Last time on Starburst Crystal:

	The floor of the Starburst Valley was barren and white.  The 
armies of Wintergreen had long since moved on - and no creature would 
approach the blasted surface.

	They could feel it.

	They could feel that palpable sense of rage and fury.  It could be 
said that, perhaps, it was the anger of the planet itself.  Others would 
say it was foolishness.  But none would be foolish enough to remain in 
the now empty valley.

	When magical forces collided of such force - the planet suffered.

	The pox that had been Wintergreen on Mars was now much, much more.  
And it was far, far worse.

	A bird, daring greatly, flew nearby.  Then it lost its mind and 
plummeted to the ground.  The pain had been too great.

	A Release was needed.

	The ground of the valley, the scorched clay, began to crack.  And 
crack.  Soon, the very ground itself had been torn into pieces.  And 
then it began to arise.  Slowly at first, pushing with great effort 
through the cracks, but then faster, faster, as rage from the planet 
itself began to fill its body.

	After less than a minute, it had broken free.

	It raised its head to the heavens - and roared,
"GGIIIIIIKKKKKKKAAAAAAAAA"

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

The Starburst Crystal
Created by Ardweden

Chapter Forty-Six: The Carret that Roared
		    Or Pour a Little Sugar on Me, Baby
By Greg Sanders

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	Clark rode his steed, which had now again become a horse-sized 
rabbit, alongside the warriors.  After the group had covered a few miles 
together, Kyouji remembered why this particular knight seemed so 
familiar.  The Knights of the Sparkling Elite had helped them battle 
Clorets in Guylian.  But more importantly, Clark had also briefly, 
privately, spoken with Tsugiko just before the groups parted company.  
That particular fact wouldn't have seemed important, if the green 
Warrior Priestess had not later mentioned that she had been dating the 
knight in her hallucination.  Kyouji felt slightly jealous, but had an 
easy time suppressing that emotion.  All the Crystal Warriors would be 
far happier if Tsugiko could find someone else to be the recipient of 
her affections, and perhaps then he and Yumi could truly be a couple.

	Unfortunately for that hope, the relationship between Tsugiko and 
Clark seemed awkward.  In the short time they'd traveled together, 
Tsugiko had briefly flirted with Clark, then brought Kyouji and Yumi 
into the conversation, and then she stopped speaking to the visiting 
knight altogether.  Kyouji couldn't tell what Yumi thought of this; they 
hadn't had a chance to talk privately.  Lately he was having a much 
harder time understanding his girlfriend, because strangely enough their 
relationship seemed to be pushing them apart.  Regardless, for the 
moment Tsugiko was quiet, which left the burden of conversation on him.

	"So, in a day we rendezvous with the rabbits that are being sent 
for us.  And then what?  We ride somewhere and defeat the monster?"

	Clark nodded even as he corrected Kyouji.  "They're Binacas, not 
rabbits.  But yes, that's the plan.  I'm told that the advisor that the 
Sparkling Elite are working with, I believe his name is Wonka, has some 
sort of plan to assist you."

	The whole group was startled by the mention of their old friend's 
name.  To all appearances, both Yumi and Tsugiko were echoing the 
happiness Kyouji was feeling.  The Crystal Warriors had made far too few 
friends in their long travels throughout Mars.  To hear from one, let 
alone to learn that he would be helping them face a great menace, had an 
amazingly uplifting effect.  The change was welcome, for the news Clark 
had brought of the destruction of the Starburst Temple and the rise of 
this new monster had left the group quite unsettled.   Kyouji waited a 
moment before continuing his questioning, lest he spoil the mood.

	"So Wonka is commanding this whole effort?  That's terrific-"

	Clark bristled a bit.  "Not commanding.  He requested the presence 
of our new leader, Skor, and is offering suggestions on how to-"

	Tsugiko laughed, which caused Clark to blush a bit.  The Warrior 
Priestess grinned for a moment, but then managed to restrain her 
amusement.   "Right, so we won't say Wonka is in command.  But what is 
this beast and how do we kill it?"

	Clark took a slip of paper out of his pocket.  "According to the 
report I was given Walnetto is huge, easily as tall as the Starburst 
Temple valley is deep."

	Kyouji's eyes widened.  He'd faced many tremendous creature since 
being summoned to this bizarre world, but this monster sounded more like 
something that would ravage Tokyo in movies than something he would 
actually have to fight, let alone kill.

	"One other thing, the reports were conflicted on most details, but 
apparently it's orange and green.  Although strangely enough, there are 
scattered contrary rumors that the beast is white."

	Kyouji narrowed his eyes.  "Is orange and green a common color 
combination on Mars?"

	"Not really, that pet of yours was the first thing I'd ever seen 
like that."

	The idea was almost too bizarre to contemplate, but still a 
thought nagged at him.  Their guide was the same color as this monster 
and had been missing for several days.  Doubtless Kit Kat was scouting 
or hiding just out of sight.  Even so, the Knight Protector traded 
glances with the other two Crystal Warriors.

	"You aren't thinking..." Yumi started.

	Kyouji was inclined to agree with her.  "No, that couldn't be 
possible, I'm sure he will be waiting behind the next bush."  When, to 
his slight disappointment, that turned out not to be true, he 
tentatively called out, "Here Carret, Carret."

	Nothing came.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	Clorets peered through a spyglass, and watched a bright orange and 
green hill grow steadily larger.  Based on what she could see, the beast 
seemed to be running on all fours through the hills of Mikeandikes.  
Even crouched, Walnetto was as high as the other hills, not to mention 
about three times as long.  Worse yet, it was frightfully fast.  
Clorets' caravan had left the Starburst Temple valley more than a week 
ago, and she had only received news of the monster's existence 
yesterday.  It shouldn't be here already.

       Thankfully, there would be no explosive chain reactions today.  
Before the caravan had left the Starburst Temple Valley, she had made 
sure that each Bottle Pop was loaded only with a bare minimum amount of 
explosive fluid.  The cannons had lacked any easy means to drain the 
liquid, and the high-ranking artillerymen, particularly Captain 
McVities, had scoffed at the decision to siphon out the catalyst liquid.  
However, after having suffered twice because of the volatile cannons, 
she had to adapt or die.

	When she had heard of the giant's emergence, her response had been 
immediate.  She had chosen three ridges and placed a battery of Bottle 
Pops on each of them.  The groups of artillery could simultaneously 
direct their firepower at the valley the creature would almost certainly 
emerge from.  She'd ordered Sara Lee, an advanced super-charged 
levitating Bottle Pop, to the farthest back ridge, battery three.  She'd 
then made sure the two jury-rigged tankers, one for each of the two 
explosive reactants, were out of harm's way.  She'd sent them in 
opposite directions, as fast as the caravan's entire complement of heavy 
duty three-legged Chewolas could pull them.  

       The general had sent Sara Lee to the back not just for distance 
from the monster, but also because that hill offered a separate 
outcropping for the giant cannon.  Retreat was not an option, for not 
even the levitating Sara Lee could outrun the monster if her mental 
calculations were correct.  However, because of Sara Lee's armored 
internal catalyst storage, the general had been unable to drain off its 
chemicals before the expedition had begun.  Unfortunately, while Sara 
Lee's armor thwarted her plan, it would be no obstacle to an abomination 
that could crush the cannon in the palm of its paw.

	Another look through the spyglass confirmed her fear; they had 
only about a minute left before Walnetto was upon them.  She gave the 
order to prepare to fire, and her flagman passed on those instructions 
to the other two batteries.  The conventional Bottle Pops only had 
enough chemicals left for at most five shots, but the princess doubted 
she'd have a chance to use even those.  Still, it was no small comfort 
that the cannons were adequately staffed.  While she had only been told 
to bring half of Wintergreen's artillery to Mikeandikes, she'd raided 
the other detachments' supply of men.  She'd lost much since coming to 
serve the Dark Queen, but she would not stoop so low as to personally 
load cannons again. 

	Suddenly Walnetto emerged; Clorets hesitated for a moment to stare 
at it.  The beast was humungous and terrible.  What had seemed at a 
distance to be green or orange sweet-grass fields or trees were now 
easily distinguishable as fur.  The monster was slender, to the degree 
that an animal with the mass of the Gum Drop Palace could be slender.  
If Clorets were more fanciful, she might almost say its ears would be 
cute were they not so large as to be able to hold entire ponds and hear 
sounds half a world away.  Yet there was nothing appealing about its 
natural weapons.  Those were fearsome: a tail thicker and longer than 
the highest castle tower and claws larger than Sprees.  The beast's roar 
shattered Clorets' awe.  The sound was fierce, mind numbing, and soul 
shaking.  "GIKA!"

	The general smirked, "I have a roar of my own, monster.  Fire all 
batteries!"  The order went out and with heartening precision the Bottle 
Pops sent the princess' reply.  Smoke quickly filled the valley, and 
momentarily obscured Clorets' vision.  Still, she smiled as she heard 
the sound of her men reloading the cannons.  Only a fool would wait for 
visual confirmation that a target such as this remained.  Yet if Clorets 
had any hopes the initial volley had succeeded then the creature 
dispelled them as it stood upright and surveyed the scene of its ambush.  
Walnetto seemed unscratched; if anything it seemed larger, if that was 
possible.  At full height the beast towered over the hills and seemed to 
look down on even the distant Three Musketeers mountain range.  

       Clorets stared in horror as, with one flick of its gigantic tail, 
Walnetto decimated the first battery.  The monster then extended its 
claws to finish the job, while repeating its heart-rending battle cry, 
"Gika! Gika!"

	The princess realized her task was likely futile, but 
Wintergreen's lesson in hatred would be heeded.  The general would not 
allow such a tremendous loss without demanding a price from Mars' crazed 
monstrosity.  She chose the most vulnerable available target for her 
next attack.  Thankfully, the frequency of battles against Mars' 
bestiary gave her flagman sufficient terminology for such a complex 
order.  "Concentrate fire on the right ear then proceed to fire at 
will... On my signal-"

	"I wouldn't advise that."  Clorets spun around while drawing her 
sword, completely surprised by the voice behind her and sudden hand on 
her shoulder.  

	"Toblerone, what in Wintergreen's name-"

	"Clorets dear, when will you remember that I want to be called 
Riesen?" Wintergreen's most treacherous lieutenant chuckled nervously as 
he carefully pushed the blade away.  "Regardless, I've been doing some 
research and I discovered that conventional weaponry, even Sara Lee, 
will do precious little damage against this beast while at the same time 
feeding it more energy."

	Clorets lowered her blade but did not sheath it.  What Riesen was 
saying didn't really make sense, but he was far more versed than the 
princess in Martian lore.  The only question was whether he was trying 
to ruin her or save her.  In the time she'd taken to hear him out, 
Walnetto had nearly finished thrashing the first battery, and she would 
not get another chance.  She had to decide whether to trust him; 
everything would depend on it. 

       Clorets turned to her flagman.  "Do not fire!  I repeat.  Hold 
fire!  Prepare to abandon positions."  The order went out and the 
general heard Riesen sigh with relief as he watched firsthand the men of 
the third battery of Bottle Pops follow the order.  However, his 
satisfaction was cut short by the sound of another volley.  Walnetto had 
turned its head, obviously in preparation to take on the second battery.  
The great beast's right ear was pierced by about a dozen shots coming 
largely from the second battery, with more falling short.  A 
surprisingly effective shot from her own third battery punched a hole 
the size of a building, but even that seemed small by comparison to the 
size of the ear.  Clorets grinned despite herself, until she saw the 
beast grow further. Riesen's words had been all to true.

	The deceiver's handsome visage looked shocked, but Clorets was 
less surprised.  In situations like these some fools will always ignore 
orders. Walnetto would make those in the second battery pay the 
inevitable price.  Clorets then realized that the one truly effective 
shot must have come from Sara Lee, and she ran to its ridge to deal with 
those impudent soldiers herself.

	Captain McVities was preparing to fire another round, ignoring his 
commander's orders and the increasing size of Walnetto.  Riesen caught 
up behind her just in time to hear the princess express her fury.

	"Cease fire at once!  This barrage is only making the monster grow 
larger.  Did you not see my orders?!"

	"This is Sara Lee, it will kill the beast no matter how large it 
grows.  And I will not be told otherwise by my Queen's most incompetent, 
craven general."  
	
       Clorets had faced an unacceptable level of insubordination on a 
fairly regular basis once she began losing battles.  Her position was 
well known to be tenuous and the more ambitious of the officers placed 
temporarily under her command were eager to earn advancement by catching 
her in a mistake.  For the moment, she ignored the man, "Sara Lee is to 
fall back until the other Bottle Pops are beyond its blast radius."  

       The cannon's men looked to their captain for guidance, and 
resumed their work when they saw him turn his back to his general.  They 
would have had the chance to fire again were it not for Clorets' sharp 
retort.

       "Did you think I was just talking to myself?"  She queried as she 
thrust her sword into McVities' back, withdrawing it only after the tip 
emerged from his chest.  "Follow my orders, now, or you will all share 
his fate."  The general kicked the fallen man off the cannon to 
emphasize her point.  Satisfied that her orders would be obeyed, the 
princess looked up to see Walnetto had only made a cursory attack on the 
second battery and was now proceeding directly towards its true source 
of pain, Sara Lee.

       She then heard the diplomat's voice behind her.  "Not to question 
your courage, princess, but perhaps we should-"

       Clorets nodded as the self-propelled cannon began to move 
backwards, all too slowly.  "Let's go."  The couple jumped off the 
levitating platform and ran for cover.  Moments later Sara Lee became a 
synthetic chemical filled snack for the enraged Walnetto.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	Twizzler walked down the beach into the Cola Sea.  She hadn't been 
this afraid of anything save Wintergreen herself for a long time.  The 
sorceress would have preferred to stay on the island and not face the 
dead, but her magic would not work there.  Sure enough the ghosts 
reappeared shortly after she left the island.  Decrepit hands seized at 
her ankles and cruel whispering spirits circled around her.  Twizzler 
steeled herself and invoked the spell Lemonhead had taught her.

	"Creme Brule!"  She could feel the power flowing through her.  All 
of the dead were repulsed for a moment and she found their taunts were 
less painful and easier to ignore.  But she could also feel they were 
resisting; they didn't want her to be free of their curses, and they 
didn't want to serve her.  "I pledged I wouldn't kill without reason!  
Why won't you listen to me?" Twizzler shouted at the impudent spirits.

	"Be careful, magician.  This takes time.  They may not accept you 
immediately!  It will take careful practice, introspection, and dialogue 
for the dead to come to peace with their killer."  Lemonhead was calling 
instructions after her.  But he was wrong; she didn't have time for all 
of that.  Twizzler had made her pledge, and they should believe her.  
The red sorceress wanted to be with her Kyouji, and she had no time to 
waste to appease the jealous dead.

	"CREME BRULE!" Twizzler shouted, pouring all of her power into the 
spell.  The ghosts resisted again, and she felt them pushing against the 
barrier, trying to break the spell.  However, as she had conquered them 
in life, she conquered them in death.  With another jolt of power the 
undead were subdued.  Those who had opposed her in life would serve her 
in death.  Even without their willing obedience, she did intend to keep 
her pledge.  She would not kill without reason.  Perhaps the ghosts 
would come to accept it.  Twizzler began to giggle; some would say 
cackle.  Not that she ever killed without reason.  The sorceress always 
had a reason; it wasn't as if she was psychotic.

	"Which way back to the shore?" Twizzler asked Lemonhead.  For some 
reason he seemed to have backed away while she was laughing, and he was 
now cowering behind a tree.  He pointed out over the Cola Sea.

	"Angel Food Cake!"  With the undead cowed, Twizzler's spells 
worked again.  She rose into the air and swooped a few times to get the 
hang of flying again.  Her dress billowed nicely, although she realized 
she should probably get a new one.  The Cola Sea had slowly burned away 
at the fabric during the time she had bathed her legs.  In addition, 
blood from the guards she'd questioned to determine their loyalty had 
soaked in at many places.  While the ruddy dried liquid matched nicely 
with the crimson of her ensemble, it still felt icky.  

	"How do I get to Almond Roca?  I remember it's on the Cola Sea and 
I could use a new dress and theirs are unsurpassed."

	The spirit had been slinking away, but realizing he was still 
visible he pointed again, in a slightly different direction.  "Turn 
right when you hit the beach; you can't miss it."

	Twizzler giggled as she floated in the air.  "See ghosts, he 
didn't say anything about how nice I look now, or how I don't really 
need a new dress.  But I didn't kill him.  I'm keeping my pledge."  Now 
that she had mastered her new spell, she could still see a few ghosts, 
barely visible, flying around her.  Far more seemed to be hiding just 
beneath the surface of the water.  Since they had reappeared, they still 
whispered often-insulting comments to her, but she could now easily 
ignore them.

	The red sorceress then flew off in the direction indicated.  The 
sun was rising and the clouds were a lovely mix of blue, red, and green.  
She had a light breeze in her face and the Cola Sea was delightfully 
bubbling beneath her.  She could have traveled faster, but it had been a 
long time since she'd last been free, and this was going to be a 
beautiful day.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	Lemonhead peeked out from behind a tree once the murderess was 
safely gone. He was already dead, but still that sorceress was scary.  
This wasn't how it was supposed to go, not at all.  Creme Brule was the 
most powerful necromancy spell in existence, and he should know.  The 
island's 'guardian spirit' had been the most powerful user of death 
magic that Mars had ever, or would ever know.  

	His warnings had been genuine; Creme Brule was so powerful 
precisely because it required the consent of the dead.  If used properly 
it could control spirits with memories and wills of their own, which 
were far more dangerous than merely obedient walking dead or haunting 
ghosts.  Even a millennia ago, when Lemonhead was a living almighty 
wizard second only to his master Wintergreen, he did not have the sheer 
will necessary to control a ghost that hated him.  He could exorcise 
such a spirit, but never control it.  Instead, he controlled spirits 
that he summoned using other necromancy spells, not ones that were 
haunting him.  Yet even though he'd underestimated Twizzler's power, he 
was certain that her control wouldn't last.  Worse yet, she had none of 
his knowledge or finesse.  She would be an extreme danger to herself and 
others.

	Lemonhead sighed.  He'd tried to do good, but he had made a total 
botch of it.  His millennium of afterlife banishment had done wonders 
for his perspective, but apparently not for his wisdom.  The necromancer 
had listened to the troubled spirits Twizzler had sent to the Sea of the 
Damned, and found the sorceress reminded him of himself.  He had no real 
power left, but he had some influence and the ghosts had been quite 
willing to follow his suggestion to haunt Twizzler.  He had thought that 
he could turn her from the even darker path she had started down with 
the palace massacre, and he had been wrong.

	She hadn't been the first haunted magic user to banish herself to 
the Sea of the Damned by misusing Baklava.  The spell was solely intend 
to banish the dead, but often misfired and brought the caster as well.  
He'd tried to help the others who arrived by similar means, and 
sometimes he succeeded.  None had been strong enough to use the true 
power of Creme Brule, but attempting to master the basics helped the 
user reach peace with those that haunted him.  Some didn't listen and 
proceeded to be trapped in the Cola Sea, but he couldn't help that.  So 
when Twizzler had appeared, his course of action had seemed clear.  
Instead, he feared he would soon have more deaths riding on his 
conscience.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	The beast cut a vast swath through the Black Forest.  These trees 
fell before Walnetto as tall grass would before Kit Kat.  The Gummi 
tribes' collective army of warrior women had harassed the monster for 
some time to no avail.  Despite their willingness for sacrifice the 
warriors could not attract its attention, much less draw it away from 
their villages and cities.

	Cavendish shook his head.  The ravager, Walnetto, had reached the 
central city of Gummi civilization.  It was a proud city, built within 
the largest trees of the Black Forest, ancient giants that were only 
slightly taller than Walnetto's back when the beast was crawling.  He 
hurriedly dragged his two child apprentices, Lotte and Moofus, to the 
Necco tree that stood at the center of the city.  That tree was said to 
be as old as the planet herself.  Around the tree refugees and warriors 
had gathered, driven here by instinct.  They by and large ignored the 
curtain-covered fifty-foot object Cavendish had placed in the square 
hours before.

	Tears ran down his face as he saw Walnetto approach.  The city's 
foolish leaders were attempting to dissuade the beast by proclaiming 
that the Gummi tribe remained neutral in Mars' wars and thus was not a 
legitimate target.  The more engineering of the council had run wires 
flowing with magical energy between the trees.  However, Walnetto simply 
barreled through the wires, bringing down adjacent tree apartments and 
shops.  The fallen magical devices sparked and twisted on the ground, 
starting an inferno that would likely consume the parts of the city that 
the monster failed to savage.  The beast then disappeared from view 
behind a cloud of smoke; presumably it had moved on to another section 
of the city.

	Cavendish shouted down at the crowd gathered around the Necco 
tree, "Know the true name of this beast is Kit Kat.  It comes to punish 
us for our departure from the old ways, for our pollution of the planet 
that gives us so much, and for our ill treatment of Mars' heroes!"  The 
crowd muttered and was clearly not entranced by the message.

	One man called out, "What pollution?  We're a city built into the 
trees!  Stop lecturing us, you crazy old man!"  Cavendish knew this 
heckler well: he called himself an 'entrepreneur' and was one of the 
driving figures behind the Gummis' cultural deterioration.  A few of the 
bronze skinned female warriors guffawed at the quip, until a tree some 
hundred yards away exploded after being touched by the rapidly spreading 
flame.

	"And I suppose that wasn't one of your sap refineries?  Or do you 
still claim-" Cavendish was interrupted by the sound of bird call 
sirens, and within moments the creature emerged from the smoke, towering 
over the crowd.  A paw batted away the only tree between Mars' 
retribution and the people.  One man pointed up prompting other men to 
look and screamed unintelligibly.  That sound was soon joined by a 
medley of other voices and yells all expressing the same concept.

	"Kit Kat, he's attacking the city!"  The crowd turned into a mob 
and as one fled, leaving Cavendish alone with his two assistants and the 
fifty foot tall surprise waiting on the ground below.  Kit Kat came to 
the Necco tree and stopped.  Its eyes were level with the platform on 
which the three stood.  Cavendish pushed the two children forward, for 
it was their time now.

	"Gi?" The creature spoke first.

	Lotte responded, "Honorable lord Kit Kat, please accept the gift 
we Bear clan children made for you-"

	"It's made of Gummi sap, the basis of our villages-"

	"We thought you'd want a friend and toy to sooth your righteous 
anger."   

	The beast tilted its head; Cavendish could not tell if it was 
confused or pleased.  "Gika?"

       Lotte and Moofus then burst into a song that honored Kit Kat and 
Mars.  Cavendish let the curtain drop, revealing a giant Gummi Bear.  
Prompted by an ominous vision, he had told the children to prepare it a 
week before this disaster.

       The monster almost smiled and gently pawed at the bear.  
Cavendish smiled in return; the song was beautiful and it appeared that 
Mars was pleased.  The creature seemed particular entranced by the 
elastic qualities of its new friend and it bent down to lick the gift of 
the Gummi tribe.  The shaman's smile turned to a slack jawed look of 
absolute disgust when the monster then ripped off the bear's head with 
its fangs and began to claw into the remaining body of the statue.  
Cavendish put a hand in front of each child's face and held them close; 
this was not a sight for their eyes.  As the joyous song turned to 
outright bawling, Cavendish reflected thoughtfully, "At least we can no 
longer be accused of not feeding our guests."

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	The Crystal Warriors had been riding on Binacas for several days 
before Clark caught up with them again.  He was again riding a horse; as 
far as Tsugiko could tell, he restocked his supply of the magical Cherry 
Mash each time he checked in with Wonka.  Apparently the stuff would 
turn a steed into some sort of magical animal, which for all appearances 
was a faster version of a conventional Earth horse.  At the same time it 
would also allow the beast to find a quarry it had encountered before, 
no matter how far away.  Not surprisingly, Clark had told Tsugiko that 
it was a highly precious commodity and Wonka was burning through many of 
his resources to acquire enough to support this operation.

	At the moment though, the green Warrior Priestess didn't really 
care about the magic.  She was an inexperienced rider and it had taken a 
while for her to learn to handle the beast.  However, for once in her 
life, she was having an easier time of something than Yumi.  Yumi had 
been riding before, Tsugiko suspected she'd gotten a pony for her 
birthday once, but this actually made it a bit harder to learn how to 
ride the vastly different giant rabbits.  In addition, because of her 
dress Yumi had to ride sidesaddle.  Tsugiko's apparel did not have that 
problem, because for once her miniskirt fulfilled a useful function by 
allowing her to ride normally.  

	"Hi Clark, welcome back!" Tsugiko called out to the returning 
knight.  She was never really sure how to act around him.  Even a girl 
with as much self-doubt as the green Warrior Priestess sometimes 
experienced could see Clark's less than subtle attraction.  At the 
moment he was smiling broadly at her as he rode up.

	"I bring you more information.  We're now certain that your fears 
were correct; this beast is, to all appearances, a much larger and far 
more deadly version of your animal companion.  It has already savaged 
several kingdoms and apparently wiped out part of Wintergreen's army, 
although that information is largely based on rumors."

	"So why don't we just join forces with the new, less cowardly 
version of Kit Kat, and take on the real monster?" Tsugiko asked, 
sensing an opportunity.  They didn't have the Starburst Crystal yet, but 
as harrowing as her encounter with Wintergreen had been, the Warrior 
Priestess figured that Kit-zilla could even the odds.

	Clark took out another piece of paper.  "According to this, the 
answer to that is: 'Wintergreen is a far more effective corruptor than 
the Crystal Warriors are trainers.  She would soon subvert the beast, as 
she has so many of Mars' other creatures.'"

	"Kit-Kat wouldn't do that; he's loyal and kind!" Yumi predictably 
protested.

	"Yeah, he may have been annoying, but he was my spirit guide."  
Kyouji, also predictably, asserted in support of his girlfriend.  "Wait, 
that was a Cheerio induced hallucination... uh, ignore what I just 
said."   Tsugiko gave him a confused look; apparently indecision had 
trumped his 'love' for Yumi. 

	Clark briefly looked at the Knight Protector as if he'd lost his 
mind rather then traveled through it.  "In response to Yumi's question, 
I'm supposed to say: 'This beast is no longer truly your Kit-Kat.  Your 
guide was doubtless absorbed back into the planet, after which Mars 
formed this new creature in the Starburst Temple valley.  Mars' avatars 
always take the form of an orange-green Carret.  Although the form is 
fixed, the variable size is determined by what would best manifest Mars' 
goal in creating the creature.'"  Clark seemed to be parroting the words 
without really comprehending their meaning.  "'Restoring Kit Kat's 
loyalty and kindness should be possible.  We're working on the plan now.  
However, to permanently bring out these good traits and suppress the 
hatred and rage that Wintergreen could easily manipulate will require 
restoring Kit Kat's original form.'"

	Tsugiko listened thoughtfully.  What he was saying made sense.  
She looked over to Kyouji and Yumi; they both seemed to agree with her.

	"'If the Crystal Warriors don't accept this rationale, tell them 
about the massive civilian casualties Walnetto has inflicted.  But only 
do this if it is absolutely necessary, as it will probably disturb Yumi.  
Specific accounts follow-'"

	Kyouji coughed.  "I don't think you were supposed to read that 
part."  Tsugiko chuckled before Yumi piped up.

"Was it really necessary to put down instructions on how to 
protect me from the truth?"  Yumi harrumphed, and then she rode 
forward, pursued immediately by Kyouji.  The green Crystal Warrior let 
them go, but she intended to talk to Yumi alone later.  Something was 
obviously bothering her friend, and Tsugiko highly doubted it was 
Wonka's letter.

	She looked over at a fairly abashed Clark.  He was still quite 
handsome, and based on how bothered he looked at Yumi's departure he was 
probably a nice guy.  Nonetheless, the Warrior Priestess had no doubt 
that what he said in Guylian still stood: he'd leave when all this was 
over, and she could never be the most important thing in his life.

       However, for the rest of the journey, he was quite available.  
Once Tsugiko might have thought it would be a betrayal of Kyouji, but 
that part of her was long gone, even if her attraction was not.  Yet 
even if she could have Clark, she wasn't sure she really wanted him.  

	"So, how are you doing?"  Clark asked, with an easy smile that 
offset the awkwardness of his attempt to restart a conversation.

	"Not great, but I'm going to be alright," she replied and then 
leapt ahead to join the others.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	The veteran slayer stood on the battlements, staring at his 
approaching adversary.  This would not be the most dangerous beast he 
had every faced; as long as he took no stupid risks, he'd survive this 
encounter.  Krackel was confident that he could outwit the crazed 
Walnetto, even if its smaller incarnation, Kit-Kat, had been able to 
trick Riesen.  The warrior had been quite amused when, in an obvious and 
successful motivational ploy, Wintergreen had told him of her master of 
intrigue's loss to a Carret.  Even though that wicked deceiver could 
out-politic the former hero easily, the warrior had no doubt of his 
ability to outthink an insane gigantic Kit-Kat.  Unfortunately, Krackel 
had been unable to contemplate any trap that could actually cripple the 
beast.

	Fortunately, the unwilling lieutenant's extensive experience in 
fighting far smaller but still vicious adversaries had taught him that 
success did not always require directly defeating his opponent.  
Wintergreen had only assigned him to prevent the destruction of the 
palace.  Unlike defeating the now nigh-invulnerable Kit Kat in combat, 
preventing property damage was quite achievable.  Indeed, the former 
warrior would rather enjoy this mission, for he found defeating monsters 
far less objectionable than his recent assignments.  Moreover, if he did 
his job right, wrong from Wintergreen's perspective, he'd get to see a 
fair amount of very satisfying demolition.

	Sadly, the Dark Queen had made very clear that she understood 
that, given the chance, Krackel would do as little to protect the palace 
as possible.  As usual, the life of the warrior's sister, Rollo, was 
held hostage to the success of the mission.  To prevent Krackel from 
simply coming as close to failure as possible, Wintergreen had taken the 
additional precaution of hiding a heavily guarded Rollo in an 
unspecified section of the palace.  Once Wintergreen could have simply 
threatened to worsen conditions for the siblings, but since the plan to 
have Tsugiko rescue Rollo failed, there was nothing left to take away.  
Anything else Wintergreen could threaten, no matter how creative, would 
make even a doomed escape attempt preferable to the status quo.  
Fortunately, as simple as Wintergreen's back up precaution was, it had 
an important flaw.

	"Sir.... Here is the applejack... That you requested."  A clearly 
out of breath courier had appeared on the battlements.

	"What took you so long?" 

	"Uh... The staff couldn't find one until they searched the 
cellar."   Krackel mentally dismissed the man's obviously practiced lie.  
Earlier in the day he'd seen barrels of applejacks in the kitchen, but 
for now this one would do.  He dismissed the runner with a glare.

	The time had come; Walnetto had breached the outer wall of the 
complex.  Actually, Krackel was a bit disappointed.  The beast hadn't 
wrecked the outer wall; instead it had simply stepped over the thirty-
foot tall barrier.  Following his commands, much of the palace's 
garrison was deployed behind the wall, like so many ants.  Or more 
accurately as living command-able bait.

	"Flee to the barracks!  The man who steps towards the throne room 
I will personally disembowel."  Krackel's bellow carried throughout the 
exterior of the castle, and immediately all the men turned to flee 
towards their barracks.  The Warrior smirked; he was pleased that the 
men were completely aware how willingly he'd follow through with that 
threat.  Wintergreen had temporarily given him authority over the guards 
to assist with the defense, and even though most of the guards were new, 
they were already aware he held them in contempt.

	"Gika!"  The beast roared with glee as it chased the guard, 
squashing whole patrols with but a footfall.  The ground shook mightily 
with every step, causing incidental damage throughout the area, but the 
battlements held.  Krackel had taken the time before the battle to 
verify stability of the platform and the ornate tower it surrounded, 
leaving him safe for the moment.

	The beast wavered as it reached a tight spot between the palace 
and the exterior wall.  The barracks opened to both the palace's parade 
grounds and to internal hallways, but most of the men had chosen the 
exterior path that would have them dodging paws but not also debris.  
Kit Kat wavered for a moment, and then moved to reach the barracks via 
the path of maximum destruction.  Rather then skirt along the wall, the 
humungous Carret began to tear through the palace itself, through the 
storehouses and main vault, past the arboretum, and ultimately into the 
barracks themselves.  Nonetheless, by choosing a fairly direct route, 
the monster avoided the throne room, Krackel's observation tower, and 
incidentally the palace's living, dining, and food preparation areas.

	Krackel smiled.  The devastation was quite satisfying.  The 
buildings had been designed to take catapult shots but melted away when 
torn apart by claws that were larger than he was.  The beast's passing 
alone tore off the west wall of the arboretum; no actual attack had been 
necessary.  The vault was a more direct subject of demolition.  Its 
heavily reinforced walls frustrated the monster's first few paw attacks.  
This resistance earned it destruction by the beast's tail.  The fallen 
hero would have garnered more satisfaction from the collapse of the room 
holding many of Wintergreen's treasures had the tip of Kit Kat's tail 
not brushed his tower as it swung and returned.

	When Walnetto reached the barracks, it ripped off the walls and 
toyed with the men dumb enough to take shelter inside.  Krackel would 
have preferred to watch the game for a while, but any further stalling 
risked his losing control over the situation.

	"Light it up!" Mars' greatest swordsman shouted, and teams of 
archers ready with flaming arrows and infantry armed with torches 
immediately obeyed.  Through his regular interaction with the Crystal 
Warriors, including times they had begun to trust him, he had learned 
something his fellow lieutenants and even his master were ignorant of.  
Kit Kat was incredibly craven and given the choice would run and hide 
rather than face something unpleasant.  At the moment this beast was 
enraged, its bloodlust overriding any instinct to retreat from 
conventional attacks.  However, should it encounter something it simply 
did not desire to deal with, a target that fury could effectively 
eliminate, it would run.

	The flame found its target, not the beast, but the piles of 
excrement dredged from the palace's massive stables and spread upwind of 
the barracks as well as in many other strategic locations throughout the 
palace.  Perhaps if Krackel had wanted, he could have avoided the 
destruction by placing the massive piles near the direction from which 
Kit Kat had approached the palace.  However, given the massive tonnage 
involved and the time allowed, that was not a practical alternative.  
The warrior was further assisted by a far greater quantity of droppings 
in the stables than typical.  Twizzler's rampage had seen to that.  Most 
of the palace's day-to-day functions had been off for weeks, let alone 
the unpleasant tasks that guards and servants competed to avoid.

	Krackel pulled a mask over his head; he had acquired it before 
battling the gas-attack favoring Dars years ago and had wisely decided 
to keep it afterwards.  The stench would quickly become unbearable.  
Already guards were desperately covering their noses, dunking their 
heads in water barrels, and trying anything else to escape the smell.  
Kit Kat turned away from the barracks to stomp out the fire.  The 
attempt served no purpose but to bring an expression of total disgust to 
the monster's face and splatter the substance throughout the compound.  

       Realizing the futility of its efforts, the monster decided to 
exact Mars' vengeance in some less aromatic location.  The great beast 
reared up and then bounded out of the castle; its tail demolishing the 
remains of the barracks as an after thought.  Krackel grinned to himself 
when he noticed that the monster's exit had torn a large hole in the 
outer defense wall.  This was a marginal success if he had ever seen 
one, although he might merit a commendation for the Mars-defiling brown 
streaks the creature was leaving on the ground as it ran.

	With his adversary driven off, Krackel left the battlements.  He 
had decided not to immediately report back to his Queen.  More 
regretfully, he also gave up the chance to wait by a certain 
lieutenant's quarters to see the expression on his face when he saw the 
ton of emergency back up olfactory weaponry left in his quarters.  
Instead, the warrior was bound towards the kitchen.  

       While he was no master of intrigue, he had been well aware that 
since the red sorceress' inquisition, the largely inexperienced 
replacement guard was paranoid, unfamiliar with each other, and could 
not trust in the chain of command to protect them from the most gruesome 
of deaths.  An hour before the battle, he'd put to use the knowledge 
he'd gained in his regular confrontations with, and harassment of, the 
detachment that 'protected' his sister.  He'd sent out couriers on 
meaningless retrieval missions to every section of the castle, and the 
one sent to the kitchen arrived half an hour later than any other men.  
Krackel assumed that the guards around Rollo had coached the courier to 
give the plausible excuse that the applejacks were hard to find.  
Krackel might even have believed it had he not checked that morning on 
the availability of all the items he sent couriers for.  With a second, 
more primitive gasmask as a gift for his sister, he'd decided to take 
this opport unity to visit his Rollo.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	The tremors caused by Walnetto's footfalls were also felt two 
hundred feet beneath Wintergreen's palace.  When the Dark Queen had 
chosen which of Mars' many castles, strongholds, and other 
fortifications to make her capital, she'd weighed many different 
factors.  Strategic location and defensibility ranked foremost with her 
particular sense of aesthetics coming a close third.  Today, one of the 
minor features of her abode was rewarding the Dark Queen's diligence: 
the palace's impressive dungeon facilities.

	She'd planned and implemented the genocide of many of Mars' most 
beautiful and precious life forms with less thought than went into 
choosing her seat.  After all, she spent most of her time in palaces, 
leaving to minions most of the field assignments and banal everyday acts 
of evil and terror required to sap the life from the planet she so 
despised.  She was not afraid to venture outside; indeed, a thousand 
years ago she had often led armies herself.  The Dark Queen had reveled 
in the carnage and destruction of a battlefield, the stench of death, 
and glory of wholesale devastation.  Yet sadly, as with all good things, 
the thrill slowly diminished as the challenge vanished entirely.  The 
rapture of burning her way across Mars was child's play and risked 
making her complacent.

	Mars' Tormentor did still travel sometimes, to her summer palace 
or locations of particular appeal.  The destruction of the Starburst 
Temple had been perfect in every way and seemed to affect even her slow-
learning lieutenants.  She also planned to take a leisurely journey to 
view the planet's folly made manifest in Walnetto's artwork when time 
allowed.

	For now, though, Wintergreen waited.  The tremors were weaker now 
and it appeared that her judgment in sending Krackel was upheld.  
Clorets, Riesen, and her newly reinforced palace guard stood, or rather, 
cowered before her.  Both Riesen and Clorets had attempted to maintain 
dignified positions as the castle shook about them.  Their Queen was 
actually impressed at the show they put on for her.  Both had kept their 
feet for some time, with Clorets briefly outlasting Riesen.  Although 
her fall was the more horrific for she nearly landed in an iron maiden.

	Implements of torture were arrayed throughout the Palace's 
characteristically lush main underground hall.  Some past denizen of the 
castle had enjoyed holding court with prisoners looking on and visiting 
subjects well aware of how quickly they could join the permanent 
residents.  Wintergreen was not one for taking prisoners, but she 
appreciated small touches that made an abode that much more livable.  

	Unfortunately, renovation would now be required, as both the 
tapestries that adorned the wall between cells and most of the torture 
implements were now ruined.  The Palace's usual torture chamber was 
actually much closer to her throne room, another small but important 
convenience, but aware of Walnetto's approach she'd had them moved down 
here for atmosphere.  This forethought had been richly rewarded by the 
look on Clorets' face as she narrowly avoided entering the device that 
made up for in spikes what it lacked in subtlety.

	Wintergreen sighed softly; she could afford to let her mind wander 
to such pleasant topics no longer.  Her servants had risen to their feet 
and expected her to speak.  It would not be easy, for she had a stabbing 
pain between her eyes.  It was as if she were at the Sugarplum Botanical 
Garden watching a parade of Skittles whistling happy tunes.  The pain 
caused by the proximity of Mars' beast was far greater than she had 
imagined.  It was further aggravated by her necessary but costly 
decision to keep her crystal shard close at hand during the attack.  At 
least the pounding on the palace had finally stopped; feeling one's mind 
rip itself apart was bad enough without percussion accompaniment.

	"Guards, retrieve Rollo immediately, spare no effort.  Do not make 
me recover her myself."  The guards quickly ran out.  The Palace was far 
from safe, but the task was important and her conference with her 
lieutenants was not for their ears.  The Dark Queen fixed her gaze on 
her general; while the witch's pale green hair covered her eyes, the 
weight of the look was still quite palpable.  Clorets bowed and began 
her report, "Majesty, I apologize for losing Sara Lee, but-"

	"Spare me your explanations.  Your safeguarding of most of my 
artillery diverts my ire, for now."  Wintergreen scowled.  The 
expression was genuine, for her general appeared to be gaining 
confidence.  Not so long ago her gaze would have merited at least half a 
minute of awkward blessed silence, but Clorets' pride had prevented 
that.  Without action the princess may begin to think her place was 
secure.  If she met a few more successes, likely given her coming 
mission, then she may come to think she was indispensable.  That idea 
was dangerously close to being true.  Clorets often failed, but she also 
survived and learned.  Those few of Wintergreen's other generals who 
showed any promise had fallen to lesser challenges than the Crystal 
Warriors or had proven worthless outside of standard battle situations.  

	The witch slowly let her grimace fade and waited for the princess' 
pride to manifest itself in a slight smile.  Wintergreen continued began 
to speak again.  Even hearing her own voice would be painful, but this 
would be worth it. "I might even say your performance was above 
expectations.  I suspect even a competent commander would have lost Sara 
Lee, and her life as well. I'm curious Clorets, how did you survive?  
Cowardice?"  

	"I.. Your Majesty.. My death would not have furthered your plans.  
However by preserving myself, I was able to salvage the surviving Bottle 
Pops."  Behind Clorets' predictable litany of explanation, the witch 
could sense some important piece of information her general was holding 
back.  The babble was cut mercifully short when the Spear of Mint came 
to rest at the princess' throat.  The Dark Queen clarified her question, 
confidant that fear, not pride, would choose the answer.

	"How, not why.  Choose your words well, or you'll have no throat 
with which to speak them."

	"Riesen warned me."  Wintergreen smiled. Her chief of betrayal and 
intrigue helpful?  That would bear watching.  The ever-merciful 
Wintergreen pulled back her spear, lightly dragging it against the skin 
of the princess' proud chin as it rose.  "I have a new mission for both 
of you.  Work together to seize on the chaos of Walnetto's passing.  
Accelerate the collapse of those that remain defiant.  Nations are in 
turmoil, armies exposed, and Mars' contemptible champions will be too 
distracted to interfere.  Command what resources you need, but do not 
directly involve yourselves with Walnetto.  It's far beyond your 
abilities."

	Riesen inevitably raised an objection; his pride demanded such and 
could not be silenced without removing his tongue.  This was an 
appealing prospect, but unfortunately without his tongue Riesen would 
have little value.  "My Queen, if Krackel is capable of diverting this 
beast, surely we could control it!  I would be negligent to allow-"

	Once again the spear of mint provided Wintergreen with a moment of 
peace.  "If you would 'allow' me I'd remind you that despite the fact 
you fancy yourself the most clever man in the Kingdom, you were 
outwitted by this beast's smaller counterpart.   Losing a prisoner, a 
Crystal Warrior no less.  I hesitate to imagine what you could cost me 
this time."

	In truth, Riesen had proposed Wintergreen's greater purpose.  
Unfortunately she had expended too much energy destroying the Starburst 
Temple to shield herself from the beast, as the ache within her skull 
constantly reminded her.  Riesen could perhaps begin the project 
himself, but the witch wary against trusting him.  Influence over 
Walnetto could put dangerous ideas in her 'loyal' lieutenant's head, or 
more likely further already existing schemes.  No, the subversion of the 
Mars' pet was a task the Dark Queen reserved for herself, when her power 
had returned.

	"If there are no further objections, leave me.  Riesen, be sure to 
prove you have not lost the ability to subvert and control, or the 
missions to again retrieve my errant Twizzler will fall to Krackel and 
not you."  Clorets and a humbled Riesen turned and walked out of the 
chamber.  Neither carried with them the smugness that accompanied them 
when they entered the room before the attack.  

	Wintergreen grinned as she saw that Riesen's shoulders still 
slouched and his step still lacked confidence, well after he left her 
immediate presence.  Her fangs were still visible some minutes later.  
If he thought his display of humility was believable than he 
overestimated his normal ability to control his hubris.  He wanted to 
work with Clorets, and the fun would come from figuring out why.  This 
new challenge almost justified the pain of the conference, almost.

	But for now Wintergreen, the Dark Queen, the Witch, the Menace to 
Mars, Defiler of its Holy Places, Ravager of its Children, Conqueror of 
its Armies, and Terror to all of its Hated Beauty, sat in silence, 
alone.  She wished that she had not decided that retreat from the pain 
would be a precursor to future weakness.  At times like this, she 
questioned if she had any enemies worthy of the lengths she went to in 
order to avoid complacency.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	Wonka walked out into the briefing room.  More accurately, it was 
just his library with a circular table, a few chairs and an easel placed 
within it.  However, ever since the beginning of the Walnetto incident, 
he'd had to improvise on a great number of things.  He wasn't naturally 
a commander or a public speaker, and so he picked the room he was most 
comfortable in to make this presentation.

	He glanced over the visitors to his library before he began.  
Vellamint, the black lizard-like leader of the Ranchers was leaning back 
in a chair that was obviously too small for her, even though it was the 
largest available.  Two more Ranchers stood behind her and based on how 
they held themselves, and their weapons, the inventor presumed they were 
bodyguards.  On occasion the guards flitted between visibility and 
invisibility, presumably just to show that they could.

	On the opposite side of the table sat Skor, new leader of 
Guylian's Sparkling Elite. He sat in full armor, glaring at Vellamint.  
While the Ranchers had never hunted in Guylian, they were widely thought 
to be the least honorable species on Mars.  As the Knights thought 
themselves the most duty-bound and honorable organization on Mars, it 
had taken a great deal of work to get these two leaders in the same 
room.  Fortunately Skor's pride meant that he did not deem bodyguards to 
be necessary, which was just as well in Wonka's mind, as the room was 
too crowded as it was.

	Between the two opposites sat four other leaders.  The first was 
Snickers: a Skittle who had led his people on a long trek to safety that 
barely departed in time to avoid destruction along with the Starburst 
Temple.  Next to him sat Teaberry, the new mayor of the town adjacent to 
Wonka's house who had been elected to replace Mr. Big.  Teaberry would 
likely have little to say, and was invited as a courtesy since she had 
been gracious about allowing a Skittle refugee camp to form around 
Wonka's house.  The next around the table was Patty.  She was a thousand 
plus year old wise woman who lived in York, but was originally she came 
to Mars from Earth along with the last set of Crystal Warriors.  
Rounding out the group was the Oompa Loompa Goody; he was there for 
moral support and to put posters onto the easel.

	Wonka began his presentation, "As we all know why we're here, 
let's get straight to the point.  For those of you don't know, this is 
the small Carret that was Mars' avatar before the planet was enraged.  
Poster, Goody."  With that the Oompa Loompa placed a poster with an 
artist's rendering of the Carret on the easel.  

	"Its name is Kit Kat, also known by its scientific name Fun-Sized.  
It can be obnoxious but is largely harmless.  Next poster.  The scaled 
up version is also a Carret but otherwise quite dissimilar.  Walnetto's 
scientific name King-Sized correctly portrays its far more dangerous 
nature.  According to the latest report, Walnetto has ended its 
zigzagging drive towards Wintergreen's palace.  Next poster.  As you can 
clearly see the palace compound has taken heavy damage but has survived, 
apparently due to some sort of chemical attack-"

	"How cowardly.  If Wintergreen truly desires the conquer of Mars, 
she should have killed the beast herself."  Skor interjected.

	"Not at all, the beast was cleverly defeated.  If Guylian were 
attacked, I doubt as many buildings would have survived."  Vellamint 
hissed.

	"Please, we're all here to prevent further attacks, now is no time 
to bicker.  Go on, Wonka."  Patty's comment stilled the two antagonists 
for the moment. Hopefully the peace would last.

	"Next poster, Goody.   As the path on this map of Mars clearly 
shows, Walnetto's movements seem to have become random.  Nonetheless, 
the beast is within close proximity of several major population centers.  
If we are to prevent further loss of life, we must act quickly."

	"Aye, we kill the monster."  Skor called out, his voice 
overflowing with bravado.

	Snickers quickly and adamantly disagreed, "Are you insane?  Have 
you looked at the pictures of this thing?  If Wintergreen's armies 
couldn't kill it, we certainly can't."

	"The weakling half-man has a point.   A direct attack would be 
suicidal.  Although perhaps you should take all of your cavalry and 
assault it, just to be sure."  Vellamint's comment earned glares from 
both Snickers and Goody, not to mention Skor.

	Skor was turning a bit red as he shouted at the lizard across the 
table, "Why are you even here?  Ranchers are well known to be the most 
selfish species on Mars.   Beyond that, you're so craven that despite 
the ability to turn invisible, you'll only go on hunts in great 
numbers."  

	The two rancher bodyguards glared at the knight, apparently ready 
to attack until halted by a wave from Vellamint  "We're here to protect 
our hunting grounds.  Be grateful we chose this pathetic group to cast 
our lots with.  You certainly would not succeed without us."  

	Wonka jumped in before anyone else could reply, "Next poster, this 
is Almond Roca, the location of the only viable means I've discovered 
for defeating the beast.  I've been in communication with Cinnamon, 
their leader.  She assures me that if, and only if, the beast is 
incapacitated within close proximity of their city, they can shrink it 
back to its original form.  A light nap would not be enough to truly 
incapacitate it.  Next poster.  Therefore, either the Crystal Warriors 
must knock the beast out, or wear it down and drive it into the acidic 
Cola Sea."

	Skor harrumphed at the cheerfully drawn diagram of the Crystal 
Warriors standing triumphant over an out-cold Walnetto and the 
accompanying picture of Tsugiko pushing the beast into the water, 
assisted by Kyouji's sticking his foot out behind Kit Kat.

	"There is another option."  Patty chimed in.  Wonka smiled, happy 
to be interrupted by a suggestion rather than an insult.  "In my 
thousand years on Mars, I've done a great deal of research so that I 
could be prepared to help defeat Wintergreen when she inevitably 
appeared again.  Unfortunately, if we restrict ourselves to conventional 
methods, we risk losing the battle against Walnetto not to mention the 
overall war.  I ask you to prepare yourself for what I am about to 
propose."  Wonka leaned forward, curious what the wise woman would say.  
In the past, he'd heard but never really believed rumors that Patty 
often used grotesque ingredients acquired by dubious methods for her 
medicines.

	Patty continued once her dramatic pause had caught the attention 
of all but the jaded Rancher.  "I propose we test an ancient legend.  I 
have read on good authority that if one throws five Skittles down a 
well, one giant rainbow warrior emerges.  With the number of refugees-"

	"You can't be serious!"  Snickers interrupted.  His look of horror 
was mirrored by most of the faces in the room, although Vellamint just 
laughed.

	"Well if it doesn't work, we could just haul the Skittles out of 
the well.  I don't think that would be a big problem."

	"You don't think at all, witch!  I don't know where you get your 
information, but-"  Wonka had never suspected he'd see a Skittle this 
enraged.  It was actually quite a comic spectacle, but he was grateful 
for the intervention of Teaberry.

	"Snickers, perhaps we should go see to finding employment for the 
Skittles."  The Skittle nodded and walked off with the comparatively 
large mayor.  Both seemed happy to find an escape from the meeting.

	"Right... Next poster.  So as I was about to say, the tricky part 
is getting Walnetto to the shore.  Bring out the bait!"  Goody quickly 
fetched the item on which the plan hinged. Wonka paused for gasps, but 
with the mayor and the leader of the Skittles gone he had a fairly hard 
to impress crowd.

	"Is that supposed to be Wintergreen?"  Patty asked.

	"Yeah, it looks more like a giant doll.  The green stuff covering 
her eyes doesn't even look like hair."  Vellamint added on.

	"That's not fair, the master worked very hard making that doll.  
And I think the hair is quite believable, if I do say so myself."  
Goody's support broke Wonka's embarrassed silence. 

	"It's only meant to be a rough approximation. What really matters 
is the aura the effigy will have.  Next poster.  When the Crystal 
Warriors were my guests, they allowed me to study the shards of the 
Crystal that had imprisoned the Dark Queen for so long.  Some extracts 
from that crystal, soil samples from the dead zone near my house, and 
ashes from the destruction of the Starburst Temple that landed on 
fleeing Skittles, were sufficient to create a sort of elemental evil 
residue.  I further enhanced the aura of this residue in my lab, and 
have spread this concentrated essence of Wintergreen all over this 
effigy."

	Vellamint stared at the diagram projected on the wall, visibly 
less than impressed.  "None of this process makes sense at all."

	"Do I ask you how you turn invisible?"  Wonka countered.

	The leader of the Ranchers shrugged.  "Fair enough, go on."

	"So we have bait that the Walnetto will follow, the rest will be 
up to the Sparkling Elite and the Ranchers."

	Skor nodded, "I see where we come in.  With that Cherry Mash 
you've been giving Clark, we could easily run a relay race.  Always 
staying just ahead of the monster, and passing off 'Wintergreen' when 
our steeds tire."

	Vellamint snickered.  "Not that simple knight, or Wonka wouldn't 
have asked us to be here.  Obviously your steeds won't be fast enough.  
I'm sure our host even has a poster to explain why."

	Wonka nodded and grinned.  "Next poster Goody."  He frowned when 
the next projected diagram instead held an in-depth explanation of the 
first step of the evil essence extraction process.  "I forgot, I 
included these in case my 'turn invisible line' didn't work.  Uh, next 
poster.  Oh, shoot."  The inventor stammered a bit and was clearly 
flustered to see Goody holding up another poster depicting the process.  
He walked over to the pile of upcoming posters and tossed the top few to 
the side, until he found the one he was looking for.  "Right, so here 
you see the math just doesn't work.  According to my data, the Walnetto 
is simply too fast."  

	Vellamint worked out the rest of the process, as Wonka swapped 
posters to provide the appropriate visuals, "So when the beast catches 
up, you want my Ranchers to use our invisibility and anti-magic fields 
to shield the bait from Walnetto's senses.  Then a fresh rider will 
start the race again after giving himself a substantial head start."  
Even Skor looked fairly impressed by the lizard's speech.

	Wonka smiled and continued to give the specifics.  "Exactly, 
although I didn't even know you had anti-magic fields. That should help.  
So it will take about twenty repetitions of this process to get Walnetto 
to the Cola Sea.  We then hand off to the Crystal Warriors..." 

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	"...And once the monster is subdued, there will be some sort of 
ritual to restore Walnetto to Kit Kat form."  Clark finished the 
explanation.

	"And what if the bait doesn't work?  We drive Kit Kat into the Sea 
how?"  Tsugiko questioned, seeming less than impressed by that section 
of the plan.

	"Don't be so negative, Tsugiko, I'm sure Wonka has worked a backup 
way we can get Kit Kat into the sea without hurting him-" Yumi 
disagreed, only to be interrupted by Clark.

	"Actually, no.  If the main plan fails, you three just hit it a 
lot until you knock it into the sea-"

	"But-" Yumi was afraid; she didn't want to hurt good, innocent Kit 
Kat, no matter what Mars had done to him!  The little Carret had become 
a true friend and companion over the course of their journey.

	"Don't worry, your weapons are blessed by Mars.  They'll be far 
more effective and will not cause the beast to grow further.  In 
addition, Almond Roca has a protective spirit that will assist you in 
the battle.  Although Wonka said to warn you that she has quite a sense 
of humor according to the legends."

	That hadn't been Yumi's objection at all, but the other two seemed 
to accept it so she let it go.

	"And now, I'm afraid I should be off.  I've been given enough 
Cherry Mash to get me back to my unit.  I've been given a few hours of 
leave, but if there's no real reason to stay..."  He looked over to 
Tsugiko, who shook her head.

	Yumi had been watching her fellow Warrior Priestess slightly snub 
the cavalryman the entire trip.  She really wanted to know what her 
friend was thinking.  But then again, she had romantic problems of her 
own.

	Clark then rode off into the sunset; it was a wonderful image, 
even if the hop into the horizon seemed a bit incongruous.  But then, 
she had a Knight Protector of her own, as a boyfriend no less, so why 
should she feel so sad at the sight?

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	The Wintergreen effigy proved irresistible to the rampaging 
Walnetto.  The marathon to bring the beast to the sea took several days 
of hard and unexciting work.  The participants made just as odd a 
combination as their leaders.  However, they were willing to work 
together against a common threat to both of their ways of life.  To 
prevent fights from breaking out, both groups had adopted the habit of 
not speaking with one another, even though each riding Knight of the 
Sparkling Elite had to share his horse with a Rancher.  

	Each had a simple, clearly defined role.  A knight would prepare 
his steed, and then come just within the monster's substantial sensory 
range.  Wonka had suggested that they might be able to increase the 
range a bit if the riders called out in a falsetto, "I'm Wintergreen, 
and I'm planning to do more horrible acts to Mars right now.  It's 
amazing how evil I am."  Oddly enough, none of the knights were willing 
to give this idea a try.

	Once the beast formerly known as Kit Kat noticed the effigy, it 
would pursue the rider in a continuous, earth-shaking sprint.  With a 
huge head start and magically enhanced steeds the heroes were able to 
stay out of harms way for about four hours at which point the Rancher 
would cloak the doll and the pair would wait several hours for the next 
set of relay riders to catch up.  The new, relatively fresh pair then 
took the doll and began the process again.  

	Wonka had plotted out a route that was as far from civilization as 
possible.  The break points were carefully planned out to leave the 
beast local wildlife to brutally maul or comfortable places to nap 
during the long change-over periods.  A few precious irreplaceable 
terrain features were forever wiped from the face of Mars when the 
massive creature rolled over while napping, but further innocent 
casualties were prevented.  

	Several days after the marathon began, the last rider finally saw 
the sun glint off the dark brown Cola Sea.  This had been his third 
turn, and he had not slept since the start of the project.  He almost 
respected the Rancher behind him.  The cloaker's presence would prove 
unnecessary because the team reached the destination in time, but the 
lizard spoke no word of complaint.  Underneath the knight his horse 
became a Binaca once again.  The man had spent all of his life around 
the giant rabbits and knew his steed would soon die, but for the final 
stretch it leaped as if it was still fresh.  The Knight cried out "For 
Guylian."  Even the Lizard, cold-blooded as he may be joined in, "For 
the hunting grounds!"  The man threw the doll in the direction of newly 
arrived Crystal Warriors and then fell off his rabbit, utterly 
exhausted. 

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	Clark raced along the coastline on his Cherry Mash enhanced steed.  
Although the term 'enhanced' was a bit suspect; the 'horse' as the 
Crystal Warriors called it was a strange creature.  It was far more 
slender than a Binaca and it galloped rather than jumped.  If this 
creature did not have the spirit of his original faithful steed, he 
doubted he'd be able to ride it all.

	The knight was now a day's ride away from Almond Roca and still 
had another half a day left before he'd cut inland to rendezvous with 
his division.  He would have to stop to reapply the Cherry Mash a few 
times along the way, but he had been given enough to get him there.  He 
regretted his current assignment.  It would have been nice to be able to 
fight again alongside the Crystal Warriors and to relax after the battle 
with them, particularly Tsugiko.  

	Unfortunately, Clark's commander, Skor, had only been able to give 
him a few extra hours to tarry with the heroes.  Duty would always come 
first, even before a Warrior Priestess, and that was never in question.   
However, the knight's sense of honor in no way precluded his 
appreciation for women, let alone a certain hammer-wielding one.  As 
such, Clark was quite disappointed that he hadn't been able to make use 
of his few hours of leave.  He was confused by Tsugiko's behavior; she 
had been sending him mixed signals throughout the journey and nothing 
had happened between them.  The knight still held out hope for the 
future, but for now his duty again took precedence.  Although in his 
present mindless task of riding, he did at least have time to think of 
the green-clad warrior.

	"What have we here?"  A high soprano voice rudely interrupted 
Clark's current line of thought.  He looked up to see, of all things, a 
flying woman who was rather scantily dressed.  With the holes and tears 
in the ensemble, even scantily was perhaps an overstatement.  He blinked 
a few times to make sure he still wasn't fantasizing, but no, this dress 
was red, not green.  Moreover, the body was curvier and more buxom, 
although shorter.  His brain was still slightly shaken from confusion 
but he did speak.

	"Uh, you're not Ts-"

	Twizzler giggled and interrupted.  "Poor man, you're obviously 
addled by my beauty, and I'll hardly hold that against you.  But I will 
have to relieve you of whatever magical toy you're holding.  I could 
feel it some distance away and had to take a detour to reach you.  So it 
had better be worth my while."

	Clark was slow to react; the way she shook a bit while giggling 
was rather distracting.  This moment of hesitation allowed her to swoop 
down, lean against him, and search him.  He started to push her off, but 
it was too late.  She'd taken the Cherry Mash and was no longer in 
direct contact with him.

	"My lady, I'm afraid I can't let you have the Cherry Mash.  I need 
it for the good of Mars."  He placed his hand on his sword, but did not 
draw it yet.
 
	Twizzler giggled again, "You shouldn't have tried to resist.  
You're a pretty boy, but you're not my Kyouji."  This time Clark was 
able to retain his focus, but his sword was barely out by the time she 
finished speaking.  "Still... I shouldn't kill you.  Jello Mold!"  
Suddenly a translucent blob appeared around the knight and his horse, 
covering all but their heads.  The twisted state of water jiggled when 
Clark or his steed tried to move or break out, but they made no 
progress.

	"I demand you return the Cherry Mash, in the name of the Sparkling 
Elite of Guylian."

	The red sorceress broke into another fit of giggles, which managed 
to strike terror in Clark's heart.  "Oh, you knights are so cute when 
you're honorable, but I am a maiden in true love with my Kyouji.  So I'm 
afraid you have nothing with which to tempt me."  

	Clark had a thought about the red sorceress' claim to maidenhood, 
but he decided that on this occasion discretion would be the better part 
of valor.  He'd never actually made that decision before, but something 
about this woman was inspirational.

	"So, Cherry Mash, a mix of speed, transformation, and tracking 
spells, all squashed together.  Not much left but it'll be enough to 
find my Love."  Twizzler paused for a moment.  "No, Green first.  The 
ghosts should be shown that when I kill it's because it's necessary.  
Right, ghosts?"  She grinned.  "Oh, you do understand!" 

	Clark could not see who or what the sorceress was talking to, but 
he decided even so it would be best not to interrupt her.  She then sang 
a cheery little ditty as she examined the balm.   The knight couldn't 
make out most of the words, except for a bit about flaying Green and 
maybe that other one to prove her love.  From what she had said, even he 
could figure out that she was referring to the Crystal Warriors, and 
that frightened him even more.  When she finished with her tune, she had 
also finished adjusting the Mash and used it.  Apparently, her 
adaptation of the Cherry Mash was successful as she continued to in no 
way resemble a horse, not even an attractive scantily dressed horse.

	"You haven't seen Green, have you?  Can't miss her, she dresses 
like a slut, and not an expensive one.  She also carries a hammer she 
uses to hit my poor love, is horribly evil, not to mention hideously 
ugly, and calls herself Tsugiko."

	Clark could think of a fair number of retorts and witty barbs, but 
he choked them down because he realized his life was on the line.  Even 
so, he was a Knight of the Sparkling Elite; he could not allow such an 
attack on his lady, or even his prospective lady.  "I've seen a hammer 
bearer, but she was courageous, clever..."  As he spoke he comforted 
himself with a new dream of Tsugiko in full battle garb, except this 
time she was beating the stuffing out of the sorceress.  "...attractive, 
and-"

	"That's not her then."  Twizzler testily cut Clark off.  "Oh well, 
I'll find her anyways; this little balm will see to it. Perhaps 
afterwards Kyouji and I will get married by the seaside.  The guests can 
throw little bits of Green in celebration.  And he'll never think about 
that other one, his self-proclaimed 'girlfriend,' again when I'm done 
with her.  Maybe I'll even let her live."  Twizzler licked her lips.

	Clark diverted his energies from resisting the urge to speak to 
holding down the contents of his stomach.

	"But I should be off.  Goodbye, pretty boy.  And if you can't 
figure out how to escape, you just need to eat.  Now you're guaranteed 
to survive.  Aren't I merciful?!"

	She paused.  Clark nodded his head when he realized she was 
expecting a response.  She then flew off.

	"I like that: Twizzler the merciful.  I should make people call me 
that..."

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	The Crystal Warriors arrived at the rendezvous point a few minutes 
before their onetime guide.  A translucent woman in dark purple robes 
awaited them.  "Greetings, champions of Mars.  I had the privilege of 
defeating one of Wintergreen's lieutenants a millennium ago, with no 
small amount of help from your predecessors.  I'm sure you three will be 
just as much fun, even if one of you is apparently a guy now."

	Kyouji protested, "Apparently a guy?  Why hasn't the news that one 
of the Crystal Warriors is definitely a guy reached every corner of Mars 
yet?  This really shouldn't be some sort of funny surprise anymore."

	The spirit frowned a little.  "Just playing around.  Guess you may 
not be quite as fun after all.  Anyways, call me Anise.  My magic is 
based on trickery and illusion and I will happily assist you in any way 
I can."

	Yumi brightened a bit at their new ally's words.  She was not 
looking forward to the prospect of battling Kit Kat.  Normally, her 
natural sense of optimism would assure her that the original plan of 
baiting Kit Kat into the Cola Sea would likely succeed, but right now 
her doubts were proving more persuasive.  "So if the plan fails, you can 
probably trick him into going in anyways, right?"

	The spirit shook her head.  "I'm afraid not.  Mars' avatar is 
simply too powerful for me to directly affect.  I can distract it or 
help prevent you three from getting hit, but I haven't been able to come 
up with a backup plan.  So it will be up to you three if Kit Kat doesn't 
take the bait."

	Yumi sighed.  There seemed to be no way to avoid potentially 
coming to arms with a creature she considered a friend, even if he was 
in a new, far more dangerous form.

	The spirit then led the three up to a bluff on which they could 
await the coming of Kit Kat.  The beach below the bluff was wide enough 
to fit even a beast the size of their now giant guide comfortably.  Some 
few hundred feet out, a boat waited to receive the Wintergreen effigy 
and then quickly sail further out into the sea.  The cliff itself was 
ten stories high and largely made of steep rock, although a gently 
sloping sand-covered section offered access to the top.  Admittedly, 
marching up sand was not a quick prospect even for the Crystal Warriors, 
but they were able to reach the top just in time to see Walnetto arrive.

	Once Yumi saw Walnetto, she could no longer hope that this was not 
a dramatically larger version of her friend.  Poor Kit Kat now had a few 
holes in his right ear, but otherwise this creature looked exactly like 
their orange and green Carret.  Her only hope of avoiding battling her 
loyal companion now resided in the speed of the spirit.

	Not one to disappoint, Anise flew forward to grab the Wintergreen 
effigy midair, catching it just before its last carrier fell to the 
ground.  She then darted towards the Cola Sea, easily outpacing the 
pursuing Kit Kat.  The smile was still fresh on Yumi's face when Anise 
deposited the effigy onto the ship, which instantly began to move via 
some magical means of propulsion.

	It was almost too good to be true.  Kit Kat leapt ten stories down 
without a second thought and came to the very edge of the Cola Sea.  
However instead of wading in, the humungous Carret smacked the water 
right by the ship with his inconceivably long tail.  The crew of the 
vessel abandoned ship before the second and final blow came.

	The craft was knocked into a group of rocks on the beach.  It 
seemed rather tightly wedged, and while Yumi was no sailor she was 
certain that ship would not float again.  The beast then literally 
gobbled up any remaining hope for the original plan, by spearing the 
Wintergreen doll on one claw and then devouring the effigy.

	Yet Yumi was not one to give up so easily.  She stood at the edge 
of the cliff and called out to her onetime companion below.  "It's us, 
Kit Kat!  We're on the same side!  Please listen to me!"

	"Gika?"  The humongous Carret stood on his hind legs and turned to 
face Yumi.  His head and shoulders were clearly visible even from the 
vantage point of the cliff.

	"That's right, we're all trying to help Mars.  If we work together 
calmly, we'll surely defeat Wintergreen.  There's no reason we should 
have-

	Yumi suddenly realized her Knight Protector was cradling her in 
his arms.  One of Kit Kat's paws had come down where she had been 
standing less than a second ago.  Thankfully her Knight Protector had 
sensed the danger; apparently mentioning Wintergreen had been a bad 
idea, and he had carried her to safety.

	For just one moment, everything was perfect.  The couple would 
soon have to fight side by side, which was sad, but together they were 
sure to succeed.  The pink Warrior Priestess felt serene and safe and 
turned to her boyfriend, only to see him looking worriedly over at 
Tsugiko.  Then he awkwardly dropped her.  Yumi's enhanced instincts were 
more than enough to let her find her feet, but it was hardly a caring 
way to be put down.

	This really wasn't turning out to be a good day.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	The battle had gone on for hours, and all the Crystal Warriors 
were holding back from using their full powers until the monster was 
worn down.  Tsugiko had been hammering Kit Kat's paws each time he 
attempted to hit any of the heroes.  For her part, Anise had been doing 
an excellent job of helping defend them.  There were dozens of each 
Crystal Warrior running around the bluff and her illusions were 
completely convincing.  If it weren't for his Knight Protector instinct, 
Kyouji would not have known who to defend on the rare occasions Kit Kat 
correctly guessed who to attack.

       Yumi was also, unnecessarily, concentrating on defense.  She 
shielded both the Warriors and their many illusions against attacks and 
healed any scratches. Kyouji would have much preferred it if she were 
actually attacking; with her range she would have a far easier time 
hitting the target than he or Tsugiko.  For his own part, Kyouji had 
lost any prohibitions against attacking his 'spirit guide' after the 
second attack.  The memories of all the times he'd been jumped on or 
harassed by the smaller pest came flooding back and drove his sword and 
poppies.  He alternated between stabbing at Kit Kat in Tsugiko's style 
and throwing poppies at the beast's vulnerable points.

       Kit Kat's paws were now bloodied a bit, and if the boy wasn't 
mistaken, the beast was slowing.  A moment later, Anise appeared to 
second his observation.

       "He seems to be tired.  We should probably figure out a way to 
finish this monster before you three are exhausted as well.  I've 
checked with the other two and I'm afraid they don't have any ideas at 
the moment.  Although Tsugiko did recommend we try hitting it harder."

       Kyouji nodded and threw a few more poppies and changed his 
location before he spoke again.  "The best idea I've had is setting up a 
trip wire and then hitting Kit Kat with all of our most powerful 
attacks.  That should be enough to push even this beast back.  I just 
don't know what to use to trip him."

       The ground shook, nearly knocking the Knight Protector off his 
feet.  The tired creature had given up on the quick attacks aimed at the 
Crystal Warriors and had begun slamming the bluff with his tail.  
Sections were falling off, rolling onto the beach.  Anise caught up with 
Kyouji, and then looked back at the damage Kit Kat's tail had done.  
"Hmmm... I don't have any great ideas, but we're desperate, so here's 
what I've got.  The anchor on the beached ship is probably long and 
strong enough to function as a trip wire.  But it's far too heavy for me 
to move."

       The beast changed his mind and slammed his entire body into the 
cliff.  Larger chunks fell off and rolled down the ten stories, 
producing tremors of their own when they landed.  The ground they stood 
on was a rather large plateau, but they were still rapidly losing ground 
from which to launch attacks.  Tsugiko looked as if she was building up 
her power, having grown impatient with the wear the beast down strategy.  
Yumi simply looked lost.

	"I'm not strong enough to haul that anchor either, not even close.  
But Kit Kat certainly could.  If we could find way to hook that 
monstrous tail or a paw to the anchor, he could do the work for us."

	The spirit grinned and tossed Kyouji two bottles, which he caught 
in one hand solely via his enhanced dexterity.  "I wouldn't be much of a 
trickster spirit if I didn't have incredibly powerful glue and solvent 
on hand, now would I?"

	"Great, I'll go do it.  Tell Yumi and Tsugiko about the plan, and 
make sure he's moved into position to be tripped once I get back up 
here."  The spirit nodded and Kyouji jogged back a few paces before 
taking a flying jump towards the beast itself.

       The Knight Protector's target was huge and his exceptional speed 
was more than sufficient to carry him the distance before gravity took 
its toll.  But even so, his heart was beating furiously.  If he messed 
this up he might be able to survive.  But even so, he would be lying 
vulnerable on the beach with a broken back for the rest of the fight, at 
least two hours of Yumi healing away from being able to walk.  Kyouji 
spent a lot of time unconscious or broken, but he did have his limits.

       Yet today the blue-clad-boy's skill was sufficient; he landed 
with a thud against the chest of the monster and drove his blade into 
his skin.  The gigantic Carret's hide was tough, but the Knight 
Protector's weapon was no ordinary sword.  The edge cut through the 
beast's flesh like a chopstick through tofu.  As a result, Kyouji was 
still hurtling towards the beach far too quickly.  With his free hand 
the Knight Protector grabbed at thick orange and green fur.

       The strands of Kit Kat's hair were thicker than ropes but were 
coarse enough to give Kyouji some purchase.  His hand was burning, but 
at least he was able to slow his descent by grabbing at one hair after 
another as he fell.  After very little consideration, the Knight 
Protector decided he preferred hallucinating about journeying through 
his mind with Kit Kat than a real world trip down the outside of the 
Carret.

       Kyouji landed with a bang.  His legs wavered for a moment when he 
stood up, but they held.  The Crystal Warrior sheathed his sword and 
looked up with a smile at the long red streak down Kit Kat that tracked 
his path down the beast.  The Knight Protector admitted to himself that 
his attack had been far more satisfying than it really should have been; 
he'd have to make sure to leave this particular emotion out in his later 
stories of the battle.  However, his grin faded as he looked down at his 
left hand.  It was bleeding and he had lost a fair amount of skin to the 
friction of the beast's hair.  He clenched his hand and felt a spasm of 
pain; he'd just have to ignore the pain until he was back with Yumi.

       "GIKA!"  The monster's own pain had taken a moment to travel 
several stories of nerves to get to his brain.  But once the message 
arrived, the scratch sufficed to get Kit Kat's attention.  Kyouji had 
never had any illusions of crippling the beast with his attack, but the 
cut was more than enough to guarantee his one-time guide would not be 
ignoring him.  The attack came quickly.  The Knight Protector was 
already running towards the beached ship when the creature's humungous 
tail slammed into the beach.  Kyouji's danger sense told him to make a 
right-angle turn just in time.  Kit Kat was enraged, but not entirely 
stupid.  The beast's attack came down where the speeding Knight 
Protector would have been had he not changed direction.

       Kyouji didn't wait for the tail to rise out of the gash it had 
cut in the beach.  He ran over the rising orange and green dune and 
leapt onto the deck of the ship.  It still sat wedged between two rocks 
where it been thrown by Kit Kat's first attack hours ago when the battle 
began.  Sections of the deck were buckled, the sail rigging had fallen, 
and the whole thing was at a thirty-degree incline with the bow pointed 
in the air and away from the sea.  

	Thankfully, the anchor windlass was still intact.  Unfortunately, 
the anchor had been knocked onto the deck; this would have been easier 
if it had been hanging free.  The Knight Protector looked up and gulped; 
the monster's tail was coming down again to take another swat at its 
nemesis.  He began to call on his power reserves and rushed to the 
anchor, sloppily splashing the glue Anise had given him onto its metal 
hooks.

	The tail hit the stern of the boat.  It impacted with a boom and 
slowly continued as pieces of debris flew through the air at minimal 
speed.  The hyper-accelerated Knight Protector put his shoulder against 
the anchor; he had to push it about five feet to get it into position.  
This would not be easy; the thing was pure metal and back-breakingly 
heavy.  Were it not for the thirty-degree incline in his favor, the task 
would have been impossible.  Still he pushed, and he pushed, and he 
pushed... and it moved.  Over the anchor, through the perspiration that 
was pouring into his eyes, he could see that the tail had slowed to a 
stop halfway into the hull of the ship.

	Three feet left, he didn't think he could make it in time, and the 
worst part was yet to come.  Still he kept pushing.  Two feet left, 
maybe he should take a break, and catch the tail on the next time down.  
But he didn't believe that.  He couldn't be sure he could start his 
speed again if he let it go now, so he kept pushing.  One foot, why 
couldn't Mars give him super-strength?  He was stronger than any 
ordinary human, but he was out of his league here.  It was ridiculous; 
every two-bit superhero got super strength, why not him?

	The Knight Protector now stood at the end of what remained of the 
stern deck of the ship.  The anchor, not even a giant one actually but 
big enough, sat before him.  He bent his knees and grabbed hold with 
both arms, ignoring the jolt of pain from his left hand and the ache 
from every muscle in his body, and he pulled.  Kyouji attempted to throw 
the anchor in one tremendous burst of strength.  It moved forward an 
inch and didn't even lift off the ground.

       Kyouji stared at the thing, defeated.  He couldn't do it, not 
with all the emotional power in the world, not with the gifts Mars had 
given him, not even for Yumi and Tsugiko.  He just wasn't strong enough.  
The tail rose another foot; soon he'd miss his chance to hook the end of 
it.  If only he could just push the anchor against the tail, but that 
connection would have too little surface area, and not even the spirit's 
glue could be that powerful.  Suddenly, Kyouji slapped his forehead with 
his hand, his left hand, and he howled in pain but it didn't matter.

       The Knight Protector's specialty was chemistry.  However, the 
teacher who  had first interested him in science had instructed from a 
curriculum that reviewed all the basics.  In the weeks Tanaka-sensei had 
spent on physics, he had taken his students on a fieldtrip to a nautical 
museum to give functional demonstrations of the physics of simple 
machines.  Kyouji didn't have the skill to sail a small boat, let alone 
a ship this size.  However, the block and tackle system used to pull the 
sail to the top of the mast was no more than pulleys and rope by 
different names.

       The Crystal Warrior drew his sword and chopped the pulley off the 
beam that held the fallen sail.  He then ran back to the anchor and 
glued the block to its bottom tip.  For the final step, he grabbed the 
free end of the rope between the anchor's pulley and the mast, and ran 
across the beach.  The rope quickly went taut, and Kyouji once again had 
to pull with all his might.   But the progress was far quicker, albeit 
more painful.  The weight and chain rose and hung from the angled mast 
over the tail of the creature.  Kit Kat's tail also ascended, but the 
Knight Protector's superior speed won the race.  The anchor hung, hooks 
down, over tower-width tail.  Kyouji dropped the rope, and soon enough 
the giant sticky metal hooks had caught their furry quarry.

	The Knight Protector kept running along the beach.  His lungs were 
burning and he could tell that time was speeding back towards normalcy.  
He bounded up a humongous chunk of rock that had been part of the cliff 
a minute ago.  Climbing would have been easier, but his hand had already 
been through enough trouble that day.  Sure enough, Kit Kat's tail, now 
carrying an anchor and chain as passenger, came swinging down one more 
time.  The impacted knocked Kyouji to his knees, but he was still able 
to draw and hold the bottle of solvent in his right hand.  He hurled it 
at the tail's stow away.   The Knight Protector's aim was perfect and 
the liquid sprayed on the attached metal surface.  The remaining glue 
wasn't sufficient to hold the massive weight, and the anchor fell into 
the rocks.  The job was almost done; if the slack chain were tightened a 
bit it would be secured.

	"I need a distraction now!" Kyouji yelled to the cliff top, and 
Anise started a light show on top of the cliff.  It was the most 
spectacular thing he'd even seen, easily beating fireworks and laser 
shows he'd seen back on Earth.  But Kit Kat wouldn't be entranced 
forever, and he didn't have time to look at the pretty colors.  A few 
seconds later, he was back on the deck of the ship and put his whole 
back in turning the moorings' windlass.  The device, which raised and 
lowered the anchor, had been designed to be used by several men.  But 
since Kyouji did not have to hurry or use his left hand, it felt like 
child's play.  He turned the device until the chain was taut.  The line 
of metal links was suspended a couple dozen feet above the beach's 
surface.

	His task complete, the Knight Protector jogged up the sandy path 
to the top of the bluff.  When he reached the top, he was only standing 
by using the full extent of his Knight Protector's endurance.  He 
quickly walked over to join the other two warriors.  Tsugiko stood 
surrounded by an outline of bright green fire.  She smiled at his 
arrival.  He was not so confident about Yumi.  She'd found steady 
ground, and the wand in her left hand was finally pointed at the beast.  
However, he'd known her long enough to tell by the look on her face that 
she wasn't ready.

	"Yumi, we'll need you to attack at full strength for this plan to 
work," Kyouji called out to his girlfriend.

	"Yeah, it's the only way we'll get back our original Kit Kat," 
Tsugiko added on.  That wouldn't have motivated Kyouji in the slightest, 
but it drew a mute nod from the pink Crystal Warrior.

       "I'm losing him!" Anise called out.  Kit Kat was now standing 
directly in front of the trip wire, but the pretty colors were no longer 
proving distracting.  He hoped Yumi was ready, because they were out of 
time.

       Tsugiko leapt off the cliff.  Kyouji caught his breath; for one 
perilous moment, she had started to descend before her wings of green 
flame emerged.  She launched an amazing barrage of attacks, hitting the 
beast's face again and again until he began to sway back and forth.  Her 
job done, she flew back to the bluff.  The Knight Protector was watching 
her carefully.  He and Yumi would begin their simultaneous attack as 
soon as she was safe.  His overwhelming number of poppies attack did a 
great deal of damage, but had relatively little stopping power.  It 
would help, but it would be Yumi's blast that did most of the work.

       He glanced back at Yumi, and she still wasn't ready.   This 
wasn't good; his head spun back to watch the landing of the green 
Warrior Priestess.  She was some ten feet above him, which gave him a 
rather interesting view.  That miniskirt really didn't cover anything, 
even though she wasn't directly above him.  Kyouji lost his 
concentration, and he could hear Tsugiko shouting as she began to hover 
down.

       "Fire!  Uh, guys, I'm out of the way, fire!  Wait... damn it, 
Kyouji, what are you looking at?"

       The Knight Protector was able to focus again, but his poppy 
attack never came.  A beam shot out from Yumi's wand, striking the beast 
square in the jaw.  The explosion when it hit was so powerful it threw 
both him and the just landed Tsugiko to the ground.  The beast teetered, 
but almost managed to keep his feet.  Then Yumi steadied herself and 
grabbed the wand with her right hand as well.  A second beam came, this 
one even stronger, Kyouji was blinded by the bright pink light which 
finished the job, and vaporized a sizable section of the cliff.  Just 
after the massive shock wave from the beast's fall, Kyouji felt a 
magical aura overtake him and heard Anise's voice.

       "And here I thought you'd provide me less amusement since you 
came back as a guy."

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	Cinnamon arrived several hours after the battle; she felt the 
Crystal Warriors deserved a nap before she gave them the details of 
their next task.  Besides, the ritual could only be done at sunset, 
which was still a few hours away.  Thankfully, the Cola Sea was doing 
its job; the beast had fallen into what appeared to be a very deep sleep 
and had not stirred from where it fell.

	"Greetings, honorable Crystal Warriors.  If you are ready, we can 
go over the ritual we'll use to restore your guide to its original 
form."

	The two Crystal Warriors nodded cheerfully.  "We're ready," the 
one in the blue Knight Protector outfit responded.  The town's priestess 
hesitated for a moment; that Warrior's voice sounded female, but was 
wearing a Knight Protector outfit.  Probably best to figure out where 
the third one was before she ventured a guess on the blue dressed 
warrior's gender.

	"So, where's the other warrior?  There are three of you, right?"

	"He's hiding in the tent.  For some reason, he doesn't want to be 
seen in public."  The one dressed as a Knight Protector responded, and 
the one in the pink dress giggled.  Alright, Cinnamon thought, so that 
would imply these two were definitely girls.

	"Well, that's alright, I suppose.  I only need one of you for the 
ritual, two to be perfectly safe.  But before I go any further, I should 
introduce myself; my name is Cinnamon."

	"I'm Yumi.  Pleased to meet you.  Thank you for your hospitality," 
the peppy pink one said.

	"And I'm Tsugiko," the one in the Knight Protector's outfit 
offered, not as chipper as her compatriot but still quite pleasant.  Now 
that Cinnamon looked closer, she saw that this Crystal Warrior had a 
green hammer, which fit with what she'd heard about the more violent of 
the Warrior Priestesses.

	The town's priestess smiled and continued, "The ritual itself will 
take thirty minutes, ending at sundown."

	"Let me guess, it's horribly complex and a single mistake will 
have horrible consequences," Tsugiko hypothesized.

	"No, it's actually fairly simple and you'll be guided through all 
of your tasks by skilled priestesses.  You won't even need any training 
beyond the description I'll be giving you.  If you like, feel free to 
wander Almond Roca.  Most of our men are out at sea sailing or fishing, 
but perhaps our city's humble women can provide you some hospitality."  
Cinnamon smiled with pride; she intended for the Crystal Warriors to 
have their best time on Mars in her fair city.

Yumi beamed and graciously replied, "That sounds lovely."  Tsugiko 
nodded in agreement.

	"Will the other Crystal Warrior be joining us?"

	The two girls giggled again.  Yumi called out, "Are you coming, 
Kyouji?"

	"Not until Tsugiko gives me my clothes back.  I'm not going out 
like this."

	"What's wrong with my outfit?" Tsugiko called back mockingly.  
"You never had any trouble looking at it while I was wearing it."

	"I'm a guy, damn it!"

	This was all rather bewildering.  Fortunately Tsugiko noticed 
Cinnamon's look of confusion.  "Anise had decided that he'd be more 
comfortable in my outfit.  He can't take it off, or cover it up, until I 
give this Knight Protector's outfit back to him.  Which I'm not going to 
do until I find something less demeaning to wear."  That would explain 
it.  Anise was a longtime and faithful guardian of the city, but she had 
long ago been warded from entering Almond Roca itself because of her 
proclivity towards such pranks. 

       Yumi spoke up on the Knight Protector's behalf.  "Couldn't you 
have a little mercy, Tsugiko?  He's been in there talking to himself or 
Teru for the past few hours.  I'm starting to worry about him.  I mean, 
it's funny but..." 

	Tsugiko shook her head.  "Come on, Yumi, you know he deserves it.  
I'll let him trade back once the ritual is done."

	Yumi looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded and grinned.  
"I suppose that's fair."  Cinnamon heard a low moan from inside the tent 
in response to the girls' comments.  She decided now was the moment to 
get the explanation over.

	"If that's decided, let me briefly explain how the conversion will 
work.  The most important thing to realize is that it is one-way.  We 
are requesting from Mars the return of your guide, not controlling its 
form at will..."

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	The demon that was coming was bleeding waves of magical power.  
The spirit had faced a more powerful wizard a thousand years ago, but 
that had been when she was at full power.  Anise was now almost 
completely drained.  In sharp contrast, her opponent had a frightful 
intensity and seemed to have a few impressive spells working on her 
already.  As the protective spirit of Almond Roca, Anise could live 
forever, unless something destroyed her, which was looking like a real 
possibility.

	Anise bluffed, "Hold, pest.  I've deposed Walnetto and if you test 
me, I'll swat you."  She was standing on the ground now; flying was easy 
but even that wasted too much energy.  The red sorceress paused, 
hovering mid-air.  The demon's appearance was unmistakable; this was 
Twizzler.  The spirit had heard many rumors and stories about this 
sorceress, none good.  At the threat, the demon simply began to giggle.

	"I don't know who you are, but true love is my strength.  You can 
not stop me.  Jello Mold!"  Anise quick dodged as transparent semi-solid 
water scattered on the beach.  Well, if intimidation didn't work, 
perhaps she could stall the red sorceress.  The ritual would be starting 
in two minutes, and after another twenty it would be done and the 
Crystal Warriors could handle Twizzler for her.

	"What do you want?  If your true love is in the city, perhaps I 
could go get him for you."

       "I'm going to kill Green like this. Sorbet!"  

       Sorbet was a dramatically faster spell, with painful icy shards 
flying in all directions even if it missed.  Anise dodged again, but 
rather than trust her luck, she created a dozen illusionary copies of 
herself.  A choir of perfectly synchronized 'Anises' asked, "Who is 
green?"

	"Sorbet!  She's trying to come between me and Kyouji.  Sorbet!"  
The illusions effectively countered the attacks.  The spirit weaved in 
and out with the other copies of herself so Twizzler learned nothing 
from her misses.  

	"Kyouji, the Knight Protector?"  The stalling seemed to be 
working.  The illusions took some power, but she could keep them up all 
day.  And no matter how intense, the sorceress' power could not be 
unlimited and Sorbet was not an easy spell.

	"Yes!  And no one comes between me and my love!  Upside Down 
Cake!"  The sand suddenly shook, attempting to swallow the whole mass of 
illusions at once, and flight could no longer be avoided.  A flock of 
spirits took to the air, rapidly moving around the still Twizzler.

	"What if I took you to him?  You could talk... or more."  She 
doubted the Knight Protector loved this demon.  He certainly seemed to 
be a letch, but she was evil and insane, and he seemed to be neither.  
But he could probably stall the lover-girl long enough to finish the 
ceremony.

	"I think you're lying."  Twizzler's eyes narrowed.  "But no, it 
doesn't matter.  I need to kill Green first.  I won't miss another 
chance.  I'd appreciate it if you could take him to a nice room to wait 
for me, though.  Flan!"

	 A maelstrom of wind suddenly violently spun Anise around the 
sorceress.  The spirit was barely able to concentrate enough to fly, let 
alone independently track the movement of a dozen copies.  Worse yet, 
the sand whipped up by the wind made the wind patterns quite obvious, so 
any mistakes she made with the illusions would be plain.  The game was 
up and she dropped the copies.  Anise needed a new plan.  With a flick 
of her finger she sent a magically guided grain of sand into Twizzler's 
left eye.  It was a weak spell that only worked because the sorceress 
had let her guide down, but for a brief moment Twizzler blinked.

	One spell later, Twizzler opened her eyes again to a world that 
was upside down and twisted.  It was an old trick of Anise's, specially 
adjusted for a flying opponent.  The apparent orientation of the world 
would be steadily altered, so while the sorceress would think she was 
moving toward the city, she would actually be flying around in circles.  
With a little luck and a lot of skill, she could even drive the demon 
into the sea.  "Alright, I surrender.  Go fight."

	Twizzler turned herself upside down to be properly oriented to her 
view of the world.  Annoyingly enough, the dress she was wearing was so 
slinky that it clung to her legs, not even obscuring her vision.  
However, when the demon flew off, she stayed dead on course towards the 
location of the ritual.  "I don't know why she keeps moving, but that 
won't stop me.  And since you're in league with Green, you need to die.  
Creme Brule!"

	Anise panicked.  She hadn't seen that spell successfully used for 
a thousand years.  It had been the favorite spell of Lemonhead, 
Wintergreen's necromancer lieutenant from the previous millennium.  With 
the help of the earlier Warrior Priestesses, she had banished him to an 
artificial island in the Cola Sea.  The fight had been terrible; before 
the defeat of his massive army of ghosts and walking dead, the Seltzer 
Sea had been clear and perfectly harmless. Once his army had been 
exorcised it had turned black and become the somewhat acidic Cola Sea, 
also known as the Sea of the Damned.

	Lemonhead's spirit could neither leave Raisinets nor cast any 
spells on the heavily warded island.  But even as an echo, he still had 
some influence over the ghosts that were drawn to the Sea.  He hadn't 
directly caused any trouble for centuries.  However, on occasion 
demented magic users washed up on the beach, often ineffectually 
muttering 'Creme Brule.'  Anise assumed they were failed apprentices; 
perhaps this one had succeeded because she was crazy to begin with.

	The effect of the spell was immediate and disheartening; several 
ghosts materialized around Twizzler, joined by a few more ghosts who 
flew up from the Cola Sea.  They were all immolated in flames 
immediately after becoming physical.  The ghosts were only substantial 
for the summoner and the target.  However, this limitation made them no 
less deadly for whomever Twizzler would send them to attack.

	Fortunately, while they were incredibly fast and were intelligent 
enough to turn mid air, they could not phase through matter.  In 
addition, they were volatile and quite prone to explode.  Not that 
beating them off with melee attacks would do much good.  After all, an 
explosion a foot away was only slightly less dangerous.  Anise only 
prayed that Twizzler had not yet mastered the ability to directly 
control the powers of one of the ghosts, for that had been Lemonhead's 
nastiest trick.

	The spirit transformed herself into a mist.  There was no way she 
could dodge six ghosts, but that would not matter if they couldn't hit 
her to begin with.

	Maddeningly, the demon had anticipated this response.  "Meringue!"  
A giant gust of wind blew the spirit against the cliff face.  It was all 
she could do to hold herself together and prevent being vaporized.  She 
could tell that Twizzler was about to finish her off.  She hadn't 
survived this many millennia without picking up one or two emergency 
survival tricks.  However once she teleported away, she'd have no power 
left and Twizzler would proceed directly to the ritual.

	"Sorbet!"  The red sorceress' latest attack pinned the mist 
against the cliff face in a shell of ice.  This was the trickster's last 
chance; what could she use?  Anise suddenly recalled how easily Twizzler 
had defeated her disorientation spell; the demon must be tracking 
Tsugiko somehow.  A quick check verified that the red sorceress had a 
spell running to track the one she hated, 'green.'  If Anise were 
corporal, she would have grinned.  'Green' and hate she could work with.  
Turning a thing into its opposite was the first lesson taught to any new 
trickster.  If the demon had simply respected or lusted after Kyouji, 
the spell would be too difficult to retarget.  Yet switching from hate 
to love, particularly with Kyouji now in the miniskirt, that was a 
simple matter.

	"Death by Chocolat..."  Anise teleported away before the void 
could overcome her.  As much as she'd love to be exterminated by 
Twizzler, it had now fallen to her to protect the Knight Protector.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	Tsugiko and Yumi had just finished repeating the first prayer of 
the ritual.  The Warrior Priestess who normally dressed in green was 
rather pleased with how it was going.  The prayers were quite simple and 
the Crystal Warriors had a lot of breaks while the town's priestesses, 
led by Cinnamon, did the hard work.  The two girls had a great time in 
the city, but they'd never really been alone.  Cinnamon, a store clerk, 
or a waitress was always close at hand.  Tsugiko planned to relent right 
after the ritual and return Kyouji's outfit, so this was her last 
natural chance to be alone with her friend for a little while.

	"Yumi, I know something has been bothering you for at least a week 
now, and it's been getting worse lately.  Would you like to talk about 
it?"

 	The typically exuberant pink Priestess looked up sadly at her 
friend.  "You could tell?"

	Tsugiko grinned slightly.  "How long have we known each other now, 
Yumi?  I can get absorbed in my own problems sometimes, but I still 
notice things."  Tsugiko had hoped her friend would actually come to 
her, but after Yumi had choked until the last minute in the battle 
against Kit Kat, the hammer-wielding Priestess couldn't wait any longer.

	"I don't know.  I just feel so selfish talking about it.  You do 
have problems of your own, and it's not fair for me to burden you."  
Yumi looked like she was about to cry, and despite her protestations, 
Tsugiko could tell the pink priestess desperately wanted to share her 
problems.
 
	"C'mon Yumi, I'm strong, you don't have to be afraid of breaking 
me with your problems.  And besides, I owe you as much.  You've been 
there for me again and again."

	A few tears ran down Yumi's cheeks.  "It's Kyouji.  It feels so 
wrong to say this, but he almost never actually treats me like his 
girlfriend.  I don't know if he doesn't want to hurt you, or is afraid, 
or indecisive, but it really hurts."

	Yumi was right.  Tsugiko didn't really want to hear this, but 
friendship was more important than jealousy.  The green Warrior 
suppressed her first instinct to cite the kisses and hand holding she'd 
seen.  But after a moment, she realized she hadn't seen much at all.

	"I know that must be hard for you, particularly after what that 
imposter, whoever it was, did.  And it did hurt a lot when you two 
started dating.  It still hurts, as a matter of fact."

	Yumi began outright sobbing.  Tsugiko felt a pang of regret, but 
it was important that she be honest.

	"But I can handle it.  I do want both of you to be happy, despite 
how I act sometimes.  Kyouji picked you, not me.  Even if he was stupid 
about how he did it."

	Yumi seemed a bit comforted.  She was still crying but she didn't 
bother with her normal protestation on Kyouji's behalf.

	"You should talk to him.  You can tell him he doesn't need to do 
this for me.  If the relationship doesn't work out, so be it.  I won't 
claim I'll be sad to hear it.  But it can't be about me.  Even if Kyouji 
later picks me, I don't want it to because I prevented you two from 
having a relationship.  I know myself; I'd never get over the feeling 
that I only got him because I kept him from being happy with you, and 
that would be worse than not having him at all."  Tsugiko was making 
this up as she went along, and picking what to say in large part to 
comfort her friend.  Yet, as she reflected on what she said, she 
realized that she believed it.

	"Thanks, Tsugiko."  Yumi looked up, smiling ever so slightly and 
hugged her friend a lot harder than Tsugiko would have expected.  The 
Warrior Priestess in the Knight Protector outfit was having a bit of 
trouble breathing.

	"You're welcome, Yumi, and could you ease up a little."  Tsugiko 
hugged her friend back, and could feel air returning to her lungs.  
"Thanks.  Besides, I probably just need to raise my standards.  
Somewhere out there I'm betting there's a good guy who would like me and 
is actually secure in his masculinity."

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	"Kyouji!  Stop sulking about the dress and get up now!  You're in 
great danger!"

	The troublemaking spirit appeared in Kyouji's tent.  "Look, I'm 
tired of your games, so get out of my tent!  You can make me wear a 
dress, but at least leave me to hide in peace."

	Suddenly a horrible shrieking filled the air and the tent exploded 
into flames.  Kyouji dived out less than a second before it collapsed.

	"Shut up and listen to me.  Twizzler is here and I set her on your 
trail rather than Tsugiko's."

       The spirit's explanations horrified the Knight Protector.  "Tell 
me this is some sort of a prank."

	Suddenly two ethereal beings came screaming towards the mini-skirt 
wearing male.  They were a terrifying sight, flaming and filled with 
murderous purpose.  Kyouji fired off two poppies that each hit ghost, 
causing them to explode.  The force blew back the Knight Protector.

	"I'd advise you simply run from the spirits.  The explosions are 
far worse if you hit them with magic or weapons.  It's best to just make 
them hit a rock or a wall or the like."  The spirit's helpful 
suggestions came a few seconds after the advice would have been ideally 
given.

	"What the hell are they?"

	"They are the ghosts of creatures Twizzler has murdered.  She has 
a new and powerful spell.  At this rate she'll burn herself out soon, 
but you have to stall her until the shrinking ritual is over.  That will 
take at least fifteen minutes more.  Get into the city; you'll be harder 
to hit there.  Until then, I'll call out warnings when the ghosts are 
coming."

	"And what do I do once I'm in the city?" Kyouji bitterly muttered 
to himself.

	"That's what your danger sense is for."  Teru's voice spoke to him 
from the back of his head.  "We worked with Anise a thousand years ago.  
You should trust her now."

	"So, is the purpose of all spirits on Mars to make my life 
miserable?"  Kyouji asked rhetorically.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	Kyouji ducked behind one of Almond Roca's many small quaint cafes.  
He panted heavily and put a hand against a wall for support.  At this 
point, he'd love to stop, sit under one of the jarringly colored beach 
umbrellas, and sip what passed for a tropical drink on Mars with a cute 
little miniature jarringly colored umbrella.  Sure, all the women would 
probably stare and question his masculinity, given his present garb.  
Though he did have to admit that the fingerless satin gloves were far 
more comfortable than he expected, and did a good job of shielding his 
palm from the friction of the staccato wall.

	"If you're worried about your masculinity, you should probably 
leave out the drink with the cute little umbrella."  Teru had been 
almost omnipresent since the magical clothes swap, and she was being 
rather chipper for a dead person.  

	"Well I thought it was appropriate to the situation."  Kyouji 
scratched the back of his neck, the feel of satin against his skin was 
strange, if kind of nice.  "Do you think I should go with a beer, or 
maybe-"

	"Move! Now!"

	Kyouji started running again.  He was conserving his energy, and 
using his speed in short bursts.  A fireball shrieked past him and 
slammed into the side of a small boutique.  Strangely, even though he 
could feel the heat of the explosion, there was no collateral damage.  
Similarly, all of the town's residents were reacting as if a crazed 
person was simply running in random patterns extraordinarily fast.  A 
fair number of women had recognized him as a Warrior Priestess, or a 
Crystal Warrior rather, and cheered him on while wisely staying 
otherwise uninvolved. 

	He threw off another of his flaming nemeses by crouching and then 
doing a back flip at the last possible moment.  As he kicked his legs 
into the air he was exceptionally grateful that the spirit had let him 
keep his boxers.  The miniskirt allowed for no modesty!  The temporarily 
green-garbed warrior was gaining a far more intimate understanding of 
why Tsugiko was so touchy at times.

	"What, you couldn't figure that out just by looking at her legs?  
You did that often enough.  One left, closing fast."   Teru had been 
playing spotter and speaking for his danger sense since Kyouji entered 
the city.  Beforehand, Anise had played that role, but some ancient ward 
prevented her from acting in Almond Roca.  Tsugiko's miniskirt also gave 
the Knight a feel for why the city's magic users didn't want the spirit 
operating freely in an urban area.

	The last of his pursuers proved the hardest to shake.  Kyouji 
leapt onto a barrel, then an amazingly tacky awning, and then onto the 
roofs.  It wouldn't do to stay up here for long, for he was far too 
exposed.  The ghosts could move faster than the Knight Protector's 
enhanced jog.  Fortunately, he'd had a far easier time throwing them off 
once he was in the city rather then in the obstacle-free beaches.

	Kyouji leapt from roof to roof.  He ran by a three-story apartment 
and noticed several bemused female apartment-dwellers watching and 
laughing, a few less than fully dressed.  He grinned back at them, only 
to trip on a chimney and stumble a few paces when one of them waved 
somewhat suggestively at him.

	"You have a girlfriend.  Besides, they just see a Warrior 
Priestess in a dress.  They may be interested in the same sort of thing 
your subconscious is so obsessed with."

	"Now's not the time for your pop psychology, Teru."  The pursuing 
ghost was only a foot behind him now, and waves of heat and fury were 
flowing off of it.  This spirit seemed to be one of Wintergreen's men, 
apparently not content to pursue the Crystal Warriors only in life.  The 
man looked as if he'd been torn to death.  Kyouji dove off the roof 
executing a flip mid air, aiming to run down the side of another 
building.  Well, that was the plan anyway, he thought, as his legs gave 
out when they hit the wall, and he fell to the ground moaning.  
Thankfully, the pursuer also slammed into the wall, dissipating.
 
	"Oh, so first, you think you're single, and now you're a martial 
arts star?"

	"That's not fair!  You told me I couldn't act like Yumi was my 
girlfriend, and now you condemn me for doing just that!  Oh, and your 
advice is working out really well.  Now even Yumi is troubled; she hides 
it, but I can tell.  And could we not talk about my hallucination!"   
While he was ranting, Kyouji worked his way to feet. The collision had 
been painful, but he'd walked away from far worse.

	"All I'm saying is that you really don't need to further expand 
your love triangle right now."

	Kyouji nodded.  "I won't, but I'm also going to stop listening to 
that advice.  I'm hurting Yumi, and Tsugiko isn't any happier because of 
it.  Maybe it will work and maybe it won't, but I'll never find out so 
long as it's only a half relationship."

	Teru grinned.  "You're starting to sound like I usually do now 
that I'm dead, instead of what I sounded like when I was alive."

	Kyouji was panting heavily again; he had a few moments before the 
next attack.  However, that interval was getting steadily smaller.  
Twizzler was getting closer.  Kyouji had been barely able to keep his 
feet when Anise told him Twizzler had returned and would now be chasing 
him.  But the Knight Protector had accepted the mission.  It was his job 
to safeguard Yumi and Tsugiko, even if he didn't need to stall for time 
until the ritual was over.  Unfortunately, doing what was required meant 
he had to hold back on his powers.  He could certainly outrun Twizzler 
or anything she could throw at him, and he could probably even handle 
her one on one.

	"So fight her.  Like you should have a long time ago.  Unless you 
want to take the giant lettuce's advice and choose her after all," Teru 
jibed in response to Kyouji's last thought.

	"I'll fight her if I have to.  I'm just afraid once she sees me, 
she'll take off after Tsugiko instead."  Kyouji started moving again, 
looking for a new place to stand, his mind running through potential 
techniques to defeat the next set of flaming furies.  

	"Why not appeal to your enduring love?  She'll be sure to do 
anything for her knight."

	"That's not fair either.  I stood up to her back when I was her 
prisoner.  I fought her in Clorets' camp when Tsugiko was in danger.  
And in that hallucination, I rejected 'Mars'' message.  She's my 
opponent now, nothing more."  If it came to a fight, Kyouji would just 
hope he could stall her.  Anise had mentioned a wizard's tower by the 
sea that had wards to prevent spells from creating effects in the rest 
of the city.  If he went there, he wouldn't have to worry about 
innocents getting hurt if Twizzler switched to her old spells.

	Kyouji ran out into a wider street with a canal of black bubbling 
water running through it.  In the past, some of the ghosts had come from 
the water, so he immediately turned around, rushing into an open-air 
market.  It appeared that all the vendors had gone home for the night, 
so the square was full of empty carts.

	"That's true, and I suppose I should be grateful that Twizzler 
didn't participate in the little orgy in that creative brain of yours.  
That would have scarred my psyche forever."

	"You're dead, Teru.  Your psyche can't be further scarred."

	Kyouji found a fairly large stall to hide in.  The ghosts seemed 
to be able to track him, but they weren't great at the kind of sudden 
turns that would be required to follow him into the stall.  "What did 
you mean by my sounding more like you when you were dead than you when 
you were alive?"

	"Don't you get it?  I had just as many problems choosing as you 
did when I was alive.  But once I became a spirit and started talking to 
you, things were different.  I had a much clearer view of things and I 
knew what you had to do, what I couldn't do when I was alive.  I used to 
chalk that up to the perspective I've gained since I died and my greater 
distance from your situation..."

	"But now?"  Kyouji was intrigued; normally his conversations with 
Teru were drilling sessions, or her giving advice while he worried about 
what to do.  For the moment, his pursuers were relegated to the back of 
his mind.

	"Back during the week of the dead, I almost felt alive and 
complete again, even the indecisive parts.  Afterwards, I thought about 
it, and that version of me your hallucinating mind created probably had 
a point."

	Kyouji blushed a bit to think of what his Teru had done with his 
Yumi and Tsugiko.

	"No, not that part.  Which I'm going to let slide, but please get 
your mind out of the gutter.  Anyways, you do need balance, and I help 
provide that.  Being dead has changed me.  But I could only really see 
it after the period where I reverted to the 'real me' during the week of 
the dead.  Maybe I'm supposed to pass on that wisdom, so that you don't 
have to wait until you die too in order to acquire it."

	"So now you think I'm right, and I should treat Yumi like my 
girlfriend?"

	Teru shrugged.  "I think you should try committing yourself for 
once.  Just to see what it feels like."

	Kyouji rolled his eyes.  "So when did you find the time to do all 
this philosophizing?"

	His past incarnation grinned.  "What, you think I have nothing 
better to do all day than sit around watching whatever your twisted 
little mind imagines?"

	"Shut up, Teru!"

	Teru didn't reply, she just pointed behind the Knight Protector.  
A deathly chill ran down his spine.  It had been too long since the last 
attack, which could only mean one thing.  A moment later, a sickeningly 
familiar high sweet voice called out.

	"Who are you talking to, Green?  There's nobody there!"  Twizzler 
giggled.  "And the voices say I'm crazy.  But no matter.  Despite your 
newfound cowardly streak, we're going to finish this and you're going to 
die."

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	The dock on which the ritual was taking place was buzzing with 
activity.  Yumi and Tsugiko had just finished another round of prayers 
to Mars and several of the priestesses had begun a ritual dance.  The 
pink Priestess could feel power gathering, and for once the energy was 
warm and tingly and quite pleasant to be around.  She reveled in her 
optimism.  The Warrior Priestess felt as if she could face down 
Wintergreen and restore Mars all by herself at the moment without 
breaking a sweat.  Kyouji was hiding in a tent wearing a miniskirt, but 
otherwise all was right with the world.

	"So Tsugiko, I hope you don't mind my asking, but what do you 
think of Clark?  He's quite secure in his masculinity and I think that 
he really likes you."  The pink Priestess was fairly certain from what 
she saw that Tsugiko did not reciprocate his feelings, but she was 
curious what exactly her friend was feeling.

	"He's nice, but when we talked privately back in Guylian, he made 
painfully clear that I was not important enough for him to leave the 
Sparkling Elite.  If those Knights were smarter, they really should be 
escorting us.  I mean, we're Mars' only hope, right?"  Yumi nodded.  
"But putting that aside, I don't want to be someone's second choice 
again."

	"He seemed like he would have rather liked to spend some extra 
time with us, though, and I got the feeling he specifically requested to 
be the courier."

	Tsugiko smiled.  "Yeah, maybe I'm being too hard on the guy.  If I 
should see him again, maybe I'll feel differently.  But at moment, I'm 
afraid it would just be a short-term rebound relationship destined to 
end badly.  Frankly, I think I have enough guy problems as is."  Yumi 
nervously laughed at her friend's joke, or at least what she hoped was a 
joke.

	The pink Priestess was relieved when the faux Knight Protector 
laughed as well.  She then stood up, rubbed the back of her neck, and 
between giggles said, "Hey, uh, you shouldn't be agreeing with me like 
that."  Her imitation made a fairly convincing Kyouji, a performance 
greatly enhanced by the pants and jacket.

	Yumi cracked up.  "Quick, do his whining on how people think he's 
a girl!"

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	Twizzler chased after her quarry, sending spells at Green, who 
obnoxiously was moving much faster than usual.  Her look had changed 
too; she was flat-chested as ever, but had a far better haircut.  Her 
legs were also far more alluring than they had once been.  The red 
sorceress had yet to get a good look at her face, but for some reason 
everything about Green was sexier.  She was almost attracted to her 
nemesis, even though her dress was as trampy as ever.

	Twizzler shook it off.  Maybe she really was losing her mind, 
because this didn't make sense at all.  "Sorbet!"  The spell missed the 
stand Green was hiding in and hit a fruit cart instead.  Twizzler cursed 
to herself; this was why she hated fighting in markets. There was always 
a fruit cart in the way.  Even so, her fleeing enemy was hit with a 
piece of cold shrapnel as Green tried to leave her own stand.  Even her 
voice was suddenly more... Wait, this wasn't Green at all; this was her 
love!

	Twizzler was suddenly in heaven, rather than merely floating 
twenty feet above the pavement.  She had found her Knight, her hero; the 
way they were meeting couldn't be more wrong, but that didn't matter.

	"Kyouji!  I'm sorry!  I didn't know it was you."  For some 
inexplicable reason he kept running, and she chased after him.  "Did 
those evil girls make you wear that dress?  Don't worry, I'll soon have 
it off you and you'll be feeling much better."  The Knight Protector 
accelerated a bit; it was all that she could do to keep up.

	"Oh, I understand.  You're playing hard to get.  That's so cute!  
But don't worry, I'll catch you!"  Her Knight Protector was doing a very 
convincing job of running as if his life depended on it; he was such a 
good actor.  Not to mention athletic.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	The red sorceress smiled, for she now understood why her beloved 
was being so coy.  He'd led her to the top of a tower that directly 
overlooked the Cola Sea.  It was exceptionally romantic, with the sun 
setting on the horizon casting beautiful colors spread throughout the 
sky.  Even that pest Kit Kat, in a giant form for some inexplicable 
reason, contributed to the mood; lovely magical lines twirled around the 
beast.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.  The circular tower had a 
diameter of twenty feet, with only ten pillars evenly spread around the 
edge holding up the roof.  This was obviously a mage's tower; wards 
prevented spells from accidentally affecting the city.  Twizzler licked 
her lips, and she wondered what the knight that loved her had in mind.

	"Twizzler, we need to talk."  That wasn't a romantic way to start 
the evening.  But whatever, she trusted him.

	"Yes, my love?"

	Kyouji scratched the back of his neck.  "I'm afraid that's the 
problem.  We've already had this discussion.  I don't love you, and I'm 
not going to love you."

	That hurt.  Memories from the talk she and a captive Kyouji had 
had flowed back.  He'd claimed he only wanted to be friends.  The 
sorceress sneered, "I knew it. Green, she got to you.  She cast some 
sort of spell-"

	Kyouji's voice became more assertive. He was so strong when he 
needed to be.  "Actually, I asked Yumi to be my girlfriend, not Tsugiko.  
And neither of them ever needed a spell.  You're a sorceress, can't you 
tell that?"

	Twizzler frowned.  He was right, of course.  That backstabber 
Yumi!  She'd pretended to be so nice, but she had stolen Kyouji somehow 
without magic.  "So they brainwashed you, or bullied you somehow."  Her 
voice was pleading; she had to be right.

	"Twizzler, if I'm as great as you think I am, how could either of 
them have done that?  If you love me, you have to respect my right to 
make decisions that you disagree with."

	Twizzler started to cry.  She looked away; the sun had almost gone 
down and that wretched Carret seemed to be a good deal smaller than the 
last time she had looked out.  She took a moment to think, and 
remembered what he'd told her in that tent, so long ago.

	"No, it's not them.  It's the bloody planet.  You don't get to 
make a choice because of your link.  Mars has chosen for you!  You told 
me about it, and said that was why I could never win.  I understand why 
Wintergreen hates this damnable planet so much; it's keeping me from my 
true love!"  Twizzler was angry, but she smiled.  She had figured it 
out, and she was sure he'd understand.

	"No, Twizzler, even without the link and even without Tsugiko and 
Yumi, I wouldn't love you.  I don't think I even like you anymore.  You 
kill people, you work with my greatest enemy, and unlike Krackel, there 
isn't a hostage forcing you to serve her."

	Twizzler frowned.  Probably wouldn't do to offer him a position as 
a lieutenant.  More ghosts were appearing around her, mocking her. "He 
knows." "He'll never love you."  "You'll never be anything more than a 
hated murderer."  "You're wicked, but you can no longer hide the truth." 

	She pushed them out; she had to talk to Kyouji, only he mattered.  
"You're more important to me than Wintergreen.  I don't have to work 
with her!  We could run away together.  I could probably even find a 
spell to take us both back to your home.  Or we could send Green and 
Yumi back, and we could stay here together.  Bet your Yumi couldn't do 
that."

	The sorceress had no idea whether she was capable of that sort of 
task, but it sounded like a good idea.  She could swear for a moment 
that Kyouji was enticed.  All he had to do was believe. He'd come to 
love her, and he wouldn't have to know if she vaporized the Priestesses 
rather than teleported them.  "Thank you, Twizzler, but no.  I will 
finish my mission, and I'll defeat Wintergreen.  Even if you joined me 
now, I probably wouldn't love you, but we could be friends again."

	Twizzler began to sob.  The sun had dipped beneath the horizon and 
the beast was smaller and harder to see in the darkness.  The ghosts 
were getting harder to push out, and their taunts were growing more 
biting.  She tried to take strength in the nobility, in the goodness of 
her beloved, even if he would be on the losing side.  Yet she knew would 
die; the Crystal Warriors could never stand before Wintergreen.  Why 
didn't he see that, why was he so stupid?!  "I can't win.  Even if I do 
good, you won't love me."

	Kyouji nodded but he looked as if he felt guilt.  He couldn't even 
look directly at her; instead, his gaze fell on that dreadful Kit Kat.  
Why did he care about anything but her?  Twizzler's mind raced, seeking 
to understand what was happening.  She was shaking, and she leaned 
against a pillar for support.

	"I even did good.  I saved the lives of Yumi and Tsugiko so many 
times.  In the store when Tsugiko was at my mercy, in the Pop Ring cave 
when I defeated Riesen, and when I told the Ranchers to only enslave, 
not kill them.  It was all for your sake!"  Twizzler was shouting now, 
her cheeks flushed, "But do I get a word of thanks?  No!  Affection?  
Never.  You led me on.  Why are you so cruel to a poor girl who loves 
you?"

	Kyouji looked taken aback. He mumbled a barely inaudible "Thanks," 
but made no other response.

	"That was a mistake.  I should have killed them then.  I'll kill 
them now!  I'll break the link, and I'll free you from Mars' hold!"

	Kyouji instantly lost all indecision and weakness.  He was often 
weak, she could see that now, but she still loved him.  And no matter 
what the ghosts said, she deserved to be loved in return.  "Twizzler, if 
you ever harm either of the Warrior Priestesses, directly or indirectly, 
I will hunt you down and kill you.  Even if I've lost my powers, even if 
Wintergreen wins in the end, even if I'm sent back to Earth, I'll find a 
way.  I can't love you because you're evil.  You've lied to me again and 
again, and I think everything you've offered me is a lie as well."

	Twizzler felt as if her heart had been ripped out.  She could 
barely breathe, and she felt as if the ghosts were suffocating her now.  
She covered her ears, but they kept talking, and he kept talking.

	"And unless you can prove to me that you've quit serving 
Wintergreen, I don't even want to see you again."

	She finally understood.  He didn't actually love her.  She 
couldn't understand why, but she knew there was no obstacle she could 
remove to fix that.  Even when she killed Green, it wouldn't matter.  

       There was another way, she suddenly realized. She could kill him 
and make him serve her, but that would be insane.  "Creme Brule!"  
Instead she chose another servant, an aqua haired boy with a noteworthy 
teardrop remembrance mark on his hand.  

       "Yes, master?"  The boy intoned. He was engulfed in flame but 
would be far more useful than a mere missile.

       "Make Kyouji love me!" Twizzler ordered.

       Kyouji drew his sword.  He was an intimidating figure even in a 
miniskirt.  The wind rushed by him, tussling his hair and causing 
Green's outfit to billow dramatically.  He was so handsome, and despite 
everything, Twizzler's love held true.  But his words were so cold.  
"Winis!  No!  Twizzler, I'm sorry, but you're beyond redemption."

	Then she remembered; Kyouji had attacked her before.  She began to 
cast Jello Mold while at the same time Winis raised a heart charm to use 
on the Knight Protector.  The aqua haired boy begun to intone love, but 
Kyouji had already reached her.  He was so fast, so amazing.  Her body 
ached more; the red sorceress stared down and saw the hilt of his 
wonderful sword protruding from her leg.  The hit broke her 
concentration for both spells; Winis never finished the word.  She clung 
on to her love for him.  He'd attacked her before and she'd survived; 
she would now as well.  Kyouji gritted his teeth and pulled back his 
blade, and flicked the point upwards so it aimed at her throat.  
"Yield."

	Twizzler laughed for just a moment.  Now he offered her mercy, 
after what he had said had already killed her.  The sorceress leapt 
forward, taking him into her arms and resting her weight on his strong 
shoulders.  Using his incredible skill and speed, he had pulled back his 
sword so it now rested flat between them.  She squeezed her love tight 
and kissed him one last time.  She had still dared to hope that he'd 
remember the feeling that had been there when they had kissed while he 
was her prisoner.  But there was nothing there; his lips did not 
respond, he didn't even try to squirm away, and there was naught but a 
trace of pity in his eyes.

	The sorceress then nodded mutely and wept.  The Knight Protector 
extradited himself from her arms using no more force than necessary, but 
even so, his actions further twisted the knife his words had placed in 
her heart.  Having escaped from her arms, Kyouji's stance was cold and 
unrelenting and his face offered no hint of comfort.  She collapsed to 
the floor, still sobbing, her tears further staining her once beautiful 
dress.  

	He spoke again, keeping the tip of his sword at her throat.  "I'm 
staying here to guard you.  You'll meet with justice as soon as the 
town's priestesses arrive.  They'll likely show more mercy than you ever 
did."  His words were sad but certain.  "That should be soon; the ritual 
should be over by now."  He glanced out the window to verify that.

	"No."  The voice was Winis' and Kyouji didn't seem to hear it.  
The ghost had floated behind the sorceress and quickly yanked her 
backwards with one hand over Twizzler's mouth to cover her words.  She 
flailed with all of her remaining strength, trying to again reach for 
her love, but it was too late.  The sorceress called out his name, 
daring to dream that he would answer her cries, but the accursed ghost's 
hand allowed no sound to pass.  She fell from the tower before he even 
looked back to see her go.  She plummeted through the air, lacking the 
strength to fly or push off her nemesis.  But even so she reached out 
and ineffectually screamed for Kyouji; even though he did not love her, 
somehow he would know, he would save her.

       Twizzler sunk into the Cola Sea.  Ghosts were everywhere, and 
many of them she recognized.  She was being dragged down, and even were 
he willing, the Knight Protector was no longer there to defend her.  
Another one of her ghostly servants abruptly reappeared: Queen Licorice, 
to whom Winis was apparently undyingly loyal.  Twizzler hadn't seen her 
in a long time.  The other ghosts formed a sphere around her; their 
numbers were overwhelming.  Winis released his grip and smiled. "We 
offer you our hospitality for as long as we can hold you.  For we would 
be poor hosts if we could not repay the treatment you gave us."  The 
ghosts began to howl out accusations, taunts, and demands for vengeance.

	The sorceress' eyes widened and she began to desperately swim for 
the surface.  This wasn't how it was supposed to go!  They were supposed 
to serve her now that she knew the spell.  She could feel her strength 
fading and her lifeblood was flowing out from the wound her unfaithful 
love had given her.  The sorceress glurbled, "Creme Brule!"  Nothing 
happened.

	"You're powerful.  Indeed, I fatally underestimated you once, but 
even your magic has limits."  Twizzler could hear that damned Queen 
Licorice's voice clearly over the shrieking ghosts.  Why wouldn't they 
leave her in peace?  "You should have listened to Lemonhead.  After all, 
it was he who sent us to you."  The dead wench would not shut up, but it 
didn't matter.  The sorceress was nearly to the surface.  "He warned you 
this could happen, and he told you that the spell wouldn't work if we 
were displeased.  And we are very displeased.  You can no longer force 
your will on us, and never will again.  Your strength has been exhausted 
now, and until it returns, you are ours..."
	
       Suddenly, Twizzler felt a burning hand on her leg, pulling her 
down.  She looked down to see Winis using the strength she had given him 
when she summoned his ghost.  "Welcome to the Sea of the Damned, 
master." 

       Twizzler screamed, but no sound came out as sickly sweet liquid 
rushed into her throat.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	Dawn was breaking, and the Crystal Warriors and their guide were 
reunited.  Both Kit Kat and Kyouji had been retrieved, each rather the 
worse for wear, but still alive.  There was no sign of Twizzler; Kyouji 
had said he blamed himself for looking away and allowing her escape.  
However, both Yumi and Tsugiko had assured him that she could have 
teleported away or have been perhaps reclaimed by Wintergreen even if he 
was watching.  More importantly, neither Warrior Priestess could find it 
in themselves to condemn him for not killing Twizzler outright, and he 
seemed to have taken some comfort in that.

       Yumi had busied herself with healing her two wounded friends.  
Kyouji had been so physically and emotionally exhausted that he had 
required a night's sleep to be able to move at all, and Kit Kat was 
still unconscious.  Cinnamon had assured her that their little guide 
would soon awaken, but sadly not even the pink Priestess' magic could 
restore the hole in Kit Kat's right ear, for the wound had been 
delivered far too long ago.

	The town's head priestess was now leading them from the luxury 
hotel where they'd spent the night to the ship that had been hired for 
their benefit. Cinnamon explained as they traveled, "Using divination 
magic we've been able to get an approximate fix on the location of the 
next Crystal shard.  This ship will carry you most of the way there."

	Yumi smiled.  "Thank you so much for everything you've done for 
us!"

	Cinnamon waved off the thanks.  "It's the least we can do.  You 
are the heroes of Mars, and the only three that can save us from 
Wintergreen."

	They arrived at the ship, a colorful if ordinary sailing craft.  
It wasn't large, but it looked comfortable and fast.  The Crystal 
Warriors and Kit Kat got on board.  Both Tsugiko and Kyouji were back to 
their standard outfits, although she had been edgy ever since she'd had 
to wear the skirt again.

	Cinnamon made her goodbyes and the craft set sail.  The three 
Crystal Warriors were leaning on a rear railing, watching as Almond Roca 
shrunk behind them.  The three all started when a female figure 
appeared, floating before them.  "Hi, you guys.  Couldn't let you leave 
without saying my farewells."  Yumi grinned to see their ally again, and 
Tsugiko seemed to share her view.  

	Kyouji, on the other hand, replied a bit coldly, "Yeah, great to 
see you again, later."

	Anise hovered over to float directly in front of Kyouji.  "I 
earned that.  I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble.  You did well to 
defeat Twizzler.  I don't know if I could have done that on my own, even 
at full power.  I hope you can forgive me."

	Kyouji slowly smiled and nodded, "Sure, I'm definitely in a 
forgiving mood now that I'm out of that miniskirt."  Tsugiko harrumphed 
in response to that.

	"Which reminds me that I have a gift for you, Tsugiko."  The 
spirit took out a large but fairly flat rectangular box, apparently from 
nowhere.

	Tsugiko's eyes widened as she took the box and opened it.  "Thank 
you so much.  I was afraid I'd missed my chance to get a new battle 
outfit in all the excitement last night."

	Anise grinned again and then faded from existence.  "Well, I'm not 
one for long goodbyes.  So pleasure working with you, and I'll say hi to 
your next incarnations."

	"Well, I think I'll go try on this dress, and leave you two alone 
for a while."  Tsugiko gave Yumi a pointed look and then rushed 
downstairs.  The pink Priestess felt a sudden rush of gratitude towards 
her friend, but thanking her could wait.

	Kyouji looked over at her.  She could tell he had something on his 
mind, but she'd resolved herself to speak.  Whatever he had to say could 
wait a few minutes.  "Kyouji, do you still want to be my boyfriend?"

	The Knight Protector was less than shocked by the question.  "Yes, 
and I realize I've been doing a lousy job of it so far.  That's going to 
change."

	Yumi felt her heart swell; she had thought this would be much 
harder.  She wanted to talk things out, be sure what of what they both 
felt, and resolve how to make a real relationship as painless as 
possible for Tsugiko.  But all that could wait.  She grinned at her 
boyfriend.  "If you kiss me now, I promise not to hit you."

	The sun rose behind Almond Roca, silhouetting the couple.  By all 
indications, it was going to be a wonderful new day. 

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

Author's note:

I have a fair number of people to thank.  First and foremost 
Nicolas Juzda, who was preeminently helpful at all stages of the writing 
process, particularly but by no means exclusively in the areas of 
editing and continuity.  I also have Capfox to thank for pre-reading and 
helping me fine tune characterization.  Thanks to Ardweden for being 
good-natured throughout the whole process and for answering a good 
number of questions as I wrote.  Also thanks to Jeremy Fogelman for 
giving me fun concepts to play with and for helping ensure a smooth 
transition between our parts.  Credit and thanks go to Regyt who was my 
consultant on neologism and nautical terminology [note for the OED: 
glurbled was hers].  Finally Coby gave the basis of the idea for how to 
end the Gummi scene, thanks for that.

Candies Used:
* Almond Roca: Specialty item on Candy Direct, no description - Seaside 
city
* Anise: Spice, used in Anise squares candy - Almond Roca's protective 
spirit.
* Angel Food Cake: Light relatively healthy cake - Twizzler flight 
spell.
* Cavendish: Brand, full name Cevendish & Harvey makes Lemon Drops and 
such - Gummi Shaman.
* Chewolas - Bubblegum crayons - Three legged beast of burden like an 
oxe.
* Cinnamon: Spice often used in candies - Town Priestess.
* Dars: Japanese candy bar - Monster that Krackel has fought with the 
help of a gasmask.
* Lotte: - Japanese Candy Brand name - One of the two Gummi children.
* Moofus: Brand of lollipops - One of the two Gummi children.
* Necco: Candy brand name that makes assorted minis - Large tree at the 
center of Gummi city.
* Skor: Hershey milk chocolate and butter toffee bar - New leader of the 
Sparkling Elite.
* Sugarplum: Classical candy - Garden park despised by Wintergreen
* Teaberry: Gum - New Mayor of the town by Wonka.
* Upside Down Cake: Dessert - Twizzler earth spell, less powerful than 
Jawbreaker Crunch.
* Vellamint: Brand of Mints - Representative of Ranchers.

Errata:
This is the first part where Yumi has shown any handedness, and I have 
her act as if she is a lefty.  I checked with Ardweden and this had fit 
with her mental picture.  Not to mention that it furthers my sinister 
plans.

In addition, Nic reviewed past parts for any mention of which hand 
characters preferred.

Tsugiko and Kyouji are both strongly established as righties.  
Similarly Riesen, Krackel, and Wintergreen also show definite 
preferences for their right hand.  Twizzler raises her right hand for a 
spell, so she is likely a righty as well.  Clorets is the only 
remaining major character with no clear preference.




Finally, I had a great deal of fun writing this part, but am still very 
new to this.  Any comments and/or criticisms will be greatly 
appreciated.