
attempts to earn the Warrior Priestesses' aid in rescuing Rollo.

     Rollo...  She had noticed his anger too.  Normally he was on
his best behaviour around her, trying not to show her the ugly
side of himself.  But when he had last seen her, he had brought
his taste for violence with him.  That shamed him more than the
Zagnut incident.

     He blinked, realizing how easily his thoughts had been
derailed, sent down the sidetrack of recalling recent events
rather than focussing on future ones.

     He untied his Binaca and hopped on.  The rabbit-horse
creatures were bred for knights in full armour, making them a
favorite of certain orders.  It also made them one of the few
animals Krackel could ride for any length of time.

     As the Binaca began to carry him to his destination, he
turned once more to the three separate agendas he was pursuing.

     First, there were Riesen's orders.  Even with Rollo now under
Wintergreen's "protection", the swordsman feared his sister might
suffer repercussions from the manipulator if Krackel did not do as
he was told.

     That involved returning the boy's small sword.  Riesen said
this was required to earn the Crystal Warriors' trust.  Something
didn't seem right about that, but Krackel couldn't quite see what,
and trying just gave him a migraine.

     He would then lead the children into an ambush.  Riesen
hadn't provided the details of that yet, so presumably Krackel
would learn them when he next returned to the castle.

     Fortunately for Krackel's aching head, the second set of
orders he was under were substantially similar.  Wintergreen had
commanded him to do as Riesen had said, returning the blade and
leading them into the trap the manipulator would arrange.

     Krackel knew that there were subtle reasons why these two
sets of orders should be kept distinct in his mind.  Something
about court politics, and possible revelations about Riesen's
agenda.  His forced loyalty to the Dark Queen and his equally
unwilling servitude to his fellow lieutenant would doubtless
conflict soon enough, as the situation evolved.

     But he was finding it so hard to understand!

     For now, all that mattered was that they were telling him the
same thing: return the sword.

     There was a third agenda at play, though: Krackel's own.  For
he was engaging in a plan to free Rollo for good, relieving him of
any duty to follow either villain.

     To that end, he was making a detour on his way to return the
sword.  For the Legend of the Starlite had revealed to him its
location.  It had been difficult to fathom, more even than he
thought it should have been, but he believed he had done it.

     His success owed largely to the fact that he was among the
most travelled individuals on Mars.  In his early days as a hero,
he had occasionally left his village to explore his own country
and the neighbouring ones.  Seeking challenges, he had
investigated sites that others avoided, relishing the dangers they
held.

     When he had been forced into service as a lieutenant of
Wintergreen, his experience had rapidly increased exponentially.
She had sent him on many more sojourns, to far more distant lands.
He had visited exotic cities both thriving and forgotten.  He had
crossed treacherous mountain passes and explored dank caverns.  He
had seen majestic natural wonders that illustrated that his own
oft-noted size was large compared only to other people, not to the
spectacles Mars itself could produce.  He had faced down creatures
that were terrifying and seen beasts that were magnificent.  He
had talked with people of all shapes and sizes, from races who he
never even heard of growing up in his village.

     In short, Krackel knew Mars better than just about anyone
alive.  That his mistress sought to destroy all that he had
experienced was just one of the many reasons he hated her.

     The result of this was that references that would have
baffled others caused him to recall some of the locales he had
visited, things he had seen and learned.  Though the Starlite's
whereabouts had long been known to be in Guylian, its exact
location was a riddle.  A literal riddle, in fact, for that was
what The Legend of the Starlite was: a riddle full of the most
obscure references imaginable.

     But Krackel had drawn upon his vast stores of knowledge, and
figured it out.  The process had been long and tedious, his brain
feeling like it would explode all the while, and he didn't dwell
upon it now.  What mattered was that he had done it, and within
the hour he would have retrieved the Starlite.

     Then things could finally get started.

>o< >o< >o<


     "All things must end.  Lives are no exception.  We all know
this, and accept it.  Death will come for us all."

     Tsugiko didn't know the name of the knight who was speaking.
She didn't think he had been at the party much the night before,
and if he had then she hadn't run into him.  When the man had
begun to speak, Clark had whispered to her that this knight had
served with Mallo longer than any of them, but had neglected to
mention his name, and the Warrior Priestess didn't want to ask
until the eulogy was over.

     The wake had turned out to be a somber affair.  The dead
knights were laid out on cots taken from the tents in the camp,
and the knights of the Sparkling Elite and the Crystal Warriors
stood in a circle around them.

     Those knights who wished could step forward and say a few
words.  The Crystal Warriors had first each been asked if they
wanted to, and had all politely declined.

     Tsugiko stood a few feet from the corpse of Mallo.  It was
not a pretty sight.  Though he had unhitched his Binaca and
attempted to get out of range before the explosion, he had waited
too long.  She supposed he must have wanted to make sure the
Bottle Pop got as close as possible.  Whether he had known that he
was dooming himself by delaying, she would never be able to learn.

     Mallo's skull had been smashed in by a flying piece of metal.
It had hit him from behind, propelled by the explosion, and gone
right through his helmet.

     Tsugiko thought it seemed somehow disrespectful to show him
like that, but Clark had assured her that it was traditional that
all fallen knights of the Sparkling Elite have their bodies
displayed before their compatriots on the field where they had
died, so that their deaths could be associated with the victory
they had sacrificed themselves to achieve.

     The Warrior Priestess hadn't asked about what happened if the
knights failed anyway.

     Clark was standing to her right, Yumi to her left, and Kyouji
on the other side of Yumi.  The boy looked faintly out of it, but
that was probably still from his wounds.

     Yumi was crying, but Tsugiko recalled again her friend's
reaction to the death of Winis.  Mourning might be painful, but it
was also necessary.  It would let her heal.

     Tsugiko had known Mallo for no more than a few hours, but he
had seemed noble and honourable.  She was sorry that he had died.
The dark-haired girl felt guilty that her grief didn't seem to run
as deep as Yumi's, but she wasn't sure what else she was supposed
to feel.

     The knight who had stepped forward had started to speak
again.  "Yes, we all will die.  Our brothers-in-arms knew this.
Our commander knew this.  But they also knew something else.  That
if we all die, then the important thing is how we die, and why.
They gave their lives for the highest of causes.  They gave them
for Mars, and for us.  One day, we too will die.  Let us hope that
we do so as nobly as these five did."  He stepped back, and there
was a moment of inactivity as the assemblage waited to see if
anyone else wished to speak.

     Beside Tsugiko, Clark stepped forward.  "When Mallo first
allowed me to join the Sparkling Elite, he told me that though
there was glory in the order, joining it to seek glory was the
wrong reason.  He told me that the first priority of the Sparkling
Elite is service and duty, not honours and recognition.  Mallo
lived by that principle, and I have endeavoured to do the same.
He taught me that we should take pride in our acts, but that we
cannot allow pride to guide us.  Mallo's life was marked by the
service and duty of which he told me, but I hope he would not
object if I said that he has earned glory as well."

     Clark stepped back, and Tsugiko shot him an appraising
glance.  His words were not particularly eloquent, but she was
surprised by how deeply felt his sentiments obviously were.  Last
night, he had seemed... not dumb, but not particularly deep,
either.

     No more knights appeared to want to speak, so the wake broke
up.  Most of the Sparkling Elite started to mount the surviving
Binacas.  The rest picked up the cots on which their fallen
comrades lay.

     Clark, however, remained with the three Crystal Warriors.

     The previous night, Tsugiko had written off her flirtation
with him (and a few of his companions) as inconsequential because
they'd be parting ways the following day.  But now, as it appeared
that this knight might be about to ask to stay with them, the
Warrior Priestess found that she had no objection to investigating
the possibility of a longer-term relationship with him.

     The girl shot a glance over at Kyouji.  The boy was leaning
against Yumi, who was supporting him with an arm around his back.
Tsugiko suppressed a flash of annoyance.  He was obviously having
trouble standing, and she didn't want him falling down.

     Her feelings about the Knight Protector were so confusing.
She had thought to resolve matters with her ultimatum, but now she
was less sure than ever where they stood.

     She wasn't sure if she had expected him to select her or not.
But she had wanted to know for certain, and experiencing the
knights fawning over her (heck, even just seeing them pay
attention to her without that endless whining and indecision) had
made her more determined than ever to force Kyouji to finally make
a choice on if he wanted to have a relationship with her.

     His answer had been somewhere between "no" and no selection
at all.

     She had told him that he had passed up on his last chance.
At the time, she had meant it.  Now, she wasn't sure.

     The irony of her uncertainty did not escape her.  Kyouji
wasn't the only Crystal Warrior whose own feelings could be a
mystery, but she'd sooner die than admit that to him.

     At least he hadn't picked Yumi.  Perhaps in a few days, she
could somehow indicate that he'd gotten what he wanted.  He could
have the old status quo back.  Sure, his inability to make a
decision was annoying, but she'd try to live with it.  And maybe
he had been telling the truth, and that the problem wasn't her,
just that he hadn't been ready to get together with either of them
yet.  Maybe...  Maybe he'd choose her.

     And, of course, in the meantime she could see how things
worked out with Clark.

     "Excuse me," the knight said.

     The three Tokyo teenagers turned toward him.  "Yes?" Yumi
asked.

     "Now that you have found the crystal shard in Guylian, I was
wondering where you were headed next."

     "I'm not sure," Yumi said.  She took out the orange crystal
shard that one of the knights had recovered from Clorets.  "We
still have two shards to find."

     "We were wondering whether you might consider accompanying
the Sparkling Elite.  We must return the bodies of our fallen to
their homes, and then we are heading to Mikeandikes.  We have
heard that Wintergreen's forces are massing to attack it, and we
will stand against her."

     "We want to help stop Wintergreen," Kyouji said.  "But we're
supposed to be assembling the Starburst Crystal.  That's the only
way we can really beat her."

     Clark nodded.  "I understand.  But perhaps your next shard
will be in Mikeandikes, or someone there will know where to look."

     "That makes sense," Yumi said.  "You're sure it's okay?"

     "I have spoken with our new commander, and he was happy to
agree.  We would be honoured to fight alongside you again."  The
knight actually blushed a bit as he looked at Tsugiko.  "And to
have the pleasure of your company."

     "Sounds good to me," the dark-haired girl replied.  She
desperately hoped she wasn't blushing too.

     Kyouji seemed about to say something, but he paused with his
mouth open, looking from Tsugiko to Clark.  The Warrior Priestess
hoped he wasn't about to make some joke.  But he didn't, saying
instead, "Okay, sure."

     "So, it's agreed then," Yumi said.  "We will accompany you to-
"

     "Gika!  Gika gika gika!  Gika!"

     All four of them looked down to see Kit Kat.  The carret was
making excited noises, and tugging on the hem of Yumi's dress.

     "What is it, Kit Kat?" the blonde girl asked.

     In reply, the carret ran a few feet away from the group, then
turned its head around to "gika" at them some more.

     "I think it wants us to follow it," Yumi said.

     Clark looked puzzled, but then his expression cleared.  "This
animal is what led you to the enemy camp."

     "Yeah," Tsugiko said.  "It leads us to crystal shards."

     "Is there another one nearby?"

     "Not likely," the Warrior Priestess grumbled.  "Usually it's
a few countries away.  The Crystal Warrior biz is about ninety
percent walking from place to place."

     "Gika!  Gika!  Gika!" called the carret.  It ran a few feet
farther in the direction it had chosen, then turned around again.

     "Yes, we get the message.  Shut up!" Kyouji called.

     "Gika gika gika gika gika!  Gika!"

     Clark shifted from one foot to the other.  The mannerism
reminded Tsugiko of Kyouji, which did not make her happy.  "The
land of Mikeandikes is in the opposite direction," the knight
said.

     There was an uncomfortable moment of silence as they each
looked from one to another.

     "The Temple Spirit told us Kit Kat would lead us to the
shards, and he hasn't been wrong yet," Yumi said.  She gave
Tsugiko an apologetic look.

     "Personally, I wouldn't mind parting ways with the furball,"
Kyouji said.  "But it's been doing its job okay.  It leads us into
dangerous and unpleasant situations, yeah, but we end up finding
the shards."

     The other two Crystal Warriors turned to face Tsugiko.  So
did Clark.

     "You're right.  We have to find the last two shards, and Kit
Kat's our best bet to do that."  Tsugiko turned to give Clark her
most winning smile (which was only about half as winning as Yumi's
least, in the green-garbed girl's opinion, but it was all she
had).  "But you could come with us.  Maybe some of the other
knights could come along too, or not if you prefer..."  She
trailed off when she saw his face.

     "I'm sorry.  But my first duty is to the knights of the
Sparkling Elite."

     "Yeah.  I remember what you said at the wake.  'Service and
duty'."

     "But perhaps, when we have defended Mikeandikes, we will
rejoin you."

     Tsugiko bit back the first few replies that came to mind.
Clark didn't deserve hostility or a guilt trip.  "I look forward
to it."  She gave him a genuine smile.

     He nodded once to both Yumi and Kyouji, then bowed to
Tsugiko.  "Until then."

     With that, he turned and strode to a waiting Binaca.  As soon
as he was mounted, the entire company took off.  They proceeded
slowly, so that those on foot could keep pace.

     As far as Tsugiko could see, Clark didn't look back.

     "I'm really going to miss those guys," the dark-haired
Warrior Priestess said.

     "They were very nice," Yumi agreed.

     Kyouji chuckled.  "Nicer to some than others."

     "What's that supposed to mean?" Tsugiko asked.

     Showing quicker thinking than she would normally have
credited him with, Kyouji hastily answered her question with,
"They knew how to recognize achievement."

     "Gika!  Gika!"

     "You know," Tsugiko said to Kyouji, "I am really starting to
understand your feelings about Kit Kat."

     "I'll hold it, you skin it," he replied.

     "Tsugiko!  Kyouji!"  Yumi looked scandalized.

     "We're just kidding," Kyouji said.  Then, putting one hand to
cover his mouth, he said in an elaborate and very loud stage
whisper, "We just have to wait until she's gone, then I'll get the
knives."

     Yumi did not appear amused.  Then, finally, she giggled a
bit.  "You guys are so silly."

     "We do have to wait for Krackel, don't we?" Tsugiko asked.
"We said we'd meet him in Guylian."

     "Yeah, but it's a big country.  Are we just supposed to
assume he'll find us in the middle of nowhere?" the Knight
Protector asked.

     Yumi looked around the half-destroyed camp, then over to
where the Bottle Pop explosions had levelled large swathes of
forest.  "I think that right here is about the most conspicuous
location we'll find."

     "So, we wait here."  Tsugiko walked over to a cot that
someone had pushed out of a collapsed tent and set up out in the
open.  Presumably a knight had needed somewhere to sleep, and all
the ones inside the remaining tents had been taken.  "What do we
do while we wait for the big bad swordsman to show up?"

     Kyouji looked at Yumi.  Yumi looked at Kyouji.  Both of them
looked at Tsugiko.

     "What?" the hammer-wielding Warrior Priestess asked.

     Kyouji took a deep breath.  "Tsugiko, we've got something to
tell you."

>o< >o< >o<


     "What am I going to tell her?"

     "Pardon?"

     Clorets turned to look at the officer riding next to her.  "I
*really* need to stop thinking aloud."

     The soldier wisely chose not to reply.

     The remnants of the troops who had fought the Sparkling Elite
and Crystal Warriors were a pitiful lot.  All of the Mambos were
dead on the battlefield.  Perhaps thirty-five men in total had
neither perished nor been captured.  That was nowhere near enough
to maintain the Guylian campaign.  Clorets had elected to bring
all the survivors with her when she returned to Wintergreen's
palace.

     There were two reasons for this decision.  The first was that
since such a small number of troops would be of no use whatsoever
here, they might as well be assigned elsewhere.  The second was
that they would provide Wintergreen with three dozen additional
targets upon which to vent her wrath.

     That might be enough to let Clorets live through her report
of failure.

     Bad enough that the Guylian offensive was ruined.  But to
have personally lost the orange crystal shard was far worse.

     Wondering, silently this time, exactly what she was going to
tell Wintergreen about this disaster, the princess could think of
no scenario that didn't have at least even odds of her ending up
dead.  Or perhaps Wintergreen would do something worse, as she had
to Twizzler.

     Clorets considered taking the few troops she still had and
trying to ambush the Crystal Warriors once they parted ways with
the Sparkling Elite.  Her forces would outnumber the teens by a
dozen-to-one.

     But a memory of the girl with the wings of green fire
reminded Clorets that if the "one" could decimate Mambos, then a
dozen soldiers would be as effective as a dozen malnourished, one-
legged, drunken Skittles.

     The princess sighed.  It was still worth considering.

     The question was whether she thought she'd have better odds
ambushing the Crystal Warriors or explaining her failure to
Wintergreen.  At the moment, she was undecided.

     "This has really been a bad day," Clorets said.  The officer
turned to look at her again, but sensibly decided not to note that
her internal monologue had once again gone external.  "And I don't
think it's going to get any better."

>o< >o< >o<


     "I've asked Yumi to be my girlfriend, and she said 'yes.'"

     Tsugiko stared at Kyouji.

     "I know you might be a bit upset, so it's okay if you yell at
me or hit me or whatever," he continued, though he looked a bit
nervous as he said it.

     Tsugiko stared at Kyouji.

     "So, yeah, uh..." the boy trailed off.  He gave a halfhearted
grin and reached up to scratch the back of his neck.

     Tsugiko stared at Kyouji.

     "Tsugiko, are you okay?" Yumi asked.

     Tsugiko stared at Kyouji.

     The boy shuffled his feet.  Yumi reached out a hand to touch
her former roommate's shoulder, but stopped and withdrew it before
making contact.

     Tsugiko stared at Kyouji.

     He looked back at her, trying to figure out what her silence
meant.  "I didn't-"

     "YOU WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

     Kyouji cringed at the sudden outburst, and Yumi actually took
a step back.  "I'm sorry," he said.

     "How could you?  You total goddam bastard!"  Tsugiko stood up
and strode towards him, waving her arms for emphasis.

     "Tsugiko, you're not being fair," the other Warrior Priestess
interrupted.

     "You stay out of this, you boy-stealing bimbo!" Tsugiko
snarled.

     "Hey, don't pick on Yumi," the Knight Protector shot back.

     "Fine.  I'll pick on you.  You lying, indecisive-"

     "Wait, isn't the problem here that I actually made a
decision?"

     "Shut up!  What is wrong with you?  Do you actually want to
make me even madder?"

     "Okay, I know how you must feel-"

     "No!  You don't know!  You don't have a clue how I feel!"

     "You're upset because-"

     "I'm upset because I went through all this less than a week
ago!  And I think I actually handled it pretty well.  I was mad,
yeah, but I was coping.  But then you went and told me that no, it
was all a misunderstanding, and you haven't chosen Little Miss
Perfect after all.  And then just when I've relaxed, let my
emotional guard down, you put me through it ALL OVER AGAIN!  And
you think you know how I feel?"

     "If you'd just let me finish-"

     "Like Hell!  This isn't a debating society, Kyouji.  You
don't get five minutes without interruption, then over to me for a
three minute reply."

     "Tsugiko," Yumi cut in, "maybe you should take a moment to
calm down."

     "Yeah," the other girl replied.  "I'm sure that if I just
wait five minutes, the fact that your *boyfriend* over there
ripped my heart out for the second time this week will hardly
upset me at all."

     "You said last night that I'd used up my last chance," Kyouji
said.  "That's why I went to Yumi."

     "Yeah, well, I said a lot of things.  I'm a little hot headed
at times.  Maybe you've noticed, on the couple of occasions you've
torn yourself from staring at the blonde beauty."  Though Tsugiko
kept her eyes focussed on Kyouji, she pointed over at her fellow
Warrior Priestess, actually poking her once on the chest.  Yumi
seemed a bit nonplussed by the contact, but stayed silent.

     Kyouji shrugged.  "I was trying to respect your decision."

     "What, by running into her waiting arms?  Yeah, you really
respected me, so long as it meant you got some Yumi-nookie."

     "Tsugiko, I know you're upset," the other Warrior Priestess
said.  "But there's no need to be crude."

     Tsugiko laughed.  "You think *that* was crude?  Man, I guess
it's the innocent-as-a-bloody-baby thing that Kyouji goes for.
Too bad I've actually absorbed the world around me enough that I
don't still act like I'm competing for the title of Miss Pure And
Happy Thoughts."

     The blonde girl winced.  "I just meant-"

     "Oh, who cares?  I thought I told you to shut up and stay out
of this!"

     "Tsugiko-" Kyouji began.

     "Listen!  I may have told you that you'd blown your chance,
but I wasn't the only one saying stuff last night.  You, for
example, said that you were not *not* NOT picking Yumi."  She
reached toward him, and he seemed to consciously resist
retreating.  But all she did was lightly tap him on the forehead a
couple of times.  "Remember that?"

     "I didn't mean to.  I, like I said, I wanted the status quo
back, that was all."

     "Oh, yeah.  You just wanted life to go on with two girls
chasing after you, and you never having to commit to either.  Or
maybe you'd prefer we back up to an earlier status quo.  You
probably miss Twizzler!  If leading two girls on is good, three's
gotta be better."

     "You don't really believe I want Twizzler back, do you?"

     "I don't know how that twisted little mind of yours works.
But you obviously don't know how mine does either.  Because I was
actually thinking of letting you have your precious status quo
back just now!"

     He seemed genuinely taken aback.  "You were?"

     "Yes!  God knows why."

     "I thought, uh, with the knights-"

     "Yeah, Clark was great.  I mean, I know that I'm *really*
picky.  Guys not leaving me hanging for months on end and then
stabbing me in the back is just something that I demand.  It's
very unreasonable, I know.  But Clark somehow managed to meet that
lofty standard.  Amazing, isn't it?  He must be some sort of
superman."

     Kyouji ignored her rant.  "I thought you were going to, I
dunno, get together with him or maybe one of the others."

     "Well, maybe you noticed that they headed for another
country?  And I got that news all of fifteen seconds *before* you
decided to spring this on me.  Way to kick a girl when she's down,
Kyouji."

     "We didn't want to keep it a secret," Yumi said.

     "Well, gosh, that makes it alright then.  You were upfront
about it.  My mistake; I've got absolutely nothing to be angry
about here."  She rolled her eyes.

     "Tsugiko, I didn't want to hurt you.  But I had a dream a
while back, and someone told me that you should never deny-"

     "I swear, that is the stupidest explanation yet."  Tsugiko's
voice rose into a fair approximation of Yumi's, and she clasped
her hands over her heart.  "'Don't blame me!  I was told to do it
in a dream!'"

     "She didn't mean it that way," the Knight Protector said.

     "YOU COULD HAVE HAD THE STATUS QUO BACK!" Tsugiko shouted.
"All you had to do was wait a day or so before going to her!  But
you couldn't even hold out that long.  Not even a single day."
Her voice faded gradually from a shout to a normal tone as she
spoke.

     Then Tsugiko pitched forward.  Yumi reached out to try to
catch her, but her old roommate pushed the Warrior Priestess away
as she fell.  The dark-haired girl landed on her knees, scraping
them, but the pain didn't even register.  She put one hand down
onto the ground to steady herself, then brought it up to wipe away
the tears that were starting to form in her eyes.

     "All you had to do was wait," she whispered.

     "Tsugiko, I really didn't know-" Kyouji said, his words
overlapping with Yumi's simultaneous reply of, "If there's
anything we can-"

     "Leave me alone.  Just leave me alone," she said softly
between sobs, cutting both of them off.

     She didn't look up to see if they'd obeyed, but after a
moment she heard footsteps heading away from her.  She was alone.
But then, right at that moment, it felt like she always had been.

     She knelt there, crying, for what seemed like a very long
time.

>o< >o< >o<


     "She took that well," Kyouji said.

     Yumi gave him a horrified look.  "How can you say that?"

     "I can say that because she didn't knock out any of my teeth
or rip out my tongue, so I'm still pretty much capable of speech.
Although maybe she'd have been doing me a favour if she had."

     The two of them were sitting on a cot inside one of the
standing tents.  They were positioned at opposite ends, with
several feet between them.  They had both instinctively realized
that now was not the time for intimacy.

     "How can you make jokes?" the girl asked.  "Tsugiko's
obviously hurting."

     The Knight Protector sighed.  When he answered her, his tone
was no longer glib.  Instead, he seemed to be forcing each word
out.  "I'm sorry.  I just, I don't know what to say, and I feel
like I have to say something, even if it's just some stupid joke.
I feel so helpless, Yumi.  I hurt her so badly, and now there's
nothing I can do.  And I just don't know what to say, to her or to
you or to anyone.  God, to have put her through that, what kind of
horrible person must I be?"

     "You didn't mean to hurt her."

     "She was right.  I didn't read her correctly at all.  She
seemed so serious last night.  I thought she really meant it.
And, uh, she seemed so calm and mature.  I really did think she'd
take it better when we told her.  Shows what an idiot I am."

     "Kyouji?" Yumi asked softly.  "Do you want to break up?"

     He did a double take.  "What?"

     "She said you could have had the status quo back.  When you
kissed me, you didn't think that was possible.  You even told me
that was the reason."

     "Yumi, even if she's *still* willing after this latest fight,
I wouldn't do it.  She was right.  That's the thing.  Tsugiko was
right.  I let a situation that harmed everyone continue, because I
was selfish and afraid.  I don't want to go back to that.  I, uh,
I hope I'm a better person than that."

     "But she's hurting so badly."

     "I know.  But she'll get over it.  And what would it mean if
I went back to 'undecided'?  I'd still have to choose eventually.
So either we'd have to put her through this yet again, or she'd
have forced me to choose her by being really unpleasant."

     "But maybe I'm not the one for you.  Maybe she is."

     Kyouji shrugged.  "Well, then I better not marry you here and
now."

     The Warrior Priestess gave a weak smile.  "Yeah.  You had
better not."

     "Yumi, I know that you feel bad for Tsugiko.  But you can't
make yourself feel better by throwing me at her."

     "You think I want to make *myself* feel better?"

     He frowned.  "Poor choice of words.  Like I said, my going
mute would probably not be a bad thing.  What I meant was that
that's not the solution.  There is no solution, or at least no
easy one."

     Yumi slid over and leaned against him.  "I know."

     He turned to whisper in her ear.  "There is one more reason I
don't want to break up."

     "What's that?"

     "I already told you.  I really like you."

>o< >o< >o<


     Tsugiko's tears had long since run dry by the time Krackel
came riding into the abandoned camp an hour later.  She had moved
back to sitting on a cot out in the open, and was reflecting
silently on recent revelations

     Her thoughts had just turned to the incident that had
occurred in the Frango market.  She had believed she had seen a
vision of Mia, her alleged previous incarnation.  "Mia" had told
her that Kyouji was free to make his own choices, and that Tsugiko
had to accept that.  It had seemed a reasonable proposition at the
time, but at the moment it was far harder to accept.

     The Warrior Priestess snorted at the recollection.  "It was
just a hallucination brought on by too much time in the sun," she
muttered.  "Ghost of my former self?  That doesn't even make
sense!  I mean, how can she both be reincarnated AND a ghost?"

     Tsugiko leaned over to pick a rock off the ground, then
hurled it into the distance.  "I can't believe I was so out of it
that I bought it.  Kyouji's a bastard, and that's that," she said,
dismissing the memory as a ridiculous daydream.

     That was when she saw him approaching.

     The big swordsman was using one of the rabbit-horses the
Sparkling Elite had favoured, and the reminder was not one she
welcomed at the moment.  Still, seeing someone she might be able
to take her anger out on cheered her a bit.

     "I am really not in the mood for games right now, Krackel,"
the Warrior Priestess said.

     "I had not intended to play any," the swordsman replied as he
hopped off his Binaca.  His armour was covered in some sort of
yellow ichor that smelled faintly like dead fish.

     "What is that stuff?"

     He looked down at himself.  "The remains of the Bounty.  It
was one of the guardians of the Starlite."

     "That the thing you were looking for?"

     The swordsman nodded.  "If I can count on your aid, my
sister's rescue can now commence."

     "Yeah, whatever."

     Krackel looked around the decimated tents and scorched trees.
"Where are your companions?"

     "Probably in some tent getting it on," she said bitterly.

     He turned back to her.  "You are still upset about what you
heard in the Taffy Swamp?"

     "What?  No.  It was-  Never mind.  It's not your business."

     "Very well.  But I must insist that you summon your fellow
Crystal Warriors."

     "Fine.  Hey, Yumi!  Kyouji!"

     The swordsman gave her a look that reminded her of one her
parents had often given her when she was younger.  It indicated
that if he had meant to simply yell for them, he could have done
so himself.

     But he couldn't argue that her method wasn't successful,
because the other two Crystal Warriors immediately emerged from
one of the tents.

     "Tsugiko, what is it?" Yumi asked.

     "Yeah, do you want to talk about-  Oh.  Krackel."

     Wintergreen's lieutenant frowned and looked from one teenager
to another, and then over at the green-clad girl.  He had
obviously realized that something had happened, but he didn't know
quite what.  Tsugiko didn't feel like enlightening him.

     "Did you find that thing you were looking for?  The one that
would help us rescue your sister?" Yumi asked.

     "I have."  Krackel reached into a pouch that hung at his
side.  From it he produced a pendant shaped like a nine-pointed
star.  It seemed to be glowing very faintly.  "Behold the
Starlite."

     "Uh huh," Tsugiko said.  "So, what's the big deal about that
thing?"

     "If I have understood the legends correctly, the Starlite
allows one to teleport from place to place.  One must merely
concentrate on a person at the destination and say their name
aloud, and the power of the Starlite will transport whoever is
holding onto it.  If all goes well, Rollo's rescue will be a quick
and completely combat-free procedure.  It should be possible to
teleport directly to wherever she is located, grab her, and return
here before anyone even realizes the castle has been penetrated."

     Tsugiko had noted his use of the phrase "if all goes well",
but it didn't seem like the man was going to say anything further
without prompting.  She glanced over at Yumi and Kyouji.  The boy
avoided returning her gaze, and her old roommate just looked
imploring.

     Neither of them seemed likely to speak.  Tsugiko realized
that they were too busy trying to gauge her to pay attention to
Krackel's words.  Despite herself, she felt a bit touched by their
concern, but that was almost immediately overridden by her
irritation at how fragile they must think she was.

     She had broken down in front of them, true.  But everyone had
moments of weakness.  Even Little Miss Perfect Yumi had collapsed
after Winis' death.  Tsugiko felt her resolve grow; she would show
them that she was made of sterner stuff.

     "Sounds neat," the green-clad girl said.  "So where do we
come into this?  You can just beam in yourself, grab Rollo, and
beam out."

     Krackel grimaced.  "Would that it were that simple!  But the
Starlite was said to glow as bright as a star, and as you can see
its current shine is minimal.  I fear it may have lost its potency
over the years."

     "Wait a second," Tsugiko said.  "You're afraid that this is
going to end up like some bad science fiction story, aren't you?
There's going to be some sort of horrible teleportation accident,
and you don't want to be the one fused into the wall or merged
with a fly or whatever."

     "I have not heard these tales of which you speak.  But I
admit that there is a measure of truth in your words.  Your fears
are not exactly correct, however.  From all that I have read,
there is no possibility of being, as you put it, 'fused with a
wall'."

     "So what's the catch?  I said I wasn't in the mood for games
today, and I meant it."  Tsugiko casually pulled out her warhammer
to drive home the point.

     The big man's fists clenched, and the veins on his forehead
stood out noticeably.  The Warrior Priestess looked at her friends
uncertainly; she hadn't actually expected her words to precipitate
a fight.

     Krackel suddenly exhaled, and with the release of breath, he
seemed to have regained his calm.  "There is a risk that there is
only enough power left in the Starlite for one trip."

     "So, this thing could be a one-way ticket into the heart of
Wintergreen's castle."

     Kyouji had gone suddenly pale at the thought, and Tsugiko
snickered.  She was the one who had had her forehead crystal
shattered by the Dark Queen, and she wasn't trembling at the very
mention of Wintergreen's name.  What did he have to be so scared
of?

     "But if there's enough energy to go at least one way, why
don't you go visit your sister and then both of you can teleport
out with it?" Yumi asked.

     Tsugiko gave her old roommate a slight nod; it was a good
point.

     "I would!  But as a result of the actions of Riesen, curse
his hide, even I am currently denied access to Rollo."  The
swordsman spat his fellow lieutenant's name when he said it.

     "So, we have to beam in and hope there's enough juice to beam
out.  All four of us, or is Big Bad Krackel just going to send the
three little Crystal Warriors to do his job for him?" Tsugiko
asked.

     "To preserve energy and ensure the greatest chance that there
is enough power for a return trip as possible, it would be best if
only one person went.  The more the Starlite transports, the more
it is drained."

     "Just one of us?  But if there isn't enough energy left in
the Starlite for a return trip, they'd have to fight their way out
all by themselves," Yumi protested.

     "It's practically a suicide mission for the three of us
together.  Sending just one person is sheer insanity!" Kyouji
added.

     "I'll go," Tsugiko said quietly.

     "What?" the Knight Protector asked.

     "You mustn't," the other Warrior Priestess added.  "We'll
think of a better plan."

     Tsugiko rolled her eyes.  "You never learn, do you, Yumi?
This whole Warrior Priestess thing, it's not good or happy or fun.
It's not about finding the perfect way to do stuff so that no one
gets hurt.  It's about doing the job."

     "I know you're angry at me-" Kyouji began.

     "That's right," Tsugiko said dryly.  "This is all about you.
Everything's about you.  I'm going to go kill myself doing this
because I'm so broken-hearted.  Boo hoo, poor me.  Is that what
you think?"

     "Um-"

     "Give me a break!  I'll go because someone has to.  And
Krackel's too much of a coward to defy Wintergreen-"

     "My mass is far greater than-" the swordsman interrupted.

     "Whatever," she interrupted him right back.  "And you,
Kyouji, can barely stand.  Yumi's okay in a battle with us at her
side, but she really isn't capable of fighting her way through a
castle full of soldiers.  That leaves me."

     "Do you think you're capable of taking on 'a castle full of
soldiers'?" the Knight Protector asked.  "And what about
Wintergreen?  You don't know what facing her is like."

     "Hey, I was there, remember?  I've faced her."

     "No."  Kyouji shook his head.  "That wasn't her we fought
when we first came to Mars.  Or if it was, she was really holding
back."

     "And she shattered your forehead crystal," Yumi added.  "What
if that happens again?"

     "Then we'll deal with it again.  Look, I've listed the
options here.  So unless you want to send Kit Kat, I'm all we've
got."

     "You're sure this isn't about what we told you?" Kyouji
asked.

     She cocked her head.  "Actually, on second thought, yeah.
I'm risking myself so that you two lovebirds can stay here
together, happy and safe.  Because if one of you went and got
killed, I'd have to put up with the other one whining forever.
And I really don't want to have to deal with that."

     The other Crystal Warriors looked uncertain if she was
joking.  Tsugiko didn't let her enjoyment of their discomfort
show, maintaining an utterly serious expression.

     "Gimme the Starlite," she said, holding out her hand to
Krackel.  He complied.

     "You're sure?" Yumi asked.

     "Cripes, what does it take to convince you?  I'm sure."

     "Good luck," Kyouji said.

     "Wait, one last thing.  What if there's only enough juice
left for one of us to come back?  And how would I know?" Tsugiko
asked Krackel.

     "That should not be a problem.  So long as there is any
energy left, the Starlite will teleport you and my sister back.
It is only once the journey is complete that the energy required
to transport you is expended, so the amount of mass only matters
if you wish there to be energy left to make a subsequent journey."

     "But that doesn't make any sense!"

     "Well," Kyouji said.  "I guess that's what makes it magic and
not science."

     "Okay, I guess that's everything, then."  Tsugiko held the
Starlite out in front of her.

     "Do you recall what my sister looked like?" Krackel asked.

     The Warrior Priestess nodded.  "I only saw her the one time,
but yeah.  Okay, here goes nothing."  She shut her eyes.  "Rollo!"

     Tsugiko felt a wrenching sensation, like she was on an
elevator that was descending far too rapidly.  Bile rose in her
throat, but the girl suppressed the urge to vomit.  She heard what
sounded like a scream, and for a second she thought it was her own
voice.  But it was inhumanly high, a pure note that would have
shattered glass and sent dogs running for cover.

     Both the feeling of motion and the noise stopped abruptly.

     Tsugiko opened her eyes.

>o< >o< >o<


     "Do you think she'll be okay?" Yumi asked.  Tsugiko's
insistence that this had to be done and she had to be the one to
do it had done nothing to lessen the blonde girl's concern.

     Her old roommate had appeared to implode, collapsing into
nothingness.  Yumi couldn't quite shake the feeling that she had
just watched her friend die a grisly death, but Krackel had
assured them that that was what it was supposed to look like.

     "I hope so," Kyouji replied.  "I mean, just now she seemed
more like her old self.  Pissed-off, but not shattered."  His
voice sounded uncertain, and when he turned to ask Krackel, "So,
how'd you find us, anyway?" Yumi was sure that her new boyfriend
was deliberately trying to take all their minds off Tsugiko.

     Wintergreen's lieutenant raised an eyebrow.  "I was aware
that Clorets was retrieving a shard from this camp.  I presume she
failed?"

     "You could say that."

     "At any rate, it seemed as good a place as any to begin my
search for you."

     "I told you," Yumi said to Kyouji.  She leaned towards him,
then looked over at Krackel and drew back.

     "There is one other matter," the swordsman said.  He reached
an arm around his back, and drew out the Knight Protector's blade.

     "Hey!  My sword!"

     Krackel held it out, hilt-first.  "Take it.  As a measure of
my thanks."

     The boy grabbed it a bit too quickly to appear casual.
"Thanks."  He made a few slashes in the air.  "I've missed this."

     Yumi noted that he appeared to be waving his old weapon about
with more flair than he normally displayed in his swordsmanship.
She wondered whether he was showing off, and if so whether it was
for Krackel or for her.

     "That was very nice of you," Yumi said.

     The big man just grunted.

     "Are you sure taking this won't jeopardize Tsugiko's
mission?" Kyouji asked suddenly.  He had stopped waving the sword
about, but still held it in his hand, pointed at the ground.

     "I beg your pardon?"

     "Well, uh, won't it make Wintergreen suspicious if she
realizes the sword's gone?  If she increases palace security, that
could mess up the plan to rescue your sister.  I mean, I'm glad to
get this back, but it seems like it was a bit of a stupid risk to
take."

     Krackel took a step toward the boy.  Yumi felt suddenly
tense.  If a fight broke out, Kyouji was in no position to fend
off anyone, let alone a man who had beaten him soundly more than
once.

     "He's just concerned," the Warrior Priestess said, grabbing
one of the big man's arms in a probably futile attempt to halt his
advance on Kyouji.

     Krackel turned to face her, and the rage seemed to leave him
as suddenly as it had appeared.  "His concern is groundless.
Wintergreen herself ordered me to return it."

     "What?" Kyouji shouted.  Yumi shared his incredulity, but
didn't voice it.

     The swordsman faced the Knight Protector again.  "She said it
would earn your trust.  So did Riesen.  There is far too much
plotting in Wintergreen's royal court for my taste."  He waved a
hand dismissively.

     "Hold on!" Kyouji said.  "You're going to have to explain
what you're talking about."

     "When Rollo is rescued, the schemes of Wintergreen and Riesen
will be irrelevant.  It's not important."

     "I think we should be the judge of that," Kyouji said.

     Yumi had been gradually moving to stand between Krackel and
her boyfriend, and now made the final move to block any attack
either tried to make on the other.  "Would you mind explaining?"
she asked the big man mildly.

     "They want me to earn your trust and lead you into a trap,"
Krackel spat.  "But when Rollo is safe, I won't do it.  As I said,
this does not concern you."

     Yumi felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see that
Kyouji was leaning on her from behind.  His strength had obviously
left him again.  She worried that her healing magics had been
insufficient for the wounds he had sustained in the battle with
the Mambos, but she supposed that there was only so much she could
do.  His body would simply need a day or two to return to normal.

     "And if Tsugiko fails?" Kyouji asked.  "Then were you going
to do it?"

     "If I was, I would not have told you.  I have informed you of
this plot, but you trust me less than ever!"

     He took another step forward, advancing toward the two teens.
Yumi resisted the urge to back up.  With Kyouji supporting himself
on her, such a move would likely cause him to fall over.

     "Krackel, calm down," Yumi said.  "Fighting amongst ourselves
won't do anybody any good."  As she spoke, Wintergreen's
lieutenant brought one hand up to cover his forehead.  The Warrior
Priestess thought he looked like he was in pain.  "Are you hurt?
Can I help you?"

     "No.  Stay back," Krackel said.  His voice was very hesitant
and uncertain, not at all like his normal tone.  "I should not
stay here with you.  I will return later."

     Without another word, he turned and strode toward his Binaca.

     "What was that all about?" Kyouji asked.

     "I have no idea," Yumi replied.

     "This day just keeps getting weirder.  Ever since we got to
Guylian, everything's been happening so fast, and I don't know
what to make of half of it."

     "But it hasn't all been bad, has it?"

     "What do you think?"  Kyouji gave her a roguish grin.

     "Well, we're together now.  I think that, no matter what else
happens, that means some good has come of the last couple of
days."

     "Yeah.  And we got a crystal shard."

     "And you and Tsugiko helped convince me that what happened
with Mallo doesn't make me a murderer."

     Kyouji laughed.  "Come on, don't be so melodramatic.  Of
course you're not a murderer."

     Before their conversation could go further, they heard loud
stomping sounds.  Yumi turned from Kyouji to look around the camp,
and saw that a mob of angry-looking creatures was approaching from
all directions.  They were eight to ten feet tall and basically
humanoid, though their hands were disproportionately large and
ended in claws.

     The monsters were all massively muscled.  They absently
pushed aside anything that barred their path, including tents,
advancing until they formed a circle around the two Crystal
Warriors.

     "Nestlings!" Kyouji cried.

     Yumi nodded.  She remembered facing one of these months
earlier.  It had almost crushed the life out of the Warrior
Priestess, but the Knight Protector had saved her.

     "Puny humans!" shouted one of the Nestlings who had
surrounded them.  "Now you face punishment!  For murder!"

>o< >o< >o<


     Tsugiko opened her eyes to see a room about as large as the
one she had shared with Yumi back in Tokyo.  But it was much
sparser.  Their old dormroom had had a pair of beds, of desks, and
of chairs, as well as all the various things that each of the two
girls had possessed.  This one held only a bed and a small wooden
stool upon which a lamp burned, casting shadows.  Also, where the
room at St. Hebereke had been decorated with posters, this one
possessed bare stone walls, without even a window.

     A girl was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling.  She was
a few years younger than the Warrior Priestess.  Her blonde hair
had been long and wavy the last time Tsugiko had seen her, but it
was pulled back now.  The girl's dress was gorgeous, a shade of
aqua that reminded Tsugiko of the Pacific Ocean.  It was cut so as
to be flattering without seeming tasteless or inappropriate on
such a young wearer.  The way Rollo was lying was sure to ruin the
obviously delicate material.

     "Hello," Tsugiko said.

     The girl gave a start, and looked at Tsugiko.  "I remember
you," she said.

     "I'm here to save you," the Warrior Priestess replied.  She
enunciated each word slowly and carefully in a soothing tone.

     "You don't have to speak like that," Rollo said.  "I'm not a
child.  Maybe I was when I first got here, but I'm not now."

     "Sorry," Tsugiko said, and meant it.  The annoyance of being
underestimated was something she understood.

     "My brother said you'd rescue me.  He said he had a plan."

     "Yeah, well, now's when we find out if the second part of the
plan involves lots of hacking people to bits or not."  Tsugiko
looked down at the Starlite, still in her hand.  The glow was even
fainter than it had been, but clearly still there.

     "How did you get in here?" Rollo asked.

     "Teleported.  Which looks like the same way we'll get out."

     "Teleported?" Rollo asked, turning the word over in her
mouth.  She looked puzzled.

     Tsugiko suppressed a smile.  The girl may have been toughened
by experience, but she didn't know everything.  Although how
common the word was on Mars, the Japanese girl didn't know.
Krackel had used it, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.
"Magic," she explained.

     "Oh."  The answer seemed to satisfy Rollo.

     "Now, come on over here.  I'm going to need you to hold onto
this, okay?"

     "Of course.  I can't wait to leave here."

     Tsugiko took another look around.  "I can see why."

     "My older room was a bit nicer.  Wintergreen just moved me
here today, for some reason.  I think it has something to do with
my brother."

     "We can ask him when we see him."

     Rollo hopped off the bed and walked toward Tsugiko.  "You
know, even though Krackel said he'd rescue me, I was starting to
think I'd never get out of here.  When Wintergreen didn't let me
go after Krackel found that shard, like she promised-"

     "Wait," Tsugiko cut her off.  "Krackel found a shard?  Was
this just a couple of days back?"  She recalled the fake shard
that Krackel had had in the swamp, but it seemed highly unlikely
Wintergreen wouldn't have recognized the forgery.

     "Oh no, it was weeks ago."

     The Warrior Priestess frowned.  "It looks like your brother
didn't tell us everything.  I'm sorry, Rollo, but you're going to
have to wait just a little bit longer before getting out of here."

     "Why?"

     "Because first, I'm going to find that shard."

>o< >o< >o<


     "What are you talking about?" Yumi asked.

     "Puny human is murderer!" one of the creatures repeated.

     "I don't understand.  Who do you think we killed?"

     "Puny human knows who killed!  Now Nestlings punish puny
human!"

     The circle of creatures tightened around the two Crystal
Warriors.  A few were flexing their mighty hands, and their
vaguely ape-like faces, not pleasant to begin with, all seemed to
be glowering.  Many had bared teeth that could probably qualify as
"fangs".

     Kyouji was still leaning on Yumi for support, but he raised
the sword he held in the other hand.  "We're not going out without
a fight."

     Yumi gently pushed his arm down.  "You're in no shape for
that," she said softly.

     "I have to protect you.  Isn't that my job?"

     "First, let's see if we can settle this without fighting."

     "What puny humans whispering?" another Nestling called.

     "We just want to know what's going on," the Warrior Priestess
answered.

     "Puny humans are murderers!  Do puny humans deny?"

     "You know," Kyouji muttered, "the sheer repetition of their
dialogue is starting to get annoying."

     Yumi ignored him.  "Yes.  We haven't killed anyone."

     "Puny human lies!  Nestlings investigated!  Nestlings find
puny old woman in York!  Old woman tell what happened!"

     "Old woman in York?  Patty!" Yumi said in shock.  Her mind
was filled with images of these creatures crushing the wise old
woman as one had tried to do to the Warrior Priestess, or just
tearing her apart.  Perhaps they had even gone after Patty's
assistants.  It was a horrible line of thought.

     "If you hurt Patty..." Kyouji added, his voice betraying none
of his body's weakness.

     "Nestlings not hurt puny humans of York!  Nestlings not
barbarians!"

     "Could have fooled me."

     "Puny old woman tell Nestlings who killed Nestling!  Then
Nestlings hunt murderers!  Many months!  Now Nestlings found
them!"

     "Oh no," Yumi said.  "Oh no, oh no, oh no."  She suddenly
felt like the ground she was standing on was unsteady, and she
staggered.  Kyouji let go of her as she did so, and found the
strength to keep himself standing.  Yumi barely noticed; she felt
like she wasn't getting enough air, and began to hyperventilate.

     "What is it?" Kyouji asked.

     Yumi turned to him in horror.  "I just realized what they're
talking about.  And I think we're guilty."

>o< >o< >o<


     "Are you sure about this?"

     Tsugiko could tell that Rollo was nervous about the plan to
search for the crystal shard.  The girl was trying to hide it, but
the way she was looking up and down the hallway made it obvious
that at any second she expected to see a hoard of troops round the
corner, if not Wintergreen herself.

     They had emerged from Rollo's chamber a minute earlier,
startling the five members of Wintergreen's royal guard who had
been stationed outside.

     Often, the Warrior Priestess had found if difficult to use
her abilities to the fullest right at the start of a battle.  Her
powers depended upon emotion, and it was only as the fight
progressed and she worked up her anger and excitement that she was
able to tap into them.

     That hadn't been a problem this time.

     Right from the moment she had emerged, her battle aura had
been up, and she had swung her hammer so hard that it had
scattered the soldiers like tenpins.

     Even with the enemy dispatched, Tsugiko could feel the anger
rolling off her in waves of green energy.  She tried to force
herself to calm down.  What she had to do would require stealth,
and with her aura up she didn't exactly blend into the background.

     Of course, it hadn't been this handful of troops who had
really been causing her anger.

     "We need that shard," Tsugiko answered.  "And we may never
have a better opportunity to grab it than I have right now."

     The girl nodded.

     "What I don't understand is why Krackel didn't rescue you
himself.  He could have fought his way by these losers easily,
then beamed out with you."

     Rollo shrugged.  "I don't know why my brother didn't do that.
He didn't seem himself the last time I saw him.  I'm worried about
him."

     "Okay, which way do we go to find the shard?" Tsugiko asked.

     "Follow me."

     Rollo led the way, making sure each corridor was clear before
signalling for the Warrior Priestess to follow her.

     Tsugiko felt a slight sense of deja vu as she made her way
through the maze that was Wintergreen's castle.  It wasn't the
actual halls or any of their decorations that sparked it, just the
general air of the place.

     The floor was covered in a plush red carpet, and elaborate
tapestries hung on the walls, illuminated by the torches
interspersed with them.  Apparently, Wintergreen wanted to ensure
that her entire castle was a testament to luxury.

     No, Tsugiko realized, recalling Rollo's bare cell.  The Dark
Queen's sensibilities had not extended to a room she was unlikely
ever to visit herself.  So the halls of the castle were meant not
simply to be pleasing to the eye, but to Wintergreen herself, if
she should ever happen to pass that way.

     Occasionally, a free standing objet d'art would mark a hall.
Several were abstract pieces, or depicted things and people
Tsugiko didn't recognize.  Others were likenesses of the Dark
Queen.  Tsugiko hadn't seen Wintergreen in person since the fight
when her forehead crystal had been cracked, many months ago, but
there was no mistaking who was being depicted in even the less-
accurate representations.

     "Hold on," Tsugiko said, reaching out to stop Rollo.

     "What is it?"

     The Warrior Priestess had caught sight of a statue that was
quite unlike any to date.  She wasn't sure of the medium.  It had
somehow been carved inside crystal.  When she first glimpsed it,
she had thought it might be a depiction of Wintergreen's
millennium of imprisonment, but the curvy figure inside the
crystal was not the Dark Queen.

     The subject had been captured with astonishing accuracy.  The
height, the proportions, everything had been perfectly sculpted.
Then it must have been painted by someone just as talented,
someone able to reproduce the subtle nuances of colouration of
face and hair and clothing.

     "Twizzler," Tsugiko said.

     The sorceress had been depicted wearing the dress she had
worn during her last confrontation with the Warrior Priestess,
with all the rips and tears the battle had caused.  It seemed an
odd choice, as did the amusing look on the redheaded girl's face.

     "We should move on," Rollo whispered.  The Twizzler statue
seemed to make the child even more nervous, but Tsugiko barely
noticed.

     "Sure.  But first, a little redecorating is in order..."

     Tsugiko's hammer was still in her hand, and as she swung it,
the mallet started to glow green.  The Warrior Priestess gave a
grim smile as she prepared to smite this idol to her hated former
rival.

     The warhammer connected with the statue.

     The weapon neither broke through the target nor bounced off,
instead sticking to it.  Bolts of green lightning surged out of
the weapon and through the transparent crystal, surrounding the
figure within.  More emerald energy discharged up Tsugiko's arm,
an unpleasant sensation not unlike a shock of static electricity.

     Cracks began to appear all over the crystal.  The Warrior
Priestess tried to pull her hammer away, and with a sudden jerk
was able to get it free, backpedaling when the resistance to her
efforts suddenly ceased.

     In front of her, the cracks in the crystal had increased
until Twizzler was no longer visible.

     "What's happening?" Rollo asked.

     "I don't know."

     The crystal suddenly crumpled into dust, blowing away down
the hall.  All that was left was Twizzler, standing there in her
torn red dress.

     Tsugiko belatedly realized that it had been no statue.

     The sorceress' body shook, and she blinked a few times.  She
changed her stance, but it was still odd, as if she had forgotten
how her body worked.  Then Twizzler cocked her head to one side
and looked at Tsugiko.

     "Greeeeeeeeennnn," she said, slurring the word.

     "And just when I thought today couldn't possibly get any
worse," Tsugiko said.

>o< >o< >o<


     "What are you talking about?" Kyouji said to Yumi.  "We're
not murderers."

     But she wasn't the one who answered him.  "Does puny human
deny puny human killed Nestling?"

     Kyouji turned to stare at the eight-foot tall monster who had
spoken.  Like Yumi, he had suddenly realized what this was about.
"Well, uh...  Oh."

     "What are we going to do?" Yumi asked.

     "For now, stall for time," he whispered.

     "Nestlings told puny humans not talk quiet!"

     "Hey," the Knight Protector said.  "Can I just ask what the
punishment for murder is?  Are you going to kill us?"

     "Nestlings not barbarians!  Nestling already tell puny human
that!  Puny humans only murderers!"

     "But a Nestling tried to kill me!" Yumi said.  "He was going
to crush me until Kyouji saved me."

     "That different!  Puny old woman say puny humans go to kill
Nestling!  Whatever Nestling did, only self-defense!"

     That response seemed to have cowed Yumi, but Kyouji still
wanted an answer to his question.  "Okay, so what *is* the
punishment we're facing?"

     "Nestling law say murderers have left foot cut off!"  The
Nestling who had spoken seemed to be smiling at the prospect, but
with that jaw structure it was difficult for Kyouji to be certain.

     Yumi shuddered.  "I don't think I can heal us if they cut off
our feet!"

     Kyouji looked at one of the Nestlings quizzically.  "What
happens if somebody kills a second time, after you've already cut
off their left foot?"

     "Nestlings cut off right foot!"

     Kyouji tried, but couldn't stop himself from asking the
obvious follow-up question.  His mouth seemed to have stopped
taking orders from his brain.  "And how about the third time?"

     "How many Nestlings has puny human killed?" another of the
creatures demanded.

     "Enough talk!" yet another Nestling declared.  "Now puny
humans must be punished!"

     There were murmurs of agreement.  Several of the Nestlings
advanced toward the two teenagers.

     Kyouji still had his recently returned Knight Protector sword
in his hand, and he held it up and at the ready.  Beside him, he
could see that Yumi had begun to glow pink.

     Despite the threatening situation, Kyouji didn't feel
particularly afraid or angry, and his own battle aura did not
spring into life.

     The Nestlings were being surprisingly cautious in their
approach.  They appeared to be waiting for one of the Crystal
Warriors to make the first move.

     "Kyouji, we can't do this.  We can't fight them," Yumi
whispered.

     "What?  They're going to cut off our feet!"

     The Knight Protector glanced warily from one Nestling to
another.  He was pretty sure that he could fend off at least a
couple... if he didn't suffer another weak spell.

     "But they're right!" she wailed.  "We are murderers.  And if
we kill all these people for trying to enforce their laws, we'll
be even worse.  Please, you have to think of something."

     "They've got us surrounded, Yumi.  We can't escape, and any
minute now they're going to attack.  At that point, we're going to
have to fight back if we want to keep all our extremities intact."

     "I could try forming another energy bubble to hold them off,
but I wouldn't be able to keep it up forever."  Kyouji had no clue
what the bubble she was talking about was, but he nodded anyway.
"But there has to be a way out of this that doesn't involve
violence.  We just have to think of it."

     "Yeah.  And fast."  The boy racked his brain.  Yumi was
depending on him to think of a solution.  He couldn't let her
down, especially now.  But how could they settle this without
bloodshed?  There was one thing Kyouji could think of that might
at least buy them more time.

     "Hold on," Kyouji said loudly.  "You guys say you aren't
barbarians?  Then prove it.  I demand a trial."

>o< >o< >o<


     "Rollo, get out of here now!" Tsugiko shouted.

     Twizzler swallowed hard before speaking again.  "Green.  You
stole my Kyouji.  Wintergreen said I'd never get him back.  But I
will.  Oh yes.  I'll kill you and get him back and we'll be happy
forever and ever."

     The Warrior Priestess felt a touch of fear.  The last time
they had fought, Twizzler had encased her in ice.  It occurred to
Tsugiko that the sorceress' own similar imprisonment had therefore
been somewhat ironic, but that was beside the point.  The truth
was that she wasn't sure this was a fight she could win.

     But she had grown stronger since then, Tsugiko reminded
herself.  And if emotion was what gave her strength, then Twizzler
had the bad luck to be facing the Warrior Priestess on the most
powerful day of her life.

     All the anger and resentment she felt at Kyouji for leading
her on and then betraying her, at Yumi for always being better and
always getting everything that Tsugiko wanted, including Kyouji,
and at this ridiculous witch-girl with her delusion that the
Knight Protector had ever loved her.

     Tsugiko's mind raced, building her anger and contempt as she
considered how hopeless and pathetic Twizzler's infatuation was.
After all, Kyouji loved Yumi.  He'd always loved Yumi.  You'd have
to be blind to miss it.  Perfect Yumi, with her beautiful blonde
hair and stunning figure, so kind and nice and smart and loveable.
Everyone loved Yumi.  Why should Kyouji be any exception?  No one
else had ever had a chance.  How stupid was Tsu- how stupid was
Twizzler that she couldn't see that?

     And all of them, Yumi and Kyouji and Twizzler, all of them
had conspired to make Tsugiko's life miserable.

     The Warrior Priestess' battle aura had sprung into existence,
a green so bright it was almost white.

     Tsugiko turned to see that Rollo was still standing beside
her, paralyzed by fear.  If the Warrior Priestess' guess about
when Wintergreen had frozen the sorceress was correct, then
Rollo's time in the palace would not have coincided much with
Twizzler's, at least not before the redheaded girl was entrapped.
But it was quite likely that rumours of how dangerous and unstable
Twizzler was had circulated among the servants, or that Krackel
had told his sister tales of his fellow lieutenants.  Either way,
Rollo obviously knew that Twizzler being free was very bad news.

     "Run!" Tsugiko repeated.  This time the girl complied,
turning tail and heading down the corridor.

     "I just have to kill you and we can be happy," the sorceress
continued, oblivious.

     The Warrior Priestess raised her hammer.  "Try it."

     The sorceress' head rolled forward, and she raised one arm
awkwardly, the elbow jutting out.  "Pie a la mode."

     Tsugiko heard a rumbling noise coming from above her, and
leapt sideways.  From the ceiling poured shards of ice, which
stabbed into where she had been standing.

     "My turn," the Warrior Priestess said, leaping toward
Wintergreen's lieutenant with hammer outstretched.

     Twizzler took a step back, but not quite fast enough, and the
hammer smashed the side of her face.  Within seconds, a bruise had
started to swell, but a blow of that force would have knocked the
head of a normal person clean off.

     Tsugiko drew her mallet back over her right shoulder,
preparing to swing again, when Twizzler spat out a tooth and began
to speak.  "I dreamed in the crystal.  I dreamed of my handsome
Kyouji rescuing me, so many times.  He'd free me with a kiss.  One
kiss, and our souls would be bound together forever.  Our lips
would meet and he'd realize that I was the girl for him, the only
girl, the perfect girl."

     "Give me a break.  Kissing is only a big overblown romantic
deal in girls' comics and cartoons.  And usually only the ones
with mediocre writers, at that.  In the real world, it's just
swappin' spit."

     The redhead gave no sign she had even heard Tsugiko.  "And
then he'd say how sorry he was and how he'd make it up to me.
He'd sweep me up in his arms and tell me how much he loved me, how
he couldn't live without me.  All that time, unable to even
breathe, all I had were my dreams.  My dreams made me happy.  My
dreams kept me sane."

     Tsugiko refrained from comment.

     "I knew that one day, all my dreams would come true."  The
redheaded girl's eyes refocussed on the Warrior Priestess.  "And I
dreamed of something else, too.  I dreamed of killing you."

     "But I was the one who rescued you, not Kyouji.  Ironic,
huh?"

     Twizzler furrowed her brow.  "Yes, that's not right at all."
She frowned.  "Now everything's wrong.  How could you do this to
me?"

     "I figured it was a bit much to expect thanks."

     Twizzler's face cleared.  "But maybe if I kill you, things
will go the way they're supposed to again."

     Tsugiko nodded.  "Let's see what you got."

>o< >o< >o<


     Yumi looked at Kyouji in admiration.  His suggestion was
brilliant, and so much better than fighting.

     Of course, the problem was that a trial would just prove that
they were guilty.  But she trusted that Kyouji had some idea that
would take care of that too.

     "Puny human demands?  Why should Nestlings do what puny human
demands?  Nestlings mightier!"

     Kyouji held his sword out, pointed at the one who had spoken.
"And might makes right?  Come on.  You think you're so much better
than us?  Not barbarians?  Then you can't just try to hack off our
limbs without considering the issue and giving us our fair say."

     The blonde girl thought that the boy's approach was more
antagonistic than might have been wise, but the creature nodded.
"Fine!  Nestlings give puny human trial!  It change nothing!  Puny
humans still murderers!"

     "I swear, I'd almost be willing to lose a foot if they'd just
stop saying 'Nestling' and 'puny human' every sentence," Kyouji
muttered.  Yumi couldn't help but agree that it was a bit
annoying.

     "First, Nestlings present evidence of guilt!  Then puny
humans allowed to make puny defense!  Then punishment!"

     "Who's going to be the judge?" Yumi asked.

     "Nestlings judge!"

     "That's not fair," Kyouji said.  "You're completely biased."

     "That deal!  Nestlings judge!  Or no trial!"

     "Fine."  Kyouji looked at Yumi and shrugged.  "So, what
evidence do you have that we're murderers?"

     "Here what puny old woman said!  Nestling live near York!
Puny humans visit puny old woman in York!  Nestlings make puny old
woman describe puny humans to Nestlings!  You those puny humans!
Puny old woman tell them about Nestling!  Puny humans hunt
Nestling!  Puny humans kill Nestling!  Do puny humans deny?"

     "No," Yumi said quietly.  "But you're omitting all of the
details."

     "Then puny female supply details!"

     The Warrior Priestess took a deep breath.  She tried to
remember what had happened all those months ago.  It seemed like a
lifetime had passed since then.  Her memory was very good, but
hardly photographic.

     "It was shortly after we arrived on Mars," she said.  "The
three of us, that is to say Kyouji and I and our friend Tsugiko,
had only been here a few days, but we had already fought several
monsters.  There were these summoners called the Twixes who kept
sending them against us.  First, we fought a Whatchamacallit-"

     "This not important!  Puny female waste time!"

     "It is important," Yumi insisted.  "I'm sorry for what we did
to the Nestling.  I can see now that it was wrong.  But you have
to know what we went through to understand what happened."

     Kyouji had looked pained during Yumi's admission that killing
the Nestling had been wrong, but the Warrior Priestess was not
going to pretend otherwise.

     "Fine!  Puny female continue!"

     The Warrior Priestess nodded.  "After that, there was a
Beechnut.  Both of those nearly killed us.  But the next monster
we faced wasn't summoned by the Twixes.  It was a Gobstopper.
Tsugiko looked into its eyes before we managed to kill it, and it
caused her to fall into a coma."

     Yumi paused, to see if the Nestlings had anything to ask.
When none spoke, she continued.  "When Patty told us that the cure
for Tsugiko involved killing a Nestling, I don't think any of us
thought of it as a person.  We thought it was going to be just
another monster, like the Whatchamacallit or the Beechnut."

     "Beechnut just dumb animal!" a Nestling objected.

     Kyouji looked like he was about to reply something, but he
closed his mouth before speaking.  Yumi was grateful for that.
Though nowhere near as hotheaded as Tsugiko, the Knight Protector
occasionally made comments that were better left unvoiced.
Fortunately, Kyouji had far greater self-control than the green-
clad girl; she would probably have actually made whatever smart
remark he had been thinking of.

     "I know that the Beechnut is just a dumb animal," Yumi
continued.  "That was my point.  We were new to Mars, remember,
trying to figure things out as we went along.  We only knew what
Patty told us about the Nestling."

     "What puny old woman say?"

     Yumi furrowed her brow.  "That it was big and tough and
fairly fast.  She said that it could be deadly in combat."  The
girl looked embarrassed as she added, "And that it was dumb and
arrogant."

     The Nestlings muttered angrily at that.  "Nestlings not
stupid!  Why puny old woman call Nestlings stupid?"

     "No idea," Kyouji said with a straight face.  "But she did
also say that it had been attacking the town occasionally, trying
to steal food.  What do you have to say about that?"

     One of the creatures shrugged.  "Nestling not know what
specific Nestling did!  But punishment for stealing is death in
puny human laws?"

     Kyouji looked down.  "Not usually."

     "So, puny old woman says Nestling thief!  Then puny old woman
say puny humans kill it!  Were puny humans even bothered by idea?"

     "No," Yumi said.

     "Yes, you were," Kyouji said.

     The Warrior Priestess frowned.  "I don't recall saying it
would be wrong."

     "That isn't quite how you objected.  You thought that it was,
well, gross."

     The girl blushed.  "Oh.  Now I remember."

     "Gross?  That all puny female cared about?" a Nestling
shouted.  This revelation seemed to have angered many of the
creatures.  A few flexed their hands in a menacing fashion.

     "Patty just seemed to think it was okay," Kyouji said, and
Yumi was grateful that attention was being diverted from her faux
pas.  "That's why we didn't realize what we were doing.  She made
it just seem like another monster.  And we, well, we were getting
used to killing monsters."

     "Puny humans kill monsters?  And who says who monsters are?
Puny humans?  This all big excuse!  Truth clear!  Puny humans are
murderers!"

>o< >o< >o<


     "I'm going to kill you now, Green.  Flambe," Twizzler cried.
Jets of flame sprung from her hands, and Tsugiko had to duck to
keep from getting fried to a crisp.

     "Is that it?" Tsugiko asked.  She felt power surging through
her, more even then during the battle against the Mambos when she
had taken flight.  She wondered if she was about to sprout wings
again.

     Tsugiko swung her hammer at the other girl.  It left a trail
of luminescent energy in its wake, like a comet.

     But Twizzler had managed to take a step back.  Her
coordination was returning, and her posture no longer looked quite
so much like a marionette with the strings cut.

     "Flan!"  At the sorceress' command, the still air of the
hallway began to move, as a breeze whipped up.  Then the wind
picked up still further, and Tsugiko had to bring up her free arm
to shield her face from it.  Within seconds, it had gotten to the
point where it was pushing her down the corridor.  She stumbled a
few steps, then was lifted off the ground and blown through the
air.

     She collided with the end of the hall hard enough that she
worried she had cracked a rib.  The pain was controllable, but the
wind was still pinning her to the wall face-first.

     The Warrior Priestess realized that she had dropped her
hammer, and though the wind had blown it along with her, it was
out of her reach.

     "I should have gone to Mikeandikes," she said.  But her words
were lost to the howling wind.

     Then, abruptly, it stopped, and she fell to the floor in a
heap.  She untangled herself as quickly as she could, and returned
to her feet.

     Twizzler was slowly walking down the hall.  Apparently some
aspect of the spell had rendered her immune to the winds she had
caused, so she had to traverse the distance manually.  Fortunately
for Tsugiko, the witch was still regaining control of her body,
and had to move in slow and tentative steps.

     The Warrior Priestess' anger at being thrown against the wall
joined all the rest of her emotion, bringing her energy level
still higher.

     And, as her power passed some threshold, Tsugiko felt a
sudden surge of insight.  It was similar to the one she had felt
while flying, the instinctive understanding of how to control her
wings.  She let her body flow with the feeling.

     The Warrior Priestess raised her hammer high above her head,
then brought it down in front of her as hard as she could.

     When it hit the carpeted floor, a slight ripple seemed to
form in the ground, moving outward in all directions.  Under
normal circumstances, it would not have been a particularly good
offensive technique.  At most, it might have cost an opponent a
second's pause as they made sure to maintain their balance.

     But Twizzler was in no shape to deal with even a slight
unsteadiness in the ground.  She lurched sideways, running into a
wall.  She bounced off it to fall onto her back.

     "You know, that was almost pathetic enough to make me feel
sorry for you," Tsugiko said.  She approached the redhead in rapid
strides that showed just how slowly the sorceress had been moving.

     But the mage was only down, not out.  "Layer Cake!"

     The stone walls on either side of Tsugiko slammed towards one
another, with her caught between them.  Without hesitation, the
Warrior Priestess broke into a run, diving the last few feet to
safety.  If she had been a second slower, she would have been
crushed flat.

     The two opponents were now only a dozen feet from one
another.  Twizzler had regained her footing, and Tsugiko stood up
as well.

     The Warrior Priestess felt the power surging within her,
demanding release.  Not simply through little displays of her
abilities, but in one cataclysmic burst.

     Tsugiko waited for Twizzler's next spell, trying to prepare
herself for it.  As far as the green-clad girl could recall, the
sorceress' magic was usually connected with the four elements:
earth, wind, water, and fire.  The redheaded girl had already
demonstrated her control of each during this brief battle.

     But when Twizzler next spoke, it wasn't to cast a spell.
"You stole my Kyouji, Green.  But now I'll get him back from you."
The mage didn't seem at all concerned by the Warrior Priestess'
blinding battle aura.

     "Oh, give it a rest.  I don't even have him, for crying out
loud!  He picked Yumi."

     Twizzler blinked.  "Yumi?"

     "Yeah.  Remember?  The other Warrior Priestess?  Come on, you
hung out with the three of us for weeks."

     The mage appeared genuinely taken aback.  There was a long
pause as she seemed to digest the information.  When she finally
answered, Tsugiko noticed that the redhead's speech was
significantly more coherent.  The Warrior Priestess wondered
whether that was due to Twizzler shaking off the after-effects of
being trapped in crystal, or whether Tsugiko's revelation had just
shocked some sense into her.  "He picked Yumi?  I...  Well, I
guess that makes sense."

     "Wait a second!  What's that supposed to mean?"

     "Just that she's obviously a better choice than you are.  I
mean, clearly nowhere near as right for him as me, of course.  And
she did trap us in that cave and hit me.  But still, she was never
violent to dear Kyouji like you were.  She didn't hit him all the
time like you did, you brute.  And, while she didn't compare to my
own exquisite beauty, I admit that she looked cute enough, not
plain like you."

     "I.  Am.  Not.  Hearing.  This."

     "Don't get me wrong, Green.  Yumi isn't remotely good enough
for my darling Kyouji.  As soon as I'm done with you, I'll go kill
her for stealing him from me."

     Tsugiko grunted.  "You just don't get it, do you?  He's
allowed to make his own choices, and he was never yours in the
first place."  She paused, trying to remember where she had heard
those words, but dismissed it as unimportant.  "All you care about
is yourself, and what you want."

     "Kyouji does love me!  The only reason you're spouting those
lies is that you're jealous of the relationship we have.  I know
the truth.  You wanted my Kyouji too, and you know he'll never be
yours."

     For some reason that Tsugiko couldn't fathom, Twizzler's
insane rant hurt more than any of the red girl's magical attacks
had.  "That's not true," she said.

     "It kills you that his heart belongs to someone else.
Doesn't it?"

     And Tsugiko let go of the energy inside her, let it pour from
her.  She felt the power that had suffused her body draw inward
from her extremities, pool inside of her, then launch at Twizzler.

     The anger was still inside of her, the hurt, the jealousy,
the resentment and loneliness and despair.  But it didn't give her
strength any more.  It was just there.

     Twizzler was smashed back by the blast, right through a wall.
She was propelled through what appeared to be a deserted storage
room, past rows of polished armour and weaponry, and then through
another wall at the far end.

     At first, Tsugiko thought she had blasted her foe right out
of Wintergreen's castle, since she could see trees through the
hole.  But when the Warrior Priestess crossed the storage room,
she saw that in fact Twizzler had ended up in some sort of
arboretum.

     The Warrior Priestess' glow had not gone away entirely, but
it was much fainter than it had been, so dim that it might have
been just a trick of the light.  She realized that expending that
much energy might have been a mistake.

     Tsugiko swung her hammer in the air once, then stepped
through the demolished wall into the arboretum.

     "It's time to finish this."

>o< >o< >o<


     "Finish story!  Puny female finish story!  Now!"

     Yumi had been afraid that the Nestling's last pronouncement
that they were murderers had marked a summary end to the trial,
but since that wasn't the case, she nodded and returned to her
narrative.  "Well, we went to its cave.  We wanted it to come out,
and Kyouji suggested that I fire at it to force it to emerge.
That worked, but it was really enraged."

     "It was shouting stuff like, 'Nestling smash!' and 'Nestling
crush!'" Kyouji added.  "We thought it was going to attack us."

     "Nestling shout?  Then puny humans know Nestling not stupid!"

     "We should have," Yumi said.  "Now it seems obvious.  But at
the time, we just didn't notice.  Or we didn't think about it."

     "Puny humans attack Nestling in home!  Puny humans admit it!
Why puny humans surprised Nestling mad?"

     Yumi turned to Kyouji, hoping he had an answer.  She didn't.

     Instead of replying to the question, the Knight Protector
changed the subject.  The blonde girl noticed that he was quite
adept at doing so.  "Say, can I ask something?  Do you Nestlings
have names?  You just keep saying 'Nestling' all the time."

     "Nestlings not reveal names to outsiders!"

     "Okay."  The Knight Protector shrugged.  "Just thought I'd
ask.  Anyway, after it had shouted for a bit, I threw some poppies
at it."

     "No."  Yumi shook her head sadly.  "I was the one who shot it
first, with my wand."

     "Are you sure?  I thought it was me."

     Yumi smiled at the boy, but resisted the urge to display more
of her affection than that.  "You didn't attack it until it
retaliated against my blasts."

     He nodded.  "Anyway, whatever happened first, pretty soon I
tried to attack it with my sword, but it batted me aside.  I think
I hit a tree, but I'm not sure.  Frankly, I've gotten knocked
around a lot since coming to Mars, and I can't keep the exact
details straight as to what happened which time."  He winced and
rubbed the back of his head.

     "I was still blasting it, but it wasn't doing much good.  It
grabbed me and tried to squeeze the life out of me."  Yumi was
shaken just from remembering it.  The situation hadn't quite
activated her claustrophobia at the time, but being crushed in a
giant hand, unable to move or breathe, was far too close to her
personal fear of enclosure for even thinking about it to be
comfortable.  Her head started to swim, but she forced herself to
continue breathing normally, and the potential panic attack
subsided.

     Neither Kyouji nor the Nestlings had noticed her momentary
weakness.  "I demanded that it let her go," the Knight Protector
said.  "But it refused.  It said I couldn't hurt it.  I was
convinced that it was going to kill Yumi.  Absolutely certain, and
nothing you say about Nestlings not being barbarians is going to
change my mind.  So I did the only thing I could to save her.  I
jumped at it, and chopped its head off.  And its arm too, if I
remember correctly, but that wasn't really important to us."

     "That it?" one of the creatures asked.  "That puny human's
excuse?"

     Another rattled off a series of exclamations summarizing the
Crystal Warriors' explanation.  "Puny human admits puny humans
went to kill Nestling!  Puny humans attacked Nestling in home!
Nestling tried threaten puny humans away!  Puny humans attacked
Nestling!  Nestling defended self!  Puny male claims thought puny
female in danger!  Puny male killed Nestling!"

     "Puny explanation!  Trial over!  Now Nestlings punish puny
humans!" a third added.

     Yumi felt her heart sink.  The trial had failed, and now the
Nestlings were going to attack.  She turned to Kyouji, knowing
what she had to tell him.

     They had had a chance to explain themselves, and the
Nestlings hadn't accepted it.  She couldn't say she blamed them.
Now the Crystal Warriors would have to accept their judgment...
and their punishment.

     "Wait!" Kyouji shouted before she could speak.  "This isn't
over yet!"

>o< >o< >o<


     Rollo hurried through the corridors of Wintergreen's palace.
She wasn't sure where she was heading, but she knew that the last
place she wanted to be was in the middle of a fight between a
Warrior Priestess and Twizzler.  If half the things her brother
had told her about either of them were true, their battle would
probably destroy an entire wing of the castle.

     "Oh Krackel, where are you?" she asked.  When she had been
younger, whenever she had been frightened, she had turned to him
for comfort.  She longed for that reassurance now.

     "And where are you off to in such a rush, dearie?"

     Rollo stopped abruptly upon hearing the voice.  Turning, she
saw an old woman.

     "Glosettes!" the girl cried.  The woman worked in
Wintergreen's kitchens, and was one of the servants who Rollo had
taken a liking to.  They had met in the aftermath of the
mysterious explosion that had almost destroyed Twizzler- or
perhaps, almost set her loose, Rollo realized.

     "What's all the fuss about?"

     "Oh, we have to get out of here," Rollo said, the words
tumbling out of her in a rush.  "A Crystal Warrior came to rescue
me, but then she accidentally freed Twizzler, and now they're
fighting, and it's really terrible."

     "Hush, now, dearie.  Come with me, and it will all be fine."

     The girl nodded.  Relief flooded her.  Even if Glosettes was
unlikely to be able to lead her to anyplace that would truly be
safe if things deteriorated, it was nice to just have someone who
seemed like they knew what they were doing.

     The old woman led Rollo down one corridor and then another.
The girl knew the palace reasonably well, but she had become
somewhat disoriented in her flight from the battle, and the brisk
pace that Glosettes was setting didn't allow her time to get her
bearings again.

     Finally, they came to a stop in front of a heavy oak door.
Glosettes knocked on it once, then again.

     "Where is this?" Rollo asked.

     "Patience, dearie."

     Then the door opened.  The man on the other side was someone
Rollo recognized all too well.  His face occupied a prominent
place in her nightmares.

     The first time she had seen him, he had kidnapped her from
her own home and taken her to Wintergreen.  In the months that had
passed since, she had not had all that much personal contact with
him, but as one of Wintergreen's lieutenants he had often dealt
with her in her capacity as the Dark Queen's servant and aide.
Each time she saw him, she remembered again the feeling of being
snatched from all that she had known and brought to this awful
place.

     Riesen looked down at her.  "Good evening, child."

     Rollo turned to Glosettes, betrayal etched onto her features.
"Why did you bring me here?"

     "Sorry, dearie, but I have to look out for myself."

     Riesen gave a soft chuckle.  "This is the palace of the Dark
Queen.  No one here is to be trusted."  He turned to the old
woman.  "Tell me what is happening."

     Glosettes nodded.  "She says that a Crystal Warrior was sent
to rescue her, and is now fighting with Twizzler in the palace."

     "A Crystal Warrior here?  And Twizzler freed?  This is most
interesting news.  You have done well, Glosettes, and I shall
reward you for it.  Now leave us."

     "Thank you."  The old woman gave the girl one last apologetic
look, then hurried away.

     Rollo herself took a step back from Riesen, but he reached
out and grabbed her with surprising swiftness, pulling her into
his room.  She struggled against his grip, but had no more luck
than she had had on the day she had first encountered him.

     He shoved her into a chair.  She glanced around the room
quickly, looking for anything that might aid her, but saw nothing.

     "Now," Riesen said.  "You're going to tell me everything that
you know."

     Rollo spat on him.

     Wintergreen's lieutenant pulled out a handkerchief and wiped
away the spittle.  "I'll ask only one more time, and then things
will start to get unpleasant.  Let's start with which Crystal
Warrior it is?"

     Rollo hesitated, but something told her that she had no
choice but to answer.  She wished once again that her brother was
there to protect her.  "She never told me her name.  But if I
remember what Krackel told me, she must be Tsugiko.  The dark
haired girl with the hammer."

     Riesen almost looked disappointed by her answer.  The girl
felt a brief moment of terror that he might take that out on her.
Instead, he only said mildly, "Yes.  Tsugiko.  Now, begin with
what you know about her..."

>o< >o< >o<


     "We should really have begun by telling you about Tsugiko,"
Kyouji said.  "Because for us, for me, that's what this was really
all about."

     The Knight Protector closed his eyes, remembering how he had
felt at the time.  But that wasn't all that came to his mind.  The
memories of months ago merged with recent events.

     He didn't open his eyes.  He didn't want to be distracted by
the Nestlings' reactions, or even Yumi's.  Kyouji needed to focus
on his feelings, put them into words.

     He began to speak.

     "I hadn't known her for very long at the time.  We had first
met at the Tokyo Tower, which I guess doesn't mean anything to
you.  It was only a couple of minutes afterward that we were first
transported to Mars.

     "I remember the first time I saw her.  I had just bumped into
her, literally.  I thought she was pretty cute, and that was about
all.  In fact, I was, well, basically distracted from her
completely when I saw Yumi a few minutes later.

     "But after the three of us were sent to Mars, I got to know
Tsugiko.  I learned that she was passionate, and funny, and not
afraid to speak her mind.  She does care about what people think
of her, maybe a lot, but she won't pretend to be something she's
not just to please others.  She's true to herself.

     "Maybe I fell in love with her."

     Kyouji tried to imagine what Yumi's expression would be at
hearing that.  He was tempted to peek, but resisted.  No
distractions.

     "But I guess, even if I did, this would have been before
that.  I was just getting to know her still.  But I could see that
I wanted to have that chance, to know her.  It was about as
important to me as anything could be.

     "And then we fought the Gobstopper, and she fell."

     Kyouji paused.  He could see it so clearly in his mind, what
she had looked like falling.  He had caught her before she hit the
ground, grabbed her prone form in his arms.  He had only held her
for an instant before having to set her down and try to save Yumi
from a stray blast of energy.  But he remembered what she had felt
like.

     "The Temple Spirit appointed me Knight Protector.  She told
me I was supposed to safeguard the girls.  Supposedly I've got a
mystical imperative that makes me do it.  But sometimes I don't
think so.

     "Sometimes I think I'd give my life for Tsugiko or for Yumi,
just because I love them.  Both of them."

     He paused to swallow before continuing.

     "Anyway, it was my responsibility to protect Tsugiko, and I
failed.

     "I remember seeing her lying there, remember thinking that
she might never wake up.  I didn't know her very well, like I
said, but the thought of her never smiling or laughing or even
hitting me ever again was almost more than I could bear.  It was
like I was being eaten up from the inside.

     "When Patty told us there was a cure, I admit that I wasn't
going to question it.  It was just such a relief.  I can't even
describe it to you.  Maybe Tsugiko wasn't the only one given a
second chance; maybe I was too.  Because if she hadn't recovered,
I don't think I could have gone on.

     "And when we went and killed the Nestling, I wasn't thinking
about whether or not it was a sentient being.  All I was thinking
about was saving Tsugiko.  And, uh, Yumi when it grabbed her.

     "Maybe you're right, and I did realize on some level that
what we were doing was wrong, was murder.  Honestly, the thought
never crossed my conscious mind, but maybe it should have.  Maybe
I was trying not to think about what I was doing.  I don't know."

     Kyouji sighed.  He honestly didn't.  Until these Nestlings
had appeared, he'd never even thought about all this.

     "I guess I'd have done just about anything to save Tsugiko.
If I'd been asked to give my own life to save hers, I'd have
sacrificed myself gladly.

     "More than anything in the world, I want to keep her and Yumi
safe.  That's not the Knight Protector talking, that's me, Kyouji.
I'd do anything to prevent them from being hurt.

     "I haven't always succeeded at that.  Fact is, I think I've
hurt them more than anyone.  Just this morning, Tsugiko accused me
of ripping her heart out twice in one week.  And she was right."

     Kyouji remembered Tsugiko falling to the ground sobbing.  He
wondered how he could claim he'd do anything to keep her from
being hurt, when he was capable of doing that to her.

     "I wish that it wasn't the case," he continued, his voice
suddenly hoarse.  "But she was right.  I'm a lousy Knight
Protector and probably a lousy person too.

     "But I'd have done anything to save her.

     "With her life at stake, I killed a Nestling.  I didn't even
hesitate.  Maybe someone else would have, could have chosen
differently.  Maybe someone else would have thought to say that
every life is important, and it's not our place to choose who
lives and who dies to pay for it."

     Kyouji shook his head.  "I'm not that strong.

     "It was a choice between saving a girl who had done nothing
to deserve death and a monster.  I know," he added quickly,
"that's a totally biased way of looking at it, but that was how I
saw it.  And there was only one choice I could make, even if it
was the wrong one.  Like I said, I'm not that strong.

     "I couldn't let Tsugiko die.  I couldn't.

     "And I killed him.  Not Yumi.  Me.  I sliced its head off.

     "So, if you want to punish me, cut off my foot or whatever,
then I guess that's what you have to do.  But don't hurt Yumi.

     "Please, let me protect her too."

     He opened his eyes.  He avoided looking at the Warrior
Priestess, instead staying focussed on the Nestlings.

     "So," Kyouji said.  "What's the verdict?"

>o< >o< >o<


     The arboretum turned out to actually be a large inner
courtyard.  It was surrounded on all sides by Wintergreen's
castle, but was open above.  The bizarre colours that the trees
and shrubs shared with all Martian plants were quite beautiful in
the late afternoon sunlight.

     Twizzler was lying in the dirt in the centre of the
courtyard.  She was covered in cuts and scrapes, red blood
matching red hair and red dress.

     The sorceress was still conscious, but when she stood up it
was obvious that she was even less steady on her feet than she had
been.

     "Give it up," Tsugiko said.  "You can't win."

     "Never!  I'll never give up my Kyouji!"

     The Warrior Priestess shook her head.  "I didn't even mention
loverboy.  What is it with you and that one-track mind?"

     The sorceress was swaying from side to side.  "He's mine, I
tell you.  Ours is a transcendent love."

     Tsugiko didn't even bother replying.  Instead, she swung her
hammer at the girl.  It wasn't glowing, and there was no energy
trail.  The basic added strength of the Warrior Priestess backed
up the blow (Tsugiko's natural musculature would probably not have
allowed her to even wield the weapon back in Tokyo), but there was
none of the additional force that her battle aura provided.

     It connected with Twizzler's side.  There was a crunching
sound, and the sorceress bent over.

     "Devil's Food Cake," the redhead hissed.

     The ground beneath them started to shake.  Twizzler fell to
her hands and knees, and a second later Tsugiko did as well.
There was a loud rumbling, and the two girls were lifted into the
air on a column of earth.

     It was roughly circular, and about ten feet wide.  When it
finished growing, it was over thirty feet tall, reaching nearly as
high as the largest trees in the arboretum.  The two girls were
both located at the centre of the plateau.

     "I don't see what the point of that was," Tsugiko said.
"Just wanted a more dramatic setting for our battle?"

     "Flan," Twizzler hissed.

     The Warrior Priestess grimaced as the breeze began to pick
up.  As she had suspected, the enchanted winds of this spell did
not effect the caster.  The other girl's red hair wasn't even
blowing in it.

     Tsugiko realized she didn't have much time.  The wind would
soon push her right over the edge, sending her hurtling to the
ground thirty feet below.  The fall might even kill her.

     The Warrior Priestess stood up, though that left her more
vulnerable to being carried off, and charged towards Twizzler.

     Fighting against the wind, Tsugiko swung her hammer at the
witch, knocking her back.  The Warrior Priestess forced herself to
continue moving forward, though with every second it became harder
to just keep herself from being pushed back, let alone advance.

     With her energy at low ebb, she had to strain her every
muscle to the limit.  Her legs ached.  Her arms felt heavy.  Her
lungs burned.  It seemed impossible to continue.

     But she did.

     Step by step, blow by blow, Tsugiko knocked Twizzler back
toward the edge of the platform she had built.  The Warrior
Priestess summoned not the anger that powered her aura, but simple
determination.  She refused to lose to Twizzler.  It was that
simple.

     The mage's awkward retreat from Tsugiko's onslaught
emphasized how weak the redhead was as well.  She didn't even
bother trying to cast another spell, instead using all her energy
just attempting to avoid the Warrior Priestess' attacks.
Sometimes she succeeded, and other times the warhammer connected,
knocking her back.  Either way, Twizzler was forced a little more
toward the sheer drop behind her.

     Then, with one final swing, Tsugiko knocked the redheaded
girl over the side.  The Warrior Priestess was too far from the
edge to see the mage fall or hit the ground, but over the howling
of the building hurricane she thought she heard a strangled scream
followed by a thud.

     With Twizzler gone, the wind died instantly and the column
gradually sank down to the ground again.  Tsugiko was glad of
that.  She hadn't even had time to consider how she would have
gotten down otherwise.

     When her feet were once more on terra firma, Tsugiko walked
over to where Twizzler had likely landed.  She wasn't sure what
she expected to see.

     The mage's body was lying in such a way that it was apparent
that her legs had both been broken, but she was also clearly still
alive.  Tsugiko could see the redhead's ample chest moving in and
out, in and out.

     The Warrior Priestess stood over the other girl's body,
looking down at her foe.

     "My... Kyouji..." Twizzler said.

     Tsugiko raised her weapon, poised to bring it down on the
mage's head.  "HE ISN'T YOURS!"

     For one brief moment, she felt her battle aura flare up
again, as she stood there with her warhammer looming over
Twizzler's vulnerable skull.

     And then it passed.

     Tsugiko lowered her mallet.  "You're not worth it.  Not now.
Not like this."

     "Now, now, let's not be hasty.  A chance like this doesn't
come along every day."

     The Warrior Priestess twirled to see Riesen standing a dozen
feet from her.  He was clutching Rollo to him with his left arm,
and his right held a dagger aimed at the girl's throat.  The child
seemed understandably terrified.

     "Let her go, Riesen," Tsugiko said.

     "I'd be happy to.  But first, you have to do something for
me."

     "What do you want?"

     "Kill Twizzler."

     "What?" Tsugiko said in surprise.

     "I know you want to.  Go on.  You'll be doing us both a
favour.  Kill Twizzler and I'll let little Rollo here go.  Then
everyone's happy."  Riesen gave a winning smile.

     "Why do you want me to kill Twizzler?  Aren't you on the same
side?"

     "Things are rarely that simple.  Now that you've revived
Twizzler, she once again poses a threat to me.  I want you to
eliminate that threat."

     "And why should I believe you'd just let Rollo go?"

     Riesen shrugged.  "I suppose you won't cooperate until you've
heard a reason you find plausible.  Very well.  With her gone,
Krackel will no longer serve Wintergreen.  And with Twizzler dead
as well, I shall be that much closer to my goal.  Best of all, it
can all be blamed on your presence here, so the Dark Queen will
never suspect me."

     "Then why'd you kidnap Rollo in the first place?"

     Wintergreen's lieutenant dropped all pretense of charm.
"This is not the moment to discuss the wisdom of my past actions,"
he snarled.  "We don't have a lot of time.  Kill Twizzler."

     Tsugiko looked down at the mage.  The red girl had apparently
lost consciousness, but she was alive.  All it would take to
change that would be one quick blow from the Warrior Priestess'
warhammer.

     It was tempting.  Tsugiko couldn't deny that.  She hated
Twizzler.  The sorceress had betrayed them, tried to kill her,
killed Winis, and who knew what else.  The redhead was pure evil,
whereas Rollo was as completely innocent as anyone Tsugiko had
ever met, save perhaps Yumi.  It was a choice between saving a
girl who had done nothing to deserve death and a monster.

     And the way Twizzler had treated Kyouji as if he was hers,
never caring about how he felt...

     The things she had said to Tsugiko...

     It was tempting.

     But Tsugiko wasn't going to give in to that temptation.  She
had killed in battle, but this was different.  No matter how
horrible Twizzler was, no matter what she had done, killing her
while she lay helpless was wrong.  This would be murder.

     "No," Tsugiko said quietly.  "Please don't hurt Rollo.  But
I'm not going to do it.  I can't.  Not even to save an innocent
life."

     "That's the sort of senseless nobility I'd expect from Yumi,
not you," Riesen said.  The Warrior Priestess shot him a dirty
look, but didn't deign to reply.  "I wonder how Rollo feels about
your principles," he continued, moving the knife slightly against
Rollo's neck, drawing blood.  She whimpered.  Riesen moved the
blade back from her throat so that she could speak.  "Well, girl?
Tell the Warrior Priestess that I'm in charge here."

     "Really, Riesen?  How interesting.  Because I was rather
under the impression that I was the one in charge here."

     The lieutenant, his hostage, and the Warrior Priestess all
turned to see the source of the voice, though all recognized it.

     There, in the arboretum, in all her terrible glory, Spear of
Mint held in her right hand, was the Dark Queen Wintergreen.

>o< >o< >o<


     "Explain Knight Protector imperative!" a Nestling said.
Kyouji had been finding the occasional large words in their
vocabulary incongruous when used with their syntax, not to mention
coming out of their fearsome visages, and despite the situation he
almost laughed.

     "It's, uh, the Temple Spirit said that I'd know when the
Warrior Priestesses were in danger, and have a subconscious desire
to save them.  Oh, and that I might even act without knowing it.
But that's never happened."  A sudden suspicion filled him, and he
turned to Yumi.  "Has it?"

     She shook her head.  "I don't think so."

     The Nestlings had begun to mutter amongst themselves again.
"What do you think's going on?" the Knight Protector asked.

     "I'm not sure."  She reached up to wipe a tear from her eye.

     "Hey, don't worry.  Things will turn out okay."

     "It's not that.  It's what you said."

     Kyouji frowned.  "About Tsugiko?"

     The Warrior Priestess nodded.  "It was very touching."

     He wanted to ask if that was really why she was crying, but
didn't have time.  The Nestlings' conference had ended, and
sentence was about to be passed.

     "Puny humans!  Nestlings decided!  Puny humans free!  No
punishment!"

     "Oh, Kyouji, you did it," Yumi said.  She threw her arms
around him.

     He felt his cheeks redden, but there was something he needed
to know.  "Not that I don't appreciate it, but...  Why?  I mean, I
said I'd accept the punishment if I had to."

     "Nestling law clear!  Magic made puny human save puny female!
And kill Nestling!  Not own choice!"

     "Nestlings not punish puny human when not puny human's
fault!" another added.  "Nestlings not barbarians!"

     "But, but," Kyouji stammered.  "My whole point was that I
chose to do it!"  As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized
that this was really not something he should be arguing with.

     The Nestling's voice actually seemed full of pity when it
replied.  "Poor puny human!  Spell control thoughts!  Not know own
mind!"

     The creatures were already starting to leave, and as Kyouji
stood there stunned, Yumi still wrapped around him, they departed.

     "Well, I sure didn't expect that," the boy said to no one in
particular.  "I can't quite shake the feeling that we just got
away with murder."

     "I knew your trial idea would work out!" Yumi said, and
Kyouji looked slightly disconcerted at the inadvertent implication
her statement had as a reply to his.

     The boy reached up to scratch the back of his neck,
maneuvering his arm around the girl clutching him.  "Do you think
it's true, Yumi?  Is the Knight Protector magic influencing me so
much that I, that I don't even know my own mind?  Do I even have
any free will?  Can I make my own choices?  Are all my decisions
made for me?"

     The blonde girl looked into his eyes.  "Of course you make
your own choices."

     "That's easy for you to say.  You didn't get a mystic
override button dumped into your brain," the Knight Protector
responded.  She looked taken aback, and he instantly regretted his
harshness.  "I'm sorry, Yumi.  It's just such a creepy idea..."

     "You're a good person, Kyouji.  That's all I know.  And
that's all that matters."

     "I guess I'll have to be satisfied with that.  And at least
all the trouble is over."

>o< >o< >o<


     "My liege," Riesen stammered.  "I didn't mean-"

     Wintergreen waved her left hand dismissively.  "Save your
excuses.  I shall deal with you later.  Right now, we have a
guest."

     The Dark Queen approached Tsugiko, stopping about a half-
dozen feet away from her.  "Welcome to my humble abode."

     "Go to Hell," the Warrior Priestess said.  She raised her
warhammer.

     Through the green hair that fell across the Dark Queen's
face, Tsugiko could see what looked like amusement.  "Put that
weapon down, girl.  Before someone gets hurt."

     The Warrior Priestess hesitated for a moment.  She considered
attacking despite the odds, but Riesen was still holding a knife
to Rollo's throat.  Tsugiko couldn't risk it.  She lowered her
hammer.

     "That's better."

     "You're not as impressive as I remembered," the Warrior
Priestess said.  "I think it's the bangs.  Impaired vision really
doesn't scream arch-villain like you'd think."

     Wintergreen shook her head.  "Such bravado.  Who are you
trying to impress?  Me?  I watched you die, girl.  I melted the
flesh from your bones.  You're nothing to me but a moment's idle
amusement."

     "Then how come you haven't killed us yet?" Tsugiko asked.
"You only faced us in person that one time."

     The Dark Queen looked puzzled.  "Have we met?  In this
incarnation, I mean.  I don't recall...  Ah.  You mean that shadow
of myself I allowed the Twixes to summon.  You have no idea what I
am truly capable of."

     Despite the circumstances, Tsugiko felt slightly humiliated.
So Kyouji had been right, and that had been an impostor.  It was
oddly embarrassing that it hadn't been the real Wintergreen who
had cracked the Warrior Priestess' forehead crystal, just a cheap
fake.  "But you still didn't answered my question.  You haven't
had the guts to fight us even once."

     Wintergreen didn't reply.  Instead, she turned and walked
over to a nearby tree.  Its bark was a rich purple, and its leaves
were orange.  The Dark Queen reached out to touch the plant with
her left hand, sliding her fingertips over it.  "You know, this
place is my least favourite in the entire palace.  I despise it.
All this horrible plantlife, growing and blossoming."  She
shuddered.  "In the spring, there are even animals in here, small
woodland creatures chirping and scurrying like so much vermin.
Just being in here almost makes me nauseous."

     Wintergreen continued to caress the bark, but she turned back
to face the Warrior Priestess.  "I could have this entire place
obliterated at a whim.  But I don't.  Instead, I come here nearly
every day.  Do you know why?"

     "You're a masochist.  It turns you on," Tsugiko replied with
a straight face.

     "It is a reminder.  Having this arboretum here reminds me
that there is still work to be done, still things that threaten
me."

     "Yeah.  These trees sure do look threatening."  Tsugiko
snickered.

     "Without this arboretum, I might grow complacent.  That must
never happen.  Not until my victory is total and complete.  Then,
and only then, I shall personally level this place.  Now do you
understand?"

     "I understand that you're a whackjob with a thing about
trees."

     "I had forgotten," Wintergreen said.  "You're not the
intelligent one."

     Tsugiko took a step towards the Dark Queen.  "Hey, I'm not
the one who doesn't eliminate potential threats because she likes
to be kept on her toes."

     Wintergreen raised the Spear of Mint.  "Don't assume that the
point of my explanation is that I won't kill you now.  In fact, I
plan on doing so quite shortly.  As you say, there is a point at
which it becomes foolishness.  It is one thing not to go out of my
way to face you, and quite another to pass up this opportunity."

     Tsugiko readied her warhammer in preparation for the Dark
Queen's attack, but none came.  Instead, Wintergreen continued to
circle her arboretum, speaking amicably.

     "Besides, you've done quite a bit of damage to my castle, and
that is something I can't tolerate.  It sets a bad precedent.  And
I see that you've revived Twizzler.  Pity.  I thought she made an
excellent decoration.  But what's done is done.  I suppose now I
might as well just reinstate her as a lieutenant."

     "My liege," Riesen protested.

     "I said I'd deal with you later, Riesen.  How harshly I do so
depends in part on whether you can still that silver tongue of
yours.  Do I make myself clear?"

     "Yes, my liege."

     Tsugiko looked over at Riesen and Rollo.  She had hoped that
Riesen's blade would no longer have been at the ready, but no such
luck.  It was still pressed against the whimpering girl's throat.

     "I do hope I get to do this again in another thousand years.
It's always such fun," Wintergreen said.  She came to a stop
suddenly, turned and aimed the Spear of Mint at the Warrior
Priestess.  It began to glow.

     Tsugiko shot one last glance at Rollo, then reached into her
pocket and pulled out the Starlite.  She just had time to see
Wintergreen's startled reaction before quickly closing her eyes.
"Yumi!" she shouted.

     And was gone.

>o< >o< >o<


     When Tsugiko opened her eyes, she saw the other two Crystal
Warriors standing a few feet in front of her.  Yumi was wrapped
around Kyouji in a tight embrace.  The dark haired girl narrowed
her eyes.  They'd probably been in it since five seconds after she
had left, enjoying themselves while she had been duelling with
Twizzler and Wintergreen.

     Tsugiko wondered it the source of her feelings of nausea was
the teleportation or the spectacle.

     "I'm back," she said.

     "Gah!" Kyouji cried, and both both boy and girl appeared to
jump about five feet in the air as they hastily separated.

     "Tsu- Tsugiko," Kyouji stammered.  "We, uh, we were just-"

     "Save it," the Warrior Priestess said.

     Both of the other two appeared to want to explain further,
but the look on Tsugiko's face made it clear that doing so would
be a bad idea.  Instead, Yumi asked, "Did you find Rollo?"

     The green-clad girl reluctantly nodded.  "Yeah.  I did."

     "Did you rescue her?  Where is she?"

     Tsugiko paused for a long moment before quietly answering.
"I screwed up.  I found out Wintergreen has a crystal shard, and I
tried to find it too.  But I never even got near it."

     "Wintergreen has a shard?"  Yumi gasped.  "Oh no!"

     "Yeah, well, I figured it was a bad thing.  That's why I went
looking for it.  But everything went wrong.  I accidentally
released Twizzler-"

     "Released Twizzler?  From what?" Kyouji asked.

     Tsugiko waved a hand dismissively.  "It's not important.  All
that matters is that I botched everything.  I didn't rescue Rollo
and I didn't get the crystal shard."

     "Can you try again?" Yumi asked.

     The dark haired Warrior Priestess looked at the Starlite she
still held.  Its shine had completely vanished.  Now it was just a
tarnished lump of metal.  The pendant actually seemed to be ageing
by the second, and she could see and feel bits of rust smearing
her hand.  She watched for a second as flakes of it fell off and
floated away on the gentle breeze.  "Not with this."

     "What are we going to tell Krackel when he gets back?"

     "I don't know."  Tsugiko looked down at the ground, unable to
meet the other Crystal Warriors' eyes.

     "Tsugiko, I'm sure this isn't your fault," Kyouji said.  "Any
of us would have tried to go after that shard."

     "He's right.  You mustn't blame yourself," Yumi added.

     Tsugiko looked from the boy to the other girl and back again.
She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again.  "Just
leave me alone," she told them for the second time that day.

     With that, she turned and walked away from her friends.

>o< >o< >o<


     Author's Notes:

     "One hears such sounds and what can one say but...
'Salieri'."

     But at least I'm a craftsman.

     First, I need to thank pre-readers.  Greg and Ardweden and
Nathan all helped make this part as polished as it could be.
Thanks.  I would also like to thank Kenji for his review of my
previous part.

     Well, the biggest point about this chapter is probably that
I've seriously reshaped the love triangle.  Well, obviously,
because it ain't a triangle no more.  As I'm sure everyone
remembers, it was Greg who had the guts to initiate this at the
end of the previous part, but I decided to run with it instead of
backpedaling.  Frankly, I'd bet good money that this hasn't put
the triangle to rest forever, but I had fun moving things along
for once.

     I believe that my coverage of the death of the Nestling was
entirely accurate.  It really does look like murder if you think
about it.  It does to me, anyway.  The only thing I omitted was
that after it was dead, the noble Crystal Warriors went and ATE
ITS BRAIN.  Buncha zombies, the lot of them.

     I admit that my own take on SC is occasionally a bit grisly,
folks, but I've never had them pick a fight with a random
individual, slaughter him, and eat his frickin' brain.  So, my
hat's off to Jesse, who makes even me look restrained.

     Tsugiko thinking that Mia was just a hallucination caused by
too much sun is NOT intended to mean that that was actually the
case.  I wanted to further differentiate her relationship with her
predecessor from Kyouji's, and having her just plain not believe
in the ghost seemed like an in-character way.  Plus, it'll be
funny if Mia reappears and Tsugiko refuses to accept she's not
just a figment of her imagination.  That is of course up to future
authors.

     Geography lesson.  Let's start when Krackel was in the Taffy
Swamp (part 34).  The NEXT DAY he visits Rollo in Wintergreen's
palace (part 35).  Then, THE NEXT MORNING, he meets up with the
Crystal Warriors in Frango (part 38).  He stays there for the
morning, but by that afternoon he encounters Riesen in a library
somewhere (part 40).  At any rate, LESS THAN A DAY LATER, he is
clearly in Wintergreen's palace (part 41).  Finally, I wanted him
back in Guylian for this part, ONCE MORE THE FOLLOWING DAY.

     Bottom line: at least so far as Krackel is concerned, the
Warrior Priestesses and Knight Protector are a single day's travel
from Wintergreen's palace.

     That struck me as too close, hence the convoluted Three
Musketeers Mountains/Mines of Chupa Chups explanation.  That
explains why Guylian is on the outskirts of Wintergreen's realm
when Krackel can get there in a day, and just plain puts the
heroes and villains de facto a bit further from one another.

     Of course, even odds that someone teleports Clorets home in a
day or something, screwing everything up again.  But I did my
best, folks.

     I know it strains belief that Krackel figured out an ancient
riddle that has baffled Mars for years in a couple of days, no
matter what his experience, while being drugged.  Sorry.  I just
wanted to get that done with, and didn't want to waste more time
than needed on The Exciting Adventures Of Krackel.

     Twizzler's spells are indeed largely based on the four
elements.  Surprisingly so, considering it was unplanned.  You
have to accept poison gas as Air and ice-spells as Water, but
otherwise the only problem is Death by Chocolate.  Call the fifth
element Void (as opposed to Heart or Milla Jovovich) and
everything pretty much works.

     Let's see...  Since Krackel actually TOLD Yumi and Kyouji
about Wintergreen/Riesen's plan for him to lead them into an
ambush, please don't just have him do that.  They've been warned,
okay?

     And of course I couldn't resist the joke about Clark being a
superman.  Comic book geek to the last, that's me.

     Speaking of which, it might be worth noting that Tsugiko's
reference to kissing in comics and cartoons is about Japanese
comics and cartoons, not American ones.

     Okay, candies.  Three Musketeers is a chocolate bar.
Glosettes make chocolate coated nuts and raisins.  Chupa Chups
make lollipops.  Mike and Ikes apparently make candies of some
sort; I needed a name, so I just went to my local 7-Eleven and
looked at the rack.  Likewise, I'm not very familiar with Bounty,
but it seemed like a chocolate bar.  Aspertame is a sugar
substitute; I personally hate the stuff.  Twizzler's spells are
all deserts, of course.  Pie A La Mode is pie with ice cream on
it, Layer Cake and Devil's Food Cake are both cakes (gasp), and
Flan is... a pudding, I think.  The shard collected in Guylian is
orange.  "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice" is from a poem.
It's what little girls are made of, allegedly.

     Now, the part you've all been waiting for with bated breath,
my list of sources from previous parts.  This is going to take a
while, folks.

     Primary sources were part 5 and parts 39-41.

     The scene with Riesen looking at Twizzler's statue is a
continuity fest, as I tried to clear up all the things that were
bothering me at once.  There's the aforementioned geographical
problem.  Riesen was mentioned as having dispatched a rival
lieutenant named Werther in 23 (Greg reminded me, by the way).
Twizzler was frozen in crystal in 29.  The unexplained (until now)
attempt to blow up her statue was in 32.  She foiled Riesen's
Trident ambush and brought the cave down in 22, and really did
seem to think it would be "blowing her cover" not to do so, which
frankly never made sense to me.  The Taffy Swamp affair was in 34,
and Krackel didn't seem to be punished for returning shardless in
35.  The explanation he gave to Wintergreen was never depicted
directly, but the version that Riesen recalls indicates that
Krackel lied to her.  Krackel's confrontation with Riesen in the
library was in 41.  Riesen infiltrated the Crystal Warriors in 8
and 31.  Twizzler managed it starting in 18.  Riesen quotes a
prophecy he was reading in 32.

     Backing up, the story picks up simultaneously with the end of
part 41.  Yumi recalls Tsugiko attacking her in a dream in part 6.
The impostor she and Kyouji discuss is from 31, discovered in 37.
They also discuss various events from 41.

     Krackel is caught up in plots by Riesen from 40 and
Wintergreen from 41, and his own plan to free his sister with a
magical device was first mentioned in 39 and furthered in 40.
Kyouji lost his sword back in 29, by the way.  Krackel attacked
Zagnut for no good reason in 40, and showed his anger to Rollo in
41.  His life story was previously discussed in 34.

     The wake is all about 41.  So's the Clorets scene.  And the
fight the three Crystal Warriors have.  Not much else to say about
those sections, except that Tsugiko first made her ultimatum to
Kyouji in 37, and that's also where he cleared up the
"misunderstanding" that he was dating Yumi.

     Krackel shows up with the Starlite, leading to much
exposition but not much continuity referencing for once.  Rejoice.
Well, except for Tsugiko remembering meeting Mia in 36, discussed
in my notes above.  Oh, and Tsugiko met Rollo in 17 and 18.  And
Krackel thinks Tsugiko is upset about what happened in the swamp
in 34.  And the Crystal Warriors faced a fake Wintergreen (now
confirmed as a fake by the Dark Queen herself) in 3, when Tsugiko
got her forehead crystal cracked.  Okay, there were a few, I
guess.  Somewhat later, Krackel tells Kyouji and Yumi about
Wintergreen and Riesen's plots from 41 and 40, respectively.  Am I
starting to repeat my annotations?

     Rollo's hair colour gave me a devil of a time, but 18 lists
her as blonde.  She's in a new room because of stuff in 41.
Tsugiko might be having deja vu because of Mia's experiences, as
depicted in 38.  There's that Twizzler statue again!  And Tsugiko
remembers her fight with Twizzler in 29.  Rollo DOES know that
this is the real Twizzler, from 32 if nowhere else, hence her
reaction to standing there, but neglects to mention it in so many
words.  Twizzler's used flambe so often I'm not going to list the
various occasions.  Twizzler mentions Yumi trapping them in a
cave, which is most unfair, since it was Twizzler's fault
entirely, but Yumi DID hit her; all this happened in 22.  Rollo
met Glosettes in 32.  Riesen kidnapped the girl in 18.
Wintergreen refers to killing Mia in 38, and is taken aback by a
reference again to 3.  Her dislike of nature goes all the way back
to part 1.

     Meanwhile, in the trial plotline: Patty, the wise woman of
York, debuted in part 5 and stuck around for a few parts.  The
entire sequence of events relating to the Nestling is in part 5,
including Patty telling them it would save Tsugiko, Yumi being
grossed-out, and the battle (which is a bit more complex than
described, but Yumi and Kyouji's summary is accurate, with Yumi
being right about which teen fired when).  Yumi's claustrophobia
has been mentioned periodically since part 21.  Tsugiko was
stricken by the Gobstopper in 4, and all events related to that
battle are in said part.  Yumi also remembers the Whatchamacallit
from 1 and the Beechnut from 2.  Part 1 is of course when Kyouji
first bumped into Tsugiko, not to mention when the Temple Spirit
told him what being a Knight Protector meant, ultimately letting
him get away with murder.

     That finishes 'em up, I think.

     Well, this will be my last SC part for a while; I'm going to
wait eight parts at the very least before writing again.  It's not
that I'm tired from this one, though; I don't mean to boast, but
if I wanted to I could easily continue writing every fourth part
as I have been doing of late.  Anyone curious as to the reason I'm
taking time off can ask me privately.

Nicolas

Eight Impro parts, no skips, and counting