* I started this story back in 2005, fairly sure, and a bad habit of mine is to just write things in word docs and never post them. I like finished products, and don't like to throw something out if I'm not sure it'll never see an ending. This story, most likely, will not. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have a lot to offer, being one and a half complete books.

The story follows Uriko Belarus as the protagonist and associated characters from her initial creation many years ago. It was a fun piece to work on over the years, on and off, and if anyone bothers to look at it, I hope they enjoy. If you're a gaming nerd you might be able to catch what the entire premise was based around (it's not that hard!).

Enjoy!

Intro.

Creak creak, creak, creak, creak. A gathering of vines swung from side to side what their respective entanglements allowed. Upon them was a woman maybe a little over a hundred pounds, giving a nice hammock sway to some set vines some odd dozen yards up in the very fine canopy of a forest. Nothing ever looked so green in your life.
There wasn?t a pad of sun showing other than what was known as daytime and other than that everything was shaded in the area, except for the central opening which was a clearing, and it just so happened to be the hotspot for all commercial activity within the populous there. Business was booming.

The woman lined her very toned and yet muscular leg along with the closure of one eye to see her pointy petite little foot angled just right with the town-structure out in the distance, and a very soft whisper of a growl as she made a quiet godzilla impersonation crushing her foot down on the building she?d lined her foot up with.
Just how you bring your fingers up to your eye and pinch whatever?s in the distance, both cases howled of boredom. Some sexy sweat dazzling her features and she was wristing her forehead with heat exhaustion and that unavoidable boredom. Her ears very attentive on the trade-work off the ways in town. Loud crashings of lumber and machinery and imperial harvesting.

Men, women, and species of all sorts given your mandatory intelligence to negotiate business and trade were busy shaking hands and limbs and alien parts in closure of deals and sells, a very busy set of a constant source, and you?d know seeing the size of it the toll it might take upon the rest of the planet if something were to happen.
Resource prices would skyrocket and the import/export dependence would cripple the needy lives of those scattered across the liveable plains. A smile on not long enough to do her credit while she played with her hairpin and enjoying the breeze that would be nothing more than her swinging her foot back and forth. Winking to a squirrel-like critter that had fearful eyes on her and was just a little too scared to cross the vines.

Down below a small party of children were playing with a new outdoor toy, and there really weren?t enough of them in today?s society. All cooped up indoors with electronics and stuff of the sort, no these kids had been raised to run and play ball and have fun A frisball? A bouncebee? Uriko couldn?t make out what that thing was but it was a blend of the two, and the kids were having a time.

?Clever.? she thought while playing with her flawless chin, complimenting the sales pitch all too well that where a ball would lose it?s momentum in the air, a frisbee wouldn?t as much, and vise-versa with a frisbee losing it?s glide on the ground. She?d love to see right through that marketing plan that would be making oodles and oodles of money if she wasn?t suddenly listening in on their conversation. Childlike as they come.

?Wow Did you see that? ? the one in the red shirt chanted proudly holding their toy which he?d apparently just caught miraculously.

?Lucky.? the backwards baseball-cap wearing kid mumbled. There was always that kid who wore the backwards baseball-cap.

?That was awesome Billy ? the only girl of the group cheered, Sally. Your typical mother-goose names.

?Betcha can?t catch this one ? that hat-wearing tough guy challenged taking the ball and sprinting a way?s which Uriko had to turn viewpoints with on her hammocky-perch to see what was up.
Billy looked ready, but he?d never be it. The slightly older lad in the hat was jealous and chunked that toy however you chunk a frisball and it went way high and out of reach for Billy, but that didn?t stop him from trying. Jumping up and flexing his little fingers that the ball didn?t even notice as it sailed on by.

Uriko smirked and shook her head and then woke up clearly for the first time that day upon hearing a very audible harvest machine shredding on through without warning. And there was Billy right on after it, the sounds no worry to him, danger never was to children of that age because it was unknown to them. The risk, the possibilities, all experiences that come with time, and these children hadn?t many years of them.
Her muscles opposed her sleepily as she moved to get up, all too scared all of a sudden when she nearly fell, and that woke them up Walking her tractiony shoes across limbs until she came to the boy and the machinery, the toy was just within reach of both them. Uriko-chopping the tree where another vein was, it was quickly severed, and she grasped on with a quick test for hold.

In her mind raced a George of the Jungle similarity while she flew down, clinging to the vine for dear life with the wind in her hair and skirt until time came to show, and she was snatching that boy up just as the toy got devoured by shredding blades.
Physics had that vine swinging from side to side to a stop and landing down and putting the surprised boy down with his gawking friends.

?Wow That was neat ? one boy commented.

?You saved Billy ? Sally cheered.

The jealous boy was even more-so now, thinking he might have looked like a bad guy infront of the role-model-esque woman, so he bashfully crossed his arms and resorted to pouting, it hadn?t failed him so far.

Uriko was half-smiling with hands on her hips as she surveyed the children, a stare to the hat-wearing one that had him unable to even face her after a moment. She was looking down to Billy again soon.

?Awww I almost had it too ? he cried. Uriko was grinning, and where guys ?tsk-tsk-tsk?d? from the corner of her mouth, many women and Uriko included puckered her lips out and did it.

?You ?almost,? got seriously hurt. Those machines are powerful You should never play near or around them. Why don?t you play somewhere else.? motherly suggesting rather then asking the kids.

?Well we can?t now, the toy?s broke.? the hat-wearing lad mumbled out, but young Sally seemed to be holding her own wrist behind her back and swaying from side to side with a smile.

?You?re pretty.? she said.
Uriko beamed a smile, and a little shy she had that same youth about her. ?What?re your names??

Sally, girly as they came, was the smart one of the bunch, pointing out to the lot of them. ?That?s Billy, that?s Derrick, that?s Tommy, and I?m Sally.? and naturally she also believed in saving the best for last.

?Well young lady you are very pretty, too!? and Uriko got a kick out of that. She crouched infront of Billy with her hands on her knees, arms covering up the height of her exposed legs respectively.

?Don?t worry about your toy, I?m sure it?s fine ? her optimism was never a thing she could get rid of, ever She showed the boy she knew what she was talking about as she?d gone over to the cleared passage where the machine had already come and gone, and snatched up the bright colors amidst all the green. Two fine shredmarks in their frisbee-thing. And once the hatted-boy had seen that damage he threw his arms up.

?Great Now we can?t even play anymore.?
Oh Uriko could have said so many things to that. Scratch that, she could SHOW them so many things, like tag Hide-and-seek. Red-rover? Leap-frog, superheroes, power rangers; she shook her head out of her daze and brought the toy back over to Billy and took some strong purple tape from her bumblebee backpack, a cute, light, shapely backpack that did her size and beauty justice.
Curious children?s faces soon turned into grinning ones as she threw it, and although she didn?t know what she was doing, she wasn?t a frisball champion, the thing did just enough to show the kids it was totally able again.

?There see ? Uriko got out around the same time most the kids went

?Wow ?

?Thank you so much prettyful lady ? Sally complimented, she didn?t know her name after all. Billy and Derrick were all too quick to hold out for hugs and Uriko was all too quick to crouch and deliver them. Unavoidable childish mischief was afoot when their eyes glanced at her showy cleavage bringing pretty blushes to all their cheeks but Sally, she was just hugging happily.

Even Tommy snuck an eye in there but kept his pouty stance that was getting very strong to proving his point in his mind, after all he?d been doing it a good while, he wanted everyone to know that meant something

Uriko grinned, ?boys will be boys? she thought, and didn?t quite mind being their dreamgirl as she had passed through that brief moment in their lives. A smooch with a hint of lipstick on each of their cheeks, and she stopped infront of Tommy giving him a stare he wouldn?t be able to escape from this time.

?I gotta get going now, you guys have fun and don?t get into trouble, for me please?? she seemed to beg before him and Tommy saw his chance to please her and be her boyfriend or something.

?Okay, we won?t.? even still spoken with distaste and aggravation. And that was just what Uriko wanted to hear as she stepped in and planted a smooch on his cheek that he tried and act tough through, but his insides couldn?t stop that blush or surprised look. The boys were all too mesmerized to be jealous of one another, but Sally was looking between them wondering what they were so dizzy-looking about.

Someone got the ball going, and like that, the ball was rolling again. They were off. Uriko smiled and ruffled up the back of her hair and replacing that tape and zipping up that cute backpack with a swing over one shoulder and then the other. Her sneakers were a bright red and a soft caramel underneath, with a very distinct grilling of traction. It was a wonder where those shoes came from, but they made her run like the wind. And so she did. What destination awaited her? In her present smile you could tell she cared little for it. Under her shoes were the miles traveled no odometer could count, and somewhere along the line she lost interest in where those shoes took her.

?I?ll never do it! I give up! It?s too hard!! ? shaking her head from side to side. When trying to continue that, her cheek collided with a hand that held her still and her eyes looking at him, looking for a father those eyes might tell.

?Uriko. Never forget. What makes a hero isn?t strength, or bravery, or courage. What makes a hero is that they always find a way.? He stood from his kneel to her and backed the steps and assumed his position.

?Try again.? he said.

Uriko?s eyes, wide with surprise, soon sharpened with determination. And there was present-time Uriko again. Bar of soap in hand and a natural shower awaiting her outside that sheltering. A deep breath and she was sprinkled by freezing rainwater once again, only this time she didn?t tremble one bit.
It didn?t take her hair long to darken and completely straighten and stick to her. Her expression took a while to change, but when it did what a change. Emotionless, the way her teacher had taught her. And now her natural adaptation to the teachings. Her own twist and evolution to the ways of things; she smiled. And so the cute figure bathed herself in the lighting before sundown.

It?d been far too long since Uriko had felt at such peace. Since a childhood age nature had that affect on her. An emotional draw had her spending more time in tune with her natural state. In other words, her girly outfit was packed and her blanket unpacked. Fingers laced and behind her head the storm took a lot longer than expected to subside. Mainly the debate of storm-to-shower that kept the precipitation technically flowing.

All apart of that big circle of life molded and framed to fit this planet?s natural and manmade mysteries what they are. With the rain slowing and lightening, the stars were much clearer as was the presence of night. Uriko sashayed from side to side snugger in that blanket to better read the sparkles her own eyes were mirroring.
Anime-eyes had that capability. She?d have gotten dressed much sooner, but she knew how to play the waiting game better than most. And she wasn?t about to do it in uncomfortable clothing. Ready to go at the drop of a hat was a fit pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
Nice and simple. Sure enough activity caught her gaze and attention, and she was free-balling into those jeans and tugging that shirt on. Rushed in every way possible, so secondary wrinkles weren?t a concern. Tires to the hotrod she fitted her speedy sneakers and was silently sprinting off to the fern?s busy market in the clearing.

A buzz that was growing louder and louder. Things had become alive again. Her winged companions of the musical favor had gone back into hiding. The people were dependant on their trade deals, and The Battery was their biggest exchange. The storm cleared, and just as sayings went the battery came. Uriko?s complexion done no justice by powerful fog-lights across the market but more importantly the clearing.

It felt like an outdoor concert or something of the sort to see so much light and gathering congregation at such a dark and late hour. Her ears howled at the blasting hum of an airship, and slowly the battery came into view. She had upon her what a train carries when traveling in a straight path. And that would be a suction-tunnel of air that pulls at her sides and swirls at the back, so when coming to smooth walk from her run an apparent swirl of leaves drew pretty circles behind her before naturally falling back down to a still.
Hands into her jean pockets and weary of feel for pickpockets she navigated the crowd that was busy getting their things out and ready for the goings-on. Arguing and conversing and quick deals striking. She sensed the foul taste of illegal and evil works that were being done under the table, and all the more her questioning of the battery?s involvement. An attack of goosebumps when the massive Battery came into view.

A megaton of metal, a planet in the air traveling on the wings of thousands of hard-working propellers. Old-timey production with a sharp twist in design and evil shade of color, stamped with the logos of an old empire. It was very likely only Uriko recognized them, but you can never exclude your occasional intellectual who?s been there and done that.

Smack! The little child rubbed his hand with a red mark after removing it from Uriko?s pocket where he was promptly presented a popping. Narrowed eyebrows and waving a ?no-no? at him, he was off and she was watching the dramatic landing. A forthcoming of a megastructure rumbling the ground with it?s presence.
Uriko was this time the only one left in awe by it. The regulars were all too familiar with it and all too eager to begin their trade. A number of bays opened and darkly armored troops did their valiant walks out and instantly began controlling the crowd. Bulging biceps that were more armor than muscle still produced the illusion: Fear.


Uriko felt a great drop in her heart. Power from a few seconds that brought on the deep pain of a lifetime of broken-heartedness. For she recognized the great figure who was at the head of this airship. Syn Belarus.
She was much more than she seemed. A young woman on the outside, but inside a log of painful memories. Tales of a family always busy, always learning, and furthering their understanding. The every sparkle in her eyes was molded from this, the every-day she spent with her family. ?Fathers,? ?brothers,? ?friends.? It was almost too painful to stand before the landed battery knowing this wasn?t a house call.
This wasn?t chance, coincidence, but divine providence. She did as Ash had always taught her and she took a deep breath. Always enough strength to move forward, and she weaved through the busy crowd.

Chapter 2: Syn's Flying Battery


A unique experience to see the Mushroom Fern from another perspective. But this was a bit much, and a bit dangerous the higher Uriko hung from that lone bar. ?Swing a leg up ? she told herself.

And once level with the ring around the base of the battery she was able to grab up to the walkway above her and roll to her stomach with a sigh. The diamond-patterned steel openings taking in small portions of her shirt while she caught her breath.
Looking through that grated opening in the walkway was a free-falling feel. A tune with nature and seclusion to compose herself and get to her feet.

It was truly a facility in the sky. With a bit of wit and plundering Uriko was able to find an olden launch propulsion device upon a jump-down to a runway. She snug her sneaker onto it and assumed a pre-dash position with fingertips on the runway and her gaze sharply out ahead. She tugged the wiring off its lock and it released the charge marker.

Very few experienced this feeling, and had the guts to travel the speeds outside of protection. But Uriko had bigger worries: stopping. Physics were on her side for this as her steady glide brought her soar lower and lower til she could eventually incorporate her speedy sneakers into a blend with her speed, and soon she?d be running her own and lifting up a storm of miniature debris and particles the wind alone couldn?t disturb.

Ahead of her was an upward ramp of a bay and it was coming all too quickly to devise a plan for. Tucking low challengingly for her speed it paid off when the ramp came into view and she was faced a direct incline after the curve in the ramp straightened out. Ever since the ramp directed up she?d been steered indoors to the battery.
Quieter engine sounds now, but loud sounds now of a different sort. Reckless electricity, powerful slammings and roaring flames. Only her momentum behind her and it was running out quickly. She couldn?t run positively against gravity, so she did all she could and finally straightened into a dive with her hand out and caught a hold of a more solid platform. A long way down, a fall of eminent death if she didn?t summon the strength to lift herself up again.

Her biceps tensed with the muscle of a worked and self-trained young woman, and then that leg swung up and she was rolling to her back this time. Her eyes had to widen at the image of a mega-dome with strategical cuts and edges in the architecture giving the aerodynamics to better flight, and the mystery of different paths.
The color her whole body had eased to was a gentle blue. Compliments of the dome?s interior. The flooring complimented her sneakers with a nice steel border of aged gold and with that purple all around that housed the engines and machinery that was busy at work all around her. Telltale signs all around her ?Warning,? ?High Voltage.? mechanics and moving structures all hazardous. And she walked more cautious the more she saw.

Hallways that were never meant to be walked, and for good reason. Rapid beatings of electronic waves pulsating and even lighting up deep blue bulbs identifying the activity. A means of disposal and removal of excess energy that was being produced.
She had a lot of sense with where to head, as the narrow and unwelcome passages did stray from the broad opening she was currently traveling. Greetings came in claps and crashes in sets of ten seconds. Simple diamond-cut metal structures traveled along magnets that ran them up and down connected by a single chain that caused the effort that generated the energy.

As a result the distance on the chains is reached and stressed when the metal structure is no longer able to near the magnetic pull. And viola, the powerful clapping of the flying battery.

?This isn?t a game like you?re used to. This isn?t a war everyone?s going off to. I forbad your presence anywhere but in the safety of the empire.? Syn read as the voice of a prophet, looking as a King of soldiers in his armoring and attire, his face darker and sharper but he tried his best to put on a smile for her.
?Come on, let?s get you on your way home.? his hand extended for her to take.

Uriko grabbed her wrist behind her back in protest and shook her head like a stubborn child.

?... ..Uriko.? the hand of Syn awaited impatiently as he was in shock of her attitude. But there was some response. Some common communication. Her hand reached out slowly for his, and ultimately bopping it away gently. Syn?s smile grew, but it was clearly fabricated. That sword of his had found it?s way into it?s scabbard without her even noticing, and it swiftly rest over his shoulder still in hand.

?You?ve made your mind up huh?? and he?d let the sound of the clanging, flames, and metals ring their ears before speaking again, ?Do realize little sister, this is bigger than any of us. There was once a dream that was perfection, and only elitists see it today. We are prepared. No one and or thing will deny us the perfection of existence. Not even you.? sword shoulders had been switched, again without notice.

Her eyes narrowed with that sparkle she carried, love for her brother was stronger than any other. And to prove that she nodded, and removed her hairpin.

Syn?s next words escaped his lips with softness, love, and sincerity. ?Good luck.? one more smile and an appreciative nod and that sword was on his shoulder still, unsheathed without notice as if time was manipulated, or he operated during the time she blinked her eyes. The true mystery and agility of a ninja.
Whisps of air and the quiet little jabs of precision her hairpin lunged with. The cute little bumblebee to a short needle making her look a bigtime underdog in this. But just the fact she wasn?t getting diced into small sections proved her growth and expertise. Syn was a warrior and symbol of greatness, and not much escaped his prediction.

Being on the end backing up in swordplay didn?t necessarily mark disadvantage or inferiority, but getting a life-threatening slash of a sharp object howling through his holographic forearm projection. Syn roared in display of vigor and Uriko was grabbed with her stab-arm and hurled through the air of the mega-structure.
Fear in her eyes colliding and denting into a mighty cylindrical vent fan that was a pleasant fall-breaker. Let alone it?s grip with coincidental hand-sized diamond-patterned grilling. Her regular exercise routines had her flipping out of another attack seen a mile away.
The ?Syn? flying through the air with his sword out was a dead giveaway. The vent fan took some violent slashes where Uriko would?ve been.
Her only lifeline was that hairpin, and she dare not let it go.

That sword of Syn?s shone flawlessly held tightly in hand, and his sabatons were amazing with grip wherever he stuck those sharp pointed toes. Uriko in his sights, a beloved family member, but an opposition nonetheless. It had to be dealt with.
That sword sung again through the air and Uriko saw it miss her again. Her face was nothing of exertion or fear, but neither was his. Another one of her grunts had her missing another swipe and soaring the ways into the ventilation where he?d cut and soon she was carried far away in a crash-course for the good old outdoors. All over she swerved and saw where she was headed.

She?d come too far to be flattened into a pancake. Soon as she neared a side to the cylinder she got her feet to it. And that agility of her?s was truly amazing. Momentum had to build up, it always did. Slow at first but she got running in a spiral swiftly until her time had run out and it was time, to do something.
A forward flip and a sharp kick of that powerful leg and the whisp Syn?s sword made had a similarity with her foot and a slice was made that she all too quickly slipped through.

Sweat and hair did not mix, especially long hair. And without that hairpin she was facing some visibility issues. Nothing a bit of self-maintenance didn?t fix. A few hand-combings and looks around and she was putting the icing on the cake slipping that hairpin back into her hair. Syn was a legend in times of all but even his own massive ship was too large to pinpoint her position. Hence her safety in walking another hall unarmed. An incline at that.

A bit of clothing she would adjust in the silence of the walkway whilst looking around. A spiked steel sphere on a chain burst into the path in-front of her and then another behind her. Following the chains they were connected to a central machine controlling them. Syn in the cockpit.
A tear of frustration formed behind her poorly drawn anime-esque head.

The chained maces were quick on the recall and lashed out again, this time with Uriko running up one of them and facing Syn with a look of assessment. He took that time to target her and deploy the wrecking ball again. Uriko was targeted, and the wrecking ball followed where she moved. Square ontop of the cockpit unit to the machine.

She gracefully hopped off to safety while Syn faced his own demise, grunting angrily as the spiked structure filled his sight.

?.....? no later waited than crashed in a blast of crushed metal and malfunctioning machinery.

Inside Uriko was surrounded by the powerful troops, all armed to the tee in armor and weaponry. In any situation they?d encounter they?d have numerous secondary weapons to draw to never put them in a state of inability. She knew seconds upon entering she was fine, they were the most disciplined of soldiers. And no such order give by Syn for assistance in her apprehension had them still as statues.
She navigated her way through them and center the bridge to a more appropriate elevator. Syn?s throne with a front row seat to all the battery, even up until the elevator took her out of it. Down she went on a floor of white, around a background of gold. Not in literal, but metal colorings. Spiraling all around her til she descended from it and to a larger chamber of more gold metal coloring. She neared one of the ship?s chargers and mounted the spiked ball and held on tight, awaiting the magnetic pull.
It rushed her up like a roller coaster and had her grabbing a hold of the roofing she was swung to.
Her release was intentional, for propulsion by a spiked object only to fall back down to it was nothing too safe-sounding. Momentum again, she swung forward and back til she was going enough to drop to the platform where she?d risen to. And there she saw Syn, arms crossed and sword long in one hand sheathed again. A taunt of a stance almost, beckoning her. His face and neck completely unarmored now. Something was up, she took her time femininely walking over his way, hip-work as fine as ever.

Those sneakers swift and unscathed through all the events. A drop down over transparent piping and down to a dip in the floor where it would rise again where Syn stood. She hopped down into the pit a bit and stood still twirling her hairpin between her fingers.

?Methinks we should?ve kept you to baby-dolls, makeup, and dresses... Growing up did all too much for you.? Syn smiled, his grip tightening around his sword.

?But if you did that I?d never have realized to help my family. ?N stop them from doing something bad.? Uriko smiled back at him innocently.

?Have we filled you with so much sense our right is your wrong? If you are to kill me, waste no more time. I can carry this on with you for a lifetime, but if you are to be successful I?d like it here before my aerial ship vanquishes the skies forever and leaves me without a badass final standing point.? he winked and waved her forward with his hand.

The twirling of that hairpin ceased and she held it at a throwing position. Winded back and out it traveled right down it?s pathway square for his unarmored throat again, feet away and colliding with an energy field of orange and red. It sealed up the front of Syn, and the back of Uriko and her two sides.
She caught her hairpin on it?s ricochet and upped her caution when Syn dropped his sword and stepped up to a control panel, the one and the same that stopped that pin from puncturing his vitals.
Down from the ceiling a stout piping with a glowing orb on its tip began blinking the full spectrum of colors. Blue most vibrantly and then outward, and then faster and stronger til it had a sound about it. Uriko tested it, and it was in-tune with her everywhere she traveled. She waited til it all paused and dove out. Just as she thought it was a signaling of releasing the charge beaming down through his airship causing more damage. It was already declining in altitude and the more holes he blew in it the more it was destined for destruction.

The beams blasted powerfully fully though the airship and down to the plains below. The ship shook Syn and Uriko off balance, but he was quick on another charge and missing again. His anger couldn?t leave, because it had turned into fear. How was Syn to stop her, forget physically stopping her, he could do that easily he thought if he truly tried. But what ailed him more was prophetic descriptions that she matched with her spirit and outlook. He had to stop her before she?d actually be the one who?d stop him. Another blast through his ship filled him with fear and the shields began powering down. Fright filled his eyes and they dissolved into the air with no further energy to contribute to them.

No sooner did that hairpin fly out at him again and puncture his control panel making it berserk with sparks. He kicked his sword up to his hand and couldn?t gather thoughts of her before the ship quaked.
The big descent now, Syn bolted off in the only possible direction. It was an outer opening that had the feel of a tent. More of that grilling she?d first stepped upon, but things had become considerably worse now. Debris falling nonstop, parts of the battery even falling apart, and one nonstop shaking.
Syn?s flying battery was going down. After passing the bridge he typed the proper coding and sealed it off behind him. Uriko yanked out her hairpin and chased after, braying on the sealed gate. Death behind her and approaching if she didn?t advance. Not the best place to get some problem-solving thought out, but she did her best. Giving Syn a lengthy lead.


No two rooms would ever be rivaled throughout existence, and Ash and Dark stood in questioning obviously at remote locations. Green flooded Ash?s video reception of Dark and gold flooded his of Ash. The two armored suits of their names and representation that went with presence. They?d either been boasting their presence or close to the battlefield.

?What do you think she?s thinking?? Dark asked, a hand risen to his cheek for some poking, he stared at Ash with always interest in his every reaction and how his time was spent.
Ash held a helmet in hand that had a magnificently long tail of red fur atop it. Humorously long as it ran all along the floor in a long wave randomly swirling to an end.

?That she?s doing the right thing.? Ash decreed.

Dark crashed to a seat and the video phone device followed suit where he went to give Ash the best frontal picture on his end. His gaze was down to the planet Uriko was at, always a speechless view out of glass overlooking space and planets. Ash was ages away, nowhere near any of them.

?It can?t be easy.? Dark looked back to Ash and saw him nod for the first time during their talk.

?It can when she is doing the right thing. Sadly we?re doing the right thing as well.? Ash sat the helmet on a waist-tall table and clutched it at the crown like a shakespearean skull.
Dark waved his claw of armored fingers at the screen and it cut off Ash and brought up the full image of Uriko chasing Syn, lunges and attacks at one another. Cartoony how they never struck one another but a scary reality that they were that aware of each other. That powerful. Dark took a deep breath and Ash came back up on screen.

?Not the resistance you were planning?? Ash looked for Dark?s facial with the utmost sincerity.

?No.? his gaze back out to space.

?Hold still. It?ll feel just like a bee-sting.? and situationally it was a bumblebee hairpin, so she tapped that to get some more humor from him.
She winded back and winked him once before stabbing down. An explosion of metal hurled her away, and thankfully it was just metal. To each side of Syn frightful wheels of spikes spun and shredded steel til he was no longer endangered chained as everything was in this airship. He swung the powerful wheels of death around and then to a still where a conclusive centerpiece came up and caged Syn protectively, a sleek and wide exhaust above him and crowning the whole thing. It excreted black smoke gently nonstop and released long powerful concentrated waves of flames out at Uriko.

Enter the big battle. She rolled out of those flames as she?d done all his attacks thus far. The wheels were revolutionary in their material. They flattened to slim loops around the entire airship and assumed the image of an octopus clenching onto a structure in a full wrap. And much like an octopus, the constrictions showed life, moving in small intervals closer to Uriko and she had nowhere to run. Getting walls closed in around her being spiked at that was an all too familiar scenario, but with nowhere to go it was quite a challenge.

Scooting closer, and occasional flamethrower bursts she was getting less and less space for error. Syn?s cockpit was a marvel of controls he was operating with ease, until Uriko got all too close in his crosshair. Her speed and one of those demolishing kicks impacted his cockpit knocking the system off balance. The wheels began spinning and contracting the centerpiece all over the place, crashing through the airship in a few revolutions around the set wheels. Another kick Repeat reaction.
His adaptation to this was only to release flame bursts and everything else was completely out of control. A frontal kick and on the rebound a backward kick and she was playing ball with him.
A narrow avoidance of fire and she charged a demolishing kick enveloping the cockpit in flames and trailing all down to the spiked rings. They vibrated profusely until they broke apart and he crashed down to the airship. Hairpin ready for an accurate finishing move Syn showed no signs of revival. The airship began shaking a final time and a large missile bay opened releasing a gigantic missile at a slow pace. Sword in hand, Syn had grabbed a hold it and was along for the ride as it flew from the airship.
An awe-struck Uriko watched him get away before she let it pass for now. Surviving this sinking titanic was the top priority now.
Propellers and towers crashed all around her in her sprint back to the bridge. Once again surrounded by obedient soldiers she sat the controls and tried and get a readout on the position. Her heart sunk at the whereabouts. ?Fevor Deserts.? Homeland of Dark. Uriko?d not been there once, heard about it, read about it, dreamed about it. Looked like she was going to go about it as well. Detouring from a less than perfect landing she did her best to steer cautiously; wasn?t happening. She slung the controls angrily and ran back out. It looked even worse in just a few minutes change.

Swirl-swirl of her hair and then a puncture through it with the hairpin to keep it controlled she neared the drop-off. The smoke was beginning to irritate her, the fires were growing too large. The battery didn?t belong in the air anymore. She took a deep breath and dived off with true swimmer?s form. A pinpoint dive and then tugging open the lid on her backwards backpack and letting it?s little opening inflate with air. True to a parachute it ballooned and made the bumblebee of a backpack look seriously strained with tension. Heat exhaustion had befell her already. And instead of beautiful greens below her, nothing but the golden stain of sand. Her pack wasn?t meant to hold her that well, and it did begin failing all too soon before a safe landing.
The air was able to scream in her ears while she free-falled down to the rough sandy terrain. Crash And she was out cold.

Connar was facing a bit of a dilemma as to how not stare at her and completely handicap himself in doing so. He finished his pushups and no sooner caught a star trek style baton, minus the sharp blade and replaced by another bat of sorts. Dueling weaponry.
Uriko was tossed one respectively and examined it like a new toy. Two of those bricks that were used in construction were underneath each of them and a single wooden board extending between the two. Below them the roaring crowd and nothing else.

?All right boys Let?s see a good scruffle Connar ye be a load healthier after this if you don?t lose ? the gargantuan barked, and the men all cackled at his innuendo that Connar might be getting a beating if they are forced to see him naked instead of the young woman. Connar gulped at that and put on his competitive grin to them all for show, facing Uriko and stepping the first step out on the board. A struggle in balance.
Now Uriko all too easily trotted out on the board to the halfway mark and got a cheer from the men. She had fans all right, but she was hoped the loser for tonight. Of course with her ?conditions.?

?You prepared to go easy on a girl?? Uriko stayed on a foot but turned her other outward to help her cutesy pose.

?Hah You picked the wrong guy for this match then.? Connar said.

Gasp ?You mean to tell me you hit girls?? Uriko asked, seeing him step out further and near attack range between them.

?You kidding me? I?m pro at slap-offs.? battle stance Beating-sticks in both hands now they listened to the mighty gargantuan man down with the men but still toppling over them.

?Let the whapping commence ? and the cheers expanded to waves and waves of arms going berserk. Uriko and Connar looked cuter the closer she inched to him without attack. Clearly in the danger zone now and well within physical contact range they didn?t falter a beat. Thirst in their eyes and examination if the other would retaliate. But no, he was just as he?d thought: Overcome by her figure. Where it did and didn?t show. Unfortunate Uriko didn?t have the playing-field advantage she wanted, cause he was a looker as well.
He snapped out of it first and swung your classic sweep move in an attempt to knock her off. A woosh of air and Uriko?s bend of avoidance. Connar felt a press on his chest, gentle, snug, and fast. Then it brought on pressure. Connar?s whole vision blurred in a swirl and he had been pulled off the balance beam by Uriko?s baton. He fell for seconds before landing on the crowd. Fabulous cheers and crowd-surfing til they eased him back down. Uriko rose the baton in the air and got a cheer from the men and they all gave her a sarcastic audible sigh. The two duelers got a clearing around them and she flung herself onto Connar in a hug.

?Awww Yer not mad are ya?? she asked with a big grin, and he didn?t know what to think. Her voice sounded just as innocent as her attack was. She broke the impact that would have otherwise knocked the wind out of him cause it was damn fast enough, yet she lightened it and pretty much ended things harmlessly. But not without embarrassment
?Oh of course not, every guy here?s waiting for me to hold up my end of the bargain. What do you think? I?ll be lucky if I?m alive tomorrow.? Connar shook his head and Uriko innocently steered his moving chin still again.

?I think, you?d rather have them after you than me, if you don?t get those clothes off soon.? and she broke contact at the perfect time. Walking over and draping her arms around two other guys? shoulders. On their faces big grins and upside down ?u?s for eyes. Uriko adapted them after a bit of laughing with them all. Laughing at, Connar.
He sighed to a higher power that he had no choice in the matter. And the further his clothes went the bigger the cheers got. The gargantuan saluted him,

?What honor.?

What a lucky guy. Fevor?s humidity played a magnificent favor for Connar. His biggest worry was his composure. Often amongst men was a sign of masculinity to have a big wang, not Connar?s beliefs but he knew they were likely in the minds of the other men. In cold the genitals would go closer to one another and resemble a smaller appearance. With humidity it was the opposite effect, and the men truly had nothing to joke over. It didn?t stop him from covering his nude-self up as best he could, and bright red cheeks weren?t leaving any time soon.
Uriko had red cheeks a second before they were gone and she was trotting on over to him, taking a lean to the arm of his she was holding.

?I didn?t know losers could be winners too, did you?? her flirty side coming out and he shook his head in embarrassment. Uriko scooped up his clothes and started to walk off.

?Hey Where are you going with those ?? Connar barked with more worry than anything.

?Why, taking what I won of course. But here, if you?re going to pout.? she trotted back and slipped off a shoe, striking another sexy lean to get her sock off. The men mouthing ?closer, closer, closer ? the further her cleavage stretched that ripped shirt to reveal a little bit of nip but no dice, she got her sock off. Practice, practice, practice. She tossed him the sock and blew a hands-free kiss and a wink.

?See ya in the morning stud.?

?HMM? HAH No we can?t Legs. Not if we don?t want massive casualties that can be completely avoidable. Down by the sandfalls there?s an imperial guardian. HAH It?ll make quick work of the lot us. And dust in the wind of our cause.? Val said.

Now it all made sense, of course The empire wouldn?t let a powerful resource stand unshielded and unguarded. Just as she thought, it had a shield, and it had a sword. Classical armoring by their Ash?s standards. But the rockin? gunman of the desert? What did he have in store. Bite your lip, take steps thrice as slow. Watch for booby-traps. They began lifting the next brick.

?Wonder what?s in store for us? Success? Failure? What can they possibly have thought of for us, what fate?? The old skipper spoke of worry.

?Bottle your tears friend. We need your MUSCLE ? Val flexed, ?Lift yourself up, tell us: What shall you do once this is over??

?Hah My tears will come out then, that?s for sure. When I can hold my daughters again. Back out to sea we?re going. De-winterize the boat and pack up more fishing poles and tackle than we need. When I get back; maybe I?ll finally get all my old classics running. Retro oldsmobiles, A 30's vintage fighter plane. Plenty of stuff to do if we get out of this mess.?

Connar locked eyes with him over the brick they were all straining with this time,

?Yea? Give me a call too old-timer. I could use some fishing.? Connar started laughing and everyone else got the hint.

?If I don?t weigh the boat down, then... ..? Val got them bursting out with laughter, ?Get out here, get some food.? Val waved them off, ?We?re done for now.?

A half minute of silence, it didn?t feel right. They all hugged, and then it did. A deep breath by all of them and Uriko headed off through the incomplete camp to snatch up her bag. Fingers hooking one of the straps and over her shoulder it went. Connar getting all the right vibes to follow her, his lead was her ignoring him innocently.
Her mind was set now, the drill had plenty of drive. And plenty of time, what she didn?t have. It was off to the guardian.

?Here for round two?? Uriko giggled having not even looked behind her to talk to him.

?Here for my damn clothes ? Connar barked while he waddled on up beside her, holding his socked inbetweens in his hands.

Another cute little laugh out of the stride-walking gal.

?Lucky for you I accept forms of payment.? her reaching out for his chin with the slightest of touch.

?Oh? Great How about my shorts for ten million grains of sand? ? he grunted with a serious face.

?Hehehe ? she just couldn?t help it, ?Come on.? she popped him on that booty with a loud smack and got sprinted off. Connar stood still and watched her jiggle and pretty much track right off. So many things to think of this girl. But which ones specifically were running through his head? Connar smiled while delicately shaking his head, and took off after her.
Her intuition, and a giant wave of gold just below the horizon. Where the air seems to smoke from sunlight intensity, and there it would be. The great sandfall, one big ring and pouring inward pit of death. Quicksand with new meaning. Down below a massive boulder as a centerpiece, and the one and only gate into the temple. Uriko handed Connar his shorts which he slid on with relief.

?There it is.? She seemed to be beaming a smile.
?There what is? No no, let me rephrase: What is it, that also doesn?t rhyme with ?death???
?A slide of course ? Uriko all giggly stepped nearest the quicksand?s deadly start and plotted out some schematics in her head. A soft jog back to the drop-point of bricks for the drill-stand all the men were working on. She only had one witness, and in all honesty he wouldn?t be difficult to dispose of even if she showed some above-average elbow-grease. A push and then a running-push to a brick, all by herself that even ten men had difficulty moving. Out to the sand it tapped and she hopped up on it taking your surfer stride.

?Come on ? she yelled out to Connar, when his arm went up she snatched him by the wrist and lifted him to a stand beside her. It was a test to not get dizzy from the surrounding of draining sand all pouring down to the mote around the center-mark. Get dizzy and you?d fall off for sure But they got a whole lot closer and that rock just seemed to get bigger and bigger. The falloff point and she grabbed his wrist tight,

?Jump ?
It started to roll off and they jumped to solid ground. A disturbance in the ground, movement and indentation that wouldn?t have otherwise been there. This did not go unnoticed.
Connar?s eyes widened and he saw that rock, still as could be, yet the ground was moving. He checked his sides and all around to make sure the land wasn?t collapsing. Uriko smiled, finally getting the response she wanted, the action she wanted, and the progression she wanted. She walked up slowly.
A petrified Connar reached out for her swinging his arms crazily and with wide cartoony eyes,

?Uriko Pssst I don?t know if you?re visually disabled, but the guardian is that way ?

She stepped up further and finally before the massive boulder. It lifted itself from the sand, and as it all poured off, it began to reveal a stone torso, hips and legs. After it?s ascension ceased two unveiling arms fanned out and swords of blue, gold, and white mirrorized the sun. It stood ready to fight, to defend the gate to the temple.
It waited response, or better yet, reasoning as to why these humans were here, and the young girl before her not fleeing and instead simply rummaging through her backpack. Her eyes upward and tongue out to the side while her arm dug around and she finally made a peep.

?Ah-hah ? she took out an envelope and waved it around.

?SPEAK.? the guardian grumbled.

?There?s gotta be a way.

?Through a wall. Is vain. That?s true enough. Can?t go through a wall. But by the switch... ..Twice as fast.?

Connar let?s try something. Hold the trigger and let me go across, then I?ll find a way to get you back over.? She suggested.

?Ohhhh no you don?t trickypants. I?ll hold down that switch, and you?ll be long-gone.? he wiggled his finger in-front of her.

?What? We?re partners Bonnie and Clyde? Bert and Ernie? Bruce and Demi ?

?Who?? Connar asked.

?Nevermind My point is: Uncle Jesse couldn?t do everything by himself all the time could he? Shoot no He needed help from Danny Tanner And together they overcame every obstacle.? Uriko beamed a smile.

Connar looked at her hard and questioningly, ?Hey, why do you get to be good-looking one.? he grumbled some more.

?Hmm? The hips can?t lie honey. I gatta be the good-looking one. But don?t worry about that. I promise I won’t ditch ya.? leaning forward on one foot and planting a butterfly soft pinch of the lips up on his cheek. She stilled and forwarded a little further, ?I promise.? and she turned to the wall and leaned against it, filing her nails with a nail-filer from her pocket.

Cricket chirping and he shrugged with defeat, ?Fine ? and he puffed his chest full of air. The switch went back to it?s track and the wall lowered and Uriko?s gateway clear.
Connar?s conflict evident in his face as he struggled to hold the trigger in place, ?GO ? he yelled out. Uriko smirked a grin and glided over the other side, just in time to turn and see the wall rocket up and close their link off.
Minutes passed, and Connar walked up, dropping himself to the ground there and leaning his back and head to the wall Uriko was to find a solution to. He wasn?t too troubled by his expression, but he was looking around as if it were no big deal if she had left him behind.

Back in hard labor Val had paid no notice to their only female worker, and the mysterious Connar?s disappearance. His priorities were set to get things built, and he had enough men to do that, that?s all that mattered. But suddenly he was blipped out of the hot sandy deserts and chilled by cool air, shaded by black sky, alone in silence and not cheered in a crowd anymore. Curiouser and curiouser.

Syn?s fingers smoked, they had clearly been snapped. Outfitted freshly in alternative synja-wear. Armored more efficiently and still he refused to take away that stealth he had to have to operate. He waved his fingers to clear them of the smoking sensation before getting to his feet and approaching Val.

?Valence. Take a load off; envoy of divinity.? Syn said. A sword in his hand carefree and casually alongside him.

?How do you know my NAME? What is this craft that has taken me from the desert. NO? Val pointed out at Syn with defiance, ?My cause is what GOD has asked of me. To be suddenly vacated here has to mean you?re an agent of them.?

Syn stood with another casual lean in-front of Val, sword extending forward and behind him a silly long distance. It would only be Syn?s sword to be allowed that length and it be believable.

?You sure don?t miss often envoy. My condolences of what your kind is about to go through.? Syn gave the most gracious of head-nods and Val flung an 8500 psi jab at him. Fist hit the brakes into Syn?s scabbard that swatted the fist aside after stopping it completely.

?You?re one of THEM Remove my life yourself or I?ll not stop trying until it?s taken from me ?

?Take it easy giant. I?ll warn you now, I?ve got a rottweiler out back.? and he glared him down challengingly.

?What is your BUSINESS with me?? Val roared.

Connar just had to look at them and laugh, ?Like the buckles and loose socks. Bet yer packin? a heap of sand though.?

?Hehehe I?d complain if I had room to. But I think there?s a few bigger things I need to worry about.? winking over her shoulder at him. And around him, she had that secondary calling to sashay those hips. Just one of those things, she?d figure out how to explain it to herself another time. Yes another time, when it might make more sense.
They moved at a brisker pace when the lights darkened even more. A sizeable visual trick was victimizing them as it did many others who saw something far away, and assumed it was small. But the closer, and lower they got to the central structure at the base of the temple, the more they were dumbfounded by surprise. It was enormous. Enormous and pitch black.

?Uriko, Uriko Don?t disappear again Ahh forget it.? Connar shrugged as she sprinted off. ?I?ll just stay put. Won?t catch me walking into another dead-end.? he said wisely, probably saved himself another lump on the head.
A few minutes and light flooded the temple again. And there was Uriko high above swinging on another light-switch. An acrobatic spin and another graceful land a good way?s in-front of Connar. They both smiled for the light and then looked at the area before them. It wasn?t a temple as much as it was a city. A big surprise, but an even bigger one: there was movement in it. A mix of floating white entities and pyramid-workers. All light on clothing and heavy on gold.

?Act natural.? Uriko said, taking a deep breath and then walking into the town, it?s tall buildings all around her. It wasn?t a blooming congregation of trade and business no not at all. It was more of a safe-house/transit.

?Yea, okay. I?ll just whip out my ancient-egyptian disguise I keep in my back pocket.? Connar mumbled sarcastically. But nonetheless walked out with her and soon was exchanging lanes with the many walkers going around and doing one or two of two things: Eating, and conversing.
The white floating entities were quickly distinguished by Uriko as ghosts. Little, tiny terrier sized innocents with circular eyes and waving undercarriage. Nothing more. Connar had never seen anything like this in his life, and was looking and staring more than he should. So much to the point he ran right into Uriko.

?Oof Hey. What gives?? He asked her, standing still as a deer in the headlights. Her nostrils sniffed attentively, her eyes closed to deepen the search. Something reached her sense of smell, and she was pinpointing it.
?Uriko? What is it?? he asked stepping up beside her.

She was in a zone, in a mode. All she managed to get out was two words, quiet and softly riding out on no more than the steady air around them,
?Chili dogs.?

Her feet charged up and she blew up a heap of sand, taking off in her super speed she?s come to demonstrate. Those red sneakers moving so fast they created a red rotary belt underneath her torso while she ran. And a long tail of sand and dust where she bolted off. Connar coughed and waved the dust from his face and ultimately laughed out loud before sighing and walking over to a welcoming sidebar and using street-smarts to figure out a way to get a drink. A cute little white ghost floated over to his shoulder and kept nudging into him, and it was an aggravation he put up with easily.
In the main commons of the underground city there sat exact look-a-likes of Dark and Syn on giant spools. Between the two was a wooden box simple for simple uses. In this case, playing table for a game of checkers. The wind wooshed their hair slightly, and their eyes looked the way of the commotion just as calmly as the real Syn and Dark would. The dark-skinned one looked over his shoulder further to see the dust of Uriko diminish and the ninja-like one stealthily reached across the board to alter the playing pieces for his benefit. The Dark-one popped his hand, fully aware, and turned back to bite back down on a very old cigar.

?Still your turn.? he spoke around that smoke-piece.

?Grrrrr.? The ninja-one growled looking at his status on the board, a bunch of red king pieces surrounding his remaining two black regulars. Didn?t look good.

A small hot dog joint stood just at the edge of the commons and there Uriko sprung to a still, grabbing onto the bar and licking her lips. The hot dog man turned some dogs on the grill and rest lazy eyes on the hungry young woman,
?Ehh? What can I get-?

?Four chili dogs Please.? she grinned and sat down right away. A couple pyramid workers laughed at her hungry display and she giggled right along with them. They were prepared and handed to her, and then sent back as they didn?t have ?enough? chili on them. Swamped this time she was handed the chili dogs and things still weren?t right.

?Ketchup.?

And it was handed to her as well. A container, not a package. With this girl he wasn?t taking any chances on being disturbed nonstop. A big jug of ketchup and he was on to making some more hot dogs that approaching workers were coming up for. She bit into one happily and hungrily in a perfect blend together. Chili on her face all cute and childish and her worries seemed to have left her.

?Aren?t you worried about how much that?s going to cost? You don?t look like you?ve got ancient-time currency on you.? the hot dog man said.
?Nope It?s not going to cost me anyway so I don?t have to worry about that.? Uriko winked at him and he laughed.

?You?re a smart one. Tell ya what. How bout you tell me what you?re doing here and I?ll make a five and a half star chili dog for ya. Special sauce of the house.? he waggled a dressing bottle in-front of her with a nice nozzle on the end.

?Ooooooooo okay. Well this is the place the battery stops at correct?? she asked.

The hot dog man was busy making the next hot dog, sprinkling it in some ingredients and wobbling it from side to side with the pincers, ?Oh good heavens no. The hellship of Syn is a carrier that is the only of it?s kind that can travel it?s destination. It is both a wondrous place and a squalid one. He of the desert, the eyes as changing as the clouds. The heart heavy with burden. Well, umm. Heh. You don?t know what?s further, underground, do you young lady?? he asked and took the dog up off the grill, between an open bun.

The sand flooded still, ever trying on their composure. She didn?t know what to think now. Time was one of her main villains in this tale, and her wit was what had to be wielded in turn. So much pressure to succeed, to accomplish, to rise above. It?s easy to get cold feet. But she?d been brought up so roughly, for such a great purpose. She looked with the fire in her eyes that could burn on through the rain. Her eyes sharpened and she took the next bold leap. A steady levitating structure this time. And still yet high above was another blockade and a switch. She took a deep breath and held out her arm for Connar, his leap was hooked by their clasping hands, and up she pulled him.

?It?s not looking good ? he cried.

?Then keep your eyes on me Always works for me.? she winked and turned to that next marker. The sand continued to rise up into that room, and she knew there wouldn?t be time to hold the switch and pass through the gate at the same time, not if they waited on the sand for a walkway.

?Connar, toss me ? she yelled.

?Here we go. Don?t forget about me back here ? he grinned and scooped her up. A sideways turn and then he heaved her across the way where she landed gracefully on those shiny red sneakers. The switch started to go back with her back to it and feet back-pedaling it on it?s track. The wall started to slide down and just in time. Connar was running across the risen sand and grabbing Uriko?s hand and running her through the gate. Another seal slammed shut behind them. Was it a hall ahead or another branch to more switches and blockades, she was dying to know, but it was neither.

Her and Connar walked up to their hall?s end and a broad opening to another mighty chamber big enough to be the very bulk of the temple?s innards itself. It rained sand very clearly, pouring down in dozens of sand waterfalls from the weight systems that the sand barriers Uriko burst had acted upon. It was a beautiful effect, and even so was the sand ocean in it?s own pool where they walked up to. Still sand wouldn?t give an oceanic effect, but in motion, it looked very swimable.
It sloshed around in wide line patterning, and Uriko couldn?t make out what had it doing that. Perhaps this was the central supply to all the sand that flooded the ancient booby-traps. A rise lifts in the sand, some stirring, and a robotic centipede bursts from the sand and twirls through the air before diving back into the sand. Silver and blue steel shone as well as sharp blades and points of the most frightening proportions.

?Brilliant.? Uriko mumbled quietly.

?What?? Connar asked.
?This place, there are bigger things at work here than what the aztecs left us. That creature regulating the sandpit. Who knows how many are under there and making the sand waterfall the way it does.? She said.

?It?s as far as I can see. To the temple walls. You wouldn?t be in a swimming mood by any chance would you?? Connar said stretching his hands down to his feet.
Uriko giggled and pulled down on her shirt just to see it bound back up. There just wasn?t enough material to expose the curvature of the breasts the way she SEEMED she wanted, ?Guess this is as close to a bathing suit as I?m gonna get.? more giggling and she winked at him before turning her back and jumping right in.

?This girl?s crazy.? Connar shook his blushed facial and dove in behind her. Swimming was needed to an extent, in the sense of cupping the hands and paddling to help with progression. There was very little stability, the robotic sandworms made fine composure of the grains and they weren?t all too stout together. They kept close, a crossing to get done. No worry til the uprisen sand dunes spruced up their way.

The undersand creatures about to make their routine pass their way. Connar helped Uriko through where she slipped, and in return Connar got tugged up by their conjoined hands when he faltered. Uriko landed on the djembe-shaped platform on a long extension bar of wood and spring-loaded ballings. When Uriko lay on the drum base the weight pressured the springs and the thread of spheres twisted positive their tension and it began to lift the whole platform up at a quick speed. Connar couldn?t get onto it in time, but he did get a hold of it. And lifted high by only his hands on the edge, Uriko helped him up and their jump off to the contraption?s destination before it rest back down in the sandpit.

?All we need now is a giant boulder-chase and a poisonous dart hallway to-? and Uriko covered his mouth with wide eyes and respectively knocked on wood.
?Sorry. But honestly. This place may very well be our last gig.? he said getting back to his feet.

?Gig? You sound like someone I know.? she shook her head with a grin and with his hand she lead him across the downgrade that grew darker and darker along the way. The torches seemed to be dimming, but soon showed they actually were. That blue/purple tint grew on them and the rest of the temple, and finally that blackness. But it was not without light, the bright white ghosts had fully grown, their little eyes now sharp cuts, their earless scalps now sharp horns, their handless sheets now claw-gloved.
They stir collectively soaring over their heads, lighting the way somewhat. Uriko was deeply troubled, goosebumps attacking her of how frightening they were. Even the attendees of the Eagle Estate Library had frightfully powerful attributes. All the more to make her journey seem impossible. But Ash would have a thing or two to say to her about overcoming impossibilities.

?Come on ? she yelled and tug Connar faster down that slope. The ghosts seemed more and more uneasy. Finally swooping down to them in evident attacks. Something about when you?re running from pursuers it can open up the door to undying stamina and survivability. They ran and ran until they came into another chamber of a light switch, a gate switch, and another blockade.

?Oh thank Tucan-Sam ? Uriko praised and dove for the switch, hanging down on it?s pole and light flooded the temple again, the ghosts vanished.

?Wow, dead-end.? Connar said looking around.

Uriko didn?t wanna believe it. It had to lead somewhere. Why would it lead to a dead-end. She played with her chin and searched for her answer.
?We got another switch here, but no barrier.? Connar said, and it was true. There wasn?t a blockade to match it. Just the walls around them, the roof, and the ceiling. It was a boxed-in room. Uriko walked her pretty sneakers across the floor and stopped, examined it, and realized. The floor was of the same stoning all the blockades were made of. This meant it was attached to the switch?s track and thus a gate to be opened. Uriko smiled,
?Connar Pull the switch back. This is our door.?

His brows were up and seeing her tap her foot on the floor he quickly ran the switch back on it?s track. And open the tablet in the floor slid, and when released it had no timer what-so-ever. It slammed back shut again. No time to press the switch and drop down.

?Well, get on down there I?m a big boy, I?ll be fine. You do your thing, yeah?? he lay one arm over his forearm that lay on the switch.

?Don?t you die without me, mkay?? she winked and backed up to the solid ground beside the gate on the floor.

?You?ll need to worry bout yourself pretty lady. Be careful.? Connar shoved the switch back on it?s track and held it there still as could be.

A kiss blown and she hopped up and back and fell through the opening. Connar watched her poof and just for kicks held the gate open a while longer before letting it slam back shut. He fell to his backside and eventually lay down and look at the shady lighting in his present room, quiet and peaceful.
Gravity took no toll on Uriko, she didn?t crash to the ground or anything. The fall down her long ponytail swirled magnificently and the air ruffled her minor clothing just right. She took in the amazing clearing as it came into better and better sight. Her presence was known, as lights flooded on exactly to her arrival. It was a very family-inspired hippodrome to say the least.

Gargoyles shared similarity with the ones she?d seen at the Estate. Not the ?Estates? but THE Estate. No siding in with one of the colors, no the three looked best all put together, so to speak. And down she landed smack in the middle of the arena, the grand clearing. Four walls, and a statue being one of them. A long sharp golden deity statue, possibly a shrine, and if so, a terribly frightening one. Two bulky arms and spikes from them, a bulky chest spikes shot from it, and a headpiece with a green gem globe in the center of it?s forehead.

Uriko didn?t get to take it all in before it started moving. Walking on it?s arms, and it still took up the entirety of the wall, and with a four-walled perimeter Uriko was destined for sandwiching and/or confrontation. The stone giant had no rivals in imagery, in timelessness, in faithlessness. It symbolized abandonment, and independent supremacy. One more stomp of it?s mace of a hand and it stilled to pinpoint Uriko. She wrinkled her nose. Her hairpin was already twirling like a drumstick between her fingers.

?We knew you?d get this far. We knew you?d do everything you?ve done, as do we know everything you will do. This is fact. Now is law, you are hereby demanded to abandon your quest. You?ve had your glory-? a crack bust into one of the bricks this leviathan of a statue was constructed of. Her hairpin the projectile, dropped down to the ground and echoed with the rest of the rubble that crashed down with it.

?I?ll have my glory when my family stops doing what they?re doing ? Uriko barked her law. ?I know who they are, and if I could talk to them then they?d understand what I?M doing. And you know what, they?d agree with me.?

The big wrecker of a statue froze in the moment and then started back up again. Stomping it?s massive arms out forward, a full-room course to run over Uriko. Her hairpin stomped on and covered in thousands of metric tons of weight. Uriko clenched her fists and crouched where she released those weapons and touched out to the ground.

A track-runner?s sprint ignition. She bolted off straight for the structure and leapt to the air, head-level with it for a moment and moments were what she knew how to spend best. Her infamous spinkick and an energetic distortion occurred. The many bricks of the statue left what seemed a gravitational pull and separated wide from each other, exposing a robotic cockpit and metal limbs where everything worked. A scooby-doo unveiling indeed, a monster turned out to be just a suit. And behind the mask was Syn.

Chapter 4: The Lava Reef

She had fallen in darkness not long before her body glowed red, a bright red. Even her glorious blue eyes were overcome with the bright liveliness of the undergrounds, underground, the ground. She landed on a flat base of bright rocks with that flesh-colored pigment, tanned by millions of years of erosion. Still in the cylindrical pit that she descended down, but it was more and more becoming the planet?s true secret. Warmth in her finger touch and her flooring collapsed beneath her. Such old minerals collecting there were to break away with even the lightest of pressure. She maintained awareness of her surroundings at all times. Helped her to not restrict her eyesight by shielding her head. Not when she was attuned as she was falling. Her and the air had that bond about them.

What would it look like? Beneath the deep and through the veil. It was an almost aquatic glow give-in the wavey red glow that was her only light. It glowed in thread-thin lines at her sides and a collected spot at her very falling point. She landed again no sooner than it broke apart. A boulder-like assembly of brighter more flesh-colored stone. They crumbled and rolled down with her and things brightened up a whole lot better. What a statement, her clothing. If ANYTHING it?d be harder to wince at if she wore volcanologist heat-protective gear. She had to make do, it wasn?t terrible so far.
Like under scolding water in the shower, it was tolerable with a little motivation. She landed on the dip of a cup where the finale of the drop swerved her. Exactly as the hot dog man had described. Nothing but flame, and the loud sounds of engines and machinery. Her ?slide? was a curvature of rocks in the most uncomfortable and even promising of a here-to-stay red mark on her bum.

Looking all around the lit redness was continuity signals in the piping that ran the entire core. Where there would be failure per-say the lights would fail and show need for replacement. Very helpful in it?s system for quick repair and speedy notification. One would just have to check the planet?s core regularly. For the first time in her journey she felt the great adventurous rush of being on her own.
Her obstacles before her, ferocity of lava and the like had nothing but a grin on her face. Up to her feet she walked to the first lava flow and saw where it?s river ran. Showing the true depths of the cavern. A running start and she?d leapt it with ease. A brief walkway and then a flowing falls of pyroclasts. The bright rocks collectively shared the most unique of coloring as the lava completely accented light everywhere it was present. The piping all along the overheading and siding also provided light.
She wiped a dash of sweat from her forehead before finally taking her first drastic turn around a bend.

Oh it was magnificent. A near dance floor of rugged rocking. Mild light in here, but at the back of said location was the first machine, still as a statue. A quadruped of the machine world. A central engine and mechanical unit and four branching hammerheads. It blinked different sets of lights, a constant scan of the perimeter for shifts and changes. Uriko was walking out its way very nervously.

The change in temperature was a nice cool difference as was the shading. But upon stepping the right stones within the machine?s range, a quake issued the moment it woke up. Imbalance set it off in leverage and that meant construction time. The four jackhammer points brayed down with powerful hydraulics and rumbled the ground with no set stopping point. Uriko pinkied her ears again and squinted her eyes, it was a powerful banging sound. Before thinking about twirling her hairpin out or turning around the ground gave way, just as the machine intended, and it spread in a collapsing nightmare.

She was falling again, but with much larger rocks and a priceless demolishing machine to boot. That light returned, for underneath them was a lake of lava, garnished with your couple set rock formations that hadn?t gave way to the breaking down of the lava.
The jackhammers never stopped pumping, and with nothing hitting them they were even louder. Her rocky falling companions would have to help her out. She grasped one and used some physics in her progression around them and out to a site that would provide a landing spot more less flammable. A painful rocky collision, and the machine gun explosive sound of the machine sinking it?s climactic downfall in the lava. Uriko shielded her face and watched it drown. At least things were a bit easier further down, believe it or not. It should be getting hotter, and she was puzzled by this, but all this piping ran to her current obstacle, a closed gate. Airtight and pressure-locked to say the very least just from first glances.

Transparency here and there but mainly a single frontal golden car-sized brick with two transparent glasses by it?s side. She mushed the chesticles up on the glass inadvertently and exhaled on the glass and rubbed her forearm on it with a few cute squeaks.
She peered inside and saw a floored, walled, modernized hallway. Curiouser. She backed up and hopped her feet upon seeing a pinballish trigger button. A few hops and she was able to pop it in and the gate began it?s unsealing. Gears and cogs worked in their tangential configuration, unique to anything ever conceived by the concept.

It was to be assumed the engineer of the mines and mechanics to the planet?s inner sanctum were all Dark?s doing. And Uriko pressing her ear to the gate she smiled hearing the silence of it all. Very quiet tip-tapping of intersecting teeth, gears of the microscopic degree, accumulated in the hundreds of thousands all put into one door. A work of art made a functioning automatic door of pleasant response. She smiled the whole way it opened, and felt the instant breeze of air-conditioning.

It all made sense now. After stepping inside and the door sealing behind her, she was able to stretch up as high she could and sigh back down with a grin. Dark?s short-run kitty-cat corporation, the cute little silver cat logo was all but a news article as far as she knew and had read in the past. Days in her family?s care reading up on the history of the galaxies and of course her inheritance. One so was Dark?s financial team of the cat logo. A couple failures of releases in anti-weaponry but this entire hallway wore the logo upon it?s ventilation equipment.

?Wonder why this didn?t do good? It feels great ? she cheered, and then a questioning face put on that it might just be the lava-relief making her feel that way.

But nonetheless, the retired mark of the kitty-cat corporation was alive and well down in the basement. Looking brand new and projecting the all-star quality air-conditioning, it?s a shame it was never picked up as a major distributor. ?Say oh well? someone would say.
Her sneakers treaded the metal flooring, leaving footmarks upon never-before-walked passage. She had to smirk at the very soft lobby music that did well to give the impression that there wasn?t a thriving hollowed out planet core right outside. By the time it had come to an end she felt it came up short. Such a fine hall and decorative to boot. Her cute little footsteps slowed tremendously at the end of it, one knee rising out to promote her pose against the glass.
Her eyes wide, her mouth slowly opening more and more. Beside the wall-window was the respective exit gate of equivalent gearing to the other gate but with so many parts it was clearly done in another pattern to better sinuate how fluent the mechanics can work to such designs. This such depicting a beaming explosion from a rugged planet straight as an arrow into space.

Didn?t look good.

She let out a long quiet sigh and rest the side of her forehead against the glass overlooking the great act. The true image of what she had been running after, as it was something completely enormous and ever a wondrous fantasy world. It was so peaceful for her there in that air-conditioning, she knew it?d get hard again as soon as the heat struck back up and the fighting assumed.

That?s what was nice about her family. There was always the perfect means of summoning what you needed to go forward. Her eyes began to trace lines on the contours of the bubbly domes glowing with red light out of their craters. There was nothing like it. She felt a great deal closer to her family now the more she unveiled about them, strange considering they?d have their way of never revealing it to her. Strange how this was the way she came to learn about it. But oh there was beauty in it.
She was reminded of the fern slightly given the tall tree-like bodies that ran from the thinnest layer of the core to the towering case that was the planet upstairs. Jagged deep green and black-centered crystalized plants. Maybe thriving at one point, but clear time has been strapping whatever they were in armor since it?s existence.

The morphology of their shape, color, accumulation, and size was a thing to both marvel at and question all together. It was it?s own nature down there, alive and frightfully vast in the distance and high above, but all around her the bright color of lava and the rocks stayed the same. A pyroclastic explosion fires in front of her and she doesn?t even get to hear its power due to the thickness of the chamber she was in. She exhaled on the glass and drew a heart on the fog with her finger. It made her close her eyes and smile with simple thoughts. Her shoes broke that still pose and she was backing up from the window and heading to that door, pressing it?s much more accessible switch.

Uriko prepared for the outdoors while the gears and mechanics did their work breaking the air-tight seal on the door. A hissing sound of the escaping air and the heat was right there again, and she was out.
Into the frying pan again. And the further she ran, the more the fragile clusters broke apart and produced fresh lava flow. It was nightmarish to see unfold because of the hopelessness it showed. Cause whatever it?s purpose was in the EotW technology it wasn?t going anywhere soon. Not if it was the planet itself that did the task.
Identical to the landmark waterfall of sand in the desert, she?d spotted the lava counterpart to it down here. A gulp and she kept running over a wooden bridge and on down the rock path where the falls completely encompassed. She slammed on the brakes when a burst of bullets drew a ?U? around her position, one she would have otherwise walked right into the line of fire of had she kept running. Uriko sharpened her eyes on her attacker and it was another contraption of the planet core?s maintenance. Another design of brilliance, the gatling concept in firearms taken a step further.

A complete spherical chamber on a cord of fed ammunition that doubled as a tentacle-like mobility source. Two of them. And they spent no time swivelling around Uriko.
Crouched low and ready for anything, she still didn?t move, not even when they got dangerously close. She had a way of reading their actions before they?d happen. And true to it they weren?t doing anything but making assessments. It was that weakening disadvantage of still movement she was able to tell they were up to something, and it was then and only then she bolted off and avoided rapid fire. Where she had landed once both her hands clutched the rocks at her feet for balance, where she landed next her hairpin was in hand. That little bumblebee a symbol of her A-game.

The many blackened eyes of the spherical guns rolling, hard to tell which were gun barrels and which was the point she was targeted from. They fired again and after that they would never fire together again. A hairpin in one?s membrane it was sent out of control in a spasm of malfunction and its cord passed through the waterfall of lava, burning it to a complete state of lifelessness and crashing just to Uriko?s feet where her hairpin was taken back into her own hand.

A lone gunnery ball remaining and swaying from side to side. It did indeed get to fire once more before it met a similar fate. Uriko struggling a little bit more to get her hairpin but still with the avoidance of the dangerous lava all around her. Set stage to audio never before heard. Bubbles, filled with air, but metal. And microscopically clustered in numbers of the billions all fed around cells of artificial anatomy. Their popping making this unknown sound impossible to put into words, and it was made by the flexing of four digits resembling fingers.

A mechanical limb had risen from the lava river where it was all flowing to, and red and scolding although it may be, it was unaffected by it. And nearing this heat all near Uriko. She didn?t know what to do. If her pin failed she?d not easily get it out of the oven without scathe. She tended to twirl it while she contemplate, and she did so til randomly clutching it tight. The hand flung down to splat her and she was quick in her sprint out of the way. On the many bulky boulders she flipped to her back to see just what had happened, and that hand had put so much force into swatting at her, it was imprinted several yards through the gravel.

She walked over with her index finger curiously on her bottom lip. A deep breath and a machine gun of her own, in the form of quick stabs all to the glowing rings of electricity on the hand, and those rings were naturally at the joints on a normal hand, and once punctured, failure began to spread to it?s system. It couldn?t lift what was no longer able.
A spinkick and she hit the brakes on that, lined up perfectly with the hand, and then raising that foot high, making a straight line of herself when that foot came up in line with her head. Her fists clenched and a lusty nuzzle to her leg before grunting and sending that leg down with force. The hand silenced that metallic bubbling sound and Uriko was for once shaded. The bright colors of the hand had all began going off from the tips of the fingers all the way down to the full arm and down into the lava where it came from. And that?s what did it.

The jewel of the planet?s core revealed and it spruced up from the very boulders underneath Uriko, causing her to get carried away in a wave of rocks and rubble. Tossing a few aside and getting back to her feet after the quake, she began to make her way to a mighty capsule all by it?s lonesome. Hundreds of cables running from underneath it, evidently vitals. She twirl that hairpin and with her hair loose and long down near her hamstrings she gave off an interesting look while surveying the mysterious device.
Imperial insignias on it, OLD insignias. Of course, not many people had been to the planet?s core other than machines, and judging by the ancient air-conditioning units this made all the more sense. A few more logos and she went back to her teachings. She had always been taught to think, and think hard enough. And sure enough that lightbulb switched on. This capsule was a battery of the EotW technology, and out from the cables it ran underground. She?d figured it out all right. It had to be destroyed.

Her hair was back in control and her hands free, she got into a speedy run and a jumpkick right atop the capsule where a bright yellow switch performed what it?s function like all buttons do. And this one?s just so happened to unscrew it at it?s many connective points and at the end of things disassemble it like a lethal combination when separated rendered them completely harmless components again.
Uriko shone blue and black. The lava had died out throughout the core, that one energy source fed all that life, and now it was shut down. She took a victorious breath in and realized she was closer to her goal. But another metaphorical door opened. Her eyes tried and point out what that blue was, where it was coming from. With the lava out she really saw how dependent she was on it?s lighting. There was nothing but a line of walkway and it went straight to that blue glow. She smiled and ran to it. She loved to run.

The black beneath and around her slowly dissipated and the further she ran the more it came into view. A cavern, that was completely manmade, and the reinforcement and effect of the work in the reef. She raced up upon a paved path rather than a rugged one. And she was squealing on the brakes in a matter of seconds. Her eyes wide with love, she walked up carefully to the wall of the cavern, and that bright blue that was emitting the entire place was a crystal. Blue crystal formations all along the cave and more peaceful light than she could ask for.
Her cautious little fingers reached out and her hairpin between a few of them, she carefully chipped a sample of the beautiful blue gems off and marveled at them in her hand. A treasure to be forever cherished, and she placed it in her little knapsack. Walking down the way, the gems, boulders, and all had taken on a blue tint. This place had always been that way. But the piping was same as it was back in the first reef. Was this a second? It was definitely a separate system that much was certain.

The pipes ran all down to bright yellow funnels with red stripes, and from them flames shot in flowing weaves and waves. Expenditure of unnecessary energy she thought. A drop off by her feet which lead to a walkway of magnetic maces all connected in a tail of dependency, magnetism from powerful cylindrical generators spinning and forming energy to the cave. Floating crystal platforms and stalactites.
The mystery of it all made Uriko grin, now finally seeing Dark?s most well-kept secret.

The packaging of the devastating raw energy from the previous reef was all done here. The deepest and most glitterized of silvers made each crate of the EotW components all nice and ready for transportation. And oh so quiet. The large generators overhead spun just a fraction quicker than they had been running, and that set the whole room with a different fluctuation of energy and lift, exactly where it needed to be. Crates were lifted silently by it and all moved to each other and traveling merging where need be til they were all traveling in a steady line of traffic.
Uriko?s eyes reading all that was above and around her. She was terrible with directions, or so she?d say. And the thought of finding her way out now shot her with goosebumps of how deep she was in her family?s footsteps.

The crates crept up on her with frightening silence that she remained unaware of it all. Yes she?d have to physically see them in order to make an evasion, and turning on your typical museum-ish observance system there they were heading straight for her. An unintentional cute little gasp as she dove to her stomach on the polished flooring. A near blue/green pearl color. She watched them silently travel overhead and the barely noticeable change in the generators they were all traveling up, then out again. A set path. She continued to lay on her stomach til they were all done. Time to rethink everything. She had cutoff the energy source had she not? It did no good to even keep that as a trump card anymore, cause even if she had, seeing all this stock did it no good. There was far too much of the deadly component still rolling on this aerial conveyor.

Her blue eyes caught a flame spiraling from one of the nozzles and she stood heading it?s way. Observing it, tracing it?s designs which were all different and all beautiful. It would stop, design the next one, stop, the next, stop the next; stop. She seized her timing and leapt over it, still airborne when the next design began excreting from the flamethrower.
Thank the gods she was where she was, because walking up to another very unsafe cliff she was able to look upon the most drastic of depths she?d ever seen.

Things she?d read and seen depicted of wars and the masses failed in comparison to looking over that cliff. The bright blue where the crystals reacted to the energy gave light to only the top of the whole reef and partially the side. The lighting stopped it?s notable point there, but it still sparkled in little specks of light fading in and out down below. Miles and miles down where the shadows were scattered in no particular fashion. An empire of stalagmites all hollowed into homes. Take away your regular nubby-ended stalagmites and replace with mirrored stalactites and it?ll do credit to the blue underworld of magic and mystery.

The Temple of Water

Loud boots clanked from one to the other in an aquatic forest. The once ?Valence? had spent no time in pointless detours or even meager shortcuts. It was right to business. Trees that dripped raindrops from the bluest of leaves. Transparent in that watery wavey sense. Like walking through an underground aquarium he felt that sense of entrapment. But the look on his face showed his warning of what was to not come within his boundaries.

The towering sword he lifted back on the Dragonfli with Syn was all but a thin, sleek one now. Magically so and cased accordingly. Those boots of his coolly walked up to the most beautiful blue marble entrance. Some called it ?The Marble Garden? and once it had no other name. But since being housed by a signet of eaglian power it has taken it?s new aquatic name.

Val stepped the short step up to a grated coaster of blue and faced an old stone doorway sealed and on a circular track of some sort. An indentation in the grated stand where he stood beckoned a key of some sort. The man wearing the suit of ecosystems hadn?t the time for puzzles but another observation of the temple entrance showed it wasn?t going to be demolished. Something must have been helping it fight it?s battle against the wear of time. Some magical boundary.
Val knelt a thriving blue orb knee-guard to the stand he was on and it made the most quaint of glass clanks before he took a sharp look to the keyhole.

His magnificent armor circulated clouds and sky accumulations whilst he pondered until eventually, he got it. The sword he carried was lowered to this opening and its base ran right into the slot all the way to the hilt and barked a positive locking sound. A tug back with his hand on the sheathed blade and the ancient mechanics got to work and that stone wheel of a door slid aside revealing the blue reflection of water up upon the marble walls and accenting its light too.

Sword drawn back out and he was on his steady walk inside. The most narrow of hallways, one direction the whole way. Sharp turns at the ends all going left, and down. The side of which was not walled exposed the whole dormitory below. When he first set step to the lowest level of the inner temple he first took in his sights: two rows of drummers ranging from djembes to bongos, and a few flutists playing the low tone pipes you often hear from a cape.

Many of them seemed very old, and not a one of them traveling with their eyes. Their music attractive and soothing. Val began his walk between the two rows, the blue marble all around and separating in design with different shades of the blue on the flooring. In the middle, there was a risen step and upon it a brailled button before a brailled wall. Intrigued by this he took his steps towards it, being swirled by wraiths along the way. At peace they were, not overreacting in any way. The temple had them at peace and not stressing their featherlike robes.
Upon nearing Val he stilled and touched two fingers down to his sword straight up before him. He recited a quick mantra and quickly tapped the sword in a short and sweet clap sending out a magical frequency that warded off the spirits around him.
He was free to step up, and so he did. Up to the button and two boots on it. The panel in front and under his feet lit up a zigzagged line of brailled squares. And turning around he looked to see a massive walkway of that very diagram substantially larger.

With no time wasted he walked out to it and took his first step. The row of buttons all lowered with his weight and everything seemed fine. But the next step he took strayed from the pattern on the panel and he was electrified by the temple?s magical boundaries.

?Gah!? he yelled in a crash along the floor behind him. No sooner silenced as he lay motionless on the marble flooring. The peaceful drumming and occasional flute interludes went on as though nothing had happened.

His glassy globes tapped on the marble while he got back up and then it was looking at that panel. It revealed his path when he stood upon it, so he figured he?d study it before taking the actual walk. He pressed the button, and read its many lit squares. Seemed simple enough, but the higher he counted up the more difficult it became. He tried and conjure a burning sensation to his armor, to the air, something to make a note of the marks so he could use for reference. The temple forbad it.

He stepped off the button and the lit path vanished. Seemed logical enough. He stepped it again and sighed, at a loss for how to solve this puzzle. He swayed his sword from side to side before looking it and resting it to the ground. A swift touch to it and it expanded to that towering sword again.
With his if not more weight the button would stay pressed now, so Val jogged out and began navigating the lit path up on the ancient panel. Success. Down at the end of the panels he stepped out onto safe marble again and recalled his sword with allowed magic again.
Two paths, each steering bodies of water through contrasting currents. His marble walkway in the center. He walked out the center of it and took another knee down and looked around. This place was a haven, and the music just seemed to tantalize his ears the more it reverberated off the walls. He chose right after a moment and rose himself to the air against the law of gravity.

Approaching and soon landing softly to the colonnade veiled by wild vines budding beautiful purple maypop. His great armor passed through it?s darkness and cast it away with the life in the globes of his armor.
He looked about the cloister and it was a marvelous walkway for concentration, meditating, and relaxation. It was no wonder the instrumentalists here were so relaxed in their playing. And it brought up the assumption that they?d been playing for many decades. Down the end of the cloister was another grated platform. He walked down to it, observing the waterfall arrangements along the way and down to the pools of pure water where they ran. Wasn?t long before he was putting feet up to that platform and being surrounded in magical properties clustering at that very point.

A charging sound grew louder and louder the more they came and a blinding poof teleported him from that spot in the temple and to somewhere completely different. He stood upon a stone bridge of four different roads and center to it all was a thick stone channeler weaving wind from underneath the crossroad-bridge at the planet core and balancing the gravitational pull that kept the planet together.

Val walked up and took notice to just what powered this. True the stone figure was regulating the airflow but something powered it all. Sure enough, center the structure was a glowing stone of red. Plucked from it?s display and into his hand where it sizzled upon his armor. He smartly suffocated it with both hands and looked to it again and it was completely cooled. No longer red, it was colored that by doing it?s duty for the planet. It?s true pigment glowed a magnificent blue as the water and the marble of the temple.

He smiled and opened up an attractive little side pouch. The kind of bag upon placing a treasure into could make you wanna go out and be a treasure-hunter just the same. A stone obtained as orders went and he began backing from the central vein that maintained the planet. Finally turning and walking straight for a dead end that he slowly vanished walking towards.
Transmission to another location to continue his task, all the while the planet he had left slowly began to pull apart into its different conflicting sections. The powerful stone that held it all together now gone.

The cold eyes of the wolf opened and looked upon Uriko. He still seemed to have that weariness about him that didn?t show a single movement done too fast.

?How did you find me?? Rohkan asked.

?Heehee! Easy. I just followed my nose.? index finger slowly went to his snout and she pressed that cold nose of his like a button before giggling. Wiping away her now-tears of joy.

Rohkan?s chest bounced with a laugh-sect and he waggled frightening claws in front of her face. The claws when presented before a normal man would have him fear for his life. Fear for the bloody mess those claws could do in a second. The only thing Uriko thought of upon seeing them was: ?manicure.?

?You do know you shouldn?t be here, right?? he asked her and never leaving a corona alone, showed it some attention.

Uriko sensed all too well in his tone that there was a sarcasm in their current conversation. So she smiled and talked identical with it.

?I?m just passing along my terms to you guys. To stop what you?re doing before someone gets hurt.? Uriko swayed her signature peace sign at him and when combined with her wink made that cute animestic chime.

?You came all the way out here for that didja?? Rohkan asked with sincerity and in return Uriko reached out and began petting his cheek down to his whiskers which got appropriate playing with. She was just glad to see him moving and talking, instead of dead.

?Mmmhmmm. You?ve been behaving haven?t you?? she asked.

In a playful canine reaction his jaws slowly parted and a cute snap was applied against but not upon Uriko?s hand. A common and enthusiastic response to the attention she was giving his cheek. Although there was a high probability it was her playing with his whiskers that got his mouth open in the first place with the slightest hint of aggravation.

?Sadly, I have not. The planets as a whole are a mess. And the station I?m sure you saw breaking apart from the planet is on its way to space.? Rohkan shook his head.

?So, what are we going to do? ? Uriko cried out.

?I know what I?m gunna do.? Rohkan gestured his corona bottle and turned it?s back end up for some gulping that Uriko all too quickly turned back down.

?There?s gotta be a way out of here. There?s gotta be a way to on-board that station before it reaches space.? Uriko said, looking around.

?There is.? Rohkan answered, ?Right behind you.? his sharp claw pointed over her shoulder to the red sphere caged in the futuristic rings on the stands that just kissed the water.

?Great! Rohkan.? she grabbed for his big paws and held them as best she could with her petite hands. ?You have to help me. There?s no time to lose.?

His eyes spoke what his words could not, and he knew this well. As it was why he continued to stare at her. Ultimately looking away in a climactic moment of disappointment in himself.

?You truly should have never came.? and in his stare out to the side his eyes seemed to burn past the white that surrounded them, and gaze far beyond everything else.

?We made the places we did for peace. But it?s deeper than that. We used the strength we had to draw a fine line between existence and isolation. To the highest steeples that puncture the clouds of the many castles we stood up, there?s not a foul finger anywhere. It is this place, this home we envisioned of you Uriko. So no matter what happens, no matter what we may do someday. You?d be away from it all.? he continued and further himself into inebriation.

?But I wouldn?t want that. I?d want to be near my family, and help them when they need it. And I believe in my heart you all need me now more than ever.? holding his paws in hers at her heart.

Rohkan howled a cry of misery and broken-heartedness. Straight up to the white light beaming down above them.

?I fear for you, child. Your cause is noble. But there?s no stopping us. I?m victim to my own cruel heart. Promises of a lover returned, and you?ll not sway that chance.? he whispered.

?Jen? Rohkan, she?s gone. Do you really believe she can come back?? Uriko?s brows curved so sincerely, just trying to touch-base with him.

?Have you ever seen us fail? It is that fact alone that shines light on this possibility. We?re more graceful than ever before. I don?t even need to bring her back if within one little finger I can undo her ever leaving in the first place.? arrogant and with good reason, Rohkan crunched that bottle in his fist with a stare of determination.

?My gods. You?re serious. Rohkan. What has corrupted you?? Uriko lifted both his cheeks with her hands, trying to stare into his real eyes. But find them she did not.

?You?re destined for failure my dear. Because you do not see what we clearly, do.? an intimate stare back at her and a hammer cocking broke their silence.

Uriko was at a loss of words. This wasn?t like her battle with Syn earlier. Syn didn?t even get to touch her. How was it she performed so well against Syn, and here Rohkan actually drew blood. Did they differ? Mayhap Syn held back all along. So many possibilities that could forever change her mission in life. And deliver a drastic blow to her confidence.

Six rounds packed back into the magazine bigger than your average man?s hand slid up into the godly wolf?s handgun. The seventh dropped into the chamber and all sealed up in a frightful package. Aimed out at the young girl who was wide-eyed at what to do now. A blank, a whiteness of unknowing and impossibility. The hammer was pulled back by the dewclaw.

?What shall it be dear girl? A kiss felt with steel or a safe trip home with your surrender of this escapade?? he meant business, but Uriko seemed to chuckle. Again she was spared, given a margin where others wouldn?t have had it. All because she was family. A courtesy she saw repeatedly in them.
?Wow and behold, father. A weakness of your own. Don?t hold back, even with family ? she roared. Scooping up her hairpin, rising out of the water in a triumphant wave and weaving it between her fingers so snug, the perfect tossing position. She cried out in her throw and it whisped through the air like a bullet itself. Flying up at Rohkan?s head which he only leant out of the way from with a simple pivoting. The hairpin flew up and faded into the white above them.

?I think you have one more than me. As I actually hit what I aim for.? Rohkan slipped a claw in his trigger-guard and prepared to end her life. The hairpin traveled high up and showed it?s color so briefly in such blinding lights. But not for long, as it flew up with all that which Uriko had put into it, it punctured a massive angelic bulb and darkness flooded all that had light.
All was but black and mild shades of green now that the planet had to express. Rohkan wasted no time firing into the darkness. Blind firing. His hind claw up on the tire now hesitantly as his knee no longer reached. She had noodled out.

?So do I.? Uriko spoke coldly and drove a spinning back-kick into his gun-hand. Sending the Desert Eagle twirling off in some direction. A bright light came again, but only to it?s position. The red sphere of the center to the hidden palace. Showing Rohkan and Uriko in crediting dark shades. Both with fists up and surprisingly facing one another. Just goes to show their level of attunement.
The wooshes of air weren?t all that accompanied Rohkan?s close quarter combat. As with his claws the faint slashings that ever-missed her just broadened her fear of this loving relative. Mixed martial arts had it?s dance, as far as alternations went. And she saw her ?turn? and decided to test an attack of her own. A right directed at his snout which was right on target. On target, however no hit. His speed was just as remarkable as Syn?s. And crouched low in a badass pose where he could deliver the perfect uppercut, he instead grabbed her arm after it?s punch and sent her on the fastest air-travel one-way trip anyone?s ever gone on. A frightening wolf?s roar to show the energy he put into it. Her slamming into the wall sounded like a gunshot this time. The wind knocked out of her.

?He?s too fast.
He?s too strong.
There?s no way to beat him.?

Her train of thought went more zigzags than the circle she would have liked it to go in.

The loudest howls of misery came forth next. And Uriko was left only to ponder. What could have been so sad to make him do that. The light was gone. That was all she could put together.

?Afraid of the dark are you, pup?? she called out to him. Silence, the scary kind. The kind you know the ones in the dark are up to something. Sure enough, he made his move from the shadows. As swift as wolves do in the hunt and as reckless that can afford them their lives. Pouncing her to the shallow water again, and still he held back.
Breathing hot breath on her face, in and out, making one of her loose bangs dance accordingly with his breathing pattern between the true jaws of life, and their terrifying blood-thirsty fangs.

?Rohkan?? Uriko whispered to him, ?Do you still love Jen??

?Oh Uriko... What are you trying to do??

The wolf overtop her in that pre-finisher stance. The step before mauling her throat from side to side and shaking the very life from her, was not taken. And rather backwards, he plopped to the water on his backside tail-up first.
Uriko leant up and massaged her neck, reliving that frightful moment and trying to tell herself she hadn?t been decapitated just now. Her merciful eyes fell on one of her impacting parental figures.

?Why are you apart of all this?? she asked.

?Young Uriko, when the time comes round for you to learn of scriptures and prophecies you?ll since stop bowing. And begin searching as I have.? in the darkness his snout lowered more.
?Searching for what??

The eyes of the wolf sincerely sought out her own sincerity. And he found it in her watery eyes.

?Do you find it frightening being in the presence of those who could stop tomorrow for all who await it in their beds tonight?? Rohkan asked.

?You mean... ..you guys?? she took a long pause. ?Always.?

The wolf grinned, ?I can?t remember when we last feared the snap of fingers, the tap of feet, the clap of hands, the wink of eyes. The simple commands to channel death and destruction by our own doing. It?s been since dormant with the wearing of time. We hoped time would just kill us, and shower peace upon the universes before we might do something, or our minds infected by something such as our current crusade.? Rohkan spoke sadly.

?You know it?s not; good?? she switched sides, converting that cold of water to her other side. Feet brought up behind her and a nice lean on her hand while she face him.

?It is what it is. Time couldn?t kill us, and neither could ourselves. Everything we tried delved us deeper in this cursed gift that is; us. As I said, time for searching came. To find ways around what we have done. To fill my heart again with what not even the most power in all existence could give me.? he clenched his fist to a trembling state, where Uriko?s hand soon calmed.

?Escaping the night divine has been this old dog?s nightmare for as long as it?s been written. Now you?ll hear my reason for my wickedness, Uriko. To have the purist and cleanest altar there is, we must first cleanse everything of sin. And as you might put together by repercussion of chills, everyone sins. So you see how long our list travels.? Rohkan said.

?No.? she trembled.

?With the personal deliverance by The Eagles, will the stars shine brighter than ever before. And begin the prophecy. I can?t even begin to fathom what Ash and Dark crave in this ceremony. But I will see my Jen?s eyes sparkle again.?
?Would that really be the right thing? To bring her back? Would she be the same?? Uriko soothed him best she could, only holding his big paw as best her little hands could. Given his paw was gargantuan enough.

?I should know, right. I mean. I know everything. I?ve been around every corner, and stepped on every plain ever lit by the moonlight. I should know. I should know.? Rohkan rambled.
?But do you, know?? There was a long pause from the wolf, and then gentle sobbing.

?No.?

?Hey, hey, hey. It?s not too late to do the right thing. Rohkan, I have to stop them. Can you help me?? she asked.

?Where do you get your strength?? he stroked her cheek with the backs of his claws, a quite soothing slide, and an envious one in his question.

?From you guys of course.? she kidded with him and swatted that big hand away that he unintentionally pretended his hand moved from only seconds after her delicate swatting.

?Hah Dear Uriko, thank you for opening my eyes to what I must now atone for. Come on. You can still reach Dark?s ship.? he waved her to stand while he did so himself.

?These things materialize coding patterns in all matter compositions. And just like the scripture in DNA it all gets analyzed and hyper-transmitted in a straight-line and staying divisible. A relic of our technology, but miraculously stood the test of time.? Rohkan?s claw reached out and grazed the red orb respectfully and he withdrew it as it began to glow. A self-awareness ignition to begin materializing whatever it touches.

?Where does it go?? Uriko asked.

Chapter 5: The Sky Sanctuary

She chilled to the bone, a thousand needles of freezing winds that lifted her at unmeasurable distances in the briefest of time. Light flooded her peripherals and center she saw a blue. When things slowed and finally stopped she saw she was one with the clouds now. What she saw nearly brought her to tears. A dilapidated garden flying through the clouds, and even though the strong winds and difficult breathing were negatives, it still didn?t take away from the age-old sight. Uriko stood on old stone that drastically needed pressure washing. Moss and dew in the velvety clusters between the cracks in the stone, and on down the sides you could fall from that personified bleeding nature. The green that grew all over the bright stones of white that made the floating garden sanctuary. She shielded her eyes from the winds and saw best she could to make her way to the lounging wolf getting hammered close to the edge. Nothing made sense up here, and it?s mystery told her that it was likely the right direction because of that.

?Rohkan what is this place? ? she yelled.

He looked at her lazily and pointed to the safest looking area of the sanctuary with his corona. Middle of the garden was a since dried waterfall arrangement and to it?s back something marvelously written had taken the natural concealment of nature. Plants grew all over it, wild vines, flowers, and the overwhelming moss.

?Huh?? questions arose, but she decided to figure this one out on her own. Rohkan wasn?t very well composed at the moment. She massaged his muzzle before walking away from him and leaving him to the alcohol he?s had a bond with longer than her. And over towards the inscription she began to do some manual weed-wacking. Cutting off nature?s hold on the aerial architecture. Her eyes grew wider, her heart beat faster and more impatient to read what it said. Just what was this place, why did it soar and not plummet? A few more vines, a few more flowers, and words began to form. She stepped back to read it.

?Where Eagles Fly?

She fell to her knees and Rohkan?s paw landed on her shoulder.

?You?ve come all this way, you?re not going to stop now are you??

?No way.? she mumbled with eyes on her clutched fists at her lap.

?Then get up.?
Uriko turned her gaze back to his paw, the hand so to speak that shaped lives all over the universes and ended them just the same. Up that paw and muscular arm greyed with his seasoned fur to his red eyes. She closed her eyes, smiled, and stood just as he said. Just as she should.

?Hahaha!? Rohkan laughed, putting an arm around her, and steering their gazes across the horizon. The spaceship was ascending through the clouds far out below the sanctuary. Deploying mandatory spacial units from it?s sides that shot high up to reach space and blink their probes for the ship to soon reach that position. They sounded as faint gunshots and then screeched their rocketry til the soft fade extinguished them.

Uriko knew Dark was aboard, and Rohkan did as well. But where she looked it with determination, he was rolling on the flowers laughing.

?There he is girl! You ready?? he grinned bright and warm, just as she remembered.

?You know it ? she cheered.

?Then let?s get going. C?mon!? he waved her their direction with his snout, and took off. She had to smile, a wonderful test to put her speed up against. The slick curves and dips of the sanctuary were a perfect setting for her sneakers to tread their best. The wolf she watched from a bedroom window gallop off to war so many times before she was now running with, as a partner on a critical mission. She grinned.

Chapter 6: Death Egg

Uriko?s body was several degrees cooler than it needed to be, the ship was all metal and electrical units and of course some other alloys and components Dark would see fit at the top of their resistances and capabilities. All cold though. She did the monkey-crawl with her hairpin in hand high up hundreds of stories out of thousands that housed millions. Some part human, possibly. Part machine, creature, otherworldly entities. Not a single spirit lacking malevolence, lacking a purpose. Soldiers of the empire when it was pure served for the peace and controlled power it symbolized. But since the corruption, all that serves the tarnished name now is incomplete souls, machines, and creatures.
A purpose that is their central flame all that keeps them going. Promises to never be fulfilled of their families returned, a lover, a life lost, a reputation returned, a bad deed undone. Wealth and good fortune. Anything that a deadly sin has infected them by and they?d have no other choice than to serve on that chance and that one hope. After all, when has an Eagle ever lied. Funny how that could be hidden simply by promising their dues on the end of an errand list. And that?s what plagued these pitiful workers in every gaze they take and step they make. Their undying questioning if they?ll ever get what they hope for.

How far were they willing to go was the question, and it came off the shelves sold with it?s answer. For their ambition built Dark?s palace of steel. The traffic was almost human how the lights resembled what they did, their sounds through the air the same passes a car would make. How positively frightening something on this large a scale could pour itself so far into realism. It?s what her family?s always been about. Being artists in the sense of showing others what can be done, but most importantly the means of how, and the effect it shoots on a bullet of thought straight through mind.

Steady Uriko. Her grip tightens. If she could throw that spear into the heart of the beast at that very moment she?d do it. Where is the vital vein that lets this nightmare-ship function every passing second? Just a hollowed out sphere with it?s millions of blinking lights on the inside where residency is shown, and in the middle the big generator glowing it?s lights that rip into multiple dimensions, tear them further, cluster it all up and pump a ship-shaking distribution of raw energy into a .45 round. If there was an ?End of the world? factory, this was it.
But Uriko knew something bigger was at play here. A chess player?s strategy to predict moves several turns in advance, but to think the game out in it?s entirety is bold, maybe a little too bold for them with Uriko sitting face to face with him and tapping the timer.

She had to ascend, that was the only tip she had to go on. She learned on her own that her family always sat high. A very similar trait for birds of prey to roost, and for Eagles on top of the world is the only way to do it. Her hair, if taking a mind of it?s own, decided to get wild and crazy her image getting noticed would be considerably greater. So climbing the retro steel ladders and ascending the shadowed walkways. The bottom of the ship was where all the constructions were clustered, and the higher she went the less wood she had to hide in. That fire inside of her to do good, to stand the face of evil with justice at her side. Running up to the first of many inner-swirls of walkways. She ran out bravely and quick as her shoes did her credit.
The traffic up above and all around proceeded with their tasks and trips and hauls and a cautioned searchlight read a movement it beamed brightly on the speedy runner.

Alarms and sirens and quickened engines changed the flow of the ship?s audio. And this was effectively violent as near everywhere she looked, touched, walked and gazed there seemed to be caged units making up the majority of the ship?s shell and giving it, it?s unique coloring of midnight ocean. They thumped very much like speakers. She didn?t underestimate these bots, she had to get on the move now. But to no fault of her own they were much more sophisticated than she ever could have predicted. Head-on with her was a cone-shaped mech, a self-sustaining spiked mace orbiting it?s coney shape, and two big irritated eyeballs hooked and pierced by the machine that crossed the line of flesh to machine. It stared her lifelessly and lunged out that deadly mace to put her out of commission.

A scathe over the shoulder, it was just so insanely fast to react as quick as it did to the alarming and even quicker to attack. She grit her teeth and didn?t have time to check her wound, the machine had already fired it?s round, and if it was reusable she had to strike now before it returned. Sure enough it was on a trip back, but she wouldn?t let it go back to it?s orbit until it was a pile of scraps. Where better to poke a needle into your enemy than to take out it?s eyes. Those sensitive exposed eyeballs met her hairpin with about as much pain as it looked. She was merciless to keep her life in her hands.

The machine went into a spasm all over that thin and dangerous walkway with her aboard so she moved quick for the final blow. A line-up with it?s own mace and it exploded miraculously with Uriko rolling out of the way. Not a second?s rest and gunfire lit up her platform and she was forced to run again. Never before had she been pit against so many units, quick bullets raining down hundreds to the seconds and each capable of stopping her or slowing her tremendously. Never before, had her heart raced as quickly as it did. That massive moment of surprise when millions of guns pointed at her and blinded her eyesight momentarily. A highway of villains rampaging recklessly in a display of their numbers. It was indeed a miracle she didn?t go into cardiac arrest. Turned down a narrow passage, one of few at that altitude.
She was forced to control her breathing and maintain stability of herself. Where was there to go? She was quite literally caged like an animal to fight out whatever was put in against her. Maybe this marked momentary failure. Maybe she just wasn?t clever enough to make it out alive this time, and utterly fell into a deadly trap... Or maybe it was the complete opposite.

She looked to the traffic when the bullet raid stopped. They were all at bay waiting for movements. She wouldn?t be so bold as to assume they had vision-based movement like your t-rex but they were clearly waiting a response. Her eyes ran over the types of machines, some big some small.
Clutching her hairpin tight and running out, the machines picked back up firing. But they hadn?t expected she?d leap upon them. Traveling from bot to bot was quite easy, a disadvantage to their massive numbers and complete clustering. They fired outward and slowly the farther in she traveled the more their gunfire turned on themselves. It was no easy task to make them do so, she had to plan her evasion accordingly to do it?s damage and also keep her in her skin at the same time.
There were so many of them, every second was like that instant in a dodgeball game. You take a chance and are so wowed at your evasion you are left completely open for the next attack. An ocean of enemies and hope diminished the further in she traveled. Finally a brief spot of terrain as she stood on the ship?s solid runway of some sort. A stout pole with a tri-colored lighting lighting pattern: red, yellow, and green. Current color: Red.

Uriko, who thought all hope was lost, was suddenly grappled in a special magnetism that pulled her down to her knees and held her still. The machines turned and positioned to fire upon her further. But a magnificent change was going on. Uriko?s composition was being broken down to every existing blood cell and compound that made up her body. She watched in horror as her left arm was sucked down to the runway and materialized a deep black and blended soon after with steel. A lightscreen came on in the appearance of a flag beside the red light on the pole and it projected the number ?3.?
Her right arm next, drawn down and completely altered into that same material. They looked very much like wheels, and her eyes didn?t deceive her in thinking that. Her butt rested upon her heels ultimately in the pull of that magnetism and two rear wheels tugged down and her mid-section was forced down and she was able to scream out just before her head tucked down. A complete vehicular reconstruction. And she rumbled with pulsating energy. Her wheels vibrated and the big counter ticked down ?2.? The light changed to yellow. ?1.? and it stayed, her energy all the more pent up in whatever was going on inside her. The gunnery units surrounding her all began firing again. ?GO? the lightscreen finally emitted and the green light finally glared.
Uriko was set loose from a charge point, going out so fast and secreting so much energy she left a trail of golden energy rings and a solid cone at the nose of her craft. Just when things looked so bad, she was soaring over all her enemies who failed miserably in the chase to catch up. She went out, zig-zagged, spiraled, dove, and ascended to the higher unreachable points of the ship. The energy died out and the craft became more and more transparent revealing Uriko in her crouched position of complete entrapment.
That energy dispersed all the more and just crumbled into nothingness where she was released and coughing up a storm of discomfort. Feeling her hands and legs vigorously making sure they were no longer tires to a vehicle. Once she regained herself she rose to her shoes and gave a look around, for once in peace. The traffic down below was back to their business as if she had never made an appearance at all. And they all obeyed a strict altitude restriction, keeping their engines and sounds out of range from where she currently stood.

A fine walkway, and decorated in early-Dark. Statues on each side reaching out to one another ultimately where a white light glowed. Your doorway symbolism. She silently stepped to the side and touched out to the statue?s greaves. All the depictions of Dark were armored and fearful. A side of him she didn?t see much, only in the storybooks back home. Oral tales and murals throughout the Eagles main estate. It was certainly how she imagined to see him in battle. A serious one at least.
Her eyes traveled up it, flooding her blues with the blinding accuracy of the statue?s green armor.
Nine sharp spokes in total to the suit. Two at the tips of the greaves, two at the knee-guards, two at the elbows, two at the shoulders, and one central and fauxhawk-like on the helm. And there was his face, emotionless like any dedication statue of a warrior who, once upon a time, made a difference for the common good.
Tapestry along the sides of that white light also depicted this warrior image of Dark. And Uriko?s goosebump attack came swift and unforgiving as she imagined him coming out of that doorway. How would she penetrate his armor? A little hair accessory seemed so puny to one of his weapons. What swords he might use and dominate with, maybe and hopefully if he chose to fight her with a handgun and his godly ammunition she could at least get him to damage his own ship. Nothing seemed foolproof. But a tiny part of her awaited his appearance with great expectation. She had longed to see him on the battlefield in some form. Regrettably it be this way, she could still have it under her belt however it?d go that she stood proudly for him with courage and hope.
She kissed her hand and touched the boot of the statue. If anything it could be homage to a loved one in a more harmless form, despite even the statue looking provocative. Her guiding star was before her.

She felt so unexplainably warm and safe. How odd with her intentions, and the nightmarish essence of the spaceship, looking to that white-lit doorway shone out the darkness and fear and she was warm and safe for the first time since getting onboard. Dark?s armor was sure to run deep, if not in literal terms than in exaggerations. Maybe Syn was prepared as a trump. Maybe Ash stood united with him and drastically shortening her odds. A personal army, a personal team, guard. Any of the channels were sure to substitute the difficulty in there somewhere. She promised herself to be on-top of her game. No matter how comfortingly that white light tried and ease her.
She feared and approach it, but there was no other way. A long way down fatally so if not given a RSVP in a bullet storm first. The unforgiving traffic below that stayed it?s business until she got in their sights, or range rather.

Sound was altered, and it struck her cold. When you think things are quiet, and then you realize there were still things going on when it all goes completely blank. And it was so at that moment. Everywhere on the hull of the ship air pressure blew in loosening to whatever function had the whole ship seemingly opening up. From outer space?s point of view the globe now took a grid pattern and the creases were indeed openings. The individual cubes had changed as well and sharpened out and lifted up and completely changed the inside and outside appearance. They were now big black sections with still discs inside them just waiting to thump.
A buzz came through the whole station, and Uriko cowered at what it could be. It was the ship emitting the buzz from those boxes. Suction pulled powerfully at the oxygen in the ship but it was so thorough and deep Uriko was not affected physically by movement or breathing. She looked back to that white doorway and there was now a stand in the middle of the walkway.
A silhouette of a man in that white light steadily becoming clearer. Uriko squinted her eyes trying to see better, who it was.
The blinding light no longer evangelized the man and he was in normal light now, and every bit Dark to her surprise. Her hairpin was tight in hand and she was fearful even at their magnificent range of what he might do, cause he had a large object in his hand and she had no idea what it was. Too far away.
The closer he drew revealed more. No armor of any sort visible. Where she had in every way predicted him to be armored to the tee, he contradicted with tight blue jeans. Simple boots. A very untucked long-sleeve blue checkerboard button-shirt rolled snug to his elbows. And closer still he was smiling brightly to her.

?No Dark. Not like this.? she whispered on the verge of tears. And steps closer he took his free hand to bring up a wave to her. His walk never stopped it cool pace.

He was still going on, and either one of them to knock the door of death soon, it was very eerie to hear. She wiped her blood-spattered mouth with her wrist and lay on her back to recoup. The stars stared her back, it was beautiful. Dark had chosen a magnificent final stand. Or perhaps this was something bigger altogether. Mayhap it played into the bigger plan of her family?s universal purification.
How to beat him, those fast hands of his. No couldn?t be. What about that instrument that was wired to the whole place. Without it, he had to be defenseless. ?You?ve come so far Uriko, you can?t give up now.? she told herself. She tightened her grip on that hairpin and took off again just as fast as ever.
She ran out after him when he faced her this time. And it was hilarious. She ran at him with such seriousness and in response he stalked after her in a comical, haughty manner. Uriko had to tug a grin at his grimly-mannered walk after her. Too much time looking at his composure and not enough at his busy hands and she paid dearly for it, getting put through a new set of airwaves that came all too differently this time. Uriko was tackled to the floor painfully pressing out her features violently. From up above the sound blasted downward and regretfully with much more than a ton of pressure.
The tension of the metal flooring creaked and finally gave way with her passing through her own made blast. Leaving Dark on one knee with his other leg out.
She had spent very little time on foot in this ship. Every time he swept her away she thought it was the end. She?d go off into space, fall down to the traffic below, or even a fatal fall to the ground itself. But she rest painfully and torturously on the wings of a corrupt eagle.
His eyes would make you smile, and his smile would make you smile. And he was dishing out the double dosage while he watched her soar around. Walking and playing simultaneously where she traveled until he was back with the microphone grinning warmer than ever.

?Keep it up, girl.?

?You?re goin? home now.? He stood upon his left leg, his right knee brought up alongside him again and he leaned into the microphone.

?LET?S GO!? and he spun around once more letting Uriko glide down to the walkway after another energy-draining trip. Dark smiled seeing her condition. She was passed out, motionless, falling for a painful final resting place. He bowed his head in the conclusion and held his guitar parallel with his bow to be stance for her landing. Every bit in his prime after this display.
Not a bad way to go. Death certificate would read: ?Death by rock and roll.? There are countless people who would appreciate that. Too bad Uriko wasn?t dead. Nor was she unconscious. She had ascended beyond his prediction, and that in itself, was a large weakness. Seconds before falling she had waited. For him to believe her acting genuine, and to wait for the opportune time to launch her hairpin once more.
She threw it out and cried out doing so. It demanded it of her strength if it was going to make it. That little honeybee soared out and Dark caught it?s sparkle in his eye just a little too late. His mind sparked electrons and activity and he began producing responses violently. He concluded it was too late to get a sound wave to protect him. Yes too late. So instead he flipped his guitar around and bit the bullet with it. It sounded like a single loud woodpecker pecking.
Dark let it lower slowly so he could see her again. She was panting violently in pure exhaustion. His face surprised for the first time since his appearance. He then looked down, a direct puncture a lip below the bridge where it showed the damage. The circuitry was shot, and he tested this with one hand. It was just unplugged sounds, no violent super-powerful deathship. Dark sighed a smile out.

?Now this is appropriate for the evening.?

Uriko got up to her feet and a deep breath was the least she could have to stand him and look strong. He plucked out her hairpin and looked it over while he breathed calmly. He threw it out to her with a bright smile of approval not so much in what she was doing, but how. That fine little piece of metal slid all along the runway and past Uriko?s awesome shoes. She smirked to him and tauntingly winked before she turned to retrieve it. Just a dare to try something.
He dove his hand in his right jean pocket and came out with a selector. Looking to it with regret, looking to it as if it was a last resort. He pressed the button on it, it?s only function, and tossed it down the timeless fall to the bottom of the ship. Uriko?s turn came not because of her weariness of Dark, but because of the loud scrambled sound that was just blaring from the generator.
They finally came within range of one another, their only other materialistic witness was that microphone on it?s stand off in the distance the minutes it took for them to reach one another.
The generator wailed and it widened Dark?s eyes at the last moment. An over-exertion of the ship?s energy feeding all it?s connections barked him the theory and he plucked aggressively and the aerial support had returned, blasting Uriko in the torso with a tightly bound pack of air effective as a punch.
She took the hit and kept herself going to do a backflip to her feet again. Dark still had a few cards, and she angered at his resilience. A spring of recovery just as quick as his feet. But when he attacked again he did so without the aid of sound waves once more, the generator building up another pulse like before. But not at the present.
Uriko breathed in and out, and in and out, and ran back at him. A stab down that had her as close as she?d gotten to him thus far. A sharp pin glowing it?s fine tip inches from his chest where the airwaves had arrived and combated her stab muscle for muscle. Seeing as his life was inches from departing him, he was compelled to do so.
The generator thumping continuously now, every thump gave connection back to the guitar, pumping and pushing at her stronger and stronger. But only moving her so much. She was so confoundedly serious. She tightened her eyes and pushed harder and harder. Her hand shaking violently with disruption and tensity. The generator was bumping in single shots, but since it reacted in a burst just now, it was low and dry til it could charge more. Thus no more energy.
The waves fanned out with no more response from the contrivance. Dark?s tone pure until he was randomly silenced. His fingers stopped and there wasn?t a sound from him. Just a tiny poke. David and Goliath. Uriko stood face to face with him, foreheads together and two very different eyes staring. Dark hadn?t the strength to do anything, not even smile, not with his wound. But at the end of things he did manage to fire off a wink with a near ding and sparkle along with it before beginning a crash to his knees. But Uriko caught him.

In that stead she saw him to his knees more gracefully. His head dead on his shoulders and freely swaying til she could look him one more time. Tears slowly coming down and then removing the pin that stabbed him. She hugged him close, a deep inhalation that caught his unique scent of the beach. That shirt fabric was so soft and safe. She remembered him this way, and would continue to. She smiled and stood inadvertently burning his final image into her memory.

?Go somewhere fun. Somewhere you'd go.? tears fought back, she kissed two fingers and sent the kiss off via air-mail.

Book 2, Chapter 1: Rise of a Princess Fall of Kings

*We've knocked out the first and shortest of the two books thus far, and it's loaded with all sorts of little hat tips to various games from my childhood. Zelda for example can be noticed in the Water Temple chapter, which itself is modeled after a water temple from another game.
And probably the most noticeable of influences if you haven't caught on yet is Sonic The Hedgehog. 'Cinos' itself is Sonic backwards. Book 1 followed Sonic 4 and Book 2 follows Sonic 2 by levels as chapters, which I took far more seriously because as the years went on so did my writing mature and level of detail increase. Which was why I ultimately had to stop. I just didn't care about it anymore. In fact, for much of book 2 I kept myself going on the fact alone that I had come this far, I might as well finish.

So here's chapter 1 of the second half of this strange story.


Stout steels chimed a certain thickness when it came to occupied armoring. The geared assailant sprinted quick as one can go in those weights. Lava-flow and ground-shaking quakes sent the area and it?s perimeter a strong warning of territory, and it bothered not this man. His mighty boots even beckoned eruptions. A leap came from him that no man could take, and this put things in perspective that the events going on for poor Uriko would neither wait nor falter. The armor was quiet for the duration of the jump. The soar through the scolding air to the other side of the crevice. His gauntlet sizzled not unlike the boots he wore until he stood. Finally the objective of his presence: a symbolic altar mantling a religious stone. Red and yellow swirled in a still frame of silver. His ruthless hands wasted no time unlocking it from it?s natural hold. The pop of fixed stones and it was in his hands.

And a religious stone it was, so powerfully scripted, it decided to show it?s worth to it?s captor. By making the volcano as active as it?s ever been before. The armored adventurer faced the living structure?s heart, red and orange and stirring more than ever. His face had been more infected by the corruption of Eaglian power. Where a face once was, the metal curled in and masked him ferociously. The same orbs that shone like snow globes now sharpy sphered his eye-openings and all his humanity forsaken. When he reacted to escape and flee one can only wonder if somewhere deep down that is actually Valence vacating, or someone of a higher power puppeteering. Still yet he had changed so much. A gun so overpowered it holds no more brilliance, accuracy, or reliable purpose. That was often the case when it came to power, and greed.

The time had come for his light to stop shining, and his chances run out. The volcanic innards changed so much in such a short amount of time. By natural happenings or mysterious circumstances, Valence was trapped. The goal of his existence under his arm and glowing all it?s vigor, it was that powerful emitting energy that rushed the pour remainder of a soul in fatal lava. A faint eruption outside, a drastic drowning inside. Things grew quiet, and another quake begun. This time not the volcano. A beaming figure burst from the volcano and punctured the lava contained on the other side, pouring it out. The figure zipped down to the rocky retreat down the way and glowed red as heated steel. The globes on his armor the only thing unchanged. Their magical boundaries ever unchanged. Val held out his arm and observed the stone he obtained and an inhuman audible breath was taken before he began walking West, possibly to another objective.

The challenges most souls go through that lead up to those times when they can do or die, sing or hush, go or sit. The ones that?ll make them think back on that decision and the repercussions that come with it. A lone spotlight-lit circle of stage that?s barren and vacant. A quiet audience awaiting the show. The performance, and it must go on. A young girl in a white dress with hair longer than most parents would allow for them to grow. This young girl bore Uriko?s face, and it was a face of worry. Peeking behind the curtain that divided the open stage and the hidden set. She was nervous, stage-fright. The fear and lack of maturity, to do something no one really wants to do. Three parental figures in the audience, ones she couldn?t let down.

Expectations to meet and obstacles to jump. But she was too frightened to step out. And what little Uriko didn?t know was that the show must go on. A way of things she?d have to understand one day. A glare of white frames a distorted image of Ash. Her next destination, her mission. He stares Uriko lovingly and waves before white floods her sight. He was gone, and the sun was in her eyes. Present-time and five after two in the time of: afternoon. Three piece bathing suit. Bottoms, left chest, right chest, wait. Two piece bathing suit, glossy toenails (coherently swapping foot-rubs off one another), and hair down despite the beachy conditions. She lay upon one of those what-do-you-call-its. Beach-towels!
Baby blue, white, and yellow stripes ongoing til it ended. A tan to perfect on the magnificent isles she stayed. Sand sloshing under feet took a while to recognize approaching, but Uriko heard someone approaching. Beach boys. Your typical wannabe loverboy throwing out all the wrong cards in the game that is flirting and why sport the rattail is anyone?s guess. Or maybe the buff yet ignorant college goers who goof off there and no change at the beach either. The old ?throw a football into the girl? routine. ?Whoops! Hey, what?s your name??

Uriko pouted her lips for only a cute moment. She?d ball a fist and leave a nasty whelp if anyone threw any sport?s ball at her. But no wasn?t those boys either. The list narrows, surfer dudes. Built benefitting their passion and not particularly themselves. Commendable and a positive trait. Great tans and skills out on the water to prove it. Usually good with girls and if all else fails they have the coolest shorts in the damn world to fall back on. Boardshorts. The shorts everyone wears and everyone stole, from surfers. Uriko wanted a pair, and to that list of approachees the typical surfer would be an afternoon candy for sure. Like a plumber coming over and surprisingly not being fat and boasting an ass crack that a utility belt is too loose to conceal. But instead a bodybuilder you?d question taking out a boombox from his toolbox and issuing a strip routine. Woe is the daydream.

A girl? What could they want in this scenario. A lovely beach it was, and truly, it was lovely. But not free enough to promote sexual separations on the sands where nudity and party/tanning prevail. Most-likely a mischievous plight by a few jealous regular trouble-making ladies trying and cleverly do away with the unwanted man-magnet that was Uriko at the 98' degree hour. Not the ones to come up and sun with that?s for sure. Uriko crossed that line out false as well. Who could it be? She sought council from her beach companion. A cool and stylish ?compodre? lounging even more at ease than she was. Beside her she turned and gave her unattended skin some proper sunlight while she checked in on his condition. Kramer, the cat, on back contrary to most catlike behavior to be cautious. It was all to a fluffy cushion, the kind you wouldn?t let a cat near for fear of an unwanted scratching post.
And to top it all off, sunglasses. Big ones. Black, and with cheap plastic-looking arms. That cat was living the high-life. And Uriko was as well. She saw it a perfect situation to play out in favor of that which she could not determine: her approacher. She showed off her caboose by fixing her suit. She?d seen other beach girls freely reach there in public and unfold a displeasing wrinkle, etc. She hadn?t any but relaying the hold of it upon her skin was sure to get a bite on her line. A toss of the shoulder still not looking that way.

?Could you get my back?? a finger pointed to the yellow bottle of coppertone. She loved the scent, it calmed her nerves. Even in times when it?d otherwise be considered odd to put on sunscreen. That scent took her to the beach wherever she was, and out of whatever pressure she was under. She loved it, a definite ?must? for the beach. And dark legs leading down to sandals covered in sand stood still. Hairy and coarse and all the good masculine orders that come with the business. The beauty before him asking for a lotion appliance? What a guy, didn?t even have to boost his Extra Sexual Perception to stumble in on that situation. He lowered to his knees and they dove into that towel she lay on. Better that then sand, right.

?I don?t know why you wanted these things, you don?t even drink.? he said with a smile. He liked the idea, couldn?t figure out her reasoning behind it though. Regardless, he sat an old tin pail of ice, Coronas, and a lime down. The sloshing of ice made Uriko flash her silly bright smile.

?Can?t go to the beach without it!? Uriko cheered while chesting the towel. Smoosh... Took a while. Once the planes landed she did a couple checks upon herself. Fingers to collarbone, neck, comfort, and finally the suit?s tie at the back of her neck behind all that hair.

?You know... ..We?ve been here all this time and I?m starting to think you?re ignoring that very reasonably priced barbershop.? Connar said getting a knee in on each side of her while lotioning up his hands.

?What?! You?d have to be a lady to see why that?d be considered butchering, Connar.? Uriko said. Waggling all about uneasy now at that blasphemous-loaded statement.

?Would I have to be one to understand why we?re hanging around here so long?? he asked. Genuine curiosity. Beach was all good and fun for vacationists. Regular-day living could get very aggravating. The heat.

?I don?t know, but it would sure help you sense when another girl?s growing impatient. Move along slowpoke.? Uriko barked with half her face in the towel. Enough to hide her laughter. He caught the gist and applied the SPF. Not a great job either by most standards. You want that chill, relief from the heat for a bit. But it already had the chance to reach his body temperature as long as he had it on his hands. Regardless, her healthy skin waved with his hands as long as he rubbed it in. Back was a massage-filled rest and when pondering what to do with the remainder he guided it down to her sides and ignited her ticklish reflexes beyond overdrive. It was all sexy til her jump caused an unintentional nut-shot.

She didn?t even take notice lost in her laughter and resistance. Crossing her arms widely over her superfluously gargantuan chest. That unstrapped top was a near impossibility to use for cover while she squiggled around. Connar rest on his knees a moment with his mouth agape, ultimately exploding the lotion out of the bottle from a squeeze in his hand before crashing to the towel. A good rest would fix that testicular cramp.

?Give me strength.? he whispered. Talking to a higher power, some form of strength. Maybe a Hastlehoff imagery. It was a dude?s survival tip to just rest and stay put after a nut-shot. Uriko grew up around testosterone, and with his head showing his blood ties to the head-burying ostriches, she redid her suit incognito and seeing his recovery duration taking as long as it was, she used him as a prop for her back.

?Connar?? Uriko asked. ?How exactly, did you come across me in space?? there was a long pause. She moved slightly where his breathing pattern took her. He finally delivered his romantic melodramatic response.

?I was looking for a Wendy?s drive-thru.?

She bounced the laugh inside her that didn?t escape. Too cute. She reached for a corona and poked his warm back with the freezing beverage.

?Wooo!!? he cried, awake and all alert again. He eased back still as the prop he was. Finally giving in and lying completely on his stomach where her back layered over him. There weren?t enough things to do on a beach. She thanked the opportunity for thinking-time. Flashbacks of her family members wearing the faces they did when trying to stop her used to be frightening. Uriko was unaffected now. She bridged her fingers behind her head and looked around lining things up between her two elbows. The remnants of the shipwreck from reentering the atmosphere all but a beach landmark now, highly appropriate.

They hadn?t moved a muscle since it happened. And it had been a while for sure. She grinned and searched an eye around Connar when he swatted away some of her long hair that was aggravating his back. Just when would it be time to go again, and play ball with the big leaguers. A decision like that could go by months without making. Not that she didn?t know what was the better choice, but going through with it, kept many people?s whole lives without knowing cause they never ?went through with it.? Luckily her time was shortened for decision-making, when the peaceful beach howled the sounds of engines.
Those relaxing all looked up, shielded their eyes from the sun, and looked for a plane. It grew louder, they looked for more planes. They never came.

The sounds finally reached Uriko and Connar who both looked up differently. First the wicked-awesome hairstyled Don Juan scouted the clouds and then Uriko leant up and steered her sunglasses upward to see what all the ?buzz? was about. But it came not from the sky when it finally showed itself. Funny how things never begin a panic until someone screams, and a distant woman did so when she assessed the situation. A loud scream of terror at the sight of a battalion of hovercrafts. Bringing flame and metal storms to the peaceful beaches in a matter of seconds. Palm trees ablaze and happy families now running for their lives.

?What the... Uriko I think it?s time to go.? Connar said reaching for his shirt, but grabbing only a handful of sand. Uriko was putting his shirt on, and in a flash it seemed she was seen through a different lens. A loose guy?s shirt, a whole new form of hotness, right?

?I can?t say no to that now can I?? She picked up a bottle of corona and crouched the whole way over to a sand dune in order to get a better view. Hovercrafts were going all over. Imperial stamps on the sides and soldiers. A hovercraft slowed and held momentarily. Long enough for a perfected warrior to put a leg up on the rim of the ship and shoot a sect of quick rifle bursts into a frozen family. They went down at the popping sounds like fireworks. And the craft moved on. Uriko?s heart sunk. Cruelty, inhumanity; evil. Connar kicked up some sand hustling over to her spot, keeping low.

?Next place we go can we possibly get life insurance with a travel agent?? he dipped his head down hearing the whistle of a bullet. It was close, and a definite warning of a sharpshooter. She turned and cupped his cheeks.

?Connar do me a favor and stay put. I don?t want you getting hurt. Not until I thank you for saving my life.? she smushed his cheeks, as if she wasn?t able not to. And hopefully at that close distance and that soft talking he would be left unconscious and twitterpated while she tried and beat the bad guys. She checked his condition, not quite lullabied but very relaxed and staring well past her, leaving the puzzled Kramer to poke at his deadpan face. She laughed at some form of hopelessness before running off. Going after the first hovercraft she saw. Black color-scheme all around and it worked. White was very Ash-like but too stormtrooper at the same time. She charged her arm and hurled the bottle out. Busting on a black soldier like a water balloon.
It assessed the attack and only then did it face the trace of projectile. Uriko was targeted and a backup unit assisted in shooting a bullet storm her way. Forearms covered her ears and she protected her head down low while bits of dirt and tree shot up all around her. It was turning into a nightmare before it ever began. The soldiers examined through their HUD for any traces of movement and signs of life. Everything checked out that she was annihilated. They decided to check anyway. The corona-hit soldier waved an arm down once and the hovercraft proceeded that way at a slow rate. Assault weapons at their midsection as opposed to their chest was unusual but their accuracy gave it credit. Awaiting the girl?s body, alive or dead, they turned the tree and saw nothing.
That first soldier got conked again, and this time didn?t go unaffected. A coconut from the heavens bonked his head completely off track and that was all the time the monkey-like Uriko needed to descend the tree. A leap and she landed between the two close soldiers. The second one was well after her, so she dealt with him first. An elbow to his clutched fingers holding his weapon loosened the grip and then a very high and athletic upkick twirled it out of his hands and into hers. Two bursts drops two soldiers, butt to shoulder and very much boobage jiggling. Very few occasions can you call recoil a good thing. Uriko?s elbow stung, the soldiers wore such thick armors. But she was armed now, that accounted for something.

Clearing the hovercraft next, ever cautiously patrolling for more of those imperial guards. When one dropped down from the high deck to face her it was comedic how slow it was. They were that heavy in gear and armor. This one got two bursts, one out of surprise and another intentional and in a more critical zone. The bullets draw their pattern on his chest and he falls back. The steps her bare feet made up to him came slower and slower with a frightening realization. The emblems the units wore were not unlike that of Avia?s long past badge. An empire that fell by its creator for reasons of imperfection. Shocking, and the plot thickens. She dared and look at it?s face, afraid to see that which she?d only seen once before. That of a bloodied baby?s face. Emotionless, but if they had to be given a mood it would be a slight smile. A community face in the Nano empire.
The tension released that was building up so powerfully inside her when she refrained from lifting the dead soldier?s mask. She didn?t want to see what lie under there, so she didn?t.
That was one little bit that actually did make sense about her staying home during times of battle, was that only her family could endure the horrors that surrounded their names, despite her desire to help.
The rifle was heavy, strategically so to benefit only the specific soldiers should the weaponry get into the hands of the opposition. The cockpits for these crafts were near the back to give the best view of the nose. And not a troop in sight. A futuristic swirl lead the way inside the craft. A lone soldier manning the helm. His job staying with the group of crafts around him and preventing separation. The dead few outside tasked with exterminating life forms while he did so. He was busy pressing a sequence of keys that traveled down his control panel and then he went back to steering. Steering until he saw a switch off that he just flipped on.

A puzzled tilt of the head and he reached out and turned it back on. Back to steering. The switch was off again moments later and the troop was baffled. Uriko lounged on his back with an arm over his shoulder flipping the switch off again that the soldier this time took notice to. That surprised moment, that moment that calls for a gasp, was all the time he had before Uriko concussed him with a rifle bash. His helmet reverberated violently and to make sure she bashed him down on the floor. Imperial troops were ones she wasn?t going to let stay in the dark with their mysterious ways. And it all seemed in vain when she stepped up to the controls. The only thing she could distinguish was the acceleration lever, but the controls were impossible to comprehend.

She was still able to go in the direction she wanted, but where an able pilot would go it straight, she went the direction at a very awkward slant. The herd, the pack, ahead of her and just enough time for her to figure out where the craft?s weapon system was located. Explosions rose up the planet?s face all in front her and she poked her head up to see what the confusion was.

?Uriko, you?re bound to hit a few walls before you start running good laps. Don?t be hard on yourself.? the white-haired one said, the woman atop the craft nodded in agreement.

?And who are you? Should I just believe this from a total stranger?? Uriko asked.

?They seem plenty friendly to me.? Connar said decorated in hair ribbons. Hair bows and simple stuff of the like would have looked very bad with his hairstyle, but the ribbons were so bright and reflective he didn?t look half bad. Still he seemed as though he wouldn?t personally adorn them but the cute little blue-haired girl giggling lounged over his shoulder made it seem as though he had no choice and just, dealt. She wore the same robes, same shoes, same badge, as the others. He sighed heavily but optimistic by it, ?could?ve been worse.? he thought. Badly injured by devastating punches, not like he could?ve resisted the hairdo, much less from the one who clearly saved him.

?Connar are you okay? You better not hurt him you-you!? she pointed out her finger very upset. Connar was a precious friend, and she wouldn?t see anything happen to him.

?He?s just fine, doesn?t talk much though. Not even when I told him how pretty the ribbons made him look!? the blue-haired girl spoke enthusiastically poking Connar?s cheek with her finger. Uriko started to move for him and was face to face with the white-haired mystery.

?Even a total stranger could see... you can?t get anywhere using something like this.? he tapped the broken hair accessory upon his hand.

?She got this far just using that? Wow!? the blue-haired girl cheered with eyes so wide in amazement she seemed childish, but to assume anything but unrivaled power from this group would be a big mistake.

Uriko turned red all too quick and began fumbling through her hair embarrassed,
?Well it was no big deal. Big guns and swords are too heavy for me so I just used something I had sitting on my jewelry box for years.? she gave her first giggle and got the blue-haired one doing it right along with her.

?Impressive.? the woman atop the craft worded, focused on the long-haired Uriko now, trying and play the story of current events she knew about done with a mere hairpin.

?Is it true you killed the Desert King with this?? the white-haired one asked very seriously. Not as if it?d have repercussions how she gave her answer, but more so from an eager to know perspective.

?Dark? Yes.? her confirmation came out so sadly, and all the eyes turned on the conversation.

?I can?t believe it. There?s hope for you yet young lady. I am Kobahru, Captain of the exquisite group of individuals you see before you. It?s a pleasure.? a slight bow, and then slight nods all around. Uriko normally would?ve waved, hugged, shook hands vigorously, but seeing the bow she returned it with an energetic one of her own.

?Great to meet you all as well! Thank you so much for saving us.? Uriko beamed her smile now.

?Wasn?t any trouble at all.? Kobahru said, and the figure atop the craft smirked.

?Seriously. It wasn?t.?

Uriko?s gaze shifted from the bunch before back to the Captain, ?So who are you all? Were you friends of my brothers?? each of their eyes sharpened on her question as if it hit a tender subject. All of them alarmed but the Captain.

?Once upon a speedometer. Syn specifically. He ran the dunes and sandhills with us across the desert. That was a long time ago.? Kobahru began, and Uriko jumped on the situation. It was as if she found something she?d long looked for.

?Tell me more! There?s so little I know of him. Please.? she asked.
?We all knew him, before we split ways.? the woman up at her roost gave her two cents.

?You mean you left each other?? Uriko asked.

?As comrades and we parted spiritually as well one day. We are a very pure group and we were tempted by the mass of powers that come to those they choose. Syn was one of the mightiest ninja I knew, and I still don?t know how he became so easily susceptible to it. But we chose to make no moves of action because we saw his mentality unchanged. It was a decision we would regret for a very long time.? Kobahru said straying his beautiful eyes. Uriko could hardly keep her own off them. They looked so cold and red, they went well with his hair.

?I?m glad you didn?t. If you had I wouldn?t have grown up the way I did. He was like a dad and a brother to me.? Uriko spoke so caring of him in her tone, and the crew looked puzzled.

?This is why we didn?t take his life when we had the chance. We knew he was capable, we just never saw him going through with it. His mind was too strong. And likewise on down the road he stayed cleansed of evil, even through your years.? Kobahru brought his eyes back around to his teammates.

?You must understand Uriko, that?s not the Syn you know anymore.? the woman said.

?I?m surprised he can accomplish basic speech and movement. There?s too much inside one little man to contain.? the man on Uriko?s right side said taking a lean against the wall between two broken windows.

?He?s toooooooo powerful. Eagles were never meant to live anyway. They always start thinking bad things at some point.? the blue-haired girl said in singsong. She really did seem that of a child, but lounging two enormous melons over Connar?s shoulder begged to differ.

?Wait! Eagles are good! Eagles are the heroes! They?ve done so much good.? Uriko protested. Kobahru had blinked positions and now rest forearms over the rail beside the confused girl. She jumped in surprise when he began talking.

?Eagles are the highest reach of power obtained by power holders. We had enemies back when and desired their defeat for many different reasons. But the lot of us kept sanity and the right reasons in mind. We knew where to draw the line.?

?But Syn, Ash, Dark, and the wolf kept going. And became more than anyone could have imagined. It was the start of a real big mess.? that same man said.

?Why don?t you help me stop them?? Uriko asked.

?If we could kill them they?d be dead by now.? the perched mistress spoke coldly. Uriko wondered how she could say that so easily about her family. She questioned her appearance, she seemed a very mature woman, definitely no child like the other one. The kind of woman you don?t see smile that often.

?That?s a fine idea Uriko. But I don?t think that?s your best option. Say you defeat Syn, and the wolf. And all goes according to plan. You still have to face the strongest of them all... My dear, Ash Brimmer is not the entity you want to get in the mix with. It?s as hopeless as keeping a match lit in the middle of a monsoon.? Kobahru said.

?Not quite Mister! I?ve already stopped Dark, and Rohkan! If I can at least do that, I should be able to stop the rest of my family too!? she cheered.

?The wolf still prowls endless nights. Uriko. Don?t believe a one of them out of the way until their black hearts have stopped beating.? Kobahru said. And Uriko was still in disbelief that Rohkan was still alive. How frightening things now were, as if they were not bad enough. Her fists tight, trembling. She released them and calmed.

?Still. I?m not going to give up. Ash told me once when I was a little girl. Even if things look impossible, I have to find a way. Cause that?s what heroes do.? she whispered on the verge of tears, BUT she was serious as a heart attack. Kobahru froze in shock at her resilience.

?Gee you?re brave!? the blue-haired girl said, getting the Captain?s attention for a moment.

?Well you couldn?t have picked a more hopeless situation Lady. Ash is the only equation that doesn?t have an answer.? the man proclaimed.

?Child you should abandon this journey and run away. Run away and live.? the woman offered her advice and nothing more.

?I just can?t. If something was wrong with me, they?d do anything they could to help! I just can?t leave them hurt like they are. They mean too much.? Uriko said.

Uriko faced away from him the whole time until he said that last part, when she finally turned and look at him. Her hair didn?t even wave with her movement. It was also altered and put in the right amount of braids and arrangements to make her look just past shoulder length with unrivaled shiny brown hair. It had an abundance of health in it, showing in the shine and cute even in the tiny curls at the tips. She walked to him and they faced one another for the longest time before ultimately hugging. She was so embarrassed, but she had already committed into his shoulder and let it all go in thanks. Her tears downpoured and her nose ran. Wasn?t long before his shirt felt the dampness, and he knew how hard things brayed upon her door.

?Thank you.? she said, constricting him tight as she could before eeping back a little, the cutest and most innocent deep eyes as she looked to him. ?I forgot you were still hurt.?

?I don?t look hurt anymore do I?? he teased, rubbing his cheek. Remembering it was a punch, he played it off as a light encounter. Reenacting it on her and grazing her chin and making a ?pow? whisper upon contact. She wiped her face and let herself laugh when she wouldn?t sniff really big.

?No.?

?We?ve got a long way to go, let?s head back.? he suggested, holding out a hand. Uriko stared at it. In many ways he seemed to express so much more strength and hope than she had at times. She couldn?t reject that hand in a million years, she grabbed it enthusiastically and stood confident and proud in her new image. Badassness had befallen the sweet little pacifist in a way she?d never expected. And walking back she felt so different. She felt a seat at the big kids table permanently hers. She felt a change in her walking that was so different than wearing those speedy sneakers. And above it all, she felt strong. The Captain opened an eye Uriko?s way.

?What?s up??

?Thank you so much Kobahru. All of you. I won?t let you down!? she cheered and stood proud, never letting a certain amount of oxygen out of her lungs so to keep her chest puffed out as majestically as the woman behind the Captain showed.

?Oh I know you won?t. You?re coming with us.? Kobahru said with a grin. Uriko struck a cold chill, and began smiling ever so warmly.

?R-really? Connar too?? she asked, and the Captain nodded.

?Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!? she hopped up and down, and miraculously, just as she?d thought, that outfit held her well, and nothing made more sense than learning from the Rahnto themselves. Kiame bounced right along with her the three times she gave thanks before all out giggling herself, now up on the craft with the rest of the Rhanto.

?That weapon is stressing you I?m sure of it. Riding with us will get you used to it in no time. The never ending ascension of strength has a very easy means of being expended amongst us, and we do so with speed. Henata?s Rikagzen is so quick he has to wear goggles to keep the wind from damaging his eyes. So that there is an idea of the speeds we all get up to. The gravitational difficulties are what make your connection to your Rikagzen an easy one. And we route you to where you need to go first. The old empire where Avia crashed.? Kobahru said coldly with a certain level of respect for the fearful zone. Uriko gasped, and the Rhanto all grit teeth alongside a fearful sweat drop.

?Is that where the nano soldiers are?? she asked with a big gulp, fists together dramatically at her chest and still not covering up her cleavage line. No matter how silly and childish she still acted, her uniform kept her appearance of maturity ongoing.

?You?ve not seen a nano yet. And when you do you?ll know it. If it is at all possible, avoid them by any means necessary. The tiniest of their cells are enough to consume you entirely. And make you apart of their empire. There is no sense in facing a virus such as the Nano.? the Captain said wisely. Uriko nodded.

?It?s getting dark, we better get going. The empires are sure to send units to sweep the remainder here.? the woman said who rivaled Uriko?s bust. She hopped down and despite her alleged speed, she walked down the slant of the crashed craft and turned out of sight.

?Connar you don?t have to accompany us if you don?t want to. It will grow more dangerous.? the Captain warned.

?Yea I had a feeling. But I wouldn?t feel right if I left this girl fighting on her own without me in the picture. I?m in, you better believe it.? The thumbs up and the Captain grinned brightly after Uriko hugged him tight.
?Let?s go then! We?ll catch the sun in no time. Welcome to the Rhanto.? He backflipped the majestic craft?s roof and landed the other side. Uriko and Connar ran to the opposite rail to see where they?d all gone. And there they all stood beside beautiful vehicles of all different colors. A beautiful purple for the woman, a bright blue for Kiame, Henata a green, and at least three dozen more that were collected. That many Rahnto that didn?t stand by the Captain during his appearance. Both her and Connar?s eyes shook and he was the first to leap the rail and hop down.

?Come on Uriko!? he said enthusiastically. He was the one who had the bad feeling in the first place! Uriko smiled at his change as well. For he had come a way?s since their meeting at the battery as well. Such a mysterious man she was dying to learn more about. She hopped down as well, this time easier than her last. And she made her way to Connar and the Captain who stood behind a ship believed to be his, the only white one. Short and sleek and two-doored, all of them.

?One of my Lieutenants has offered his craft for your development Uriko. The speeds are harsh but you?ll thank us in the end. IF you can remain with us, then you?ll be every bit a Rhanto Lieutenant. If you can?t, you must go it alone. Either way, good luck. I know you?ll do fine. These crafts have the most simplistic functions you?ll ever use. Acceleration, deceleration, left, and right turning. That is all. Night conditions illuminate for you automatically, and respectively disengage upon registering sunlight. It?s all we chase. When we reach Avia, you should feel light as a feather. But you?re on your own there.? the Captain said, making sure he hadn?t forgotten anything. ?Hmmm-? he mumbled whereas Connar tapped his foot angrily knowing what else needed going over. The Captain just wasn?t putting it together.

?I could use some clothes too dammit!? Connar roared still in his beach clothes. The Captain smiled embarrassed to have missed that.

?Oh of course! Connar. Friend of Uriko. I take just as much pride in you wearing our colors as her. Feel no obligations to it, I?m sure it?ll be nice to have for the unforgiving weather conditions on down the road.? Kobahru swung his sword easily traceable with the eyes and it transferred on to Connar a bulky set of robes that fit him perfectly, revealing partial pecs and the chest line, and just a head of hair before the material dressed him perfectly.

?I can?t thank you enough Captain Kobahru.? Uriko smiled with her eyes closed.

?Regardless of what the others may think, I see you as a prodigy, one that will rend the impervious. Remember everything?s practically color-coated for you. The empires forever wear their regalia just as we do the Rahnto colors. You?re a new woman now. So don?t stress too much, your outfit speaks too highly of you to worry.? he winked and got into his craft with ease. It was then and only then the few Rhanto that accompanied him in saving Uriko entered their vehicles.

?Come on Uriko let?s hurry! If we lose them we?re on our own!? Connar raced to shotgun. The only place he could sit anyway. Uriko slid into the driver side on the right and smiled brightly. Everything inside was nearly transparent. She hoped, oh she hoped where they went it would be beautiful, because what a treat it?d be to see everything all around her at all times as she passed through. The frightening images of the empires were all that could come to mind though.
?What?s the matter?? he asked, already comfy and everything.

?Oh, nothing.? she said calmly, a look to her clothes and she was happy again.

?This is a pretty cool ride. I wonder how fast they go?? he pondered. Uriko put on her game face and gripped the wheel snug, tugging up a smile finally.

?We?ll find out soon enough.?

The crafts in front of her all buzzed majestically. They ran on no liquids, fuels, or cells, but raw energy naturally around all Rhanto. Uriko and Connar felt the power under them and they knew they were in for something very unexpected. They had to be prepared if they were to make it. The Captain?s craft and the others collectively all shook slightly, prepared, ready, awaiting. Their loudness a very statement of the power within a team.
?Let?s go!? Captain Kobahru yelled in his powerful voice.

?Let?s go!? Captain Kobahru yelled.

Uriko looked all the crafts quickly back and forth, Connar likewise. They weren?t going to miss this, miss what would be their only chance in learning with aid and learning on their own. What would her family do? ?Syn,? she thought. He must?ve gone through this same trial with the Rahnto. Being archaically old comrades he probably stood in her exact shoes waiting for their speed to be shown, and that very challenge of keeping up with them. How would he have done it? What example is there to follow? She could only think of one: complete devotion.
The crafts all doing the spectrum of colors magnificence, every passing second doubled the tension up to takeoff. Connar frantically searched for a seatbelt, a last second reminder. She couldn?t let her guard down, gripping the wheel tight, preparing her foot to drop heavily. Like an attack, it was sure to come strategically. So unpredictable. What to- she blinked. And they were gone.
?Hold on!!? Uriko yelled to Connar, who did just that. Grabbing the sides around him as ridiculously as possible. If a herd of speeders disappeared in a blink of an eye, their initial takeoff must?ve been impacting. Surely it was, the craft left a cylindrical pathway of wind as it traveled, and there was no mistaking every second into travel was the tiniest margin for error.

The wheel was snug, terribly hard to turn. She thought of letting off the acceleration, perhaps even air-braking, but she?d lose them for sure. They were already out of their sight. She gazed with fearful determination that it might already be over before she got her first blink in. She had to gun it harder. Those flat sandals helper her fit her foot completely to the craft?s floorboard. Nothing, just ongoing sand and coast. It was where they went though, could they have gone out on the ocean at that speed? Uriko couldn?t let possibilities lead her off. There were too many of them and all of them pointed her in different directions, when in fact there was only one correct one. A hint finally came to her, as seeing the windpipes they all trailed finally come into view. A strafing turn to the left that headed away from the beach?s end and into a more evergreen oasis. It seriously took a matter of minutes to leave that beautiful beach land behind and all that extravagance of nature to suddenly be on a road. The only thing in the middle of a desert. Connar?s eyes grew wide with the speed these crafts went, it was unrealistic.

?There! I can see some!? he spoke the hope that losing them had tried to diminish. Uriko smiled keeping her eyes ahead, ?Yes. It?s not over yet.? Uriko said.

The towering mountains of sand in the background were unchanging all around. The pavement was a smooth coaster for the air beneath the crafts to balance under, thus allowing more speed. Paved for this reason? It is certainly a possibility. Their ship in it?s petiteness had reached close quarters with the first of the Rhanto units, and Uriko was habitually in a racing state. Driving with that lone craft as a means of simply hanging in with the group just didn?t make sense, she had to find them all, and be with them all, at the head. Passing that craft Connar?s gaze saw how they looked so up close and free of visual restrictions. The transparency in their own craft truly let him see it first hand thumping out hot air beneath it. A concentrated energy.
?Just how long have these guys traveled as Rhanto? Should their experience not overwhelm us? The captain. He believes in Uriko so much, maybe she is meant to do all these things she?s fighting for after all. No experience in the slightest with these unknown transports and yet here she is passing them all. Don?t lose Uriko, it?s not in your blood. Win!? Connar smiled looking at her.

Her consistency was by far the strongest of any to have a role in this tale, or so a few would say. Marvelous dips in the road helped ease the tension, because they allowed pleasurable air time. Connar and Uriko both getting in some woos before landing back down to normal altitude. A couple Rhanto crafts behind them now, and not showing to change their position any time soon, she moved on for the rest of the pack, all considerably clearer now. She had taken a deep breath, and the time had come to test her agility and accuracy together. A cluster of crafts with a very minimal pathway between them, all in her way very soon with a fine difference in speed. Connar yet again held on for dear life, and Uriko made the move. Turning that painfully difficult wheel through the crafts one after the other. By the time Connar had opened his eyes and then opened the shutters his fingers made over them they were in the clearing again, they?d made it.

?You all right Conn?? Uriko asked, a straightaway made time for her to look at him, even extend a hand and check his temperature. Opposed to the forehead since childhood she cupped his cheek and made it turn a bright red.

?You maniac! Keep your eyes on the road! I?m fine!? he yelled with wide eyes, putting giggles through the driver like never before.

?I dun know, it?s not really hard at all, see?? she took her hands off the wheel and put Connar in a nervous frenzy. These crafts were nothing to play around with, not with their speed and the obstacles that, at any minute, could split the craft in two before blowing it up to smithereens.

?What are you doing! Trying to give me a heart attack? Put your hands back on that wheel, or you?ll be feeling a lump in the morning!? he threatened with his fist balled alongside him. Uriko calmed and did so, never dropping her smile. She whispered through the tranquility of their peacefully quiet ride to him: ?I?d love to take you up on that spar request when we get out of here.? the craft grew silent, and he felt the need to toss a compliment.

?Few ground rules first, no uberly-powerful and/or cheap swords.? he smiled, and she laughed aloud this time. Sharp, sweet, and cute in a gift basket with blue ribbons. The terrain had changed again, their travel through the desert a straight one but the road on a slant to begin with says the map. Taking them now to a woodland paradise, trees all around, and more dangerously so alongside the road. Red and white bars cautioned the end of the track and the pass into the wildlife, inside those barred lines however was the wide three-lane roadway. And controls had become much easier. They took in the sights with admiration while passing through this land.

?Speaking of that blade, how do you feel? Any lighter?? he asked.

?I haven?t moved much since getting inside. But, it?s still a handicap at the moment.? Uriko said, touching the back of her shoulder now where there was that mount and it?s special blade. A gift and a curse. Now pausing momentarily to take a look at the facts of the matter, we?ve put Uriko in a two-dimensional world and likewise a dressing room. Removal of her Rhanto robes and a few underclothing shows her newly acquired, slightly darker, beach tan. And when we make a flip to see her backside you?ll take notice to the actual fusion to her back left shoulder blade where the transformation took place. Again, going on first impressions, let?s state the obvious. H-o-double-T. Not the least bit bulky on such a little figure, but it?s size isn?t miniature either.

Facts also stand of yellow looking marvelous on a tanned body, and so can be said of this article that compliments her attraction and strengthens her intimidation. And said back attachment looking as other-worldly as possible did more than make her look an unforgettable character, but also mark her change from her previous self. Her cuteness was impossible to remove, but her serious look had evolved. Her ability to hide emotions in sensitive situations. It was all filing in her system for the better. So, out of the dressing room now, quickly put some default store clothes on this Uriko still photo and back into the fray. The crafts bolted across the nature-surrounded roadway and Uriko was making it further and further through the groups of crafts. None of them recognizable as those she had met. None so far as to begin passing the blue craft and Connar?s eyes following it from the front to the back he looked into the driver-side window and saw that bright blue-haired Kiame waving frantically a greeting to him. His eyes rolled and he switched his gaze ahead.

?Uriko. What?s that?? he asked. Something didn?t make sense. A parallelogram of blackness and white stripes on the inside in the far. Standing out in even the sunlight. The green wood was beginning to fade and the transition into another territory all it?s own was before them. Uriko got a bad feeling and looked strongly that way.

?I don?t know. But we?re heading right for it.? she said, and a presence was right there with them that they hadn?t even taken notice to.

?That?s the tunnel system into Avia.? Kobahru said between the two of them.

?Damn. It?s a lot bigger than it looked five minutes ago. I don?t suppose there?ll be any traffic on it. And still the lights are powered. What a spooky setup.? Connar said with his nose up on the windshield temporarily.

?Rohkan, lend me your strength. How is it you still saw the good through all the bad? Did Jennifer guide you? If you did, I thank you Jen. I should have known your hold on him couldn?t be broken by any strengths. I hope I can see you again, both of you. What would you think of me now? I feel so, different.? Uriko thought to herself, bringing a hand up to her chest where she cradled the only bit of exposed skin she showed apart from her petite hands poking out from the robe sleeves.
?Would you tell me what I need to hear to go on? Yes. I think you would. That?s enough for me old-timer. You wouldn?t want me wasting your time with my dilemmas. Like how to beat Ash and Syn, what strategies to use, how to know to do what and when. How to, figure out this weapon.? she glanced to her shoulder, it was a beautiful accessory, but equally challenging.
?I?ll figure it out, I?m not alone after all. There?s plenty of friends ready to help me up if I fall. So thanks for showing me anything?s possible when we work together. And most importantly, after all this, thanks for agreeing with my mission. Maybe if I make it out of this thing alive I?ll have one of those drinks with you that you love so much.? Uriko grinned, a high impossibility, but it was worth that small gamble.

?Here we go Connar. Last chance to hop off and head back home.? Uriko offered. Connar smiled her way.

?And home?s what? Safe? No place is safe as long as Ash goes unstopped. Besides, look at these clothes. We?re in the same clan now. Not like I can walk out on a comrade.? Connar winked with a thumbs-up. She exhaled a soft hum with her happiest expression. That was what she needed to hear to get back into her training. The burdensome weight, and the only way to lighten it was to go faster, go forward. With Connar by her side now she zoned in and went all out on the craft?s capabilities. And in a blink they all went into the tunnel, leaving the sun alone to melt into the distance.
Oh the tunnel was indescribable. The gap between strobe-lights was so significant, but her speed had them all passing by so quickly they all simulated complete lines of white light the whole way down. Everything that wasn?t the road, was lit. And everything that didn?t make the dome of the tunnel, was blackness.

?It looks so endless. How long do you think it actually is?? Connar asked, call it an excuse to look the direction of his question. Uriko?s eyes were fearful, the tingly gaze you could assume any drastic movement would scare the hell out of her. She swallowed deeply.

?One sure way I?m sure defeat would come our way is dying of old age at the time it would take to roam Ash?s structures. He?s never held back on reaching for the skies.? Uriko complimented.

?Lucky for us these things go so fast.? Connar said.

?Maybe, maybe not. The faster we go, the less time I have to get stronger... ..still heavy.? she mumbled after a few movements.

?You better pull this off. If it comes to me running circles around you wherever this leads us then I think we?re in some serious trouble.? Connar said.

?What do we do? We can?t slow down cause that will weaken the training, and we can?t speed up cause the steady rate of arrival will be shortened. How was I supposed to be ready in time?? Uriko asked, and it was then Connar?s eyes dinged

?Floor it.?

?What?? she asked.
?Floor it.?Connar turned a calm and cool smile her way. Things needing figuring out, and she had enough weight on her metaphorically and literally. Had this friend of hers ever told her wrong? She refused the thought of anything but good. Hell, she could even trust him with the safety of her favorite chicken tenders in the fridge. But where?d that thought come from? She didn?t worry over it, just thinking to herself about her already being weird to begin with let things make sense all it?s own.

?I could question that, Connar. But everything in me?s telling me to take the risk with zero assurance. Make sure your seatbelt?s on.? Uriko said mercifully. The warning was pleasant, but Connar didn?t have the time to make those preparations. Her foot was to the floor and the craft was circulating three darknesses of the same color as it?s outer appearance in a state of overreacting. Connar was prepared beforehand. His idea, his intuition, and that weight on them no small leap. Simple movements of the eyes even felt constrained by pressure.

Oh the sounds of the overpowering engines, they barked the question: what could they look like? But how to see that made of pure energy. Questioning how things work is fine in a smart dosage. But it wouldn?t hurt to keep in mind what curiosity did to the cat. The constant beating of the lights, those white strobes that had no sound only when passing them at blazing speeds. The tiny opening in front of them was a dark-dark brown and a flipped parallelogram opposing the first entrance one. It?s size only changed in microscopic intervals over the time they?d been down there. And slowly but surely Uriko found her legs as she?s always had to do, and she began to pass the leading Rhanto and Captain Kobahru?s unattended craft running on it?s own. It was that moment of passage that Connar and the Rhanto realized her improvement. Buzz, buzz, buzz. The exit?s opening just grew larger and larger before them. Kobahru?s brows bent sharp and his chin dipped slightly.

?Here we go.?

That olden dirt brown that was their dark opening acted as a passage of chills when they all blazed through it. And it was just as the Rhanto had said, out in the very far shown a thriving city. Lights and buildings of all sorts and the activity was great. It had a very eerie feeling when gazing upon it. As if souls were the ones who lingered here lacking the peace they needed to move on. It was as if those were the ones who rebuilt Avia the fallen empire. But the nano were the ones there now, what could really be going on down there that held such a desire to be lonely. To be kept to it?s own mischief and malcontent.

?What could they be doing down there?? Connar asked in a whisper, as if he spoke any louder he?d be heard by the enemy.

?Ash is down there. We?ll have to find a way inside.? Uriko said. The Rhanto around her had barricaded around her and in doing so were able to steer her a safe unseen route along the sides, using the darkness.

Boots on a metal platform clacked, calm and collected. Everything in this stage of the game was well assembled that way. Who still walked with hands in their pockets? No one this humanoid knew. His pace was on a schedule, he wasn?t going to arrive late. Walking into the depths of Avia?s blast furnace where no nano?s replicating cells can survive. Blasts of superfluously hot toxins bubbled from the loose pipes, nuts, and bolts to whatever was still simmering down there. A central tank was where he was aiming for, and he stood still finally in front of it and it?s wheel locks.

?.....?

His average-sized hands gripped the wheel like a helm and the strength began applying. Sizzling of flesh or it?s equivalence was his hands, so white and unscathed now frying under the unimaginable temperatures. But his face did the opposite of expected. Turning up the pearliest grin you?d ever see. The wheel took a moment to get going. Decades of air-tightened stillness had it nearly stuck, but in his case just slow. His hand whopped down on the side of the wheel, it was ready for some easier undoing, and it rotated like a tire that would tread a burnout miles deep. His hand stopped it when he found the time right, easily done. Then that smile grew brighter.
It took whatever lie in that chamber a moment to awaken itself before blasting the door open and blowing scolding steam and flame out from that tiny entrance. The man?s figure not engulfed by it, but his sharp clothes blew violently. His hair, short but there was healthy body to it. And it was unmoved by the tropical storm of fire. Waiting on this introduction or whatever to subside or begin, one hand went into a pant pocket only because he predicted this was going to take a while.
Drumbeats began spine-tingling, baritone joined and sounded wicked in the evil way.

?I?ve been out one time.? trumpet wailed.

?I?ve been out twice.? the trumpet wailed again.

?But now three? Ho, that?s rather nice.? and it was official now with the creepy unison now the melody to this evil piece. The white-haired releaser.

Chapter 3: Chemical Plant

The two heroes lie face down outside a crashed Rhanto craft. It lay demolished in a static blur. It?s energetic connection with it?s owner was very faint. And no matter how deep his meditation to keep it stable, they were just too far away. Directed where they were by a force Avia holds in high regard. And it was quiet as could be. Not a creature was stirring, not even a nano-mouse. The craft literally went in and out like a dying television. It?s wavey distortion came with a sound that got Uriko squinting her eyes, pulling herself out of slumber. And a very peaceful one at that. Those drowning pools gazed around so calmly, her eyelashes didn?t let any light come in too brightly. But that was just the thing. It wasn?t bright, or loud, or inhabited, or anything. She flipped to her backside and looked around wide-eyed when her conscience came. Where were the Rhanto? Where was the enemy? What exactly, had happened? She found Connar a crawl?s distance away. Those eyes trembled, frozen in that stare.
That possibility that he might be dead. She worried so much about him, and good reason in this deadly endeavor. She crawled to him with a voice safe to use. So many people did that; used whispers. Whispers to bring someone back from the light or what have you. And others yelled their lungs out to get that attention. Whatever the case, Connar was not near death. Waking and stirring just as gentle as she did.

?Connar? Hey buddy. Wake up.? she said so softly. She didn?t look much like Uriko at all. Doing things Uriko would do, but not looking like herself at all in that new getup. That weapon was there to stay, that tool. A banner of symbolism that came with her journey to just do that right thing. Down on her knees crouched over Connar she looked more capable than she ever did. And Connar?s first sight waking up, saw just that.

?What the hell? You?re supposed to be naked in this dream.? he mumbled, and Uriko smirked in misunderstanding.

?And would you dream me naked in a place like this?? she asked, proving her point and letting him see for himself just what surrounded their crash site. A nightmare it would be indeed. Cylindrical tanks as far as the eye could see. Many leading places they couldn?t see, and others one piece and to the point. Coolant devices and life support systems had many of their lights on under these tanks, many of them dead and unresponsive by means of inactivity. And in those tanks? The most hideous creatures eyes could register. Frozen like the day they entered their stasis. Be it research, punishment, or something beyond comprehension, time and their tank chemicals had worked together to turn them into even more frightening experiments.
Connar sat up with the help of Uriko?s hand in his. They checked one another for wounds or anything that would make surviving that crash more believable. But they were fine, so she sat beside him and overlooked the jungle of dark steel and very little lighting.

?What is this place?? she asked.

?Deeper into the skeleton closet I suppose. Look at those.? Connar pointed very clearly the logos that were on many of the tanks. A hybrid of the radioactive logo they both knew of. They stood and assisted one another in any way possible. Fatigue still clung to them from whatever that crash had done to them. The Rhanto?s powerful crafts showed a breaking point when Uriko and Connar were found outside of the one they used. It was long gone now, amazing it lasted as long as it did. So they had no choice now but to scour the chemical plant on foot. High, high, high, high above them, stood a humanoid scaled embodiment of the beast released from Avia?s blast furnace. Watching over them with an otherworldly power. And anything but an angel.
That demon?s grin grew seeing things had gone the way he wanted. It couldn?t take anymore of that enjoyment so he just had to slither over to one of the few active units still in the plant. The boiler. Steam shot at scorching temperatures, and if that didn?t melt off your skin, the contaminated acids inside it would. The dripping tar-like figure couldn?t have looked happier. Wrapping two bulky arms around one of the oozing bolts and then slamming it?s open mouth down on it hungrily. An inhalation, and he grew three times the size he was just at. Drained from the deadly chemicals and steam it had inside it, he was re-energized and feasting on excess strength. What all now was there to do, besides go forward? Well it always pays to take that extra examination of your surroundings. Find things you might not have with the first glance. And that?s just what Uriko did during the beginning of their passage through the plant.
They were lost right away, the place was just as big as Avia itself, and that made more than enough sense that it need a place so big to basically keep their waste and used resources. And Uriko?s sharp eyes had caught something very interesting. A bridge, control center of sorts that seemed to be the sight for overseeing the plant. A saucer-shaped disk with beautiful architectural windows resembling reflective eyes. Connar crouched over a very interesting site inside. A collection of crushed Mountain Dew cans, green as the green he remembered them from, but these had a small little alteration in the carbonation. Not a diet, but they all read ?Mountain Dew E.B.? as ?energy based.? An Ash Brimmer production, and an old one.

The cans as well as the beverage?s run is a dusty dossier in history. The crumpled cans were archaic and Connar just sighed dropping the one he held, the last one that proved there were none of the vintage run left. Uriko was over in the archives which was a simple room of filing cabinets, searching for something very specific. She wasn?t going to find it easily. But a lot of what she did find was hideous documentation of the experiments that went place. The beginning of the nano-cell technology. Their viral and replicating capabilities perfected here in the chemical plant. And all the bloody mishaps that it took to get that perfection of strength they?re at now.
A warfare project with a new nano-technology that was discontinued, and the warbound units that were left in their hydro-stasis. She put it all in her temporary memory til she found what she was looking for. The chemical plant blueprints.

?Connar!? she yelled, bringing it out in the light. Well, the better light. He was staring into one of those mountain dew cans like a kaleidoscope til she got his attention abruptly. Tossing it up unintentionally and them fumbling drastically to catch it. From hand to hand it went til he fell in the pile of them.

?Look Connar. Avia?s got lifelines here in the chemical plant. Specific water filtration systems at four key points. I think we should disable them.? Uriko said, biting her lip. Hoping he?d see her logic in it.

?Look at these dimensions. Hell the brackets containing the tanks are enormous. What?s your master plan for getting out alive?? Connar questioned, biting his lip this time. But hoping instead she?d spout something less suicidal.

?Hmmmm... we?ll figure that out when we get there, won?t we?? she winked and stood together, heading out the same way they came in. Connar sighed hopelessly to the crumpled can in his hand.

?You and me are about to have something in common.? he dropped the can down to the pile and then stood, walking out behind Uriko. Along the walk she was surprisingly the collected one. Connar passing the tanks with her noticing each had a different shape and each a different distortion when he made silly faces in them. Uriko?s footsteps were the metronome; 60 beats per minute (bpm) and each one got more and more aggravating for her.

One: ?oooooh? Two: ?ahhhhh? Three: ?boooooo? Four: ?Would you knock it off already!? Uriko yelled. Towering over Connar with sarcastic carnivorous teeth. He trembled looking up to her from his cowered down position. Shrugging and laughing in a whisper.

?Sorry.?

Walking again took it?s awkward course. The footsteps were so loud, because it was so quiet. There was silence on multiple occasions when Uriko, the leader, stopped to look around before picking up going again. Time and time again this happened until Uriko was looking around again. Connar wish he had pockets in that robe, pockets in the popular jean/short location he was used to.

?We probably wouldn?t be lost if you?d brought the blueprints with us.? Connar said, and this time Uriko?s head was cartoonishly large and towering over Connar around a contemporary evil background. Her fingers danced menacingly.

?Do you want me to try out my new sword on you?? she asked, and Connar grinned shaking his head and hands energetically. Then both their faces went back to their serious gazes, the ones that show such emotion in their irises.

?Come far inside you have! Gone where no one can find you-you did! Went where nothing lives, how appropriate. You?ll fit right in.? the now gargantuan monster seemed in ecstasy, fists crossed again and he was easily the size of the plant itself. It?s fists then stood parallel with his head on the broad and bulky tarry forearms he was known for exposing bone structure and all.

?Crap! He found us.? Connar grit his teeth. Uriko grabbed for her sword but just got her hand on the hilt before being interrupted. Her brain signals were redirected to get out of the way instead of unsheathing. That big fist came down and bust up the floor very severely. Uriko and Connar safe but disorientated after dodging tried and focus on the enemy and his intents. A dark grin on him, and those hands reached out to two tanks at his left and right sides. The water filtration tanks, full and vulnerable to someone?s strength as mighty as his.

?No! He can?t be serious!? Connar yelled, Uriko did the teeth gritting this time. And that smile grew bigger and bigger on that skull. Hand on her sword again this time, Connar had his fists low and clenched. Be ready for anything. A colossus isn?t easy to take down, and their time looks inadequate to formulate a plan. Cause this boiling monster was sure to have another stratagem ready behind such a confident grin. Or maybe it was just his comfort with his own superfluous strength. Time would have to tell. Insanity takes so many different grips on characters.

?Let me feast on your fear!? the polluted monster yelled. Like two soaring jets only blazing your ears long after the jets themselves passed overhead, his arms swung out to the sides and into the tanks, and then the sound that came behind them had to actually catch up and relay the audible of the swing and collision. Glasses and metals shattered and burst in ear-shattering magnitudes. Split-frame; Uriko?s stunned face, Connar?s stunned face, the grin on their psychotic opponent. Those massive tanks would not hold any longer, and thus they released their contents throughout the chemical plant. All the winding paths, tubes, ports, and dry space there flooding with water. Multiple tsunamis coming from all sides and ultimately heading for the lowest point down where Connar and Uriko stood.

?Move!? she yelled, wrinkling up Connar?s robes viciously in a tight fist she had him grabbed by, human steering/power steering. She was strong all right, he assessed that by how he was tossed over a direction. An elevating slope that went up and down. It was very confusing as it circulated light through tubes much like strobes, but these ran in squares that made up the individual blocks of twelve that made up the whole slope. They seemed pointless, but as many of them became submerged they still showed operation.

It seemed Avia in it?s alleged imperfection had done it all right. What the hell went wrong to turn an empire into a Hell citadel amongst the living. It was deadly information to even know, powerful enough maybe to pierce the soul because it?s such a vicious tragedy. And the information there just below the surface had them in this situation of life or death, bringing out the strongest relics Avia operated. This monstrous chemical entity parading about enjoying all the things people live their lives specifically to avoid.
That dripping skull looked down upon the fleeing duo beneath him with a grin. That enormous fist was sent corkscrewing down and Uriko?s developed senses heard it just in the nick of time.

Howls were never so ear-piercing, a wolf never sounded so stricken by pain and overflowing with power. Ash leaned a dark blood-red gate with frustration on his face. A tiny eye-slot that appeared to have been clawed multiple times from the inside. A caged wolf undergoing something frightening, Ash had to be there for a comrade in that. Footsteps caught Ash?s attention and he turned an intimate gaze the way of the newcomer. The desiccator, outfitted before his master in a magically bound mask of twenty-two different seals. Each a marking on the left-side of the face that gradually trafficked heavy at the mouth forming a frightening binding. It couldn?t have been any clearer that his vocal privileges had been rebuked. Behind it all was his calm eyes. And that spikey white hair shone amidst the darkness Ash was loitering.

?Dispatched the seventh guardian of Avia, yes?? Ash asked, bouncing gently despite the brays on the gate behind him. There was no movement from the white-haired mystery, just a stare to the emperor.

?The Rahnto have renewed faith in survival and our exodus in this existence. Overcoming life, plains, and dimensions can be bothersome. I?d rather avoid my kingdom?s overthrowing. Uriko is the pumping heart of my problems, assist he you released. I can?t afford her progression any longer.? Ash?s eye slowly studied the newest dent and by far the strongest to the peephole.

?That is all. I need to keep an eye on him.? Ash waved a golden gauntlet of dismissal, the glove of which was several times larger than his actual hand. The desiccator?s calm eyes behind the mask blinked occasionally, he turned and walked out from where he came. A big bulging eye bloodshot, bloody, and bleeding searched frantically through that peephole that had been rammed repeatedly. It spotted Ash by the side on the outside.

?Easy old friend.? Ash said.

Connar float with one eye closed, the other dangerously on the brink. He had no more bubbles to cough up and his lungs had turned against him in his swim to the surface. And what was the point anyway. If he reached it his foe would submerge him back to the floor again. A big grin began to leave the Avian assailant?s face seeing there was no more fun to be had with the man. He seemed to exhale.

?Your tale ends here.? he dove out to devour him. An unhinged jaw to widen his bite and like a whale he moved to simply consume Connar. His teeth clangored to that beautiful blade Uriko had only used so briefly. She supported it at the hilt and with her hand on the blade where her own little red cloud of blood was developing. She looked extremely fatigued, but she had countered the beast?s finishing blow.

?A close range defense? What happened to your explosive spirit energy? Did it take that much out of you?? all said awkwardly without the aid of his jaws and teeth connecting. That sword had him obstructed very thorough. Uriko looked desperate for air, but Connar was heading towards the light. His eye just barely saw that movement in front of him that was her. She was running on empty. A fuel that came from nowhere, how did she summon so much strength? Connar slipped further and further into a deadly tranquility but a renewed will kept his eye on his savior. For him piano keys struck over such long intervals poured more emotion than any composition he?d ever heard.

They sounded Uriko?s final fight. But in reality she was much more on-top of things than anyone realized. With the top and bottom jaws of the monster halted at her sword they shoved back and forth for the victory. Uriko?s stamina seemed so endless, but that didn?t speak for the actual vigor itself. The sword was clamped down just as he intended and it sent Uriko bulleting out in defeat. She didn?t look affected in the least, in fact, the attack was in her plan and favor all along. With a propulsion behind her she was sent right at Connar with her arm out for him taking him along the super speed they?d be unable to go normally. With her sword as an alignment pin she kept it out forward and it served very stressed steering upward.

The toxic terror wanted none of it. Traveling from his position to Uriko?s destination in a blink his alarm of hatred in his face warned Uriko always of an attack. That big arm swung at the side for her and she kept her alignment with the very point of that sword. The angle it was held at clearly helped with speed, and suddenly changed long ways it braked her almost completely. The water slushed around her and then it was just the fist hammering down. She made her alignment once more in a split-second. A miraculous display with the heavy gravitation underwater. A tiny hook swerve all in a hand motion and then she made a full sword swing in a ?C? that cut her radius free of water from her to her sword?s reach of power.

It was time for a smile to come back on the creature from the hellish Avian compound. Because he was finding the fun he had long ago reawakened. Especially so now, with Uriko completely out of sight. The monster thought out figures while watching Uriko?s cut dome gradually refill with the water she cast out.

She had bought another chance at survival, but she prayed dearly she did the same for her friend. Laying him down on a roundabout balcony to one of the facility departments higher up she pumped his lungs for dear life. A metaphorical reach of desperation to pull him back. She had only begun to well up tears, but she couldn?t cry. It might as well be over if she did that. Adventures were one thing, but when lives got put on the line like this it was unbearable. Her conjoined hands had roughed up his mid-section enough. She gulped, and leant forward with her eyes ever so gently closed. She had to grasp that seriousness to be effective. It had to be done. But she just, couldn?t quite make contact with the second step to the cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedure. She opened her eyes slowly and then wide they went. In natural and utter surprise she blinked identically like Connar.

?Aaaaahhh!!!? she screamed falling back in a squirm. Connar finished up some coughing before he was even able to speak. And because he was able, didn?t mean he did. An artificial atmosphere guided artificial clouds through the sky. A height too high to see the ultimate fabrication in this fake existence Avia tried to expand. Connar just stared all around at them seeing them no different from regular clouds. And that in itself, told him the hopelessness of their mission. That it was just so much larger than they were. Silence was his motive now, it made the most sense, cause there was nothing to say that could make this any easier. He sure did look awful sad though.

Uriko had her back to the dip in the building. So that in one point in time you stood atop it there?d be a vantage point for leaning and a safety there as well. Why the hell, Avian soldiers were too perfect to stumble, fall; die. This place, they, made no sense. Uriko grit her teeth at the menacing confusion. She simply waited for the foe below to bypass them. She unconsciously lowered her exertion of energy to become less detectable. Perhaps the radar(s) wouldn?t pick her up. With her arms out to her sides holding onto those sides of the building, her sword quietly scraping it in a gentle clangor. Her mouth in a position as if she was to whistle. The tyrannosaurus-stomping below grew quieter and quieter until she knew good and well it was elsewhere. She let out a deep breath and it seemed the weight of a thousand planets was off her shoulders, simply because she got to lower her sword. She sunk to the floor and lay her head on that cold cement, just like Connar. Staring at those same artificial clouds, just like Connar.

?Still with me?? she asked.

?I think so.? he said blinking, confirming for himself a few things. What all this is really like. His past, he?d seen a few things, been a few places, toughened his hands, learned some lessons. But this was an undiscovered pathway. Uriko?s involvement with it was a phenomenon. His eyes averted to her and he sunk into thought. Yes it was much clearer now, he wanted to be here. Around these strengths and identities. They were unimaginably frightening in their capabilities. And it started to hug at his addictions. A chance, no, the ultimate chance, to understand his own strength.
Uriko just blinked there, looking at him curiously. She couldn?t very well read the ?thirst for the ultimate challenge.? He leant up to his arm and then sitting up he checked his arms with gentle squeezes and he ended up at his neck where an awkward sheathing sound was heard. He briefly gasped and looked for Uriko, same place as she was. Driving that new weapon partially into her back where the slot ran. It was all clean, but she made it look so strenuous.

?Uriko, Avia?s the exiled empire right? And the nano are villain to all bodies of life. Why is it you think Ash would reside here?? he posed, and she was touching her index finger to her bottom lip.

?Hmmm, I never thought of it like that. I don?t guess he would! Ahahaha!? she giggled massaging her head. Connar fell back to his back with a grunt.

?A way out of this nightmare, this fake reality. There must be something we can do.? Connar said with the deep breath you take with all the time in the world. Trying and see a noun in a cloud.

Those dynamo legs of chaos sloshed through the plant and there was no mercy about it at all. The water began to rumble the closer he grew, and that Uriko was kicking away. Her endless pool of strength showed so many advancements from the day she first stood up knowing it was time to do something.
The grin made of slime grew wider and more frightening as he stood over the general area they?d crashed. But when blue light shone upon him his emotionless face came up. The face that questioned why he wasn?t having fun. That energetic swirl of black and blue cut it?s way out of the water and it cut it?s way up on her enemy. Made of all those toxins and chemicals.
That raw energy took his left side and he crashed down for a moment. He needed time to recollect. Time that Uriko was going to use to end it all. Her sword in hand again, recovered from the once dry floor of the plant. She had to work the weight of the blade and the weight water puts on everything before she?d get anywhere. Could it have gotten lighter? She sure hoped so. She swung and it was harder than ever. Temporarily drained from that shot that just landed her foe, she was in that boat again where all those negatives and runs of bad luck were.
She was fed up with it all. It was time, to rise above all that denied her. Even herself. Her face of anger returned, her eyes this time went a step further. Towards the path of forbidden power and insanity. She was growing more and more like her family by the second. Had to be done, tapped her into just what she needed. She swung again with a jump, and she torpedoed through the water this time.

Connar saw not her, but instead the propulsion line she made upward. What impossible time limits to work with, and be damned the human lungs for their short capacity of air. Uriko?s eyes were on the hunt. She was going after what she wanted and she wasn?t going to be swayed for anything. Face to steel with another of those bolts, for the last tank. Her sword stabs into it like a screwdriver and she kicks the hilt same as last. It whirlwinds around and bolts out like a bullet in much quicker time than the last. And down came another ocean to add to the jug. Sending her waterfalling down again but this time with a contented smile on her face.

What could she have been so happy with? Might?ve been the same thing that had their super villain pissed as hell. The water level raised, and touched up to a yellow and purple full diamond. Once touched, it swirled four rotations and made it?s ?L? print on one side face another side. A delicate and low tone chimed like a tuning fork, and that ran to the entire plant giving it an awareness. The plant began an automatic draining through hundreds of different pipelines. Connar was clutching his throat before he was pulled by the suction.
As for their enemy, so much water broke down his composure. And this was too much. He was going down the drain like an unwanted concoction in the kitchen. His face wide, distorted, and transparent. A frown on it before it was transported through multiple pipes. And Uriko was carried away as well. Once she was gripped by the suction she was pulled a little ways with her sword before it separated from her. That was all it took. Minutes, the whole plant was dry. Looking like it did when it was first walked. They were never even there. It was a demolished mess, but it was a dry one. Crystal clear pipes were seen now from when they were draining the purified water for the plant. During the draining it looked like hundreds of white dots was where they were headed. It looked so amazing in his eyes. The monster didn?t see, and Uriko was out. There was no more to it than that.

The pipes slowly closed their covers and they blended in with the plant like they weren?t even there. They ran that water through a fine pass straight to the center of Avia?s purification. But it was a long journey, distance, but not time. They ran too quick to see, and it was because of the black repeater rings around the pipes that went throughout their mileage. Buffering the speed and stabilizing it the faster things get. And to create a pouring effect there were brake rings at the ends of them. This ensured they didn?t spurt recklessly at their destination. But where was this? It wouldn?t take long to find out, cause they were in the system now. All four of them.

The sun burned brightly and warmly on it?s time-controlled system. But there was no place farther from warmth and more distant from light than the Imperial chamber the desiccator and his slimy accomplice stood. As if their blinking from the tree?s crash was of their own doing, it now showed that they were summoned. It was an ill hallway, the carpet was black void of light, and blood red in the presence of it. In sections this ran; black, red, black, red. Down to a contemporary throne. The desiccator massaged his mouth only to find his familiar mask was sealed on again. He took a deep breath, and began the walk to the throne. Silent footsteps, and then loud thudding ones with a dash of a wriggling audible. What was their calling, their addressing? It couldn?t be good. They stood the red carpet and the desiccator pocketed a single hand. He hated retinues.

?Oh, hey boys!? Ash said with a sweet smile and a wave. It was the eeriest feeling his servants would ever feel in his presence. Such an up-and-up mood for such a dark history and dark surroundings. ?That sure took a long time. And I would think with the excessive force you used calling the Nano armies that this book would be closed by now.? he bridged his fingers between his legs. The two facing him lowered their heads, as different as they were.

?You, Scrilla. I thought you could accomplish this task for me. Was letting you out of your bottle too kind of me?? Ash danced his wanting fingers. Fingers for something he asked for, and didn?t have. The slimy abomination?s name called, he sunk his head low with his body.

?I can?t tolerate imperfection. Not now. Not with Syn guiding the new unit. And medicating Rohkan has me busy. Now can you assure me, this case is closed?? Ash asked. The desiccator looked left to Scrilla, then faced Ash and nodded assuredly. His eyes didn?t lose their sharp focus. Ash clapped his hands.

?End of story. Things can pick back up now. I?m counting on you two to play with the Rahnto for me. Get creative, employ all your tricks. When Syn gets back I?ll have him check up on you. And I suggest you not disappoint him. Have a nice day.? Ash waved his hand again very happily, making the two of them vanish in a dimensionally wrapped tunnel, putting them back on duty eons away. Their safety only ensured by one fact and one fact alone: Uriko is dead.

Her new outfit, her new sword, her rosey red cheeks, there it all was on the shoulder of her savior. Around a simple bend was a brook and a flowerbed, where Uriko was dropped. And it took forever for her to wake. She carried the soft sound of the brook with her in her sleep. And it was eventually that-that squinted her eyes and brought her to the real world. The different scents of the different plants all around her tickled her nose, especially the flowers, and crisped in the sun?s heat you?d wanna go back to sleep after waking up there. When her focus cast away the blur she shot up wide-eyed. Fully awake and never since her whole journey had she looked so dazzling. She couldn?t even see herself and she knew she was prettified. For one thing, her uniform hadn?t just dried. It was overly soft to the touch, nostalgia straight out of the dryer. But she had the sun to explain that one. For another thing, her hair never had so much volume.
Like a sheet of silk one?s breath would blow away, and a mirror of brown with a shine of white. She looked like her younger self with that look of suspicion. Her sword was implanted in the ground nearby, so everything seemed intact for the moment. Her weapon, her life, and the passing by butterfly told her to take her time getting up.
?Ah you?re up.? a man?s voice said from behind her. Uriko turned in a flash to see who it was. And inadvertently making herself toss her hair around like a shampoo and conditioner advertisement. She brought a fist to her chest, she felt exposed. Sure that outfit showed her bountifulness but not as expressive as it showed now. Another likely alteration that happened while she was asleep.

?You. You?re the one that, saved me?? she asked all confused. Submission in her voice and in her movements that she would believe what was told to her. The players in this game were too beyond her so she felt, so showing this masked hero no fuss felt just about right. It walked over and crouched before her, muscular legs seemed to be behind that tribal armoring. Steelish guards here and there, heavily and tightly wound wraps elsewhere. And that mask, she?d never forget it. It had two different eyes, one octagonal and red, the other sharp and blue. And without a mouthpiece on the mask the figure as a whole looked very reserved and left many options open as to how the voice was emitting behind it.

?Yep that was me. You were in a dangerous bind Miss. Two of Ash?s strongest representatives and you holding your sword at them. Not entirely smart.? the vibrant man?s voice deduced. Uriko sought comfort in the flowerbed beneath her with the most saddened eyes.

?I don?t know what happened after that. I got so dizzy all of a sudden. I thought; I thought it was all over.? she said. A risen index finger usually stands beside a long explanation, and sure enough there one was.

?That would?ve been the desiccator. Avia?s long-kept ace in the hole. He?s a member of an elite faction you should avoid at all costs.? he said withdrawing his finger.

?White hair?? a nod, ?I see. There?s a little more danger in this than I bargained for.? she laughed with sarcasm, cause of course, she was in it til the bitter end.

?You?re doing fine. How do you think I even heard about you? You?re becoming a hero young lady. The stories are sweeping the galaxies of your journey to save everyone.? a comforting hand on her shoulder, Uriko gazed that arm down to the fingers. They were dark and bandaged all the way up the arm from the top of the wrist. Something odd about that hand, something very questioning. As was his armor, adorning a very unusual breastplate that threw off her understanding of the male composition.

?I can?t thank you enough. Please, tell me your name?? she asked kindly and ever-so slowly. The helm upon her hero showed a slight tilt in questioning. Only slight.

?My name is Techichi. It?s a real pleasure to meet you Uriko.? he said with a hand out supposedly for the shaking. But she pointed out her hand instead.

?How would you know my name! I haven?t told anyone on this journey so far for my own safety!? she accused. The valiant figure showed pondering by massaging his chin.

?Are you not the Belarus girl? I was sure of it after seeing your body. Perfection, in every way of the word.? he said, and she went into even more of a panic, scurrying back a few feet by crab-walking.

?My body? What do you mean?!? she defended, and Techichi shrugged.

?How do you think your clothes got so clean? I couldn?t have done that with them on you could I? Well I could have, but it would?ve been tricky.? he sat down finally, resting a wrist on a risen knee and his other hand on the flowers.

?That doesn?t make any sense.? she grabbed the low-cut side of her robe and pulled it for a sniff, ?Well, I mean it does. But why, I haven?t even bathed yet.? she brought the point, which did make sense. Techichi nodded.

?This is true. You must use the spring by the fallen tree. And a hot meal. Poor child, it must?ve been forever since you?ve had a good meal.? he proposed, and Uriko adorned red cheeks and a shy composure all over again.

?That-that would be lovely.? she said, innocent flinching eyes, big and blue as ever. But they focused and her lips parted as she watched Techichi walk past her. And this time from behind her suspicions furthered.

?Come on, you?ll want to wash up while there?s still daylight.? he suggested, and snapped Uriko out of her detective work.

?We?ve got plenty of time don?t we? The sun?s still burning brightly.? she contradicted.

?You would think that wouldn?t you.? Techichi said, walking on. Walking and walking til the distance grew between them considerably, ?Come on!? he yelled. And Uriko bounded to her feet and ran off after him leaving her sword tranquilly by the brook.

?Just who are you Mister? And why would the sun set so suddenly?? Uriko asked along the walk.

?Now that?s a good question. Cause even with an artificial powering sun, you?d think the long process of a sunset would be mandatory for an ecosystem like this one. That is right. However, the species, plant life, and circle of life equivalents dependent on that downtime between daylight and nightfall you?ll find are not present here. Only manmade and independence breeds life under these artificial circumstances.? he said, grabbing a tree as he passed by it.

?What?s so fake? It looks just like the sun.? Uriko said, visoring her eyes with her hand?s shadow as she looked up to it.

?And I suppose you think Rohkan?s starlights is the real night sky? All of it is designed to greenhouse this mass acreage. And it?s on a constant counter that switches out with the nighttime simulator. It?s really cool. The stars are ingenious.? he said arriving within a zone that passed them through a veil of steam. Driblets of water ran down her face and his mask til he stopped them both in their tracks. Uriko would?ve kept going had his arm not barred her.

?We?re here.? he said, making Uriko look all around, and seconds it came into focus as an aquamarine crystal-clear pool beneath her feet. She was about to walk right into it had she not been caught.

?So umm... ..what?s that getup for anyway?? Techichi was drawing a blank. A child gets asked a serious question in the middle of a pillow fight. Her hand reached over and grabbed the helm trailing two faint streams of energy, one red one blue.

?What, this? This is very special. The desiccator was hand-crafted by Ash to serve as an instant conjure for all of his resources whenever he should need them. But he had to be constructed with certain attributes to do so. SO! I guess you could say he?s a living command prompt for reality.? Techichi held the mask in front of her face and looked half-badass. Half-sex goddess.

?And he?s the one that kissed me? It was so strange. I had no control over my body, and then it felt like a dear friend to me. That?s the last thing I remember.? Uriko sighed peacefully in that relief she was in a peaceful situation considering all the unpeaceful ones thus far.

?I dare say it was, Uriko. When I said command prompt for reality, I meant it. What his voice emits, gets made so. And with this eye I can see through it all.? she pointed her slender index finger in a repeated curve to the sharp blue steaming eye, and Uriko noted that her finger only got so close to it. Coincidence or something else.

?That?s how you saved me?! Amazing! Thank you so much!? Uriko?s primary instinct was to hug others, especially in thanks and greetings. But halfway taking her arms out of the water she realized the inappropriateness herself. Techichi revealed her face once more and held the mask over dry land while she continued lounging in the water, ?It was nothing.? it showed her recognition for the task was undesired. Uriko was assessing her personality, what to say and what not to say.

?What are you getting out of this, Techichi?? Uriko asked, sounding ready to stop all games. Waterfall eyes sought her out, and she only got a few serious blinks before she put on a sporty grin.

?There?s a couple things I?m taking enjoyment in seeing play out here. But it?s a responsibility for me to be your teacher in the name of all dynamo-chested warriors out there.? Techichi said with that too-relaxed grin.

?That doesn?t make any sense. I don?t think I?ll ever see what my bosom has to do so much with this ?art?.? she challenged. Techichi stared as if she was severely uneducated.

?Dear girl, do you not see the advantages and disadvantages to those extra pounds? Forget the art for a moment, that alone separates you from modern combat and most styles that are critical on weight classes and what you?ll learn when you?re older is the most important factor, the weight's distribution.? she pointed her index fingers respectively to each of her own breast. Uriko had followed the description with nods, everyone does that when they?re hearing a story or a description. And naturally she was lead down the road by the story to look down and she felt quite proud of herself afterwards. Her red cheeks weren?t re-energized.

?Sounds like it would take decades to master such styles that only function for certain builds.? Uriko procrastinated.

?Centuries... ..you?re right on there being difficulty, but you forgot one little thing. There are no two bodies identical. A genetic code?s difference always has something to say for the ones that are scarily close. So I guess you could kinda look at it like it?s an art only for you. Cause no one else has that frame.? Techichi scolded herself in thought, distaste for her descriptions.

?Wow. And how many days would I master this?? Uriko asked.

?Three, maybe four days.? Techichi showed not to be time-critical at all, but it did show there to be a hell of a lot of work in those few days.

?Techichi?? Uriko whispered, holding her sides cross-armed. ?What.? Techichi said interrupted from bathing the remaining sunlight.

?Is the training supposed to be this short? Or is the reason this legendary art being done in such short time because something bad?s about to happen.? she guesstimated. Now Uriko was no stupid girl, this was a common misconception with overly-happy personas. Techichi knew she could save her, and train her. But she couldn?t pull the wool over her eyes on this.

?The other eye on my helm, the red one. Speeds things up a little bit. Handy in fights, but as of late it?s shown me a blank. There?s nothing through it. I knew right away, Ash had negated existence.? Uriko?s eyes shot open, ?it?s your sovereign duty Uriko, to save us all.? and there was a long pause.

?Uriko? Uriko? Do you understand what I have told to you?? Techichi asked, dipping one of the sharped points of her helm to the ground. ?Uriko??

?What are we wasting daylight for?? she tapped into her soullessness yet again, her eyes both down out of sight and veiled by her hair. Techichi?s uncontrollable grin shot across her brown skin.

?Uriko, I?m going to ask you run this through your mind during the next few hours.? she covered her face with the mask, donning the helm now. ?You?re in my care, you?re in my guardianship, you?re under my instruction. Uriko.? a blend between beauty and monstrosity faced the young girl, the body of an angel with maybe a little too much spice, crowned with something out of Hell?s trophy room. She?d remember thinking it was these types of unknowns that real power resided in.

?Keep on your feet.? she said, making all five of her fingers air-tight for a perfect panel. That hand launched out and divided that spring like the red seas. Uriko was already caught off-guard. Her teeth barely had time to show her clench before a very late dodge, but it couldn?t have been hand-to-hand just now, no that was too bright a lunge. Alongside Uriko?s face a sword raced at an unseen pace. Uriko was instantly towered over in that moment, crouched back more so than falling back, she was shocked. Looking into the mask and imagining Techichi?s facial expression. She imagined a very serious one. Because outside her hand held the hilt and her other gave a driving force behind it. She hated herself for it, she didn?t even know why she did it, but she ran. Leaving Techichi standing during a drizzle of the spring water still returning to the ground.

Uriko grabbed up her sword as she ran by it, slowing her speed a bit but she kept going. She was known for those speedy feet after all. She kept her teeth tight upon one another in deep thought. Strength to obtain, a small time to do it in, fights to come, friends to worry about. She worried,

?Connar. You better be alive, and you better be doing your hardest to stay alive. If I?m giving this all I?ve got then you better do the same!? she thought, running off with heavy trots that were bound to blister her feet, but what was she to do? That sword weighed her down, and she hadn?t mastered the alleged posture for carrying herself that she thought was to come from this exam. And sure enough seconds later, pussyfooted Techichi followed that same path addressing a formula for a very adrenaline-pumped practice of all things, in their birthday suits?

?Of course not. You leave that to us. We don't get to play very often so we'll make sure it's worth all our while.? he said.

?That's not what the Belarus emperor said we--? Ratedron was silenced, ?I know what he said!!!? fixing his frizzy short hair, ?We'll say we lost track of the time.? and an evil laugh ensued. The last thing Connar remembered was feeling the grasp of what assumed to be his head in the grip of the big one. He lay unconscious with the Rahnto, completely at the mercy of the two new entrants. A great deal more danger than Uriko was hoping of her friends. But that thought left her mind almost instantly and replaced with ?Don't kill me!!?

It's true, on a near whole-nother quadrant of the ruins, Uriko was wheezing and running more than she had ever done before in her life. She had yelled ?stop!? numerous times, but to no avail. Her alleged ?teacher? was in a fixed mode. There was no telling when it would end, or how it would end. The wind behind the sword at her back blew her into a tree no sooner than she pushed off it as it was too cut down with all the others during the training thus far.
She couldn't stop, she had to put a foot forward. Put on her determined face, cause her life force needed some convincing to not just throw in the towel right there. Techichi told her to chant her words over and over during this. How long? Hours? Forget that, how long's it even been? Running away from the sounds of the cracking wood and the crashing trees, just in time for newly sliced trees to begin their descent. Techichi stopped her run just a moment to make three still strikes in Uriko's direction. She smelled and tasted grass after that one. The bright white horizon of Techichi's sword would've surely cut her in two if she didn't dive for the ground.
And then the cracking began again. She turned to see the trees, all the more falling and laying down to open up the night sky. She sighed hard and loud, the cost of standing and running again. Every foot forward asked her why she kept going, every foot forward slowly cut her drive down, and her last foot forward crashed her to the grass again. She wheezed and panted with dirt and several things sticking to her face from the drops upon drops of sweat.

?I give up!!....... .. ......I.... ... ... ....can't... ...... .anymore!!? she pleaded. Techichi walked up and crouched before the girl with a very thin short sword. No words, and then Uriko felt her face being dabbed by a dry cloth. Nothing mattered in that stage of fatigue. Dying would've almost been easier than having to suck in enough air to prepare for the next. So she let Techichi do what she would, Uri didn't have much to argue when she couldn't talk.

?You just might have it, kid. Any less a woman and you'd be showing your inner-rings like those trees over there.? she grinned fully, same as usual, day and night the contrast her skin and teeth made. ?You've earned yourself some food.? she picked Uriko up and walked the dehydrated girl wherever she was going. Uriko stared the stars, memories of wishes, all the ones that never came true. She thought about chancing that again right there, maybe her wish tonight just might be special and actually come true. Her eyelids grew heavy with depression, ?What has gone the way I wanted it so far?? she asked herself. The answer was obvious since her family wasn't at home reconciling their differences and the only war they go near be the board game. What good would it do anyway, the stars weren't even real here.

?We're here. Wake up.? Techichi said sitting her next to her new clothes with a few slaps to the face.

?I'll spring it on you even quicker next time. So be on your guard.?

Uriko looked around, run down so badly, even the slow-moving Techichi appeared in motion blur to her. Every inhalation hurt, and it only hurt in time for the next one right after it. But she was regaining composure.

?You be on your guard too.... .. . .... ..I could take off.... ..at any second.? she said, chasing the finish line that is the end of the sentence. Quick breaths slowly started to turn into long breaths. The wheezing was horrendous though. A serious blow dealt to her respiratory system. Techichi stood beside the frightening helmet at her feet while popping her head through a black shirt, smiling over to Uriko.

?A lotta people wanna see you fail, sweetheart. Good thing more people want to see you succeed.? Techi said.

?Oh yea? .... .....where are they? I could sure use the help.? she laughed.

?Trust me, they're out there. You've given rise to resistance after resistance out there against the Nano and Ash's minions. People are fighting for themselves only now hearing and seeing you fight for them. But like it or not, this is your burden to weather.? Techichi said coldly.

?All alone after all, huh.? Uriko said, shaking her head to clear it before she attempted dressing herself.

?...which is why I'll do everything I can to prepare you for them.? she said, smiling seeing Uriko have the strength to pull a shirt over her head. The muscles in her arms must have been on fire, but she took it like a trooper.

?..I like these clothes.? Uriko said, slowly getting back to her usual self.

?Thanks... .they're the latest in breathable sex appeal. Caught the getup on-sale during one of my travels.? she knelt down to a smoking pile of giant leaves and began tossing them aside one by one.

?Do you know any of my family?? Uriko asked, holding her butt up long enough lying down to slip some nice pants on.

?Nope! Well apart from the word n' such.? she grabbed two wooden bowls with two wooden spools and loaded them with tonight's edibles. Knee-walking over to Uriko she handed her one.

?Thanks.? she poked around at it with the spoon. It was all still steaming, and a very green dish at that. Watercresses, and carrots. Uriko could almost feel her energy coming back just because she wasn't running. She looked about the tree-clearings, noting her paths and what resulted at them.

?What do you think will happen? In the end?? Uriko asked. And Techichi thought a moment before smiling.

?In the end I hope I'll still be breathing. Which'll mean you did your job. Hopefully you'll still be breathing too.? she winked while munching.

The Frozen Temple

Meanwhile, at a frozen-over planet, an energy-crazed missionary walked very much on the fritz. His central nervous system fed excessive amounts of power bursts every few seconds. He was beginning to get unresponsive, questionable if he was still even pursuing a cause or mission anymore. But those globes for joint-armor swirled just like they did when they were materialized on him, so chances were good.
Ice quietly crunched under his boots, and two long tails of clear ice shown where his feet never lifted the ground, just dragged along forward. His tiny eye slits allowed no snow in from the current blizzard, nor did the storm affect his equilibrium on a plane of pure white. Looking his full circle of surroundings, he paused ?Hmph!? slamming his foot down and splintering the ice in a kilometer radius around him. He took a balancing position and went along for the ride that began the descent of the planet's exterior. The older ice is, the more deadly, and this had just turned into a global landslide. The rupture in the ice spread the tear more and more directly rather than spreading to the rest of the planet.
All what the man once-named Valence could be identified by was now gone. The consequence for carrying these historical stones around, especially in the presence of one another. He crashed face first, despite his hands flat on the ground after a hard landing. His head rose slowly, pointing it's face around the area slowly. Clouds of snowy powder from the collapse shrouded him and any possible visibility. It was eerie.

?...?

He limped across the ground at a stout pace, following feeling. Dragging a leashed sword along the ground by his ankle where it was strapped. Howls pierced through the silence, and Val's helmet gazed in the direction of all them. He crouched and did a similar transfer of pulse to the ground beneath him, only this time it didn't break the foundation, it instead rose a tiny labyrinth of ice walls, and by gazing above Val read the message it conveyed:

?A love so true by heaven's eye
be it found a goddess and dog's cry

A heart shall never second bring
the pain and love that made us sing

A love so true by my eye
could never be true at all.?

Signatured with a scratch. Val looked up slowly, seeing a congregation of bipedal beasts not unlike Rohkan. Only non-clothed and non-anthropomorphized. Their sense of communication and social response lie evident in their staying considerably far from Val and just barely peering around cave and tunnel ways. Val, even incapable of emotion, became evident he saw something breathtaking. He slowly limped forward, stepping into a near-blinding white light that shone through a makeshift sunlight. A few more steps and he was shadowed by the massive structure in the foreground.
An ice sculpture of a beautiful woman, you could just tell. The blocky base and grassy additions to the statue were sharp and polygony. But the woman, her face, arms, legs, and features, chiseled so fine she was egg-smooth. But that wasn't what got Val's attention. It was the ancestral stone pendant she was wearing around her neck.
Upon mounting the statue the ambient howls turned into growls. Obviously a touchy piece of territory with the wolves of the snowy planet. But he pressed on, climbing the statue and plucking the stone from the idol's neck. Rapid tappings, the wolves had-had enough. Racing after Val and leaping at him only to get kissed by the violent arm swings he slung. Whimpers and snarls filled the echo chamber there, and the stone dropped to the ground with Val's free hands busily crunching some death-inducing cervical fractures. Wolves heads completely turned around in the split of a second when they were in his hands. Not a job at all pitted against canines. He grabbed his stone back after launching a back-mounted wolf over his shoulder and across the tunnel where it pawed around to move with it's bottom-half noticeably compressed where Val gripped for that toss.

?mmmh.? he looked around.

Things were silent once again, and it'd be a silence he'd wish had lasted a little longer. Because a quake began. An avalanche-esque downfall began caving in around him. A very familiar case with the volcanic reaction to him taking that stone. He turned to see the statue wide-eyed with and bright blue, moments before it was demolished by the collapsing roof.
Unwanting of a repeat incident, he super-jumped back to the exterior of the planet and began sprinting in that heavy armor out where the ice wasn't cracked as badly. But it did no good. There was a small period of time where the planet shook, turning any human into a vibrator. When it was over, Val hit his knees coughing violently. All his organs, systems, and bodily functions were disrupted. Even if he was border-lining the human barrier, he still operated a human vessel. And it was on the fritz so to speak. Any less a man would've been dead.
Blood began to run from his eye slits, and when it ran, it ran. The continuous coughing proof to be raining this down. He landed face-down to the snowy surface, and felt a cold sensation to his face. Water running in from outside. His blood-soaked eyes from his blood-soaked face widened. The planet suddenly burst from a paper-thin icey barrier to a mass of water. A short free fall, and he hit the water. This was bad. On his back he struggled to stay in the fight, and then he saw the darkened Dragonfli flying overhead. Things looked on the up-and-up. Syn watched from overhead with a smirk,

?Three down, none to go.? he casually walked back where his sword stood beside the helm of the ship. ?Even I know better than to mess with a wolf's mate. Especially one like Rohkan.? he sat and put his fist to his cheek, the Dragonfli had some more distance to travel.

Val reached out to the fading ship, nothing could be done. The more flailing he did the more violent the water gave it right back to him. Bashing around wouldn't get him to dry land anyway. And that heavy armor, all he could do was sink. A few unavoidable coughs let some precious oxygen slip, a severe aggravation to Val. He punched his shoulder globe making it instantly crack.
Removing his helmet and revealing a demonized face, he began sucking on the oxygen from the ecosystem in his spaulder. Making his last moments the tiniest of traces with the little bubbles that slowly rose to the surface.

?Don't muscles need time to rebuild??? she asked, maybe she could get in a few more breaks in this hellish class.

?We're fortunate to have this spiritually enhanced water source so close by. Something along that equivalence needs to be supplied during the training to start a siphon of energy in the blood. You get it running through you and you're officially a well-oiled machine Ready to put more miles of experience on.? Uriko proceeded to take a long drink from a second bowl, this one filled with the water that didn't look special or anything. But it sure went down nice.

?I think I've already burned too many calories today. Can we just wait a second?? she asked.

?We're not starting until you eat what's on your plate.? and with that Uriko got a brilliant idea. She'd just take however long she wanted to and then eat it. She sat the bowl down with a confident grin and then felt that same gust of wind blow on her again. Tetch twirled that sword to a conclusive snatch at the midsection where she glared the young princess. She got the idea, picking her plate up and holding onto it now. Crunch crunch, munch munch, done done.

?All done?? Techichi asked, and Uriko finished her water after that. Big sigh.

?If I gotta be.? and Tetch smiled.

?Good. Come with me.? she popped her arm with the hilt of her sword before stabbing it into the loop her bag strap made on the floor. Hooking it up to a hang over her shoulder like the stereotypical runaways. Uriko watched her begin walking and then quickly packed the two bowls and spoon she had used into a very empty satchel beside the fire, taking it along as she caught up.

?We're not going back to running?? she asked.

?Your legs are plenty defined for qualification. As is the rest of you.? Tetch said.

?So... ..what are we doing?? she asked.

?The last test before we begin. I'll need some help from the natives.?

?What?! You mean there's people alive out here?? Uriko asked.

?Well... They're just as talkative as you-me, but I wouldn't go so far as to label them along with the bipedal family.? she gazed off.

?So, if they're not people... what are they?? Uriko asked.

?You'll see.? she brought her smile and wink around and continued the walk. And if it was anything Uriko wasn't looking forward to, it was surprises. Their walk took them a good hour to reach the hilltop that looked down upon a very kempt little village, a fenced perimeter so simple it had basic four-stick sections. But it was until they actually moved down the hill Uriko realized how, tiny, it really was.
They stepped over the fence and soon spotted miniature versions of the big monster they encountered out in the clearing, only instead of snake tails, they had the anatomy of lizards. Several swarmed Tetch and Uriko's position, much to Uriko's surprise and she flinched, causing lizards to scatter realistically to how the ones she's common with do. Only these were quick to begin moving back after the scare.

?Hello! This is the girl. Is the chief ready for our meeting?? Tetch asked, holding up the famous helmet she's been caught wearing. The lizards hiss respectively at the symbolic artifact and scurry to doghouse-sized cottages.

?How do you know these guys are friendly?? Uriko asked.

?It's in their religion. Worshiping that big water filter out there has a very specific bible on good-will and peace. Turns out their chief has what I need, to take you to the next level.?

?And what's that?? Uriko asked, and Tetch held the 'hold on' hand, up.

The chief had just poked its head out from it's hut, looking around and spitting a forked tongue out to flap around silently before he sucked it back in. If he wasn't so small, he would sure be frightening. But for anyone jumpy around lizards, these super-sized ones were sure to make you jump out of your skin.

?Ahh! Now we can get started. You got what I wanted, yes?? she asked, holding her helmet out as leverage. The lizard slowly nodded, turning back in his hut and coming out pushing a sealed vase with his nose.

?Great. Let's get started. Uriko. You stay here until I get back.? Tetch said heading towards and in the only hut capable of human entry. The chief very close behind her, constantly flinging his head up to keep his chieftan hat from dipping.

Uriko watched cautiously around for the lizards, some eying her from just the farthest possible range, others going about their village duties. Some rarer than others, like patting their foundations down with fresh dirt and their wet tails. But the common job seemed hauling very lightweight sticks, not to them of course, around for supply and reinforcing their ?city? walls. Uriko didn't flinch this time when she caught a lizard up close and personal. It gazed very slowly, Uriko wanted to call it blind because it's eye seemed so deadpan on her. But that all changed when it bolted up her leg and onto her back in a matter of moments. Naturally, she ran around screaming.

Tetch had just sat down when she heard the screaming, but wasn't going to worry about it, ?So as I explained, we're short on time. If you wanna see what the future has to offer, then make haste.? she sat the helmet down, and the lizard chief walked up and poked his head in the helmet, utilizing it's eye of accurate predictability. Tetch looked around for the better half of a minute that the lizard spent tuned in.

?There is a blankness.? the helmet helped translate the lizard's vocal apparatus.

?Yes I know. This is what I was telling you about. If you're familiar with the eye then you know what that suggests.? the lizard poked his head out and looked at her, clearly talking but incomprehensible to Tetch, so she pointed back to the mask. The lizard quickly understood.

?We haven't much time then. Begin the girl's treatment. We haven't a second to lose. I will pray to Orassis for her in this dire time.? he said, bringing his head out of the helmet Tetch picked up and headed out. And not a moment too late neither, Uriko was nearly swarmed in lizards.

?Uriko!! Stop playing around!? Tetch yelled walking over and picked up the jar, undoing the wooden core wedged in it like a cork. The lizards fled immediately upon seeing Techichi and their chief back outside.

?Thanks! Those things were about to--? she began but stops when Tetch emptied the vase's four litres of water onto her. Uriko blew out softly from a fine opening between her lips, sprinkling droplets of water out that Tetch seemed very odd in making sure to avoid. But Uriko was determined to not get mad.

?Okay, was there a reason for that?? she asked, dripping.

?Uriko this is your last requirement before I can put you through what I need to put you through. If you survive this you'll have multiplied your survivability exponentially.? and now Uriko was beginning to get worried. She looked over herself frantically, brushing off drops of water where they clung.

?What did you do to me?!? she yelled.

?You'll feel a faint stinging sensation that will only worsen the longer you're body mixes with the agent. You'll have to press on non-stop. I cannot assist you in any way. You may notice a red skin coloration from now to your destination. This is normal but it also means your body's got insufficient forces to battle the chemical in your body. The only way to rid yourself of it is to reach the purified lake; that way.? Tetch points, and Uriko took off.

?Good luck!!? Tetch yelled, ?see you soon. I hope.? she coughed and was then tapped on the shoulder by the chief's lizard tail, prompting her with a throat lozenge, ?thank you.? she grunted.

Beside the woman almost her body length was a khanda in the same complimenting color scheme of white. Part sword, part saw; and a grip of a hilt Uriko imagined a handle for chaos. Unfairly, she took the lesser of the two blades.

?We've upgraded to instruments?? Uriko asked, looking over the short blade. The basket hilt looked to encompass her hand when she rode it to the top of the grip, She had to be honest, it felt safe.

?The two swords of the unnamed panther-like beast my helm is modeled after. 'The Truth and the Falsiad.'?

?That thing used to actually be alive?? Uriko asked.

?I try not to visualize a Cthulhu counterpart but I'd also like to think hieroglyphs come from somewhere.? she sat up herself, her sword, and hugged it.

Uriko unsheathed the thing, a beautiful double-edged piece of reflective steel furthering it's difference from the rapier design. ?If one thing this journey has taught me it's appearances can be deceiving. But--? she glanced to Techichi's towering knife. ?don't you think this is unfair?? she stared plainly, and the woman only shook her head with a grin and stood the two of them.

?You should go with your gut on that and trust the person with the pedigree in undeniable presences.? hard slap on the back, ?Shall we? We're wasting proteins.? she smiled with a head tilt.

?What are we doing?? Uriko asked.

?Resistance training. I'm going to try and disarm you. Now your sword's guard is one of the best guards for protection, so it's all up to you to meet it half way. You don't let go of the sword, you're doing something right.? and Uriko thought of other questions she could ask. And nothing came until she dropped her hands at her sides only to bring them right back up clinging to herself.

?Uhm? Do you have a safety pin?? she asked shyly. Tetch: embarrassed by her presence, and there was no one else even around. She looked aside, handing her a one piece with the same resistant fabric she was wearing, all crisp and new. Uriko smiled happily and darted to the imaginary changing room in the bush just a bound or two away. When she came out she looked, in may ways, like Tetch. She had her hair bound high to her head so as not to conflict with her, and with that little sword in hand she wore reflective personalities. Something in itself that may show new doors opening. Put together with the sugarholic of a dreamer that started this quest oh-so long ago, you'd never guess it was the same girl. An unimaginable collection of tears in those eyes at the road's end. A road still traveled by one that no other could manage.
The one-piece black suit ended at her thighs tightly. And just below her shoulder before the bicep began, her sleeves ended. A soft frown staged her face as she ran her hands down her sides to her hips to smooth what was already smoothed skintight against her. The kind of wrapping a wetsuit has nightmares about.

?Teach me.?

Tetch turned her head.

?Teach me what I will need to go forward.? Uriko said.

?Put your guard up, Uriko.? Tetch smiled, assuring her in that devilish grin that she'd get what she seeks, one way or another. And the forest became a frightening battleground of scurrying feet upon grass, and sword slashes that wisped in air or collided with one another.

They both wore the same face, or for a time at least. Determined, challenging, offensive faces. Uriko's breathing was more erratic, but far be it she show that to her instructor, much less an enemy. But not unlike the way a cold fever comes to you out of absolutely nowhere, so did Uriko's ill feeling, from absolutely nowhere.
First glance you'd think it be that parry she just barely got away with, but after a tumble off to the side of the clearing in the forest she rose with the same determined face. No it was only after their short sprint she began to turn and look back, seeing Tetch only partially in rolling reel of bars that would be trees. A long sword, the body of a person, but never a face. And maybe it was that-that quaked her nerve. And unfortunately, Tetch would act upon it.

Uriko might have been unnerved, but it didn't affect her running any. So the pace of her follower changed from just that following to unfeasible thrusts through the trees. It made a sound, a sound like no other she'd ever heard. To call it the woosh an iron rod would make, swung through the air as hard as you could, would be unjust. That sword had teeth. Piercing, sharp, living, carnivorous. And they sounded as well. Uriko avoided the alleged steel and what she swore was hunger producing the sound of chewing bark when it met with a tree instead of flesh. You would never mistake that sound once you heard it. That sword had teeth.

That adrenaline that makes your engines run full blast longer than they would otherwise, fueled on fear. She heard the sword quite consistently, never an attack outside of three-four seconds. But when it got into twenty, and twenty-five seconds, she became worried. A well-placed attack showed to be the cause of the lifetime that could have passed in that half minute. Twenty-five seconds was a long time in that situation.
The blade was so ridiculous it frightened her, shining in this place and that before her only to be a complex distribution of the sunlight on an always changing part of the blade. Yes that sword was running out all while looking right in place, and where its tip was failed to be seen.

And it came to Uriko as a limbo bar conveniently too high to scale, so she simply, fell, and hoped she did it in time with her unfortunate momentum. She would recall the blade gleaming before her eye right as she passed in a closeness that couldn't have been any closer. She finally hit when the slide didn't hold her body up any longer, leaning her back far enough to blind her mercilessly when she was ultimately on her back. But she was not deaf, those were the footsteps of an approacher.
She got on her feet quickly and guarded two would-be punches, but not the third. Her gut stung by a thousand-needle fist, or so it felt. The air had been drawn out of her lungs and she crouched over clearer than a storybook plays out. This person, this ?instructor,? had no heart?soul. With a face down by the woman's thighs, she was setup for a ruthless left hook that knocked her to the side. Strong little Uriko, she got right back up. A petite little hand grabbed her whole face as best she could and effortlessly pushed her off a cliff.
The roar of the falls reassured her at the same time frightened her of a rocky death, a crushing landing, and a paralyzing splash. She closed her eyes tight. It was a fine day for a threesome.

She'd heard silence the few times she'd gotten to sleep well. She'd heard it the few times she set foot in zones her family had long-since closed off. She'd heard it where the dead respected it, and where the unknown knew nothing else. Underwater, she got a taste of it's sweetness again.
Above water she shook her head frantically from side to side to get the water off her eyes. She had to see as early as possible. There was water, foliage, and sky. A few more frantic glances. There were trees, boughs, and the ever approaching shore. And a log; floating along beside her in a darkened pigment only soaked bark could take. Uriko saw it as a timeout. Grabbing a hold and laying over the thing allowed her to stop kicking and stop swimming and just, be. The sun dried her face, and only her face while she lay there. Letting its prosthetic rays warm her closed eyes, her boat rocked. And having your eyes closed as long as hers were, the sun was particularly harsh in the adaptation into the light itself. But in time she saw a sworded person balanced on the far end of the log.

?I can't help and think that you only achieve enlightenment in death. And it is a lure I must fight hard to bite.? came from her. Uriko left her self as vulnerable as ever. If air continued to come to her lungs, then that was all she cared about. The boundaries of the insane were upon her, clawing and braying on her doors in her mind. And not letting them in only ached her more.

?What did you see, under my sword?? she asked. Uriko didn't know how to answer.

?The flicker of a soul's flame searing letters of words of sentences and phrases that a joke is being played upon you?? Uriko closed her eyes again, clenching her hand and confirming she still held the knife.

?You can only kid yourself at this point. Bowing under a blade even holds meaning in places like this, just as you limbo your way uncut sanctuary, you tell us the cycle of life in a dialect long unspoken. For you cleared my edge as the triumph of life over death. You govern the snippets at your thread of life, even the titanic scissors of a planetary architect.

?His gears are in preservative fright, and his fingers turn the pages of incomprehensible scripts. No man should transcribe what our hideous forebears made sure to leave imperceptible. And only the most horrifying visionaries retreat to pages in their dying years. And if you expect to set anyone free, you must first realize this sword isn't real.? and she hooked the teeth of her blade into the wood by her feet, also partially dipping the teeth of the saw portion of the blade.

Uriko heard much, and tried at understanding with all her might. But she was tired, a great deal more so than without this stamina agent inside of her. Maybe she would be dead right now without it, or maybe her body would have gave and she'd wake up taken care of like before. She was being prepared, wasn't she? Tetch couldn't kill her. But Uriko wouldn't say that and believe it, too.
Seeing Uriko in lala land, Tetch jerked her sword out of the log in combo with her jump back, sending the log into an unrecordable speed. Three or so inches from the log at all points of it water was pushed back, and smoke rose around Uriko's painful expression where it spun so much heat and force upon her. At her stomach a tiny pipe of air spun the velocity of the log in the opposite direction, tugging with a strong suction force that ripped the uniform from that front all the way to the back and pulled and pulled until Uriko touched it enough to skip across the water like a stone.
The log bounced up and down with a steadily declining force, but it'd be a while before it stilled the water again. Uriko floated the water's surface quite fast, quite unconscious. A painful looking red mark on her entirely exposed midsection. That internal system supposed to keep her engines going sure wasn't doing a damn.
The back of her head touched something that stopped her motion, and with the pull-in after a set of waves she was on the shore. Wet and stuck with sand. When her eyes eventually opened to that light she again had to adjust to. She, again, saw Techichi.

?Do you have anything to believe in?? she asked, raising the tip of her sword from alongside Uriko to the center of her back in charge. Unleashing it down upon her it collided with the tiny blade Uriko was assigned. Not a spark to be seen off the rapier, and not a falter in the least on Uriko's tensed arm. Her muscles were stout and Tetch grew her evil grin.

Aquatic Ruins Revisited

The Truth was swung. And every other second the Falsiad was swung. Both blades in the hands of Techichi. And she swung at the feet of a one Uriko Belarus hanging from a tree limb, just narrowly avoiding amputation each time. She was glazed with sweat, her hair soaked with it and clinging to her mostly bare back.
That one-piece turned two-piece getup she wore showed her abdomen shining particularly with a very present six-pack, tough as the nails she'd been turned into. And if getting your feet lopped off isn't the most inspirational reason to do pull-ups then mankind isn't ready to know a truer method. After gods know how long of straight pull-ups, Tetch eventually began to raise her swing, making Uriko lift her legs forward and strain her stomach and arms more.
She'd finally stepped into what Tetch had talked about with a prolonged means of operating. She hurt worse and worse each time, but never failed to have the energy to do the next. It was like Hell.
Any other forms of Uriko would not have survived this prolonged exercise and still have two feet. A two second counter going off in her head constantly, only one second of peace between swings. Every muscle in her body rising to that just above her natural build and sharpening it. ?You're slacking!? Tetch alerted, and Uriko knew that could mean a foot or some toes at the least. She knew she was steadily falling into the beginning of every swing, and she didn't see many pull-ups left in her, and only one timely one. She pushed herself up entirely on that one and scaled a few more limbs just to be sure. The blades had stopped.

?They're called pull-ups not climb-ups!? she yelled up to her. But the girl was just catching her breath.

?I take it you're ready to move on then??

?Yes.? after mouthing the word three times and The Truth impaled the wood beside her. And with such shortage of any friends or people, that blade was becoming a friendly face. Pulling it from its hilt-deep puncture she looked all around for Techichi. Nowhere in sight.
But a sawing sound turned her attention to her back where, sure enough, she was. Sawing away and smiling while she did so. Uriko realized it a little late, falling as her seat was cut from the tree. And it was a long way down. A thud any other day, she crisply landed on her feet and was off ahead of a howling slash that rose the ground beneath her in a wave out hitting her back and carrying her just a ways leaving a most unusual uprise. Tetch walked coolly, and that enormous sword was as threatening as ever.
Uriko turned to run, only to deduce that would not work, and turned back to put her blade before her body that the Falsiad would have otherwise hit. She could always do the sword parts, that wasn't the hard of it. But when Tetch used her free hand to push her out and far enough to make a kick actually do something, she did, and sent her back with a punishing reminder. Her kick always brought her back around full circle and sometimes with enough force for the next attack.
Her sword's smallness didn't exactly help either, with a speedy notion granted but one she never got to profit upon. She had to be thankful she had it though, cause if Tetch could swing the big one that fast, then she didn't want to see how she'd fare on the defending end with that overweight blade. She hadn't the time to think it over as it was pressed down hard upon her, flat-sided. Her lungs were flattened, her chest was spread, and her arms were pinned.
All she had was her feet, and she pushed back and tight in a sword-locked hold it lifted her back to her feet. The punches Tetch fired off next randomly landed on different portions of her sword as Uriko moved it in the path of those punches until they broke apart. And Tetch seemed very happy about something.

?I think you're finally, ready.?

?What?!? Uriko yelled for her own safety. If stops of breaks or timeouts were in the works she had to be quite clear on them as it could mean her life if she let her guard completely down.

?I shot off some nice punches and you still got that pretty face. That's usually a sign.? she said.

?What now then?? Uriko asked, letting her arm drop lifeless swaying the short sword from side to side.

?Now?? Tetch let the teeth at the edge of her blade bite into the ground and conserve energy as well. ?Now I carry out my first intentions, and stop you.?

?What?? Uriko wasn't so sure she heard what she heard, or that she heard it the way it sounded. ?I don't understand.?

?It's my curse, dear girl. You'll have to forgive me. You've made me more proud than I ever imagined, and you'd do just fine for your given task. But I can't let you leave without seeing myself if I could stop you.?

?What?! That doesn't even make any sense! I have the right to be p--... ....pretty dog-on mad you put me through all that and this be all I get to show for it.? Uriko defended, ?and just what good would that bring? I'd be stopped and you'd have the satisfaction knowing you beat your student.?

?Does that mean you won't fight back?? Tetch asked, but of course Uriko rose her sword. ?That's more like it.? she grinned.

?You're a great teacher, Techichi. And I owe you my life for saving me. But I cannot succumb to your madness when there's a job to do. I will confront you.? she said boldly.

?Well thank you, Uriko. That truly means a lot, the madness bit. I'm sure you and I would get along much better under different circumstances stead the forbidden forest we're at now.? she extended her arms and the sword's length in example of their surroundings.

?But promise me. If you bring me down, that you'll continue my campaign?? she asked.

?Dearest Uriko. The future of the people and all the creatures could only thrive in the one you would give to them. And what leads to that is your obstacles and encounters. Unfortunate that this be one of them. But that is the only way. I can, however, promise you that should you fail here, you won't be around to see what becomes of this life. And that's the greatest gift one can receive in Ash's future.? she bowed to her.

?So there's absolutely, no way of talking you out of this. I see.? Uriko looked down which turned into a bow back of gratitude.

?I'm so scared.? Uriko said, of a great many, things.

?But you're not afraid.?

Uriko smiled, ?You will be easy-going, won't you??

?Afraid not. I'm no longer testing you, but myself.? she put the blade over her shoulder and grinned evilly. Uriko just smiled back,

?Of course.? she put both her hands upon that hilt and holding it chest-height. And for the first time thus far Tetch roared out in her drive. Uriko had to just put her sword where they would meet and hope she held up.

Chapter 5: The Casino Nights


The Casino Nights


This was where darkness hung its hat when the sun would come out. Uriko remembered thinking she was going to walk right into something that would poke her eye out, despite her hands being out in-front of her to help guide her. But out ahead, the black wrote a horizon-like line, dripped with the light of a warm corona from space that gave just enough light to be able to be considered as such.
Her hands gradually came down the further she walked, and then lights came upon her face very complementary to whatever she could be beholding to drop such a jaw to such a face. An endless ocean of skyscraper-like buildings, all scolding blue, racing a preset of light patterns that played games with your sense of dimensions. When the lights played their games, the buildings, bridges, and structures all became tunnels of themselves to be stared lifelessly into. There was little Uriko could have done from where she was standing there on a retired grid of blown bulbs itself overlooking the all of animate lights. She sure didn't have much to go on, but what she did made her smile one of her most well-known that could only come from excitement.

Now it might have been the sheer beauty of a city that nothing more than lights made, or it could have been the lively isolation of tranquility and peace she's had coming for so long. A rectangular medieval castle-like add-on from the light bridge was where she ran across on a strangely padded surface that spoke the sound of her shoes a little too much. Surely the echo chamber of a ghost town had something to play in all the small things sounding so much, more.
It could leave a sick pit in your stomach to see such vastness and vivid lively colors dancing around you without a sound coming from anyone or anything but you. It certainly wasn't comfortable. But the many different light structures around every bend and corner kept her attention off of being the last woman on, wherever she was.

She moved swiftly, a hair faster than she was before and now with an endless tank. Her pace was and could be endless if she wanted, running had just become that natural through all this. And bounding down from a light bridge reminiscent of the Golden Gate she took descending rooftops like stairs setting her up to travel the glowing highway. The monstrous sword on her back unmoved even by her sprint.

An eyeful of traffic lights simulated night travel almost longingly. When Uriko saw a lighted occupancy pattern race by she was challenged much in a way a vehicle would. And one quick with her feet and not much else taking up her attention, she sought to see if she could keep up with the racing lights on the grid.
The were amazingly archaic bulbs, noted when Uriko heard their click when their patterned traveled from one light to the next albeit very faint. The bulbs ran their tracks and many stayed on indefinitely under a protective type of glass that made them shine even more brilliantly and probably quieter as well. But Uriko put on the brakes suddenly when she accidentally ran past her target that had stopped so abruptly.

But that couldn't have been it. Something else was going on. The stationed lights shone brighter, and the traveling lights flickered in their stopped place in-front of a suspended disc light that ran it's definite red in a phonograph pattern gradually spiraling inwards from a very distant outer. Evidently some system of a stoplight. Her curiosity piqued, and she assumed the various lanes of lighting beside the paused ones waiting for some unknown purpose.

She was at an intersection with two other paused lights, and in the center was a void spot interfering with the illusion of a light world with its bulbs either off or out. And Uriko tensed to perfect stillness to what she saw next. Out from the left of the crossroads came a motorized crab of a frightful sort. One pincer magnificent work-arm and its other not a pincer at all, but rather a starred buckler out protective over the right of its body. And out it came, chugging along misplaced with all the perfected technology.

It stopped at the point the lights were out and delicately stenciled with the diamond-tip of its work-arm and popped it gently to loosen the square entryway that it cut. Placing it directly beside where it would be working, its claw opened up and simultaneously replaced the bulbs with fresh ones it had loaded for just such a quick repair. The lights came to new life and a special purple laser put the glass back as if it had never been cut. And once the bike-sized crab chugged on out of the way, the stoplight discs converted their color panes over to a glowing green and the paused lights raced off again, only Uriko did not give chase.

She coolly walked out to the center of ?light? traffic and did no more than blink when speeding colors drove over, or rather under, her. Looking up and all around she saw those same crab-like repair bots having no trouble scaling the walls of the buildings, and being more prominent there was that seemed to be the likely failure point for most bulbs. But the crabs did a terrific job of keeping the entire city the glinting attraction it was.
Only unlike most light displays, these were no wire frames meant to imitate something. These were actually buildings, actually bridges, actually roads and structures fully of lights to their likenesses.
Uriko was left with cold chills to some of the buildings, particularly the massive blue ones. Because they did not blind as one might think. Quite the contrary, the bulk of them only influenced their color depth. And with all of them like those buildings, pulsating waves upon waves of rickety blue melding into a colder and colder blue. Every few instances the upper corners of the buildings were not lit, suggesting a tonality drive where all the lights are rendered as waveforms to some form of sound. Uriko's cold chills ran again, and she tapped her foot.
Beneath it she quaked the roads and lanes in an ongoing rush of colors that changed continuously, only blue the briefest because blue was the ground base constant, so producing the effect of a traveling wave of colors it needed to be that color the least of them all. But why hadn't they done that during her run and other steps? It was a good question about a system she knew nothing of. It was entirely likely that living, thinking minds had never set foot in this bright land.

But she had-had enough thinking from origins to what sound could have been making those crystal blue buildings fluctuate the way they were. Shielding her eyes from the speeding light paths was becoming an annoyance being directly in their path. She took off down what she assumed was a sidewalk and the synthesized alarm of jackpots started to be heard in the distance.

The farther she ran the more the city turned from those consistent lights to multi-step images. Such as lighting partially here, there, here, there, until the whole of whatever it was became seen. Wheels? A carriage? A carriage with wheels? And so on and so forth. Very Christmasy. But Uriko bypassed two things that caught her attention. Something she praised actually noticing because it was so well hidden amongst all the other lights. In-fact it actually seemed apart of the other light arrangements, but she luckily caught a look at it, just right.

It was a rather deep basin of gold, easily mistaken as the vibrant lights in the area. And when Uriko came back to it she narrowly navigated a multitude of thousands of slot machines. They all rang and chimed and played their simple tunes to allure gamblers with their flashiness and other gifts of attention. But it was one in particular that had Uriko's attention, and it was unlike any other there. It was occupied.
She was fully colored, not that she wasn't from the city lights just outside this little patch of gambling sanctuary, but here she was lit by the bright lights of the machines, and it was just that much more different to enjoy it's change. But this person, she thought it was a person. Looked human enough. Ears, arms, feet; two of each.

?Where do the light roads go??



Las Vegas would run away with it's tail between it's legs at just the glance of this strobe city. The lights were that magnificent, and further suggesting to Uriko that special eyewear might have been in production at one time for the select gamblers of this zone to tolerate the abundance of lighting. It wouldn't have been a bad idea if it wasn't true. An eerie deathly bane swept over the place in it's entirety, speaking a towering and unquestioned authority over anyone and everyone's future. And if you stayed there long enough, it would surely have it.

The blue buildings, by far her favorite, or by better choice of word the most tolerable of the building colors she'd raced through thus far. And every colour change was like passing into an all new forest with all new monsters. She could swear she herself was bouncing inside the illusion the equalizer simulated with the trills and shakes of a sound her curiosity asked time and time again what could have been playing in the underground. 180 was the highway she passed over, 188 was the next.

'Close your eyes,' she told herself, 'rest. You've a while to go yet, and nothing ahead of you but more road. Your legs can work on their own, who knows when you might be able to rest again.'

A mistake she wouldn't quite regret, in the nightmares braying upon the doors of her pleasant dreams. But they didn't get in. A person like Uriko isn't at all weak to fear and consumption with the things that matter to her close to her. And tough time getting to them, as a strength in her be a notable one it is the happiness inside her.
But more or less, she was able to rest some even if forcing it upon herself. She'd thank herself later for it. When she came to she lost some speed only to in realizing it speed up again. Just a false alarm to run differently than her cruise control she'd sleepwalked for about seven minutes.
The building colour was a sickly orange, hard to find in one thick distinguished spot from the equalizer but it was indeed orange. The roads were weakening the farther she ran, not to her parallels though. As it was the dead zone of the Casino Nights was on the two-fifteen, but brownouts hit the adjacent power grids all around it, putting Uriko on a narrow road near safety, and danger.

The poison had taken over, and the orange was now a green upon all the forever vacant buildings of magnificence. And there it was, the two-fifteen. Marked with an electronic street sign she didn't even need, to tell just by the dying road that she turned onto so easily. Her eyes opened their relaxed position and recovered from the strain of brightness she had warded off until now. When would the next obstacle present itself, she asked. A goosebump-inspiring question in such darkness, in any darkness, to dare think. The Flower King had said it was safe, a man by situational standards she shouldn't even trust, so quaintly positioned this deep into her travels. But for some reason, she did.
Beside her was a lovely alluring pass into a golden lit street to concave gambling room not unlike the room Yami was in, and she was very tempted. But she pressed on, on into the darkness. The image of she disappeared the more she went, until all but her footsteps signified she was even on that road.
A fright, a scare to think where nothingness lead to. How to tell she was even going forward anymore, and she had never felt more alone. It was an empty place, where feet or anything for that matter was likely to have never trekked. She had fuel enough though, or did until a spirit-plummeting cackle stopped her right where she was. It sounded a witch driven to find such things laughable through nothing but darkness, humor obtained in such a way influencing paralysis in Uriko to even think on, just as damaging as actually hearing it herself.
Impossible to pinpoint, and seemingly all around her. It was a stout decision she chose to turn and head back. Danger or not, she could fend herself better in lighting. Her body came back into itself and no longer apart of unspanned blackness she emerged from. And it was straight to that dipping gambling region to the side she sought, running the rich street and down into the track racing lights that pass from one bulb to another to give the illusion of a racing light. And as so, it was just as strange being in complete and total silence save her own panting. Because she had come back into light far quicker than she had gone into darkness, to escape every second what could be a frightening witch breathing down her neck without her slightest awareness.

This place was nice, this place was just what she needed. A perfectly solid meeting of walls to a lovely corner she thought she could see anything from. Sitting down to the floor and holding her legs, looking over her knees for just the time to regather herself. She wanted to hear something so badly, and do away with the silence. If ever something would break someone here, it would be the silence, and the lively activity of the place that contradicted it.

?I think I have to talk with, Ms. Belarus.? a voice said, shockingly close and above her.

Uriko looked up with an alertness and drawing the only sword she could get her hand on in time. The Truth, with it's mysterious confusion and logic. A blade that would always question her of it's usefulness until she would come to understand it as Tetch had. And at the same time it never swung an unbelievability, it was as she saw it. And good thing, practicing let alone performing an art should not be an easy task with a tool refusing to maintain a consistent shape. And if she hadn't thought for just a moment her eyes would have been cleanly cut across with the striking sword of the corporate ninja then her guard wouldn't have came up and met that sword with her own.

?I dislike complicated things, child. That's why I chose my profession. If a war could be done away with on the sins of one man's throat and the silence of my sword than a thousand lives and a million bullets need not be spent. But you've crossed regions that cannot be uncrossed, making my recurring plea to go back home quite impossible now.? Syn stated, removing his aggravated face in favor of a puzzled one, ?Where did you get this blade?!?

Uriko thrust him off her in a quick disarming spin The Truth was adept at. Running the outer circle it's smallness still had it cross the finish line first and point it's killing end at her opponent far before the typical and much longer swords would even get back into bounds. Syn, faced with his maker only that brisk moment, met with her kicking force and an unseen of strength until now. Into a gambling machine, and off it rang.

?Ash forgive me in thinking it your mistake to let this girl live to her current day. Forgive the man that he should love in the first place and expose himself to your poison. To expose all of us.? Syn gripped his sword stoutly.

Casino Nights Sub-level

Detestable place, darkened only the same dark behind closed eyes and it made no difference. When she came to it was puzzling to know if her eyes were open when she was clearly blinking. Even the night she and so many others had come to know brought lights with it. But this was not night. The rainbow palette that mushes across closed eyes when you press them was all Uriko could see, and it was the muffled equalizer playing only the rooftops and in low settings. She felt the source of that laugh closer than ever now, because she had heard it everywhere up until now.
Despite landing on her back to a very disfiguring looking blade, the fall came to her no differently than her own body crashing. And odd still, that she feel for it there and find it still in full weight and space. It was all she had now, all to defend herself with. Out before her was The Falsiad, serving as a partial guiding stave with which she felt out the path ahead that wasn't sparkle-tipped spearheads pointing at her. This was every bit the kind of place to harvest the things responsible for one's demise. She began to welcome the laughter of that witch, so that she be located and not presumed everywhere by this illusion.

Be careful what you wish for, as laughter surely came. Beams lit up in massive sections of a sickly green, not at all consistent to the setting of witchery. Down the sectioned light panels came as buildings and roads and the occupied fog in-between until it hit Uriko and passed on by her slowly but steadily taking that much sought after light elsewhere.
But she didn't need it even the time it came to see what this place truly was. A first generation of the much more advanced lighted city display that she first came across. Some things should never be dug up.
She took her sword close and locked her eyes on the shadowy silhouette on her most front building. Uriko prepared for a blinking of transportation or an explosion from underneath her. Prepared for everything but the paralyzing shadowy glide on down to her position. A frightening specter riding down on the dilapidated wings of a wraith's sleeves. And a straight glide down before Uriko and not an inch more. Who wouldn't flinch at a crowning Halloween performance, and on her caboose watching in the sole lighting of green shade she saw clearly the one responsible for all the goosebumps tonight. A glass and gold bridging overhead lit in the flooring was easily overlooked from down there, and was where Syn walked to make frequent stops and lean on his forearm, on his sword, on the railing to better watch Uriko. And the supposed safety at this distance just speaks more volumes of danger for the princess under darkness.

Contrary to witch lore and common folktale, this woman was in no way hideous or brandishing a monstrous wart on an already monstrous honker. Even absent the important hat that often times signifies a witch. Minus all these things, and she still reeked of a woman that needed to be burned at the stakes. ?Never again would I see that sword I thought.? she scowled at Uriko.

And right away she began to put together a bad credit of Techichi passed onto her. And Uriko wouldn't have been surprised if she planned for this all along.

?Clearly you know this weapon. But I speak the truth it has newly found me.? Uriko spoke seriously for herself and in whatever distance a mistake or impression of the sword's previous owner. Because there was something there, and it seemed to be making the fight for her life more evident then ever. Her face became clutched in a grip that hurt her teeth and then cheeks when her bite was forced open and those powerful fingers tripped their hold and moved between her teeth.

?You are not the fightmaster's daughter?? the witch spoke, examining her every detail. And even with squinted eyes Uriko could discern this person was indeed having difficulty seeing the obvious in face and figure, voice and tones, presence and personality. But a comparison was noted, the one and the same that made Techichi so bent on training her. A body class, and imagery upheld to titles of an archaic, godly warfare. And with Tetch's and her own so different even sparing the minuscule details, simply placing the battle garnishes of such a woman upon her would leave no doubt that she fit such a warrior. And without the control of her mouth to talk, she was left only her emotional stare. Not like she felt anything could get her out of this.

?Before my mind was devoured between misshapen teeth my judgment was mine to trust. And I've gotten it back and then some from the numerous warriors and magicians and hybrids. But none of them smelled as satisfying as you do. She's all over you.? she said with eyes so dark Uriko never wanted to look into them again in her lifetime and doubled every second she couldn't take her eyes off her.

?My name is Uriko. And I am not Techichi. But if you would see her harm than I might as well be, cause I'll face you just the same.? Uriko said.

?I don't doubt that, because she would face her fate just as boldly. But not even she can imagine the lifelong torture that awaits her. A feast of her, living, and I'll never get full, and she'll never die. She deserves no less, and if you were a mound of dirt she has walked upon you're destined for my vengeance.? the witch moved Uriko in a very quick manner, opening her mouth wide and the tips of a smile and a sound she was waiting for that never came. All the quick movements and no punching or slapping sounds to follow, or screams or cries from the mouth that suggested such. Of course, it all came. But only when Uriko least expected it.

Crashing down and rolling on from the momentum of a mighty backhand which sounded as loud as a firecracker, Uriko moved upon what was darkness and then collided to a stop upon which could only be identified as more darkness. Everything was hidden in this place, everything was something dressed as nothing, and Uriko saw less and less of this witch as they moved about. Something she could have been thankful for as an optimist. She knew enough about her dimensions to know she was on her knees, and taking every second from then on to recover until she was grabbed up again from behind. Her right arm turned to her back by her wrist and her left arm held straight up, high as it could go.

?Why did you think you could hide from me? Did you think I was fool to run to the trials before you? Was I fool to think I was that much better than you? Yes, little Tetch. So young and bright and full of potential, and thinking that by never taking the trials people would think you were just that much smarter in getting ready for them. You were scared, weren't you. Well I am no coward, and I am definitely no fool.? the witch ran a black hilted dagger of gray smoke across Uriko's arm with much pressure. The tighter she squinted her eyes she felt she could override whatever might be cut, because it was no grazing cut.
In a very delicate way, Uriko's arm, armpit, and side began to itch. Streaks of scarlet ran and the further down it went the more it branched to other lakelets.

?I know blue blood when I see it... .. Techichi.?

Uriko's eyes went wide, there would be no death in what this woman was after. This made too much sense to not make sense. Uriko's side of the fight had found a blessing in Techichi's influence, and just the same the woman's own history had shown to flatten that effort. Ash's utilization of opportunities had shown it's effectiveness again.

?I've waited so long.? was the statement, expression, and complete filling heard to the whole environment. Uriko's arm felt asleep as she held it, a tourniquet fastened from the brilliant burgundy and exaggeratively long scarf she had received her swords in and doubling as blade straps for the Truth and the Falsiad. Now it served a third purpose, and probably many others from this line of warriors.
Uriko's feet sounded, and she paid that sound for far cheaper than most in exchange for distance. She could travel a great length off what the many footsteps briefly sounded to that given area. And it was her best bet at the time, to avoid this wraith just as she was to avoid everything but the two-fifteen.

?You will never be rid of me...? the voice sounded and Uriko ran smack into the witch unmoved and the voice now coming from her ears where she was and not just the echo chamber of darkness. ?Not until you know what it's like.?

?Understand! I am not Techichi! You should know this, because she would be saying something much more deserving of a despicable character such as yourself than the banter I'm giving you.? Uriko said with both her arms in the clutches of the witch.

?I can't believe it. Not without proof. If you speak the truth then you are underprivileged before me. The horrors done to me impact wrongly someone knowing nothing of me or the Adenna princess. We'll see where the hands of time move for you.? her hand began conjuring light out of darkness.

?NO!!? Syn yelled, averting the witch's attention immediately and her meeting his face and whole of him with a barrier.

?My assistance to your request, as you now see, only goes so far, pawn of the empire.? the witch said.

Turtles in Time


Uriko tried and play cool as best she could but it all went out the window when a pail of scolding water got dumped over her back and shoulder. She nearly posed a perfect arch in attempted avoidance as soon as it touched her skin. The hot water she was already sitting in couldn't be helped. This was still more or less, a bath.

?Are all baths drawn this hot? I'm serious I really don't think I can stay in.? Uriko said, her long hair censoring her chest while she was attempting at standing and doing what could be best described as escaping only to have his hand seat her right back.

?You definitely aren't from around here. The coals from the isles aren't nearly as hot now as they are in the winter. But you should be feeling a million times better by the time you're clean. You can trust me on that.? he smiled

?Yes, it's already working.? Uriko sighed minus a rush of chill over her body. The balance of hot and cold was a difficult one to maintain but she seemed to have found it.

?I must thank you again for you and your people's hospitality. It has not been lately that I be in good company.? Uriko blinked surprisingly at the block of soap he held in front of her face.

?You know how to use one of these?? he asked, and rather insulted, she snatched it out of the delicate grasp he held it. Only held what was needed to keep it from falling in the water.

?This is awfully nice of you, or do you only bathe the young women?? she went to works with the soap since the tasks of it seemed put in her hands.

?No,? he smiled. ?Everyone here knows of the caring and recuperative practices for well-being. And it helps make a city free of discomfort.?

?Has anyone ever bathed you, Adennian?? Uriko went personal as so she thought awkward otherwise since she had to bathe before the man. She'd keep her rosey red cheeks out of this one and show not a falter before such imaginable reputations as this city and its inhabitants.

?Oh my mother, and a great deal of other parentals. You'll find it hard as I have to keep from a good wholesome washing in a place like this.? Anthony said quite by himself in thought, but not far enough from reality to seat Uriko and her plotted escape yet again.

Quite aggravated now, ?Don't you ever want to simply wash yourself?? with a sizzling question mark and a 'take a hike' sticker to anyone but this man and his custom.

?Trust me you have it very well. My hands aren't nearly as toughened as most the men and women here. Luckily you've caught me on more diplomatic duties and not of the sword.? Anthony adjusted to a ticklish spot by furthering the roll on his sleeves and going back with determined aggression.

?Well,? Uriko's back almost dodged in every direction he went with no care to Uriko's control over herself. ?That's certainly good. Contracts and treaties are better defenses than any other you're likely to find.?

?Maybe so. I haven't seen Uriko the Brave strike any, but Adenna fairs just fine with the ambassadors we have.? scrub, rinse and repeat.

?Just how squeaky do you intend on having me, Anthony?? Uriko questioned.

?I think we're done. You just take care of your private spaces and go ahead and dry off. I'll be outside.? he squeezed the bar of soap until it launched up and plopped in the water around Uriko. She moved to catch it before it had the chance to use the bottom and slide all over the place when she would try to grab it. And after obtaining it she glanced back at the man making his exit firstly leaving a moderately sized towel within reach of the bather.

?... .? Uriko blinked, and the door closed leaving her to the soft running water and the steam. Not that the man was unwelcome, but she just felt that much better alone. A sigh was taken, her thoughts received and not sought, and slowly she exhaled until she had submerged and blown bubbles up where her head used to be.

'What an unusual fellow,' she thought. 'Darn'd nice though. And to think if this is how it is I could have been stuck with one of those violent brawny ladies like up at the massage parlor.' Uriko shuddered at the thought. A memory least favored and hardest to get rid of. 'But more importantly...'

Uriko sharpened her eyes, hardened her stare. There were bigger issues, 'Techichi didn't recognize me. This is bad. And here I was hoping it wasn't coincidence it was a timepiece the witch crushed.' she squinted her eyes and facepalmed for a severe distaste as more bubbles of air rushed to the surface from between her clenched teeth. 'Why'd it have to be time travel. The most complicated of all travels. And the one true cause of all migraines.'

'Think, Uriko. What is significant about this moment in time. Was it to test if I am really Techichi? No that can't be the case because even if I were I'd show up in this time w-- wait. Even if I were I'd just override my own body for that time since two exacts can't exist from different times as to defy the law of whatever says so. Or maybe that was just a red herring. Maybe there was some complicated development for Tetch's demise that could only be carried out with some sort of outside component as a key. No, no-no. That can't be it. And it's unimportant at the moment. What is important, is what time was so, deserving, of this visit. I'll need to be on my--? her eyes went wide and she clutched at her throat just to the point of not touching it.

GASP! She shot above water taking in all the air she could and then some. Just in time. Cough, cough ? some more air couldn't hurt.

?.. All right.?

Her hair was as fun as it was time-consuming to dry. The rest of her was a matter of time really after stepping out. Even her back, cause despite the likelihood wet hair would linger there, Uriko's head was either leaning to this side or that until any alleged water would no longer be a threat to the drying process. And contrary to the towel-beehive, Uriko ruffled and ruffled and ruffled some more with that towel, gazing calmly over the long-faced balcony by her curious nude graze to it where the water quietly poured down into a sheet of water all around. All around, yes, and Uriko's eyes opened to it.

Although not entirely beside her, she had taken notice to several other stone bathing pits not unlike the one she had just stepped from. Unoccupied however, that was not the case down from that balcony. A group of unclothed bodies grazing the knee-deep water and congregating around one another and the many falls from above. Purple crystals at the waterfalls midpoints seemed just for show and a beautiful nighttime bathing effect for the bathers until Uriko analyzed further to see that the crashing fall from such a distance was pillowed considerably and rendered nothing more than kisses of water sent down in scolding droplets. The appealing shower, yes. But Uriko didn't question her alternative, and instead assumed Anthony's reasoning was privacy and not the experience. He'd be right, but it was just so darned adorable.

Her eyes closed, as if the warmth of the sun was nuzzling her face. And when a deep breath came to her she looked seriously to one of the many circling pillars that made this shower house.

Anthony's head lifted from atop his laced fingers at the back of his head where he was taking a much not-needed rest. His knees came up to his face from where his feet were propped up and he acted as quick as he could to seem attentive, like a bodyguard, or something.

?That was fast.?

?Hm? Is that sarcasm I sense?? Uriko performed some final touches on her nearly dry hair with her bare hands. No doubt a quick fix, but she'd locate a brush later for sure. And if it were ten minutes or hours and hours, it would show in her hair how much she cared for it when it came to brushing.

?What villainous cur do you encounter so often to assume such things? Why do all the heroes have to be beautiful ones.? Anthony shook his head closer and closer to an accepting palm but retracted before it could reach.

?Heehee! I don't really, but I do run across a lot of jokers! And pity I know them or like them so much they decide to joke around me all the time.? Uriko recalled.

?Uriko,? he put an arm around her shoulders. ?We're having more in common by the second.? Anthony lead her down a discreetly pink hallway.

?OOo! What's all this?!? Uriko asked happily.

?This is the pavilion. Apart from Ziebell's toy shop, there are no other toymakers in Adenna that operate an open shop. They all bring their wares here and sell them in the open. I'd stay out of the open, because there are always children sampling the wares, often times at rather high speeds.? he winked as Uriko herself showed to be one of them.

A stitched basket full of hairpins were beautifully and appropriately sized as ornamental things like the face of a flower and an in-flight bird's silhouette. Totally ideal for someone with hair as long as Uriko's. Rummaging through the assortment one caught her eye more than any other, and it was a beautiful bejeweled butterfly of seven emeralds spanning the wings, very discreet. She couldn't put it down and Anthony saw it clearer than she in her next question.

?What form of currency is used here?? Uriko asked.

He walked up coolly and browsed the wares very briefly going so far as to rake a few fingers of hair clips and bands back to see what else there were. And before they slid back to their positions he snatched with the same hand, a beautiful pink silken bow. Even holding it to her head was just as shocking as looking through prescription eyeglasses for the first time. It simply resonated with Uriko, and then it was gone and he had pulled it away.

Uriko was looking just below the plain of eye contact, assuming that this man knew a great deal of what looked good on a woman. But she was snapped out of her meager assumptions when a small printed piece of paper was held before her.

?The Adenna perullo; our most common used bill and the likes of which I only have a scarce amount, thinking I would just be buying cookies and tea today.? he snatched it away, cutting off Uriko's analyzing of the faces on the bill. Four faces, one to each a corner of the bill, and only one with an actual shown face. One was masked in wraps very reminiscent of a ninja, and two wore varying definitions of knightly helmets. The fourth was a pretty face, a man like all the others presumed. But the definition in this man's face paired with a front only Uriko's imagination could have made of an impression of a city and its history and hit dead on their importance. But that was the end of it, he had snatched it away, after all.

?One for me and one for you then?? Uriko stayed her stand a few feet behind him. The lovely medium of frivolous flirting.

?I'm a few weeks from putting one to use I'm afraid,? he pinched at the shortness of his hair. ?But however long your stay, you mustn't leave without this accent.? the bills pulled back from the bunch folded in half at his one hand and the other exchanged with the business lady behind the table of wares the two bold and distinguished hair accessories.

?And where, might I ask, did this insistence come from?? showing an ever growing fondness for the one he had picked out.

Anthony stalled. ?Something just, seemed missing is all... now on your walk.? he gestured to the sunlight outside the tent and opening up their view over the castle and heart of Adenna. The main street they walked was by far the broadest of them all, and heavily occupied but not trafficked. No, despite seeing more citizens here than anywhere else, it didn't traffic the street in the least.

Misshapen stones seemingly smoothed by running rivers and brooks for every step that was taken anywhere in this city. And the forking square of central Adenna lead two very different paths, appealing to certain people certain ways. To right was entertainment, and it entertained in the form of sweets and treats. Sugar-coated and powdered puffs of pillowy softness and baked flavoring of all the best tasting things that are probably a lot worse for you than you ever want to know. A Uriko's paradise.
And to the left was just as magnificent of a street and trading happiness and the silly for nobility and the committed. Precisely placed guards lined the single street a tiny way's from it's start at the fork and on down to the castle itself. Magnificently armored captains of prestige partnered with spears nothing short of marvelous in shape. For only when the knights ended did the true blade and spearhead begin. Something so stout and definitive that a mere weapon be more than a weapon. That it be a symbol, that if a code of silence stricken the brave inside the armor then let the weapon speak for him. That it speak for her. That it speak there in waiting words of comfort for the people it protects, and it holler in battle not to bring down an enemy, but instill the fear of warning. All words of message; Adenna will not cower. Will not falter, will not founder, will not bend to the will of others.

A street walked, so Uriko felt, would take a lifetime to reach the end of. A street that is likely to have never been stormed by infiltrating boots. Or any stones in the whole of the city for that matter to ground the shoes and sandals and feet of any but the people, and those like herself that happened upon divine circumstance. To walk the end of that street would call upon an entirely different mood of Uriko, a serious one perhaps. But a one she was not at all likely to summon, as she was much more content with the excitement around what treats behind the glass and plastic counters might taste like over on the right side. And oh what the enormous tavern must look like inside. So large and oddly constructed. A mesh of bricks and ugly windows, but nothing ever looked so warm inside from such an opaque looking glass. The illusion of fire could have been made with anything remotely red, but it did look like there was a fire going inside, or lanterns, or candles.

?Bump on the head or not. Keep up! I'm starving.? Anthony said passing her to that very building. A joy to Uriko, it was their destination.

His feet padded the double-stepped porch of the front of the building while Uriko treaded almost silently in those soft wrapped sandals just begging to make a toe stubbing as defenseless as possible. The harshness of the wind picked up even then right before the door. Uriko grasped strongly each her elbows and pressed her forearms into her stomach to keep warm until either the door opened for her to slip into or the wind stopped. It was an enormous door, far too large to be conceived in the construction for the size of the building, even the entrance. Unless some enormous person or persons were considered, the door was puzzling, and delayed Anthony to open with any swiftness. But open it did.

The hustle and bustle of the thirsty and the hungry inside, the busy unpaved traffic lanes of barmaids and the whistling wind had everything so loud together that Uriko couldn't hear Anthony when he called to her. She had already left his side and his hands were busy fighting the resistance of the wind to close the door, and growls were already heard of upset that enough cold had been let in.
These were by no means a people not used to the cold. But alcohol in their blood and the warmth of the tavern would have them very irritable if the door stayed open too long. And poor Uriko didn't catch the most important bit about this place, the bit Anthony had tried to tell her before she walked on ahead, walked on to get out of the cold.

She succeeded in dodging a barmaid but almost instantly bumped into a seated fellow she was passing who was very descriptive with his hands in telling some story. This knocked Uriko back into a barmaid and then into an enormous fellow who turned and what else but picked her up.

?Ho you see lads! No one gets th' jump on meh!? he said, lifting her high and not a scream out of her but a couple ?whoa?'s for sure.

?Gram! Put her down this instance! The poor woman is traumatized!? Anthony pulled down on his arm at the bicep and it wavered only slightly.

?Wh' a bump on th' ead? We sent women back to war with far graver wounds than a headache, Sir Anthony.?

?That may very well be. But this woman is no Adennian shieldmaiden. So release her!? Anthony roared which silenced the entire bar and dining room, all eyes on Gram.

He was caught in his drunkenness, and lowering the woman to look at her, Uriko shrugged as if there was nothing she could do about making him look right in this. ?Well, erm. Do watch your step in th' place, it c' get hectic. Welcome t' Adenna!? Gram's words put everyone back about their loud, loud chatter.

?Sorry about that.? Anthony said with Uriko back at his arm where it was safe.

?Oh it was fine! It was actually really fun!? Uriko cheered, assisting him in looking about for what was an empty table.

?Well I'd hate for your injury to worsen, or worse you tell your friends about how you went to the great city of Adenna and had the worst headache of your life.? Anthony laughed heading back closer to the door they entered from and turning left where there were two empty tables. They took one by the weapons' dock that simply had Uriko fascinated.

?Look at all those. They're monstrous.?

?Mm, yes. The day blades.? Anthony gazed over them. Magnificent, towering swords, one after the other. Vastly varying guards, thicknesses, but not lengths. Granted, the lengths varied from hilt to hilt and blade to blade, but not the swords themselves. They all stood the same height in the dock to the wall. And lastly them was a sickly curled staff whose apex served as one of the illuminating forces behind lighting the window Uriko saw outside. Like fire it served the yellow and gold course of colors even by itself. She dared imagine the person who would wield it. She--

?I don't know how adventurous your appetite is so we won't jump into any crazy Adenna specialties. A simple chicken sandwich, some red wine. Hey! I need to get this girl some food!? Anthony fished for attention the only way he's ever gotten it in this place.

?Umm, I don't exactly drink wine. A warm glass of milk maybe?? Uriko suggested.

?Hey! A chicken sandwich on rye! And a milk!? Anthony yelled and Uriko's head sunk a little. She could tell all the rough n' tough warriors who had seen so much in battle were looking back at her now with their mocking grins to such a ?sissy? drink.

?You'll have to wait a second Anthony I'm kinda busy!? the bouncy blonde said, seeming too small a woman to carry two enormous steins full of ale per hand. One less when she sat one down in front of woman holding her head and keeping it from hitting the bar.

?Thanks.? she mumbled, scooping it by the handle to closer regions.

?That doesn't actually work you know. That whole 'hair of the dog' thing.? Rijn said, the fellow beside her.

Felipe held Anthony just a moment longer before she absolutely had to focus all attention on the arm around her, and Blast made to the scene all too quickly as Techichi was a presence that could demolish the bar if any triggers were set.

?Now now! Save it for the matches.? Anthony said protecting his drink from spilling around the roughhousing duo.

?Come on let her go.? Blast said, stepping perhaps a little too close, and Techichi switched facing the table with Felipe in an instant, and with her back to Anthony and Uriko she held Felipe in front of her and the gargantuan Blast on the floor, face pinned with her foot. Definitely too close.

?Better finish collecting your armor Blast. You're still far too open to contusions.? Techichi said.

?I told you to watch out for her feet.? Anthony said on a tumbling sigh as if he had warned a great many of that to no avail.

?What do you think Uriko,? Tetch looked at her still imprisoning the two. ?Do you think they'll behave??

Uriko made sure they both got to see her debating composure, ?Hmmmm,? and then if the very hammer of life itself were coming down to the gavel their fate had been chosen. ?I think they'll be good.?

And Tetch spun Felipe around not unlike a slowly dance move, and facing her upright meant a dedicated foot no longer held her second victim. There seemed to be no revengeful feelings, possibly due to the fact a neck and face were busily being rubbed back to feeling normal, and only Blast likely to wear a mark of this account under his right eye.

?You look a million times better than before. See what good a bath does you here?? Tetch leaned on the table analyzing Uriko.

?She's too quiet. Do you know what we do to shy people around here?? Felipe threatened, and Anthony was quick to defend.

?Nonsense. She's been very talkative to me.? Anthony defended.

?What a foolish thing to say. A woman actively talking to you. Your ego's grown since last I splintered your sword in the training hall. I think we should put it back where it belongs.? Blast entered.

?And when was the last time I splintered yours? Or is my memory that bad that I shouldn't remember something so recent?? Tetch said.

The stories that must have been with each of them, ranging from the small to the ones that take you several seconds to walk completely past. But no such chambers were more alluring than the one Uriko came to that was watched by two elite guards ironically enough in a lengthy disagreement about something heavily distracting them.

?If you show me your face I'll show you mine.?

?A thousand times no. I'm not taking my helmet off.? an early Renendavo said.

?It's not like it's a big deal or anything.?

?It is to me.?

?I promise I won't tell anyone if you're uglier than sin.?

?You're not helping this shift end any sooner.? Renendavo sighed hard into the steel mouth of his helmet.

?Just prove to me you don't have the head of a fox or something.?

?I'm sure I could muster the vocal prominence with the head of an animal. Really now come on.?

?I don't know. You could use magic or something.?

?And what am I going to be tomorrow? A ghastly specter once buried under the foundation of this castle and forever meant to haunt these grounds under the presume of a watchman?? Renendavo suggested rather angrily.

And there was a long pause between the two, either the argument having just gotten heated or their awareness of a stealthy Uriko trying to slip past them into the chamber they were guarding remained to be seen until, ?This would be a whole lot easier if you just took off your helmet.?

?I'm not taking off my helmet!?

Finally past them, Uriko went on the necessary length to begin walking casually again and emitting the volume that allowed her to creep less. It was a most interesting chamber in that it wore an older stone for walling and flooring. Not having seen much of the castle she couldn't be certain, but the main entrance, lobby, and first hall she visited upon entering show far greater construction and richness than this corridor.

Yes it was a very dull chamber indeed. In fact it began to make sense it look so outdated because it was so empty. Probably cleared out for the renovation Uriko walked in expecting. A fresh painting, new laying of rich stone, and all the fine cloths and materials that cut off upon entering this bland realm. But ho, past the sixteenth pairing of pillars Uriko was walking betwixt there showed a wall mounting she had to be closer to in order to make out. She passed the fourteenth and the fifteenth, and around the rounded pillar she went her heart nearly skipped a beat not unlike the times it did when she thought she saw death running at her with a blade, for it was who she thought she saw when gazing upon this item.

Mounted the wall was the panther head helmet that chased her through the woods day in and day out. Sparkling its two eyes their two different colors, reflecting back Uriko in the two shades of shock. Her eyes inevitably drifted downwards to the plaque reading: ?Head of Fisk, the panther lord?.

Uriko's thoughts went different places, in this case, to another time. A time that would be and should be the past, but here, the future. She recalled the lessons and the fright brought upon her by Techichi, and the restless days at the aquatic ruins. That collected face of the beast what enormous fangs couldn't help conceal a little ferocity, and of course the eyes. It nearly leaped from the wall at her and swung the Falsiad in one way or another that Uriko always had a certain dodge prepared for. It took her back.

?Techichi? Is this training supposed to be this short?? Uriko asked back in the ruins.

?The other eye on my helm, the red one. Speeds things up a bit. Handy in fights.? Techichi had said.

Uriko analyzed it with wide eyes, that ruby red eye sparkling her analytical reflection back at her. She glanced around her pillar down the hall and saw the guards still as unaware as ever, so she went back to the helmet, removing it from the wall. She gazed into it, closer than she ever had during training. And thinking to herself how easy it was getting this close, as opposed to when her life was in danger from hundreds of meters out and just barely seeing the thing.

But this was far too great of a coincidence. She placed the helmet on her head. Right away she took notice to the two colors, not a one of them projecting what an eye should, for she saw nothing that was truly on the other side of them. Looking through those eyes didn't show her the castle chamber in shades of red and blue, but rather two different things in those shades. Firstly the blue, which scrolled untraceable speeds and lengths of binary code. Wherever the desiccator might be, whatever he was doing was right there. And lastly the red eye, Uriko's breathing sped up as she watched the events in it unfold.

?An attack on the city!?

?Everyone to the city walls! Have your weapons fetched!?

Techichi uncrossed her arms at the competition stands and rose staring out the way of an explosion on the farthest insides of the city. Everyone was frozen for a moment in what was something to not happen in Adenna for a very long time. The eye revealed the very witch Uriko encountered in the bleak blackness of the casino nights, and with magical compositions in the shadows she baited the city's finest.

?Techichi, Anthony, Rijn. Get to the city gate immediately.? Old Vic commanded, and likewise the three he'd called nodded and phased out their presences in an instant.

?The ceremony shall go on. The exact moment of dubbing shall not be infringed upon. Ready your weapons!? Old Vic fisted his perfectly cleft chin and with his other magnificently gauntleted hand, signaled the next fight of the competition. And shockingly in Techichi's stead, Felipe rose her sword against that familiar face, the then not-so evil faced witch. Yes it was beginning to make frightening sense.

Uriko's breath could be heard through the helmet, she rose and fell in such tiny quantities, her hand extended to the wall for support. She dared not look on should this future be the one so close by. But she had to. On at the city gates Techichi and the entourage of Adennian protectors stood prepared to give the city the best defense it would offer. Blast on one side, Havelast Dagger Sasc on another. And they stood opposing the most unique looking foes there ever was. A gold and blue armored entity with a head of pure golden light, Vaulde, leader of The Light Heroes. And another presence that shocked the faces of Adenna, the white armored exile, sixth and final guardian of the floating islands. Not an impossible fight but a fight that required no less than was already there to face them.

Uriko watched on, they fought well, but to the enemy's victory, in that they were delayed. The witch from the shadows smiles on at her past self easily besting Felipe. And with no other opposition save Techichi who was summoned for another purpose, Old Vic saw her the scarf of sensei. One by one, Adenna's promising warrior women disappear to the eyes of the citizens, but not to the red eye of the panther. A serpent-like lowly creature slipping down the alley ways with a man just as disgusting and wicked on the inside. They meet with Charlene in a secret storage room where, appointment by appointment, she has her very own students she was sworn to teach gagged and bound in tears. Tears flowing not of fear of death, but what the future holds. The future that Charlene has created, through this eye Uriko saw.

Despicable deals being struck, ones that shame and soil Adenna's name. The serpent passes payment over to Charlene in fine jewels and historical items, as well as becoming cocky over further meetings to ensure the safety of Adenna from their own country of serpent men. And in turn Charlene pays them Adenna's virgin warrior women. Not their lives, no only a few minutes of sodomy and rape, but in effect shattering their lifelong goals and dreams of being capable of becoming Siovanui, their lives are indeed gone.
The legendary cliff warriors set off from either on winged beasts or their own magical properties to face the guardians soon takes a different site of remembrance in this future. The raped daughters of Adenna hurl themselves from it and crash heavier than ever to the rocky bottom and crashing waves without the lightness of their own dreams and aspirations.

Adenna slips into a dark age, and Techichi becomes framed in a massacre. And her dearest friends, Anthony, Rijn, Blast, and Havelast all have to look on in inactive favor, lifeless, emotionless faces overcome with sadness that Charlene's influence flows so strongly with the bills she wavers with the stamp of the king. Such abilities come to the sensei of the Women's Association of Combat Professionals. The sun shines less and less on Adenna each day, and it's harsh winds form the unyielding and unmerciful duo with the rain that puts Anthony in the shadows every day watching those few he still knows amongst the ?new? citizens of Adenna. Serpent men and evil men, even more aggravated and upset than they naturally are because of the shortage in women that they had come to enjoy as so many others have.

Charlene had ran that pool of promising young women nearly dry, and those that weren't raped had already left the city as many others had and each of which was apart of the heart of the city that pumped it with love and care that made it as majestic as it was.

Uriko was on the verge of taking the helmet off, but she watched on still, through the bloodied eye of the panther. Techichi's execution comes, and Havelast is tasked with the black cowl of the deathbringer. An axe not at all suiting him shines and drips with rain at the gallows just over his head where that pink cloud acquaintance should have been, and the only light comes from high above where amazing characters have come to witness the untimely death of one of the most would-be legendary characters to come into this world. Wearing cuffs not at all suiting her status as a heroine and escorted by a newly appointed serpent prison master, she soon shares the same floor with the other condemned.

Much to Uriko's needed hope, Techichi fights back at the last minute and escapes Adenna. Charlene soon later declares her banished, and punishment of death should she ever return to 'the great city of Adenna.'

Anthony never sees her again, he forms an underground evacuation program with Rijn and very effectively over the next few weeks sees the good still of Adenna safe passage out. And not before everyone is out do Rijn, Blast, and Anthony turn their backs on Adenna forever, and leave the once great city. Charlene attempts an overthrow on the throne when the city is nothing more but a mass of black housing with the one great castle amidst it all pouring the only light. Old Vic and his legendary ninja companion and lifetime protector of the king slay countless serpent men, each unnerving to Uriko that it may be the one that takes their lives. Unfortunately, the king-appointed knight sees his knees to the ground when the witch herself (now very resembling the one Uriko encountered in her own time) gets into the battle. In his final words, he questions his own city as to how such evil can come from it.

Charlene and her villainous serpents storm the highest retreat in the castle, the personal quarters of the king. Busting through the door they find only a lantern lit and a barren living space. It is unknown even by the red eye whether the king left then or even earlier. But regardless Charlene can now for certain take the throne of the city she so ran black with evil. And it is when she seats to it, and that her ghastly subordinates kneel before her, that the magnificent galapagos off the cliff all shockingly descend into the ocean. It is here Uriko flings the helmet off making a noisy clangor that alerts the two guards just outside.

?Ugh,? Charlene began, walking. ?That damned Keiichi would be my first opponent. She doesn't deserve the women's seat as teacher!? she flung her arms out in anger and closed her eyes to a careless expression and laced her fingers behind her head. ?I guess I'll just have to show her who's boss.?

?Pardon, child.? a voice said from a shadowed vendor stand.

?Hm?? Charlene stopped and looked.

?I overheard you have a fighting competition up ahead.?

?Yea. What of it?? Charlene approached and tried to get a better glimpse of the shadowy figure, but it only backed deeper into darkness when she did so.

?A very trying competition ahead of you this is hm? Should be much easier for you I think with this.? the figure said revealing a blade, a frightening blade with a silver steel common enough but a hilt so dark it looked coated in black ink, and dark blood eyes just barely different from the black itself that went the two ways of the guard to resemble a demonic, mouthless face.

?What's that piece of junk?? Charlene taunted.

?Hold your tongue! This blade is the legendary sword swung by Alione, I'm sure you know him.? the shadowy figure let the fire grow on its own now.

?Of course, the dark ninja of Adenna. Everyone knows of him. He was one of the few to battle the guardians through his own dark arts method.? Charlene educated and indicated a high level of fascination.

?This is the very sword, my dear. Far better than that blunt block you're swinging around now. Take this, and it's sure to favor you in the competition.? Charlene put her hands on it but the withered hands of the merchant reached out and pulled her close if only to see the fine nose, purple lips and dazzling white teeth speak out to her, ?my only request is that you slay Techichi!?

Charlene pulled back almost frightened, but that was not the whole of her withdrawl, for she had the sword in her possession.

?Remember well what I have told you. You deserve that seat, I know it. And so long as Techichi lives you will never see the strength you desire. Do not disappoint me, or the lineage of great ninja who stand behind the victory of that sword.?

Charlene didn't know what to make out of this person, but onto other business, she saw this as a major advantage in the tournament. And not that it was any of that old merchant's business, she didn't mind at all, the thought of slitting Techichi's throat. With her new ambition to see her blood spill, she fastened the sword to her back and went on about her walk to pass the time until she would become new sensei to the women's association of combat professionals.

Uriko ran down the street and halted herself when new turns came, such was the velocity of her mission. Her eyes passing over this person to that person, looking for specific ones. Shadowy personas, anyone, with relevance to this future that had to be stopped. She passed an alley just to hit the brakes and peer down it secretly to see Rijn Savorenius, great mage of Adenna, doing trades with an elderly bookkeeper just outside of his small house-run library. Uriko grit her teeth, her perfect smile that didn't deserve such an upset face to be made. She wanted to go to him so badly, or Anthony, or the king! But there would be no way of any of them believing the events to unfold so soon. But she had to try, she figured, she moved out and was instantly hit with a rushed ninja.

?Oof!? he sounded.

?Gah!? Uriko hit the ground.

?Oh goodness I'm sorry! I was in such a hurry. Are you all right? Let me help you up.? he said lifting her to his skeletal face. Uriko almost gasped with terror.

?Oh, stupid thing keeps falling down.? he lifted the skull of his armor to his black hair where it sat spreading locks this way and that through the eye holes and mouth of the skull. Uriko took the time to notice he was extremely well geared, more so than anyone else she'd seen in Adenna.

?Where are you going?? Uriko asked so curiously innocent.

?Well I've been running around all day you see doing a great many different things. Errands for the temple masters, picking my blades up from the smithy, reserving seats for the competition, not to mention doing all this as to make certain I'll actually be able to attend the competition, and of course get my scarf.? he said.

?Your scarf??

?Yes. My scarf. You know? The one awarded to victors surviving the six island guardians?? he acted as if she was so out of the loop.

?You've already bested all the guardians?? Uriko questioned.

?No, I have to get my scarf. I have one left to face. The sixth and final guardian. I should have time if I leave within the hour. I was just going to grab a bite to--?

?The sixth guardian?!? Uriko shouted grabbing his lose clothing he wore overtop his armor.

?Huh? Yea, the sixth guardian.?

?The one with the white armor, and crystal blue eyes? The-- the--? she ran her words together so quickly, every second wasted was one more she might need in the very near future. So getting answers out of him as quickly as possible meant everything.

?Yea that's the one. Calm down miss. What's this all about??

?I'm coming with you!? Uriko stated with a glare so serious he couldn't say anything back.

The young ninja with the decorations and ninja equivalent armor to besting guardians was hurriedly trying to get some skewered pork when Uriko pushed him on his way and grabbed the food and a to-go bag.

?Hey what's the rush?!? the young man demanded.

?Eat on the way!? Uriko said pushing him before she stopped and then looked around blankly. ?Just which way is it anyway?? to open a long pause.

?I'll tell you if I can have some food.? to which he appropriately got a stick of pork and contentedly he pointed the way and Uriko went back about rushing them there.

?You sure are in a hurry? You mind telling me what this is all about??

?Oh uhh, the sixth is the only one I've always wanted to see. I'll just come with you, and witness your completion and get to see what he looks like too!? Uriko fibbed.

?Oh, well you're not really supposed to do that, since the initial impact of what the guardians look like sometimes determine successfully defeating them, but you seem like you got your mind set on this so what can it hurt. Pork?? he offered but Uriko shook her head feverishly.

?Just hurry up and eat so we can get going!? Uriko yelled.

Meanwhile a vocally powerful presence by the name of Rahea approached a meek podium and alternated between the collecting congregation and his sworn partner Old Vic standing monstrously tall there beside him in full armor. But he finally began the processions.

?Greetings citizens and visitors of Adenna! Welcome to the inauguration of our first leading force behind the women's school since our fabled Siovanui herself! Today is to be a great leap for the history of our people, for in just a few short hours set by the astronomical computer here--? he referenced a meager block of wood on pegs with a handle to its sides, and upon the faces of the block were five dials, three on one side with one being a very small circlet, and two identically sized circles on the other, all of which ran like a clock only to larger measurements such as months and years. ?The time is quite literally upon us.? a small laugh from the crowd.

?We ask that you begin taking your seats, as the senior student matches begin now. And the new sensei of the Order of womens' knights and ninjas will be made today.? the seasoned ninja said to much applause.

?Let the competition begin!? Old Vic roared boldly, striking the center of the in-ground fighting rink with his sword symbolic for the beginning of such honorable festivities. With the blade affixed into the ground, the first two skirmishers came out and despite a very unrewarding tournament for the students, they treated it just as important as if it were they that fought for the title of sensei. You could see it in their faces. The first punches were thrown.

?It's quite a turnout. More people than the regular competitions bring.? Blast denoted.

?Naturally Blast, this isn't a regular competition now is it.? Anthony said looking a nearly opposite direction as the hulking knight. There were that many people.

?Hey, you're buddy's showed up already.? Blast said surprised, nudging Anthony to look his way and reveal Techichi in the stands.

?What? And she said--? he stormed over and pointed one very threatening finger her way. ?I thought you were going to show up late as usual. I guess you've had a change of heart?? as if, but he played on for his argument.

?Of course I'd rather be napping. But I promised some of the students I'd watch their matches.?

Anthony sighed, ?Well you had better win out there yourself.?

?Don't worry Anthony. I'll win it for you.? she winked to his follow-up blush.

?All right come on Anthony, we need to patrol the perimeter once more. More people than the regular competitions bring after all.? he grabbed the back of his shirt and tugged him away from Techichi.

?Hallou! Havelast! What news from the perch?? Blast called up to the roof just outside the crowd.

?Hallou. Nothing out of the ordinary. There is a pair walking the route to the cliff, but I'd heard someone was planning a guardian fight today anyway.? he looked away.

?Hmm. Well keep an eye out! We've got the grounds.? Blast flung his one-sided cape from his front right side to flow at half his back. It was only until he and Anthony were gone that Havelast spoke.

?God I hate that man.? to which the pink hovering cloud beside him seemed to shift in hearing something odd and unexpected out of him.

?Oh thank you. Thank you!? she leaped to hug him, and despite his godly efforts, wasn't quick enough to fend off the grateful gesture.

?We've interacted too much as it is. I must get back what I had been doing. And if I were you I'd find some way to stop that witch.? Vaulde suggested.

?What? You mean you can't help me?? Uriko asked.

?As you have no doubt shown, this is a matter of time. For me to intervene legitimately is unacceptable, and potentially harmful to the future if anyone sees me. Even you.? he said.

?What does this mean?? Uriko asked.

?I've seen that face before, please don't depress me. You won't wake up in a state of amnesia when this is all over, but I'm afraid I must remove any memories you have of me. Those are the things that are harmful to the future.? he removed his glove revealing a beam of golden light.

?That's not really necessary. I forget things usually when I wake up in the mornings. It's no big deal.? Uriko looked at where his hand should be with a hint of fright.

?You should understand one day if we ever meet again. Under real time circumstances I should find no reason why you can't keep your memories then, but you must understand in misplaced time they are dangerous thoughts. You won't even feel this.? he swiped the beam of his hand to her head and it looked no different than a flashlight passing across her face.

?What was that?? she asked.

?Any and everything about me is represented by golden light. Even the very thought of me. It was not hard to find those thoughts among your many. What I have touched onto them will effectively disperse them when you time travel again. Just see this plan of yours through to the end and if the future goes as it should, the witch you spoke of will have no choice but to nullify the whole thing. But you had better hurry. I believe she was going to be signaling me down any moment now.? Vaulde said.

?I can't thank you enough! Please come after me if anything goes wrong! I think I'm in the green though! Oh, do you know of a way I could get down?? Uriko asked.

?I can't think of a better means, please take the sixth. And be careful, there was much energy coming from that witch.? Vaulde warned.

The sixth guardian approached with ever-open wings in affixed positions, a confusing material seeming of metal, porcelain, and composite due to it's shine and hollowness in some areas. It was definitely an unusual body, and when Uriko climbed upon it and misplaced her step she unintentionally placed her hand on the thick blue lenses of its face, and sure enough, they were as chilling as they looked.

?Okay! Wish me luck! And thanks again. I don't know how I can ever repay you. You've saved my future.? Uriko stared back sincerely.

?Just be right. That's all I ask. She won't fair too well with important figures such as me and the sixth there to intervene with the important ceremony as you put it. Now on your way!? The sixth bolted down before Uriko could get a snug enough grip. ?I saved your future? And just how many other peoples futures do you think you saved? Selfless girl. Would any less of a soul be able to stop this chain of events? I should think not.

?And still, it is so hard to dispel characters these days. They are almost always knowing what they are doing. I praise I get involved with who I do. It makes refusing pleas such as hers so much harder.? he turned and began walking and glowing until the brightness overwhelmed where he was and dissipated to nothing, making the sixth island a completely deserted one but for a thawing ninja.

?Hm. It is time.? the shadowy figure said in the darkness, sharpening her composure in one swift motion and setting off an explosion from her position, erupting a quake of smoke and fire easily noticeable from a place as far as where the competition was being held. Techichi stood quickly with a worrisome face as did the numerous knights and ninja alike assigned to protect the city.

?What's this?? Old Vic said within an ear shot of Rahea.

?Guards! Have your weapons fetched! There's an attack on the city!? the wise ninja dispatched, as they had all vanished through their various skills to the site.

?Rahea, if we step out of the set time then this competition won't be official.? Vic noted.

?I'm aware of that old friend.? he whispered to him, ?The competition goes on!?

?Attention! We will now begin matches...? he paused with much hesitation. ?--for the new Instructor of our Siovanui Sorte students. Old Vic. If you would pierce the fighting square with the blood sword to signify the legalization of lethal force, and all the warriors that have lost their lives in the great pursuit as a Siovanui.? conclusively Old Vic removed the equally large sword from a bed of velvet escorted by the three young students and punctured it into the ground and tied the ceremonial scarf of the ninja upon it's hilt which was originally worn by the first ascending Siovanui ninja, immortalized just outside the city in statue.

?Do not be mistaken, this hour is critical. I wish the best of luck to you all. Begin!? Rahea called not a moment after Old Vic had leaped up beside him from the fight square.

?You're going on then?? he asked.

?I have to.? a displeased glance to the ever-ticking computer.

?This is ludicrous attempting without Daichi's daughter.? Vic protested.

?I'd rather she be absent than the lot of our people miss the opportunity.?

?I won't challenge it, old friend. We must only hope the disturbance earlier was a minor one.? Old Vic glared as best he could the direction the four initially took off in.

?I wonder if when your head comes off here, does it create a loop in your life you're destined to replay throughout time?? the witch said with her sword high and holding Uriko down by her neck. But before she could strike Anthony rushed forward with his sword and swung once, releasing from the blade a godly-lit manifestation of his father the King Mandonel which punched the witch from Uriko with much ease. The sword seemed foolishly easy to wield in that the blow-delivering knight from within the sword blew away like sand of light after the punch and Anthony awaiting her hand,

?I don't know how involved you are in this, but I don't think melee is working out for you too well.? he said lifting her up quickly and guiding her behind him.

?Listen Anthony. Techichi must get back to her match. They'll continue them without her! Come on, we don't need Techichi to dispatch that witch.? she smirked a game face she's so rarely worn.

?Oh my you're right.? he turned with his cape flowing the direction for a moment. ?Keiichi! We got this!? cupping his hand beside his mouth. The Adennian princess was able to look down to him despite being sword-locked with the witch in midair.

?You've got a match to win! Remember?? by the time he'd taken his hand away he was grinning, and a moment of clarity had just come over her up there.

?Eyes in front of you novice!? the witch attacked thinking she had the upper hand, but the air took her instead of the fleshy embodiment of her hatred.

The repeating spear of Havelast met a barrier of the witch's with much difficulty and Blast the Heavy Hand made his debut in the fight by displaying how he earned that sobriquet. In the air with the witch where it seemed unreal for someone his size to reach, he swung his sword down that quite literally batted the witch in her shield down to the unoccupied street.

Techichi landed blurringly fast before Anthony and Uriko in a manner that surprised them both, ?You'll be fine here then??

?Yes, yes! Hurry and win your competition!? Uriko rushed her along. Techichi smiled what was clearly the surprise and unknown between them. The mysterious newcomer to Adenna so involved and wrapped in this event that had taken her away from a very defining moment in Adenna's history. Well, no matter.

?Glad to see you're feeling better.? Techichi addressed her quite personally like she hadn't done since first meeting her when she woke up with a headache. Uriko thought of the best thing to say.

But Techichi was already well on her way, fastening her swords to cross behind her rear and adjusting carefully placed straps. Uriko held a loose fist at her chest and faintly reached out, words incapable of going the distance. Her eyes sorrowful and a deep breath well on the way out, but last minute she called out. ?Until we meet again!?

Techichi turned and gave her a peace sign and a left-eyed wink not without full smile, and she was gone.

?All right, Uriko. Let's see if you don't make me regret giving away our most reckoned force.? Anthony said switching her from her place there to beside him. ?Let's see what those Adennian sword replicas can do.? he winked.

It hit Uriko, the two blades no doubt upon the buttocks of Techichi as well at that very moment hadn't roused peculiarities or suspicions in the least. Well of course not with a city so commercialized with merchandising. The numerous merchant shops, one at least, is fully devoted to replicas of Adenna's finest. More so the sword of the actual Siovanui, the sword of the king, sword of Old Vic and on down the list is the Truth and the Falsiad. Uriko facepalmed smiling happily.

?And just what's so funny??

?If I told you, you wouldn't believe me.? Uriko patted his shoulder before Rijn interrupted them.

?I don't mean to interrupt this bonding moment, but I would like to dispatch this intruder before the matches are completely over??

?Yes, of course.? Anthony turned and engaged the witch almost instantly who was proving well matched in swordplay with Havelast.

?FOOLS!!? the witch vibrated the air around the lot of them completely through to their deepest senses. The energy waves beat against their very heartbeats and the ground quaked while briefly it was anything but timid. The witch erupted in transformation and blowing her opponents back in doing so. Anthony bounded back, Blast phased from some speed, and Havelast sluggishly slouched to a spot beside them both and joined by a pink cloud descending to his shoulder from above.

Uriko waited to see with the same caution Anthony and the others wore in seeing what lied through the mist of her transformation. Something considerably larger, stronger, and more evil was becoming accustomed to its body for the first time. And every second the smoke cleared further and exposed more of the demon. Remarkably, still very much the image of a woman. A physique and contours so fine it was almost silly that this could be a stronger form. But if those on the side of good could have favorable looks in a higher power then why couldn't the bad side?

?What's wrong?? the witch said in the form of four voices in echoing harmony as clearly some time had passed since they last engaged. And surely, another long pause. The collected heroes calculating, and unsure the disadvantages that came with this transformation. Blast found one in himself glancing down to her long exposed legs. Not a one of them were quick to attack, especially the witch.

?Well fought.? Felipe panted, sword held to the neck of a promising Adennian woman, having chosen not to end her life.

?The fight is yours.? she said in acceptance of defeat and her opponent's hand in helping her up to the applause of the match.

?Very well! We move onto the next match.? Rahea said to the hungering crowd. Vic's hands together with his nose and mouth between them, and a very serious stare in his eyes. A gaze to the sun only squinting his eyes slightly, and he perfected the setting on the computer, turning the knob only slight to point the needle to the appropriate symbol.

?Charlene, you are next.? Rahea gestured for her enter, and enter she did. She hopped down with energy and confidence not stopping there but continuing to parade about the square of spectators and beckon her opponent with such energy.

?Is Techichi present?? Rahea questioned. The citizens looked among themselves. ?Prin-cess??

?What does this mean? Charlene called with her sword and worrisome face but only for her own personal gain.

?In the absence of a contender we,? he looked for Vic's suggestion, but Vic only looked on undisturbed. ?we continue without them.?

?Who do I fight!? she demanded. And of course, none of the trainees wanted to go against her, particularly not in training. Specifically not in a fight to the death. None stepped up, and Rahea hadn't finished calculating the best response in her opponent, for surely she would kill them all until she was the only one standing irrefutably the winner. And it was completely legal, as such ruthlessness was shown in Adenna's long past. Cursed first generation ninja and knight codes of honor and blood.

?Me.? Felipe stood having briefly sat.

?I land one more punch and you take us back and confront Techichi in our own time like a real warrior.?

?And if I hit??

?Then I abandon this whole mission. And your revenge is yours to exact.? Uriko staged.

?I hope you have another punch as lucky as the last in you.? the witch readied.

?Every punch from now on will be that lucky.? Uriko smiled.

?Princess!? was called to her, but she did not know where. She saw nothing, and she heard it from everywhere. ?Princess, please! This way!? it came again.

She looked as best she could at the light, and was as if the sun in midday stretched itself with the whole sky. But there was something there, something more to it. Only shielding her eyes with an arm did she stick a bold shadow across her face and see a transparent specter, even so much as an outstretched arm coming towards her and a worrisome expression. ?Princess, there's no time!?

Soon others showed up and crowded around the running girl, grabbing her and seeing her off the ground and in their floating care. ?Hold on tightly, Princess!? and Uriko's senses would become useless those next few moments. The brightness became too much to tolerate even behind closed eyes, much less open. And her ears picked up the loud blast of a collapsing super channel of military commands all so easily manipulated with colorful spinning panels and decorative levers so as to intrigue the rich and the simple minded. Even after a time the rumble had gotten so thick her ears no longer picked it up loudly, but quietly, and just as thick as ever. But the first thing to diminish was the brightness.

Those were not warm hands, or fingers pressed against her skin. Their transparency did not end with just their looks, as the cold winds of some outside passed right through them and upon the unshielded princess. Enter third sense, smell. No more of that underground emptiness. Everything was fresh now, and like a newborn her eyes had to take to the light of the world once more with ever weakening fragility. What she was able to see first off, was the smoking trail of destruction that the casino nights had made out of their exit point, the only exit point. A simple square-slanted shaft that came to the great open cliff she was now soaring over.

?You're fine, Princess.? the one who came to her first said.

?Who are you all??

?We are past generals of the four wars, and once in great company with the aim of your quest, Ash Brimmer.? he said.

?Oh...?

?What's wrong, Princess??

She was glaring back at the smoking wreckage of the casino with a superimposed impression of Charlene to it, no doubt the work of her memory and sense of caring together in orchestration. The torture her mind must have gone through, and stranger, the kind of person her very recent mentor must have been to nourish such hatred. In varying but definite amounts, she hoped to never see either of them again.
?Nothing, nothing is wrong.?

?We are pleased sanity is somewhat with you, Princess.?
?Yes, we feared the worst that the limitless form of poison would have found their way to you. We are proud you've proven us wrong.?

?It is shocking to see Charlene brought in for her dark services. Ash is stopping at nothing. The elder heart of the city of Avia still beats close by. That is your next aim, Princess.?

?You must be prepared, the threat grows the closer you come. Ash's finest assassins know one attack, and it is to be their first and only that will cut you down, and it strengthens every day they wait for you.?

?Avia's grown it's population back of a thriving people, slaughtered, and risen again. Pale-faced and one-tracked to the emperor.?

?You can't hope to conquer it alone.?

?Don't worry. I'll be there.? Uriko said.

?You are cared for, Princess. I feel it all over the lands. Prayers otherwise normal are added with requests for your safety, and victory.?

?Aye, there is hope every step closer you take to the emperor. Standing before him defies the odds that he is an unbeatable entity.?

?Ash is as armored as his mind is aware of such defenses. His genius is sure to be his shield. Overcome it, and you'll find no trouble with the sword.?

?You choose to betray him in death?? Uriko questioned.

?I am friend of Ash the soldier. My comrade. Not the emperor.?
?Aye.?
?Aye.?
?Aye.?

Uriko looked to the view of a sunset so beautiful as to be in company with her own, ?How is it you've come by me?? she asked.

?The evil witch you just dispatched is responsible with the interference that moved us from our resting place on the battlefield.?

?By coincidence or intention remains to be seen.?

?The witch is cunning. But I'll look no farther into an evil such as that for understanding.?

?We are not of this time for much longer, Princess. So we must leave you here.? the four gradually lowered to a grassy-top of a mesa with a frightening height.

?This system of wooden bridges will lead you to the mountaintop for food and water. Rest, and begin the descent for Avia. The blood red city.? one handed her-her two swords.

?You'll see us again before Ash's demise. Our graves won't even keep us for seeing his purification. Justice, not always for every man, will meet him.?

Uriko nodded taking the swords into her breast.

?Do not worry. For as long as I've known, a princess is never without protection.? he saluted, the first of the four and a passing breeze erased their already diminished presence. Uriko would catch her breath, pay glance to the now tiny exit of the casino nights, and then hike on over the first bridge.

Rope burn singed along her sliding hold until she was beneath the platform he stood upon. It separated the logs enough to fit more fingers between, aiding in her cross to the other side and speedy climb up where her arm was met with another sharp pain, this time worse than his clench.
Climbing back up as fast she could she saw he had leveled a kick along the rope railing intending to severely jar her head or break her neck. But instead, met with her defending arm, directly. Back down she went, the frightening dangle over hundreds of feet above the forest and rivers below her. If she would die, she would die cold from a fall. And not knowing what of her remained connected while she switched off nerve by nerve on some rocky final resting place.
Her silent opponent looked around for her next climb, but leaped from his position when the falsiad stabbed up at him from under the bridge. He was still again, the whole time watching Uriko climb back of and regain herself.

?Are you sure your fight is with me?? Uriko panted, one eye more serious than the other for the time until she could open it as easily as the other. There was silence again and somewhere there she blinked and felt tremendous resistance on her grip, a pull. When her eyes opened she met the charging foe swinging back her own sword at her. Her teeth clenched and she ducked out of her own blade's path and into his foot, lining her back up for the sword in the second pass. All one, beautiful orchestration of spinning combat. The truth collided with it, her final defense to an actual weapon worth avoiding. Her eyes wide as they could be she pushed to move him back in their little lock and did so, flinging the tiny sword out at him after his heart before blinking.

Sharp pain in her sword hand, what she felt was for sure a broken finger, maybe two. Her eyes opened again and her enemy was retreating, her sword still in his hand and the truth complacently lying off to one of the sides on the bridge. The man held at his robe near the shoulder with an index finger and thumb, the rest of which held the monstrous falsiad. He had apparently, been nipped by the hurling of the sword. Uriko saw this, he was on the defensive. So she carefully stepped out after her sword, cradling her hurt hand in the other. A dire look on her face, prepared for a number of things he might be preparing himself.
The kind of kick she'd go off in if he was suddenly before her. How to ward off her own sword and it's abilities, how to ward off the sword itself assuming he could not use it's abilities. So many things, and then the sun seemed to rise all in one brisk moment.

A ball of fire passed over her with such blinding light and falling down to the forest below that Uriko just felt it's heat only long after it nearly crashed those hundreds of feet down. From above she saw another dark-robed man, identical to this one only holding a staff and not her own sword. It was tightly wrapped in countless feathers of black, some winged beast that had gone on to serve a man in some magical proportions. She glanced at him maybe a few seconds before falling on the altered bridge after it made a loud clack. Shavings of wet wood flew up and hit before she even hit the bridge, and upon landing felt the stiffness of the bridge, no gaps. Every log, compressed far tighter than say two of the logs could feasibly be pressed into each other. This sudden jarring bounced her tiny sword, the truth, up and off the side she realized none too late. And just as fast, that became an unimportant issue in light of the present ones.

This second man, she would never forget, he was black and pink in presence. Such a dominantly black robe, swarthy complexion, and magnificent pink-neckline of needle-like feathers all around, starting weakly at his chest and then furling out to the sides of his neck and the back of his neck where it was magnificently tall and beaming with the glow off the glow off the glow of the other feathers' intricacy. His long black hair, glistening almost as much, a raven black and complimentary to a handsome face unlike his companion's, stayed handsome even in expressions of evil.

He was musclebound, and contrary to most who wielded magic. Of course, if this would be the person who would kill her with those current beliefs, then there is far more to the characters of realms of all shapes that remained to be seen. It also could be true, that the nonbelievers of such entities, met their fates at the subject of the very things they swore didn't exist.
Uriko looked back and forth between the two, this overly-capable newcomer more-so, as the one across her on the bridge was still crouched from how he had landed in being seemingly, surprised. She rose slow and carefully, took one step back and then turned full blast. Digging up dirt in that pleasant path she sought refuge at before the rain began. In darkness now she followed the paths that the rain lit up and drew upon more clearly, aiding in her turns most of the time; preventing some tragic run off the ledge that would cut questions of 'what if' and pertaining to Uriko and the completion of this journey, all too soon.

Her feet were all she heard, pounding down upon the wet track beneath her, and then the seismic uproar of a ball of flame, summoning her shadow enormously and then becoming no more than a tiny black spot hiding underneath her as she was shown in all her lit paleness the burning death that rolled towards her. For the first time in a while, she followed the persuasion of her villain-pursuer who had just leaped from it's path and met with him briefly in the air. She didn't need the upper hand long, the quake of the fireball took both of their attention after a brief confrontation of armed and unarmed combat.

She swung gracefully off the branches of the trees below and dropped noisily to the ground in a thud. Crouched, and off running again, listening for the landing of the man with her sword that never came. Chills on her back, planted there one by one by him as she was chased. She never saw him, she never heard him, but she knew he was breathing down her neck. If he could use the falsiad effectively, all he needed to do was simply swing out with it's endless reach and cut her down. Luckily that never came, and she hoped it stayed that way.
She thought back on the magic wielder, high up the side of the mesa she first crossed where no path could possibly be written. She prayed he was still there, long enough for her to reach the one bridge she had seen earlier. Her feet skidded in a brake when she stepped upon a familiar sound, that of a wooden walkway. Still holding her hand she took off down it and then felt a brief free falling sensation until the ropes tightened to the impression of her weight on the bridge. She could see down, glistens on the lake but not much else, as the moon was doing a poor job of showing itself so far. The outlines of domed roofs and circular huts and houses began to very, very slowly come closer to her. A statement of their magnificent size. As it had just turned night, torches and peculiar lights became to come on, signifying the watchful eye of a guard shift starting.
Uriko looked behind her, running now very well, she did indeed see the equally fast figure of the man with her sword. Blazing so fast it only looked like the sword was swung back. But it very well could have, Uriko had no idea how badly these two were out to get her; outside of, pretty badly.

A spotlight, and then another focused furiously on the attention making their bridge waver. They focused upon the young girl running with her hand and then attempted after the shadowy figure only to catch his last position before falling back. Uriko again, became the focus of their attention, ?Stop!?

?STOP!? they yelled. But she did not. ?I command you to halt! Or you'll be KILLED!?

A bold candle danced in the wind at the window of a very warm hut while Uriko tried and warm up with multiple blankets. The fat fellow soon entered in the company of two amazing guards wearing unusually colorful clothing of different blues, and then another who was clothed magnificently red.

?You will have to forgive my immature guards. Their interrogation and judgment was misplaced in this rare circumstance, but their watchful eyes are invaluable to me.? he said.

?It'as nothing.? she looked aside, still a little disrupted.

?I am Jono. King of the Rahnto people. This is our fair city, and you are welco--? Uriko pounced at one of the select words.

?Did you say 'Rahnto?!? up out of her seat, never you mind the warmth.

?Why, eh-yes. Do you know of my people?? he asked now very interested.

Uriko smiled now, ?Captain Kobahru and his team came by me several weeks ago! They were pivotal in me getting to where I'm at now.?

?Kobahru?! So...? he looked off in thought, ?they did make contact with the princess after all.? he looked back to her. ?dear, Princess. Forgive our display earlier. Our city is often the target for very elaborate attacks, we cannot take chances. But you are here now, please take what time you may to eat and recover. My home is yours.?

?No-no that won't be necessary!? she waved her hands a little embarrassed, that was a big offering. ?You must tell your guards to be very cautious though! There are two men outside your city walls with devastating power. I was lucky to have gotten away with my life.?

the king looked shocked, ?two men you say? Guards! Awake all of our men, put the city on alert. An attack may be made tonight!? he lowered his voice, ?I wouldn't doubt it now that the Princess is here.?

?Also, one is a magic user, the other was a close-ranged combatant. They may have more abilities I'm not sure, but that is how they came by me.? Uriko informed.

?I see. Thank you, Princess. We'll put that information to good use. Nothing will happen to you while you're here.? the king assured. Uriko laughed a little, it was funny how he said, 'while you're here', like outside of this so-called haven she was just as much back with her life on the line. It was quite normal in a sense, completely unintentional by one, the ultimate insult to another. In Uriko's case, it was a humorous accidental slip of the tongue, one he probably would have worded differently given the chance but still not passing any serious meaning over. Safe one place, good as dead the next, that made her cover her eyes off to the side until she got over the mild laughter.

?That's very kind of you.?

?Is there anything I can get for you, my princess.? Jono asked, his red-clad guardsman alertly looking over him, even in the presence of the focal point in the war efforts their culture was going through.

?Well, I kind of hurt my hand. And I'm a little hungry too.? she alerted albeit regretfully, even so narrowly avoiding death, she didn't wish to be a burden upon anyone.

?Consider it done. My daughter will look after you. She may be my only outlet to let you see our peoples hospitality in this treacherous time of, war. Come.? he had already flipped his cape in his turn out of the hut that could only be categorized as Rahnto architecture. The man with the red totem and garb paid her one final glance and was behind Jono. Almost instantly, the tension was lifted, and she began to feel better.

?We should get those fingers looked at. My name's Hale.? a timid woman introduced herself coming up to Uriko, nervously reaching for her wounded hand, as if pretending to inspect it right there before it would otherwise be officially examined, ultimately taking her good hand and leading her as well as one can letting them take the fullest of their time. Uriko did not stall, too long.

?It is nice to meet you Hale. I'm Uriko, it is a pleasure.? she beamed a smile, only difference from her happiness collectively was, this time, it had to be summoned instead of being naturally instantaneous.

?Heehee!? Hale snickered. ?You just introduced yourself only a moment ago before everyone. Are you tired??

Uriko sighed, ?I may be. Things have not been slow enough as I'd like them to be lately.? her hand pushed back her bangs for a moment's peace and then they would come floating back down.

?I wish I could retell you the stories that have reached our perch. Stories of a brave young girl set out to do the impossible. She has put the hope within us each and every day. If she can make a difference, who are we to stand idly by??

?...? Uri looked at her with sparkled eyes. What if others felt as this woman did. How many supporters could she have?

?Who is to say this is her burden alone?? Hale asked.

?Me. If just one person can get hurt in all this, let it be me.? Uriko said for the first time on the matter to someone inside the loop of this emotional roller coaster. Hale looked touched.

?You really are her all right. This way.? Hale reached for a hand, and received one. But Uriko looked very puzzled as to her intentions. More mysterious yet, she did not speak where she was taking her, only leading her out of the hut and towards the collection of more prominent building structures against the mountainside. The curiosity of her destination was behind her, for taking in the Rahnto capitol could not be done with anything less than full attention.

All of their doorways were special veils of cloth that illusioned the passage from one balance of color into another creating the sensation of such significant distance away from everything. It was almost, almost complete serenity for Uriko. Another woman showed, and then another, both listening to Hale while inspecting the princess over.

?This is our very special guest. Please see to her hand, and any other ailments she may notify you.? and with knowledge of the hand injury, they began analyzing almost immediately, moving her fingers delicately after she was unable to move them on command, asking her if she felt anything. Her eye squinted cutely.

?Uh-where are you going?? Uriko asked, her friendly presence the only one she had come across in a long time and not particularly ready to do away with.

?You must have been through a lot. After they bandage you up you should probably rest as best you can. If that's the least we can do, I'd be happy.? Hale said lingering in the doorway, the drape leaning to her back just waiting to fall loosely again. Uriko smiled.

?Thank you, Hale.? as if this woman, understood somehow, her turmoil, but more specifically, her very minor needs to see this to the end. For one, a sprinkle of kindness, and two, everyone just letting her do what she had to do.

?... I'll draw your bath water.? she finally put the veil between them and went off. Leaving Uriko to watch her hand be carefully splinted and bandaged. Whatever it took to keep going.

?Is everything okay in there, Miss Uriko?? Hale asked through the door. Uriko was immersed in hot water and steam in a unique slanting and water depth that she be immersed for the most part, but fully capable of near-unconscious rest. She was startled only slightly, very unlikely that she'll ever be able to become fully relaxed again until this is all said and done. But she was in some fashion, very relaxed when Hale came braying. Her hair partially wet shewn when she leaned up to the call.

?I'm great. Thanks!? she happily smiled to no audience, pity.

Her gaze was almost strategically aimed at the decorative ceiling the cushioned comforted had her head. A bandage had her left shoulder and high bicep covered and another held her splints for two fingers and wrapped tightly up to her wrist. Whatever lied ahead she had plenty of bones left. She thought of Yami, casually slotting coins. Connar, leading men with the Rahnto for her cause, possibly trying to find her. That last part would be the bit she wouldn't want mentioned in her great retelling of this tale. That in her isolation, seeing help wouldn't be all that bad at all.

A glance paid, to her clothes, constantly changing. The fifth or sixth culturally distinct outfit she had adorned. Hale and the nurses, commoners on the wood roads she saw outside however brief when not awe-stricken by the uniqueness of the Rahnto buildings, wore a very similar yet simpler garb than Kobahru and those she had met what seemed so long ago. And Jono, and his guardsmen showed their higher rank with drastically more colorful and detailed robes. The overweight man Jono was, Uriko wondered what his excellence in battle might be. ?This isn't working.? she thought. ?you need to stop thinking about all this, and let your body recover in peace. Even if it's just five minutes, don't think about anything sad.? she told herself. Her eyes closed tightly, and within the minute, they relaxed, and close inspection of her lips (however faint) revealed a smile.


Uriko was young again, wearing again a dress nowhere near advised for outdoor activities. Her bow fastened and bound to her hair was a magnificent one, ?perfect? to say a word. She snickered behind a tree, attempted stealth, attempted trickery. This was her favorite game.

Behind her the wolf analyzed the ground with his snout. His silence top notch, his position anything but secret. Uriko had done well if she had indeed known the wolf's location and him not know hers.

She peered around the tree and then back again, the briefness of her eyesight had in fact seen a puzzled and tracking wolf. This was a moment of pride and savor, for it had never particularly happened before. But she could not keep a good thing going, not at that age, dashing off at the last second when she couldn't take not taking off, any longer.

The wolf's ears perked, his snout aligned with the running girl almost immediately and his paws began to press across the ground in pursuit. The little girl ran as fast as she could, her tiny pompom fists made and out to her sides as she ran, a smile on her face because she did not look back. The surprise in that if he were on her tail right then, of course, she would scream.

He chased behind, tongue out, breath panting, eyes focused. And closing the distance between them would have been embarrassing to any predator-class. Uriko turned, and screamed, and fell when he leaped up at her, his hind legs never leaving the ground and his front paws only doing the job of fright that ultimately caused her downfall. She was young enough still to not be bothered by the grossness of slobber, because there was much of it in every kiss he gave her. Uriko was laughing so hard, she could not breathe, and the reason of this humor was because wherever a young girl could squirm, it did in no way dodge or avoid the onslaught of licks. In a most unusual way, a father's pride had been shown.

Hale led Uriko very carefully, as if this was her moment in all of life to not do anything wrong in however many minutes or hours this mattered. She blocked Uriko with her arm when a body went flying, checking to see if the coast was clear, and they were off. Not even three seconds of visibility across the whole of one street side to the other, but it was not good enough. An explosion bombed from a fire pipeline of a now ever-present sun, personally to this very capitol now. No doubt the magician's. Every stream of fire it traced out the damage was heard in screams or the devastation of the peaceful city. Hale and Uriko both sluggishly rose their heads, both aware of the crying child that aggressive lines of fire seemed agitated in unable to kill. The reinforcement of the homes in this city were to be thanked, but wouldn't hold long.

?You have to save her Hale.? Uriko looked at her sincerely. ?I have my own work to do.?

Hale looked at her, defeated in her resolve, acknowledging it, and then at that very moment making a new plan, to save as many of her people as possible. ?Good luck, Uriko.? she said, before they both took off in different directions. Running her hand over the crying little girl's hair was the best she could do for someone at that time. It was still something.


At long last the man with the red totem arrived before Teciszew, before the fallen body of Jono lying on his own sword. The amoutn of upset in his face should have stricken any man with fear, but no one could say for sure just what the flash assailant and magician were.

?HRAAHH!!? wasting no time in engaging, he clenched and flung down the red totem into the wood, splintering and even stringing so hard and deeply that fine hairs of the wood curled outwards around the totem, and the blandly cut dragon's head at its peak began to light up with fire. The capitol shook all at once, dropping a level not to a failure of their magnificent swirling support pillar system, but to an awakening in the mountain. The shaking would not subside until the earth vented, and the mountain top right beside them surely, blew its top. Erupting red glowing heat and seemingly erupting this mysterious guard to the king. His eyes, nostrils and mouth similarly erupted. Glowing behind cherry red flesh such an angry composure before being spat upon by wave after wave of flames from the tiny dragon.

Things had become their true size now, with even the totem sprucing into a true pole, and the red-dressed man now red in an entirely different way with a seismic golem-type anatomy. An Earthen ancient no better equipped mentally than to destroy. The damage to the city had now been very well evened up between the attackers and Jono's guard, which could have very well been his intention all along. The heat was bothersome, but only when the behemal golem roared out in a voice of earth did it become intolerable. The resistance of Teciszew was great, but even he had realized the instant upscaling in threat, lashing the Falsiad out at him in an attempt to overwhelm and constrict him. And constrict him it did, but nothing more than that simple crowding technique. The obscured face and firepit eyes of the rock beast peered out to seemingly no one while his roar rang out, nothing effecting it at all, even his feet lifted off the ground in the pressure of whatever it was that he was doing. Uriko seized this moment masterfully, charging out at the thief with her sword. Spotted, he returned the Falsiad to its regular length and accepted Uriko's tackle, understanding her prime eligibility for knife work in the air. The flurries began, off to the side which would have been her had she not held that arm of his out. And the second would surely have gotten her, he was a strong enemy, and would surely deflect her guard long enough to dice her. So she kicked off him putting the flurry between them this time. That same song that it made when it was after the crickets, he had mastered this blade.

Into the ground, and a wood sawing sound, Uriko was devoured by the hydra-esque heads of the Falsiad that shredded the wood all around her and took her under in the partially eaten support beams. They intertwined all under the city and were several body lengths fat. Teciszew came down to her with just enough free time to make his hair neat again, hand-combing it back from the few locks that swayed over his forehead rather complimentary. The lava ran down and deteriorated the good life of the lumber, weakening and blackening the support system of the entire city. Even with extensive effort the magician and Teciszew couldn't have begun the demolishing as fast as the king's guard had done.


Up above Hale led the evacuation. Looking over her worried people, not a face without fear, loss, or sadness. She had to wear the strong one.

?Okay people! We make for the Western Post! Once you summon your crafts, go as fast as you can, do not look back, stop, or slow down for anything!? she instructed.

Outside the sun had came into proximity of the magician and had begun bending it unbelievably again for another otherworldly reaction while completely in his control. The Rahnto raced out like the flock of birds they were and circled the high clouds up above once, maybe they would have done it a second time, no one knew. It was fast, and very likely a double check to keep their leader in check with the tail of their group. Whatever it was, the magician pulled at the fireball until it was needle thin, and spouting its whole energy out in the tiny shots that punctured those crafts up in the sky like they were birds. Falling in two, then three very large groups until he shot the individual remainders down one by one. A race, eliminated in a morning.

The Falsiad sliced futilely after Uriko. No matter how excessively he swung it, Uriko was adept at avoiding it. And once she had gotten it in her head that it was not the demon-faced Techichi swinging it at her, it became extremely apparent as to how much easier a time she had dodging it. Teciszew had yes expanded upon it's growth capabilities, but in no way did he swing it as quickly as she did. So of course, he would realize it too. His advantage was, doing with the sword that which she hadn't seen before. It wasn't like she had a weapon he could steal, anyway.

Like a slithering snake the sword chased her throughout the underbelly of the city, cutting down the support beams by the dozens in this ever-chasing effort to cut Uriko. And at the end of her run she came to the final beams, looking over the long fall down the mountain and to the real drop off of it, wasn't pretty. Turning back the blade was seconds from dividing her with her lower half when it came up short, having reached its length. Peculiar, since it had no length. In fact, Uriko saw it was chasing her still but restricted to the same space. The fiery hand of the golem had busted through the collapsing upper tier and pulled Teciszew up through it, tossing him somewhere high and far. But the sword did not stop reaching for Uriko despite the distance the blade had actually gone from her. Such was the killing intent of Teciszew. The golem gazed up at the dissipating dot of Teciszew, delayed only minutes most likely as the ever-stretching blade beside him continued funneling and blasting in a loud crash far behind him where his monolithic body actually turned to make a stare forever for off to the splintered wood and smoky cloud. Uriko was either dead or hurt really bad.

?Don't take too much longer. We need to get going.? the magician said.

?I am almost done.? Teciszew said on the tail end of his thrown momentum, then forcibly grabbing the side of the mountain and letting the Falsiad stab and curl into it to hold him that high.

?Finish them.?


Uriko climbed up from the side of the city, it's dead non-constructed side, which proved far more difficult to achieve against gravity than you might guess. Step by step she came to see the golem still floating and emitting destruction, never going so far as to look at anything coherently. Quickly, too quickly he approached. Uriko's eyes stung by how long she had gone without blinking. She couldn't afford to, and even without blinking the human eye was still so slow before whatever speed Teciszew harbored. She could barely alert whoever that golem now was.

?Watch out!!? shielding her face at the end of that sentence as Teciszew collided with the chest of the golem. Unmoved, the man was clenched in the rock grips of fire doll and he desperately defended that which would have crushed him only a few seconds longer into a bloody explosion. The Falsiad engulfed them both into a bladed, toothed wall that ran high into the sky not in anyone's grasp. An opportunity.

Wrapping and wrapping tighter and thicker the Falsiad did so in reverse. It was not extending forward, it was extending backward. So that when it was finally done, up at the top of the sword wall the hilt slapped and locked against the rest of it. And it was precisely there Uriko clenched it in her grasp undoing it all and putting the sword back in her possession at last, and him back in the hands of the golem.

Turning to simply face the calling she met with a beautiful experience-dressed woman only years seemingly older than she was. Her shirt was three white buttons undone on black revealing the large chest of an unrivaled middle-aged woman. Down still she appeared to be wearing what looked like, could only be, a tight-fitting swimsuit and to her bare feet were claw-shaped wings apart of metal bands, two wings to each foot. Back up she particularly noticed her black hair, she would remember because it being so short was a high crime on such a beautiful woman. You simply, did not see this combination more than once in life, if that.

She did not smile until mid-turn in turning around, away from Uri. When she had faced her again, her ankle was beside her head on a straight leg, held by crossed wrists and devil smile. The wind blew again, and Uriko's eyes got wide, the wind blew from her foot. As if the air were a living thing, she saw it mauled, cut, and gored when this dark horse released her held foot into a vertical kick. It was like a beautiful newfound language written akin to cursive that those wing blades cut downward with, and inches from Uriko the kick hit the ground, and that was the last anyone saw of that cliff.

She protected her eyes from the avalanche of rock as she fell for about five or so seconds. Three to get the fall going from its slowest to its medium before the speed caught up with the damage, gusting her down frighteningly fast. She drilled into the ground, followed by bulleting boulders and rocks all around her.

The rocks still made miniature sounds in a drizzling aftermath when she made her unscathed meander over to Uriko's crash site. Not an imprint of mud on her bare feet nor her mirrored steel wings reflecting everything they saw in three to four inches. She walked most unusually with her feet so close together, guiding the blades as close as they would get without cutting or chiming against the other. Coughing, recovering, trying to climb back up to solid ground she pushed up on her two sides and saw level earth again, and this woman, crouched and holding herself up nearly a perfect horizontal, fingertips all that she used on the one side, and the better right of one foot while he other leg reached particularly for her, and in a way held Uriko at her neck and jawline.

That wing reflected her fear-filled eye back at her, convincing her to cast it aside. She did, and not a moment before the pressure came in more and more. It was nearly but not, instantaneous, which probably made the difference between broken neck and not-broken neck. A shove-off was made, and she would fly and clean break two elderly trees before another one had enough resistance to stop her. The third was the most painful, seeing as it absorbed all her force. It was time to cough again. Only now did she show a bit of blood at the mouth.

?Wait!!? her hand signaled the international sign for stop. The beautiful woman stood in that creepy pose that was just a hair different from a natural stand. It was those legs, which she could see fully, one foot with its heel up so as not to conflict the two sets of blades. Uriko, it seemed, had been paid this request.

?Just, give me a second.? Uriko had spoken her four word limit, gasping for air immediately after that second plea. A few more seconds to recover, she wanted many, many more. But gazing up at this elite told her by the second she was trying her luck.

?I think you have me confused with somebody else.? she suggested, panting for more air.

You've something to do with him, that I am not mistaken. And when I find people like you, this is what I do with them.? she girlishly shrugged, an insane kind of happy.

Uriko could tell, at this stage, it was not wise to assume the players from here on were ill-educated on anything that was going on. ?You're right. I do. We were great friends once, but now evil has swept over him. It is my responsibility now to put a stop to his plans to exterminate all life.?

Her throat was clenched violently.

?This is what one of his acquaintances looks like?? she asked herself, analyzing her only by the face and chest before ?Pfff.? casting her back, hundreds of meters. She watched her get small.

Uriko tumbled and sighed conclusively when her muscles didn't respond upon an attempted stand. Going down was plenty easy in this job, getting up was hard. But she always did it, even here. Shrug off some of the hardest meanest blows there are. She rubbed her neck, the state of mind that it would feel better after being cast out by it. She didn't see the woman anywhere in sight, no, but she did see the mouth of an enormous cave, just as black as the darkness inside of it. She approached it cautiously, her idle hand still dwelling around her neck. And before stepping into the shade of the cave, a voice came.

?You've reached my marker. I'm afraid I can't let you pass.? this time a handsome voice, to a handsome man, a familiar man; the raven-haired magician, coming out of the shadows of the cave.

?...You.? Uriko murmured.

?Do not think me evil, because I oppose you. We share a mutual villain. But we do not share the same aspirations for the fate of all this. Ash Brimmer must live.?

?No. He cannot.? Uriko said straight.

?What he can do in a second is what I might over the course of a campaign. Alive or dead, the human race and all its neighboring races will undergo a restart. Ash must live so he can do this.? the magician said.

?How, can anyone think that way?? Uriko asked.

?See the things we see.?

Uriko stared hard at him. ?I've come too far to be stopped by you.?

?Indeed, princess. But you will be stopped. A special guard has been constructed just for the big threat to the emperor, just for you.? he said, getting his flat palm to the ground as fast as possible, summoning a perfectly symmetrical sapphire crystal wall in three sections. He looked exactly as he did before, the structure between them only tainting them in blue and with discreet shines.

?My most powerful magic.? he said, watching Uriko approach and touch the gem.

?Go home, princess. I am sure it must have been an impressive trip, but it ends now.? he said, backing up until the glowing pink tendrils were all that could be seen of him and his robe in the darkness. Soon that too, vanished.

Uriko put a second hand on the primary face of the gem and looked in as best she could. Several yards into the cave were all that could be seen realistically. How far it ran, or deep, and what secrets it held, were all things to be questioned. Particularly how close this was to the man himself. Her cheek mushed on the gem, and her sigh fogged it. Her beautiful eyes saddened at the thought of even attempting to break this ward, and then her eyes widened at seeing the woman's reflection in the gem.

?Why do you want to kill me?? Uriko asked somewhat sadly.

?I'll only kill you because you know him.? she responded, walking her delicate little bladed feet one after the other closing the distance to her.

?This isn't right.? Uriko whispered.

?I've already given you considerably more time to live than I have anyone else.? and she looked like she didn't intent to let her have any more, by the second. She ran, so fast, so silently on those bare feet. Dizzying to look at, as if each step of her spring if executed wrong would slash her Achilles' tendon right open. It must have taken a great deal of expertise to fight, let alone maneuver at such speeds with those fixed knives.

Uri's back was pressed against the sapphire wall, and she pressed harder the closer this woman came, until she was standing completely straight and guarding against thin whistling steel, and a zooming fist.

This was such a remarkable punch, flying into her face but going so strongly and so fast Uriko was blinded by a heavenly presence of white light in a tunnel of space and blackness. She herself, was an ill-animated self, black, white-outlined and lacking life, lacking everything but an awe-struck facial. To her surprise, the only thing she saw, was the oncoming cylindrical space train, it could have in a very low likelihood been an overcharged fist and forearm. A fist engine. When it came over Uriko, what few materials she had been drawn with washed in the hard blowing air of this thing and her remaining black freckles of ink disintegrated from its energy. Blank canvased, reality redrew itself until it was life once more, and Uri was watching somehow.

She saw Dark as how she had wished to remember him and then some. Here he was happier than she had ever seen him, and after being surprised by him, she smiled to par despite the gravity of whatever had happened to her. She was unseen, and numerous others supported this by ignoring her completely. They were amazing men, all men, gathered around a fully white dining room which walls' had no distinction between material and non-existence. Outstanding men with moral character, postures with presence, magnificent mustaches. Identities in their builds, faces, and clothes of inspirational dredging. The ultimate good company.

Over the course of the minute, each of the ten or so men were seen engaging in some way with him. Food was obviously the topic, the thread stringing them together. An eerie man with a saber hung low with his uniform conversed with a particularly muscular spectacled senior.

Black and white, all of it. And then Uriko drew lines in her mind, or floating thought, or whatever could be her existing conscious. All the lines coming from Dark to the other guests. None were thicker than line she unknowingly thickened from him to this man beside him, preparing a very hands-on dish. ?Who is he??

He wore the archetypal smile in this black and white pane, as if it were the first to ever be this happy, to set for everyone else what happiness really, truly was. And his first disciple had already caught on. Uriko looked on in unusual horror.

An explosion broke, and black bloody cracks and creases came in through the otherwise full white undrawn walls. Then men did not look panicked, save for Dark. She watched their mouths intently, because she could not hear them. It seemed, he had a name other than what she had always known him as. They pointed, and instructed, and all showed forceful worry that he get to safety. One man quite literally became a sword in a poof that the man beside him clasped with precision. They were each preparing for fight, in their own ways.

Uri moved whatever she was to Dark and observed intently the departing words of this apparent loved one to him. She had never seen this side of him, he was young, he was frail, he was terrified. Her attention averted to the collective men, the ten heroes from ten best seller's all in the same room, united... and dispatched. No less, the woman that punched her into this ecstasy emerging from the smoking wall and conquering each of these reckoning men on their initial strikes, several without moving, several at the same time.

This dearest of his friends saw it imperative to tell him whatever he was saying, straight-faced, before casting him out of the realm entirely. White on a completely different white dispersed out from his center and a tiny colorless explosion he was gone, and that man too was slain by that woman. The colors were now black, white, and red. The vastness of space soared endlessly in the pools of Uriko's eyes until she snapped out of it in a cold sweat, panting, looking at this woman like she just solved a murder mystery.

?You... you weren't talking about Ash.? her eyes shook tear-filled in realization.

She smiled back to her, making a fist and then running for her.

?You'd be real proud of him!? Uri yelled, which stopped the fist.

?...?

?He was strong. Maybe not in the way, you might have liked. But he was very strong. I was lucky to know him.? Uriko's knees came together there on the ground against the sapphire, only one of her eyes faced the woman.

?was?? she questioned.

Uriko knew, it might be her life if she gave a perfect foretelling of the account. She gulped, ?He's, he died.?

The woman smiles.

Uriko zoned out, ?He was the lucky one I guess. Him and Rohkan. They must be in a far better place than the nightmare this world is turning out to be.? she sighed.

?There is one reason, and one reason alone I am going to let you live.? she single-handedly picked her up to her feet in one motion. ?I've never been particularly good at running into the one they call Dark, myself. However, I think you have far more luck on your side than I ever will. So I will allow you to continue your campaign.? she turned, and pocketed her hands, which given her shortage of clothes put them in her swimsuit bottoms.

?But! I have no way of continuing. This wall, that man said it was his strongest magic. There's no way I could get through it.? Uriko looked over her shoulder at it. Beautiful, yet impenetrable. The woman walked back.

?Hm.? looking to see what the girl was talking about, and then winding back and pushing out a punch straight into the gem that ran so deep it was absorbed through the jewel's entirety, and it could not withstand the destructive force, so it shattered.

?There.?leaving for real this time, in a shower of sapphires.

?Thank you.? Uriko said.

?...? a wave came over her shoulder, Uriko didn't deserve the turn-around apparently. Hand inserted back into shorts.

?Wait. Wait! What's your name?!?

?Ira.? around a tree and gone.

The gem shower still hadn't subsided when Uri decided to deep breath it and rush in. She paused in pitch darkness, looking back at the entrance and seeing what light there was there. You could tell it was only going to get way worse, from just a short distance on.

?I may not take it to the end...?

She walked into darkness.

?...but I will take it to you.?

The few robotic gulls cawed at being disturbed off their perches upon an awe-inspiring oil platform of dozens dispersed in the middle of the black ocean not counting the family of collected oil platforms resembling a city. Here, specially grown and uniformed baby-faced soldiers stood as a small team behind a seated man, poisoned by the very oil that made his body operate. This man was Atramentus.

A woman's smile grew viciously, her skin as pale and indifferent as her teeth. Her hair snow white and upon close inspection a light shade of pink. Her eyes similarly pigmented. ?Atras...? she said unyielding a common courtesy of paying any other sort of notice to whom she was addressing. She was focused on something out at sea.

?I'm aware.? he said standing. Thousands of openings shifted in his face and projected harder, thicker steel panels that flattened and assembled back over the old one. The genius of his construction to house materials greater than the space allotted. ?Surely, Uriko has never seen anything like us, before.?

Her smile remained post-sigh. ?Let's hope not.?

?Eek! --? Uriko began, ?Avia? This close?? she thought long and hard now. However bad her situation was, she might have to overlook it all if she could make a run straight for Ash. Not literally, of course. She was in fact surrounded by an ocean of oil on all sides.

?It's a little bit farther out, than you think. Our only means of traipsing this ocean is the machine we just came from. And the only way a humans anatomy, like ours, could control it is with this key.? she held up a stoplight-looking necklace. ?And that key.? she pointed to the man holding an identical necklace from his neck. ?So unfortunately, we will both have to be dead before you would plan on getting there. But I don't doubt you'd try without these keys. But if memory serves me right you're trying to prevent the destruction of all life and you might not have a year and a half to swim that far.? having gotten away with touching her shoulder once earlier, she was now being very touchy when she talked.

?It isn't anything we're going to pressure you into, princess. Any other intruder would have been dead by now. Not shown a single word. You're obviously a very revered guest on our ship.? he thought he complimented. In a way he did.

?Do you get many guests, out here?? Uriko asked.

?No. But if we did, they wouldn't live long enough to know its not up for discussion.? he said.

?Hey Uriko! Watch me! I'm a lot stronger than you I think.? she gloated, running over the old-timey drillhead turner and cranking it very slowly, pushing with all her might and looking at Uriko all the while she did it. It was a feat in itself that she was even able to budge it.

?Isn't it adorable?? he whispered to her. ?She truly plans on savoring her friendship with you when you're feasted upon.?

Uriko just watched on.

?See! I could do this all day. I did, once!? Toccatta yelled, only doing one revolution. ?You probably don't want to watch me do that all day, though. What would you like to do?? she interrupted herself, catching something. ?...except go save the world.? she smiled.

?Another thing, princess. How long have you gone nonstop? Whatever impulses you have to fight, I would stay them. Like I am having to do. Partly because Toccatta would indeed kill me if it wasn't her that killed you.--?

?Yep!, I would!?

?--and partly because even the most heartless of us can respect your mortality. None of us could endure straight all of the obstacles you have. Take your time, fighting us. We'll be ready.? he said taking out a cigar and removing his helmet. The man had no head. No visible head, anyway. The invisibility recognized when he seemed to bite it and there it floated where his mouth should be.

?The farther I get, the stranger you all become.? Uriko said.

?I'm sure. Wish we were all more normal, anyways.? pulling back his sleeve to let a tiny nozzle from his metal arm blow extremely hot air on the end of the cigar. It was smoking before long.

?You don't smoke do you Uriko? Nah, you're too cool. I knew you didn't.? Toccatta said proudly.

?N-No, I don't.? Uriko came back to earth. ?If anything, this is a nice catchup. I have been very busy lately.?

?See.? Atramentus began, turning to face her and meeting with her short sword right through where his eye would be. He screamed and fell back but did not seem to suffer anything other than losing his cigar.

?Huh?? Toccatta said turning to discover this, deflecting Uriko's thrown sword and catching it immediately after. Even her possessions were worth this woman's extra effort. Uriko's feet zoomed across the grated fortress, and the two quickly put their eyes up against the openings in the floor, watching the cigar tumble helplessly down.

?...?

?Smoking at sea, made of oil.? she said plainly. He side-shrugged just as it landed and very slowly began to spread fire.

The platform's alarm sounded and Atra ran up the steel stairs to helm of the facility. ?I'm going to call in an ice charge for our quadrant. What are you going to do??

?I'm going to bring back our guest.? Toccatta said, now with bloody eyes.

Uriko rounded bends, enormous tanks and drums of oil and fuel and odd things that probably made that enormous drill work and any other large instruments. This far in, things weren't going to be small anymore. THE WAVES of oil crashed upon the legs of the platform, and not a single living thing was in sight save for her. When the birds were about to give her hope with their song, she saw them glimmer their robotic skeletons in the sunlight. Probably recording fluctuations in the tide and oil pressure, not bird-like things.

A fist glided across her cheek and she hit the ground before she had even been chased. Feasibly seen, the punch had arrived before the senses had understood she was nearby and after her. Her bloody eyes looked at her seriously, but not angrily, thank god. Standing her up, she forcefully shoved her over the railing from her face, noticing the droplets of blood on her knuckles, she carefully lured them into a vial and thumbing a cork down on it like a button. Such a precious thing, she seemed to kiss away the remaining red stain on her fist.

?guh!? Uriko groaned, snatching a cable to a mini-drill that was still several times larger than she was. It was all she could do from plummeting to that horrific oil a second time. By now the fires had grown tremendously, and several more alarms had gone off for different systems. Even the ocean machine had begun a return back to assist in controlling the fire.

Atramentus sighed.

?Uriko! You're going to have to take my hand! I don't want you to get all dirty again.? Toccatta protested. But no response from Uriko.

She was waiting for the ocean machine, beelining straight for them. And once underneath her she narrowly avoided the sudden flail of the corded man right beside her, kicking the mechanical hook's hydraulics free and dropping the drill with her like a bomb heading straight for the ocean machine. Toccatta looked on surprised; surprised and angry.
Falling she flipped the switch on the drill almost instantly realigning its balance and turning it into a missile effectively.

Bang.

The metal coiled and shriveled and shaved and peeled. Such a stout machine, Uriko noticed. Or poorly constructed and just that damned large. Either way, it was mostly unaffected. She could still hear the drill, and that led her to believe it still had more ship to devour.

?Uuuriko...? Toccatta growled, spinning herself, more so upon landing as to punch the air she fell at herself. She landed partially crouched, not an accident; animal instinct. She only used gentility once after arriving, and that was to quite forcefully toss her that sword of hers back, and then she went across her face with a pale backhand. This was before she vanished, to her eyes.

?Uh--!!? she gasped, watching a fist travel so far in her stomach when she was still being pushed away from herself riding on the initial punch. Follow that in real time now, her head flew in three of the four compass points not in any particular sequence but visiting each frequently. After the barrage of punches a roundhouse kick put her in the air and the rest was just batting the baseball. With Toccatta's fingertips on the base of the ocean machine, they suddenly indented in a literal steel grip and she pushed on it, sending her foot right into Uriko's collar bone. This time, there was nothing she could do about landing in that oil.

Toccatta stood ahead of that blazing horizon of flame in the background, gazing up at the oil platform where Atramentus ran frightfully to the rail screaming. ?Get up here NOW! The frost charges are going off!? and he ran for cover himself, disregarding Toccatta's well-being. That, or he was aware that moments after saying that she had leaped up and was right behind him.

Two kinds of smoke overwhelmed much of the oil ocean next. The chilling frost, and the deceased flame. The many oil platforms and unmanned plants began to peek through the fog like pirateship sails and other such seaworthy haunts. The frost charge examiner, a robotic seahorse, surfaced and calibrated the safety of the oil as sustained. Life form detection, negative.

?...?

?You'll give yourself a headache, Toccatta.? Atramentus said.

?...?

?We need to move onto the other oil platform already. The oil's going to be uneven now.? he frowned without a face.

?...?

?She's still out there Atra. We have to find her. I, have to find her.? Toccatta said, charging into the fog.

?Next time I will demand a partner without an obsession.?

*