Hello, hello.

It's me again, with a new story, only this time, I'm having some help with the one and only, Doubble Dutch!

*claps*

Hopefully, this story will both entertain and shock you! And, without any more introduction, the first chapter of our epic tale!

---

Chapter one

Things were going well across the vidogame dimension; it had been almost three months after the Dark One had been defeated and across entire world the celebrations had yet to fade. The Ultimate Gamer was still being sought eagerly, but he seemed to have disappeared. Rumors were rife; that he'd died, retired, or just disappeared into thin air.

But that wasn't the case; had anyone paid attention to a rather scruffy but happy youth currently lazing about in the sun on the Emerald Coast they may have noticed some semblance with the late hero. Currently the sparkling ocean was empty, except for one other person, who was quite happily floating on a large inflatable tire. Joshua swam lazily over to her, dove under and pinched her on the rear in the typical prankster style.. There was a yelp and a splash as the young kiwi struggled to balance on the inflatable toy leaving nothing under water. Josh came up laughing, almost swallowing a mouthful of seawater. Adis bristled and aimed a kick at him. Despite being little more than what some had described as a 'large tailless mouse' Adis was surprisingly good in the water; she could paddle very fast with her large feet, which made up for her almost lack of arms. (Or in her case, wings.)

Despite the location, Joshua's general outfit was still the same...the normal white t-shirt and black trousers...only today, he wasn't wearing his cap. That was currently perched on Adis' head, though somewhat ill-fittingly. "Remind me not to bet on trying to scavenge more mechanical stuff than you...Alright, Adis?" Joshua sighed. Adis smiled behind her dark glasses (To block the sun's glare from her delicate eyes, and also to make her look cool.) and pounced on him, knocking him into the water. "Alright, a promise is a promise, but you shouldn't underestimate a girl, especially one who scavenges for a living."

Josh dove under to get away from the mad bird; she couldn't dive very well. Things were going rather well despite him having to hide from everybody else, after all, he got to spend time with Adis. He thought briefly of the small ring stowed away in his backpack on the shore. Maybe... no, not yet, wrong time, definitely wrong time. As he thought this, he came up for air and was ambushed by a splash attack.


* * *

Devan Shell finished off the last of his asparagus soup and lay back on the somewhat sparse bunk-bed. He'd managed to negotiate top bunk in exchange for passing all carrot related food to his cellmate Marcos. It was a good trade, he hated carrot juice. His attempt at sleep was interrupted by a persistent and quiet tapping on the bars of his cell. Marcos was asleep and snoring, but he just couldn't stand the irritating noise. He got up to investigate and was confronted by a cloaked and shadowy figure. "Mr Devan Shell I assume. I suspect you would like to be freed from this captivity?" Devan frowned. "No, go away."

The figure looked taken aback, even though his face wasn't visible. "I... beg your pardon, are you insinuating you wish to remain incapacitated?" Devan nodded. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm 'insinuating'; now go away, tomorrow is visitors day and I've got a cute pen pal coming." When the figure next spoke it was with a voice filled with incredulity. "But surely... the great Devan Shell wishes to continue his fight against the rabbits?" Devan walked back to his bunk. "Hell no, I did before and look what's happened to me! Shot, stabbed, blown up, irradiated... the list goes on. I'm going to sit back, relax and enjoy my five year sentence and the fact that the rabbits bring me all my meals and do my laundry and such. You want a fighter, go raid the high security block." He turned to look at the intruder, but he had disappeared.

The next day the sirens rang and the newspapers announced the escape and disappearance of notorious bounty hunter Verlass Dalcon. Devan enjoyed breakfast; it was dry toast and gummy oatmeal.

(Any comments? Send it to joshuawren329@hotmail.com)

Wow, the bit about Devan is excellent. He finally seems to act his supposed intelligence by just sitting back and having rabbits work for him.

Nice story. Are the two storylines going to merge soon, or in the end?

I just kind of skimmed this, but it looks like a really nice story although a rather easy to tell where Doubble Dutch's influence has been (mainly any sentence containing Devan)

Chapter Two, coming up!

Chapter 2.

While Devan was enjoying his breakfast, it was evening on the planet of Mobius, the sun slowly sinking into a red horizon as nature slowly went through her palette of colors in her painting the sky blue to black. Seb ignored the natural artwork as he looked out over the reconstruction project of Station Square. He was impressed, construction was moving apace. It was about time things got back to normal, finally people could go where they wanted, see whom they wished and do what they desired without fear again. it had been so long, the freedom was almost scary. How long had it been? Four years? No, five, six since his parents passing.

He glanced at the small glittering coin in his hand, on one one side was an etching of his family mark, on the other was a large 'S'. He had been given it when he was two, and despite being so young at the time he had never let it out of his sight, more through luck than attachment. But now it meant more than ever, perhaps he should have it made into a medallion? No, that was just another word for necklace and he didn't want to defile it that way. Better to put it somewhere secure.

His mind flickered back briefly to his time under Dakoda, he kept telling himself it wasn't his fault, that he had been possessed, that darkness had taken him, but who could really believe that? He clutched the coin tightly, it had got him through. That, and Joshua. Only the children had forgotten, playing together and laughing in the streets as if nothing had ever been wrong. But he would never forget, how could you just brush a war under the rug? It would stay with him forever. But at least things were peaceful here and now, and hopefully, they'd stay that way.

He stared at the setting sun, finally sparing a moment to appreciate its beauty.

"Well mum, dad, I'm finally doing what you would've wanted, I'm helping people in need."


* * *

Somewhere on Diamondus...


He ran quickly through the dead of night, ducking, dodging and weaving through trees and shrubbery. This was too easy, she was one of the greatest bounty hunters around. Yet there wasn't much time, she'd have to hurry.

She risked a look back at his former captors. "Huh, mess with the best, and you die like the rest..."

She fired several shots from his blaster, neatly silencing several guards, including the one he'd stolen the gun from. It was a hack job, unbalanced and untuned, a shot missed and set fire to a tree, halting, but sadly not killing the remainder of the guards. Right, that was that dealt with, now all he'd have to do was-

There was a figure in front of her; if it hadn't been for the moon, she'd have run straight into them. Immediately something about the presence was both annoying and worrying; they stood there arrogantly, arms folded, with the air of someone who was expecting a meeting. Se raised her blaster and aimed it at the figure. Nothing lethal for this one, just an amputation. She smiled evilly as she squeezed the trigger.

The shot passed right through the figure's leg, as if he wasn't even there. (-)ed holograms, who the frell was messing with her now?

"The best you say? You seem rather reckless to me, a weakness I'm willing to ignore given the circumstances. I have an offer to make you."

The bounty hunter fired a few more shots, more to buy a few seconds time to think than any other reason. It would be stupid to just agree, but then again, that's how she'd got so far, ask no questions, do the job.

"If you prefer, I can get rid of those dolts following you, though I should think they've seen enough. I need someone for a few... tasks; a more permanent and prolonged position than the short jobs you're used to, but I assure you, it will be well worth your while. It's not as if you have a choice now anyway."

"Oh I don't? And why is-"

The figure didn't need to reply; the forest fire was now bright enough even for her to see. She'd been stupid to fire those shots, now the blaze had spread faster than she' had imagined possible, surrounding them both. It had been a dry summer.

"So a hologram's going to get me out of this huh? Alright, if you can, but in the meantime I'm going to-"

There was a flicker, a sensation of movement and the two figures were gone, as if they'd melted into the flickering firelight. Unobserved the fire burned on, in the morning the death of the guards, and their prisoner would be reported.


* * *

Meanwhile...

Night had fallen some time ago and now the large moon of Mobius hung over the sky, casting its pale reflected light over the landscape and rendering it a vision in milky white, cities being picked out in spots and flashed of yellow or orange as construction continued into the night. Aside from the builders, the only other notable section of the populace still awake was the group that referred to itself as the Gaming Force, keeping a close eye on things and making sure everything was okay. As yet there had been no spectacular news about Devan Shell or indeed, any of the planets they'd been watching, except for a late breaking story on the economy. That meant everything was fine, or, something had gone terribly wrong in a way nobody had expected.

People look for heroes, and with the Gaming Force and the Ultimate Gamer back, they had them. Who needed to worry? Surely a small elite group could solve everyone's problems? Sadly, the universe isn't a movie, real evil lay in poverty, ignorance and bigotry, far harder to defeat than a simple tyrant or ruler, yet, while they remained, there would never be peace for long, lop off a branch and while the trunk lives, another will soon sprout."

With no response from Doubble, the story seems like it could be in trouble. Oh no! *grabs nearby hammer*

If you'll excuse me...I have to find Doubble...before the story goes under...

Hmmm...With nothing much to do, I think I'll just put up something I've been working on when not typing this. The two characters described and mentioned may sound familiar. Play Streets of Rage 2. >

(Note: Shiva and Mr. X, all rights of those characters belong to Sega.)
---

You'd think that many of us would get through life without too much difficulty. Grow up through childhood, gain a vast amount of knowledge, go off to college or some real profitable job and live the rest of your days in content. Within this society of Earth, such is common.

The year is 2013. Equality and peace has been brought to the Earth at last, meaning no more dark plots or demons rising...a group of brave heroes saw to that, despite the risks. Perhaps, some thought that it was a series of fortuante events, others believed they had powers, unknown to the inhabitants of Earth.

But among them, were those who simply didn't care about Earth's struggle to survive. They were only concerned about themselves, and thier greed for money...and lust for power. Many of these people scattered across the planet, hoping to gain control over any part of land.

Unsuccessful, and running out of supplies and money, a last ditch effort to annihlate the planet was formed. Huge squadrons of bombers and weapons of mass destruction, re-devloped, were employed, and sent off. Terrifyingly, thier plan worked. Earth was now their's...if they could overcome the fools that opposed them.
--

The dark room was occasionally lit up by flashing lights and display screens. Most of it was information about the capital cities, fugitives that were still some use to them...and others, needed to be killed. A large, round table was in the center of the room, where the fourteen members sat.

At the end...was the last chair...so big it could have been mistaken for a throne. Besides it stood a strong figure. Dark black hair and robes similar to a ninja, his prescene was almost invisible. His red gloves, belt and waistband, were nearly the only visible sight.

His employer was in the chair, crossed legged, his basic clothes were a greyish-green jacket and trousers, a white t-shirt and red tie. His hair was long and black. Much of the council feared him, not only for his power...but his mysterious ability to rise from the dead.*

*(No, not Assassin Aharon)

"...And so, gentleman, my plan, leadership and wealth have provided us with the world, at it's feet. Once...I was foolish enough to believe a single city was enough to satisfy my needs...but the World, is ours to exploit for our own ends!" Mr. X laughed.

His bodyguard, Shiva stood there, silent, folding his shoulders. Next to Mr. X, his power was feared and respected. Cold, and not much of a speaker, he was a brilliant fighter in unarmed combat.

"But...the Gaming Force...they might..." a low ranking member started.

With a simple click of his fingers, Mr X had ordered Shiva to vanish in thin air, re-appearing as quick as he had vanished. A series of kicks to the member's chest, sent blood everywhere, before his body was sent flying into a wall, dead.

"I find you're thoughts about those brats infuriating. The names of my enemies are not to be mentioned within my presence. Understood?! This meeting is over...as for those fools...they'll be finding themselves a surprise quite soon..."
--

With much of the Earth destroyed, and millions killed, the remainder of the population fled the planet for salvation elsewhere. Crime had filled the streets, gangs of thugs fought for territory, but admist the chaos, the brave group of heroes had arrived...well, Hero.

"...Looks like he's not as dead as I thought...and if he's managed to do this...I might need some help this time around..." Joshua thought to himself.

Persuading some old friends to give him a hand, the group of six former police officers had fought against Mr. X before had managed to re-group and meet Joshua. It was time for them to fight through...

'The Streets of Rage...'
--

I know, I'm still working on it...don't delete the post.

Chapter 3

Joshua awoke and graduly became aware he was no longer in his room; he was standing in some sort of void; there was nothing he could recognize, no shapes or forms or reference points, he couldn't even see himself, just feel his own presence, He was standing too, odd. The space could have been a mile or an inch acros, he couldn't tell. A light from somewhere shining brightly, he turned and walked away from it, feeling it on his back; the dark here was almost velvety, quiet and relaxing, like sleep, he almost fell forward into its embrace.

But that was wrong, what was it everyone always said? 'Head towards the light?' Almost reluctantly he turned around and faced the source of the ilumination, taking slow steady stride towards it. It'd be a relief to get out of this nightmare or whatever it was. As he got closer to it, the darkness seemed to form itself into semisolid shapes that twisted and writhed about him. 'Ah,' he though 'It's going to be one of those dreams is it?' He brushed the things aside with a swipe from his sword, they hissed angrily, but fled from it. But as he got closer to the light, and it got brighter, the darkness simply intensified, there were more... things, and they moved faster now. Joshua tried to run, but it seemed almost as if the light was raidiating force, pushing him back the closer he got. He threw one of his swords at the shadow things in an attempt to subdue them, but they stayed out of his reach.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity he stopped; the shadows were gone, but the darkness remained behind him, smooth, sleek and tempthing. He sat down and rested, not sure of what he'd achieved. From behind him came an odd muttering, a buzz and a whisper, like a thousand voices spreading rumours behind his back. He tried to ignore it and focus on the light, but it was getting brighter, burning him, blinding his eyes as he turned to it. Behind him he could feel something reaching out for him, just a few feet away, laughing at him, a cold cruel and empty sound full of mockery. It was so tempting to turn around, to face the darkness and see how long rich and black his shadow was...

He turned quickly, unpredictably and swiped at the darkness with his remaining sword; for a second he saw nothing but the blackness, then the ground beneath him shattered, like glass. He clutched at nothing, succeeding only in cutting his hand on the sharp fragments of... something. Then there was nothing but falling, eternal blackness all sensations lost into nothingness.

He awoke with a start in his bed, in his room, in a darkness that wasn't absolute, filled with relief at being able to recognize solid familair objects in the night and trying to figure out what had just happened.



* * *

On the Ship D.S.K. Beacon

The crew rushed about in panic; nobody knew what was happening, they were being attacked by an enemy they had never seen before, knew nothing about and apparently couldn't be stopped. It had something to do with some prisioners who had stowed on board, but in the panic nobody knew where they were, or even if they were still alive. In the hold stood the oddly shaped capsule that had been found just a day earlier, having bypassed all their defences and checks. Many of the crew had gathered around it, something was perceptibly wrong; not only didn't if fit, resembling some sort of small oblong phone booth, but it seemed to be a lot larger than it should be, as if it were something big, like a mountain, but seen from far off, which was impossible. As they watched it flickered, literally like it was nothing more than a badly programmed hologram, which was also impossible because you could touch it.

The... thing flickered some more, changed hue, then seemed to melt, becoming a mist of various structures and colors, as if a million objects had been blended together and mixed up. Finally is seemed to settle on resembling a C-314 small freight container, slidign across the floor as a spasm shook the ship. From out of nowhere a young girl, maybe only a teenager, and dressed in very odd clothing dashed into the bay and looked around wildly. From the gaggle of people she guessed what had happened and dashed towrds the 'new' container. Nobody stopped her, after what they'd just seen, they were in no condition to. She opoened the entrance hatch and dashed inside, for a moment the crew caught sight of smoke, flames and sparks in the interior before the hatch shut.

Inside the girl rushed back and forth; she had very little idea what was wrong, but the ship was crippled, almost dead; there probbably wasn't enough power to even leave. There wasn't enough time to repair the equipment, it was far, far to complicated and needed parts not avaible at this time or location. Praying for a miricale among the wreckage and fumes, she fiddled with a few improvised controls, there was a strange strangled noise. As the great machine heaved into action, she knew the crew would all perish.

Outside, the container shimmered, them very slowly faded out of existence. Almost as soon as it had gone the bay doors exploded inwards with a flash, leaving the invaders outlined in the smoking doorway. They were robots, or at least looked it, short and squat and grey, like motorized trashcans or the food resyk macinhes that cruised the corrridors. There was one important difference though, each one was topped with a turret at the end of which shone a single viewing apparatus, an eye perhaps, but it was impossible to tell. It stared cold and impersonal, like a brick wall.

Several of the crew shot at the three invaders, the shots sparking into nothing mere inches away from their targets, those that had attacked were blasted with some sort of ray, they screamed and collapsed into heaps.

When they were only a few feet away the attackers stopped, saying and doing nothing, most of the crew backed against the wall, nobody tried to attack, not after what had hapened. One, possibly the leader, of the strange troupe glided forward and fixed its eye on the chief security officer. When it spoke, its voice was cold and grating, like someone gargling gravel.

"You will give us the doctor."

The security officer stared defiantly at the invaders, returning their cold stare with his own.

"What happened to the captain, the bridge crew? Who ae you?"

"They were uncoperative and were exterminated, you will tall us the location of the doctor."

"I don't know who or what you're talking about, and I'd rather die before I tell you anything."

The invaders regarded him cooly, it was impossible to figure out what they were thinking, or if they were communicating. After about a miniute's time they turned and left the same way they had come; as they exited the cargo bay one said simply. "The doctor is not on board and they do not know...Her location."

A few miniutes later the ship lay in ruin, destroyed by a blast from the attacking ship. From deep inside the enemy vessel another cold eye watched impassively; not directly, but through a legion of monitors and wires, signals and data. This was the Processor and it watched the small planet below with unimagineable loathing. Mobious. That was what it was called. It should be made a barren rock, and could be... in time. The enemy, her ship was crippled, it wouldn't get very far, not in time nor in space, they had her location, now to find when she was...


* * *

Joshua folded the paper he was reading and sighed; he had the unshakeable feeling that something was up; first problems on Carrotus, then that escape and fire on Diamondus. Of course, worse had happened; a cruiser just above Mobius has collided with the wreck of an old ship and plunged to the ground, taking sixty lives, an outbreak of pox had killed ten times that number on Hactar; small squabbles and events were occurring all over the place, so why should these two events be any different? Because something was being hidden...that was why. He didn't know for sure, and couldn't prove anything, but somehow he knew there was something bigger going on. He had a lot of papers delivered; so long as the subscriptions were paid, it didn't matter that he was'missing' they were still delivered to his address every morning. It was amazing how little money could buy a lot of unasked questions. And was wondering if the people of Mobius actually knew he was here...

Granted, most of his time was spent on his research into his personal history and records, hoping to find something that could solve answers to questions, none but himself asked. It didn't matter at the moment, but his mind couldn't exactly be at ease until he found out some of the solutions that were haunting him.
Joshua naturally had a supicious, even a somewhat paranoid mind; the smallest coincidence would set him off into a frenzy of suspicon and inquiry. This wouldn't be so bad if he didn't keep turning out to be right all the time. If only he'd- His thoughts were disturbed when a loud, odd noise echoed from outside; with a reaction that had become second nature, he was outside before he'd even realized what he was doing; he entertained brief thoughts about danger, but these were dispeled when he saw what had made the sounds.

It was some sort of container, apparently it had fallen from the sky, but didn't look like it had made rentry. Sprawled out of som sort of hatch in its side was an unconsious girl, her face set in an expression of fear. Her pulse was faint and she was breathing rapidly. Joshua dragged her inside hoping she'd be able to tell him something about her situation when she recovered.
But even so, as he desperately tried to bring her back to consiousness,a small part of his mind stood back and laughed. and thought how dull it was getting having to constantly aid people in such theatric distress. He suppressed the thought and tried to focus on his newest patient.

Chapter 4

It was located near the northern pole of the planet, a large, seemingly endless plateau of ice, ringed by glaciers and tundra like a mountain of glass. All very nice on a postcard or photo, but after more than a few seconds glance the landscape became dull and monotonous, especially if you were present in the biting cold. About the only thing of interest was a small but determined group making their way through the world of sheer cold, the leader, in particular observing the ice formations he had found with awe. Spiraling upwards into the heavens, sunlight shone down through them, creating a dazzling display of sparkling light. Most of the others wore sunglasses, the last detachment hadn't and had gone temporarily blind; they were the only dark objects for miles and as such got a lot of the reflected sun, there were already many cases of sunburnt *and* frostbitten noses.

"Commander?"

The voice pulled the leader back to the here and now, and the dull and unrewarding task with which he was charged; the ice caps were melting again, even as they trudged he could see rivers flowing across the tundra in the distance, rivers that had been absent only months ago and flowed from underneath the icecap itself. Of course there was a solution; greenhouse gas reduction for one, or a solar shade, but nobody wanted the expense or sacrifice that involved, so what did they do? Send in the 'ice man'

Sighing deeply, he got to his feet, took off his jacket and placed it around his waist and continued onwards. Every step they took towards the source of the problem, the ground continued to grow more unsteady. The melting was centered at well, the center of the icecap, where the submerged mountain range of Klinz barely poked through the ice, absorbing sunlight and leaving gigantic crevasses floored with jagged volcanic rock. Even with his efforts the journey had taken three days; it was a wonder no lives had been lost, there were a few near misses, the ice was treacherous and his fractures and caverns beneath its serene surface. It was arduous work, despite the freezing cold everyone was sweating, they had to climb their way towards the center; the military wouldn't bother sparing a simple transport for such a 'trivial' mission. The sun beat down on everyone as they took their morning break; the place was like a desert in a freezer.

"...Stand back."

The commander flung his jacket aside and stretched out his arms. His grey singlet seemed to offer him little protection from the cold, but it didn't matter. Flicking back the black hair that had gotten into his eyes, he thrust his right arm forward, creating a shimmering beam of blue-white energy. As it arced across the sky the air itself began to freeze, a faint wind sprang up and the air began to taste of tin as water vapor was drawn inexorably drawn toward it. Oddly shaped pillars of ice sprang up around the commander, leaning toward each other as they rose, connecting about twenty feet high an blossoming into a flower of jagged ice. The growth slowed, and then stopped, leaving what looked for all the world like a mushroom of ice on the side of the glacier. The ground trudged underneath it, thankful to be out of the sun's glare and the chilling wind.

"Excellent job, Commander Zac!" Many of the soldiers cheered.

"Heh..."

Still enrolled in the military, Zac's life was constantly busy, investigating problems that threatened the well-being of the planet during his brother's absence. Such as it was; even though the major threats had been dealt with, natural disasters still posed problems. He'd been downgraded from hero to packhorse, performing cosmetic surgery on the world, patching things up here and there before they got out of hand. That was they way of things; people always wanted magical solutions to their problems; they were quick and cheap. It didn't exactly gain him any popularity or social ground, but being through all the things so far had changed him. He figured he'd be himself for awhile, and just try to help out. It helped to keep his mind on something, something he could do a lot better than Josh. He smiled as he recalled reading his brother's psych report. Of course *his* wasn't exactly a glowing reference, but everything tragic about his past had been erased, and his sights were focused on the future, and at least his avoided phrases such as 'highly unstable' 'overly emotive' and 'possible psychosis' Those shrinks were tough, but they had a point.

It was sometime later when a signal came from Headquarters. They ignored three summonses before bothering to answer; they'd had time to allow Zac to resurface most of the cap and everyone was tired and eager to finish up and go home. Despite the necessity of their work and their inspired leadership, Zac's team was still known as the brushes. (It was fairly solid barracks rumor that to get in you had to scrub down a building with an old toothbrush, many of the team often said that doing so would be a nice break from routine.)

"Yeah? Zac Lightwalker reporting."

The transmission itself was quite faint, and three replays had to be requested before they had any idea what was going on; apparently a solar flare was interfering with communications. Eventually by editing out the static and background noise, it became apparent that they were being ordered back to base immediately; a ship was being sent to pick them up and would arrive within the hour. They had a new assignment.

Like his brother, Zac was slightly paranoid; it was the only flaw in his character. (One that his team had learned to respect when a surprise birthday party landed two of them in hospital with broken legs.) Something was up; and it had been gnawing at the back of Zac's mind for weeks now. He'd been especially busy lately doing especially unpleasant work, it seemed he was doing less patching, more rescuing and a disturbing amount of corpse recovery. And there were inconsistencies. Granted, Zac suspected foul play in almost everything, (He had a pretty good suspicion that someone was deliberately stealing his socks to sell on Ebay.) but the station above Mobius, well, that had really spooked him.

At first it was said the accident was due to a minor error by the carelessness of a new recruit. Nonsense; you'd only need a small investigative team if that were the case, yet they'd called him in, and there hadn't even been much he could do. After they'd poked around all they could say was that it had been plain oversight, just like the military maintained, and a total waste of time to investigate, tragic, avoidable, but what happened now and then. Yet for some reason there had been an issue of arms to citizens and rumors of sabotage that wouldn't go away.

* * *

Headquarters here was an impressive building indeed, seventy, maybe eighty floors above ground; the best positions were around floor 50, above recruitment but below transmission and filing. For some reason, the higher your rank, the closer to floor 60 you got. Indeed the floor itself was used for entertaining VIPs and was more a penthouse than military installation. Below ground well, who knew how many floors it went down or what was hidden under there. Plumbing and heating the administration said, but Zac knew different.

Despite his previous exploits, or maybe because of them, Zac had been forced to start from the ground up, there were no favorites here, at least, none that weren't blood relations. He'd rapidly moved from rank 99 to rank 8; the ranking system was arbitrary, stupid and outdated, but in the best traditions of the army, nothing was fixed unless it killed someone. Zac had a very personal hatred for the system, the administration and the access coding, but at his current rank he could go almost anywhere, do almost anything and most likely there was little else he could gain from advancement except pampering. He was one of the best.

"Lightwalker...Zachary. Proceed to your previous lodgings and remove your belongings. Your rank has been moved up to Number 4. We wish to discuss a matter of great importance to you. The meeting begins in twenty minutes."

Zac blinked. Well, that was sudden; the rest of his crew were told to sign off and go on leave; they looked a little worried, promotion could quite possibly remove their leader and halt their work. After considering this last part, they brightened up considerably. Zac swiped his ID Card underneath a series of lights and scanners. It tested a precoded DNA sample and confirmed his identity. Actually it identified his brother's DNA sample, but the system was so easy to fool it wasn't funny, anything that screwed with it was fine by him. The elevator leapt upwards at a rapid pace, almost making him fall to the floor, efficiency beat comfort any day; rumor had it the top brass got a slower ride with classical music to boot.

The ride was short, and removing the things from his previous room wasn't very difficult. Much of his belongings were clippings from various newspapers, old magazines, pizza boxes and standard issue bedding and entertainment. He saved a spot in his bag for a photo of the Gaming Force, in which he'd be almost out of sight...if it wasn't for Joshua lifting him up on his shoulders.

"..."

His mind began to drift to the 'good old days' as he walked back to the elevator and punched in his new floor. He reminded himself of everything that had happened, it all seemed so far away and unreal, his life read like a comic strip. Despite the evidence of everyday life, Zac harbored a deep hope that one day everything would settle down and nobody would need military force anymore. This mad him very dangerous to a lot of people. He'd done all he wanted in life, he'd met his full potential, there really wasn't much else to do except to just try and help out any way he could.

The elevator beeped, slowed and the doors opened. Zac looked at the scene in front of him which, it quickly became apparent, was his new accommodation.

* * *

Shade leaped out of the taxi as it slowed to a stop, hastily throwing her fair at the driver, wrenching the back door open and dragging her bags out. Bustling up to the foreboding building beyond she managed to trip several times, losing her packed clothing in the process. Too late now, no time. Finally she managed to land panting at the front desk, despite several suspicious glares from security. The girl on duty watched the new arrival with something bordering on contempt, Shade's hair and uniform were messed up, she was panting uncontrollably and was covered with grass stains.

"Yes?"

"I... *pant* transfer, 2pm, *gasp*"

The girl tapped a few keys on her computer with the mildly irritated air of someone who can't see why they're being forced to do something mildly unpleasant.

"Right, you'd be the new girl up from Montaq right? Name and ID please."

Shade fumbled in her pants pockets for her wallet and, after a desperate 10 seconds of utter panic managed to locate her ID card which she handed to the disgruntled temp.

"Frontline infantry, third class Private Shade Nighstalker."

The temp gave her a look that suggested the immediately possibility of security intervention. Shade returned it with an icy glare. It had been a very bad, very rushed day and Shade was unwilling to spend the next ten minutes explaining her situation. Thankfully the issue wasn't pressed further; she was given a thin bound file containing her instructions. She'd been given accommodation on floor 26, room 42; surprisingly cushy accommodation for someone less than a week out of boot camp. Apparently the very person she'd be under had just vacated the premises. How recently was quickly apparent, the room stank of male, and someone had left a bunch of pizza boxes in the corner. The place would need a good cleaning, but there was no time for that now, she was already half an hour late for a meeting she didn't know she had to attend.

As she stepped into the elevator and punched in her destination she scanned the file for information on just what she'd be doing and with whom. There were a bunch of bigwigs mentioned and some technical terms, mostly to make things look good, but one name near the bottom stood out. She groaned aloud as she read it.

Lightwalker. Great, just great, one of *those* days...

Joshua looked down on his patient and sighed, sometimes he wished he were normal. Fate had thrown a lot at him, and he was no stranger to ill fortune. Indeed his life so far had put him through enough bad experiences to severely scar him and leave his mind off balance, a cruel legacy that would remain to his dying day.

Not that anyone noticed; he was stuck as is, forever 17, locked in a youthful body that nerve aged or changed, even if he cut his hair is was back to its old style was the next day. He didn't know how that worked, but the ability had been contagious, affecting his brother and several friends. At least he would see those friends, they would have to see everyone they knew grow old and perish. He had quite often torn the pages out of books he was reading when they mentioned the great age of vampires or sages or wizards. Immortality wasn't much fun from the receiving end.

For some reason watching others perish bought these thoughts to the front of his mind, seeing them slip away from this world reminded him that he would never be quite so lucky, he would never suffer a scar, grey hair, or decrepitude, his end would be quick. His patient however was close to death, breathing was shallow and rapid, and while he wasn't a doctor instinct told him her condition was pretty serious. She'd need to be kept warm and probbably require some serious medical intervention.

How had she got here? A crash of some sort? The machine outside looked like it was more suited for falling than flying, it was battered and broken and and seemed to radiate an air of age. Not old like mountains, they were meant to be old, rather old like the pyramids of Giza, something artificial that had stood the test of time.

Surely she couldn't have teleported here? No, that was impossible, few could, and besides, that thing looked heavy, if you tried to take that with you you'd arrive as a circle fifty feet wide. There wasn't anything outside that could've dropped it off, and it certainly hadn't fallen from the sky. A teleporting machine? It wasn't impossible, but... why? "Well, that thing's not going anywhere fast"

What was he doing? Looking for clues at time like this? He searched for, and found his emergency medical kit. It was very well stocked, he'd taken every precaution What was required was the calcium bandages. He cut the small strip of material and laid them on any wounds he could find without being indecent. The women groaned slightly, perhaps due to the sting, but didn't awaken from her sleep.

Right, what else could he do? A healing spell, that would be reasonable and simple enough to do. He muttered the words under his breath and reached out to his patient.

And leapt back.

The sting was incredible, his entire finger felt numb, and that was only where the spark had hit, there was a strange feeling in his arm, a numbness that sparked along the nerves and made a determined attack on his mind. Somehow he'd lost a lot of energy and he hadn't even finished the spell. He was glad he hadn't touched the strange woman, it could have been lethal.

This was bad, some of her wounds were in... difficult or at least embarrassing places and her energy clashed with his own somehow, magic wasn't going to be any use here, and without it, he felt very limited indeed.

He sat down and began to wait, hoping she'd wake up soon. He had trouble keeping his own eyes open, the drain on his energy had been substantial. There were so many things that could be happening and this only increased his natural paranoia. What was going on? Family matters, employment, his friends well-being....even those he might decide to see again. His mind drifted back to two other girls he had fought with once.

And perhaps, the idea of proposing to Adis...wouldn't be good if they found out....perhaps he was being a BIT too hasty.

Granted, the feelings towards each of them were almost stronger than anything else he had, with the possible exception of Rachel, but...it had been quite some time since he'd seen them, and they wouldn't be happy if they thought he'd forgotten about them. He tried to bring their memories to the front of his mind.

"I haven't had a chance to see them at ALL. So much has happened, and to keep them safe, I had to leave them behind, but I promised I'd let them come with me after the danger was over...but it took quite a bit of persuading to get Sugar to agree."

Ah Sugar, she was the princess of the spirit realm of Seraupth; not that you'd know it to see her, she preferred a more demure appearance than most of the people he'd met and she made sure she didn't develop a reputation. She preferred simple outfits, her favorite was a (very) small black tank top with fluffy white edging and a long pink dress that could be described as either smart of skimpy depending on your view of her. She blended easily among the crowds and socialized well with well... everyone. However she didn't like forward guys, or any girl who took an interest in Joshua, she had a jealous and protective streak and a determination to snare him, sooner or later.

Mind you, she WAS pretty, she had the nicest pale pink hair and eyes you could really call sapphire blue, perhaps a reflection of her personality, they burned ice cold when she was angered and twinkled like gems when she was planning something, which she often was. She knew more water spells than were good for her, and Joshua ha taught her some skill with the sword.

And then there was Dinah, or perhaps Dinahs was more accurate; from the same realm as Sugar she was about as far removed from her as possible. She...they were somewhat...different, with two souls in one body always jockeying for control. Devil Dinah was agitated having to put up with her 'better half' but somehow, there wasn't anyway for the two to seperate. In fact, if it wasn't for the Angel that merged with her, she'd probably be a lot different.

Her...thier personalities manifested themselves in a classical good-evil dichotomy, they even called themselves Devil Dinah and Angel Dinah. Instead of her just changng voices and personality, the body and appearance seemed to change slightly as well, when one of the two souls gained control, and the other was still in concious thought, despite the fact you couldn't see the other one.

Devil Dinah was conniving and hostile to everyone, Joshua included, though she seemed to have a grudging admiration for him. She liked to wear black one piece dresses usually with the upper half like a red broken heart on the chest, black shoes, black socks, black everything. She had red eyes and blue hair and was always trouble. Angel Dinah was very similar in appearance, inhabiting the same body, but preferring white dresses and angel wing hairclips. She utterly adored Joshua but was seldom seen being the more introverted personality. She had the remarkable ability to walk straight into trouble from which she could never defend herself much to Joshua's and Devil Dinah's chagrin.

Joshua smiled at the memories. "I guess when all of this is done I can find out some information from the source, I can pick them up on the way."
There was pain, and darkness, the sensation of moving while standing completely still and then... she awoke.

Where was she now? The surroundings were different from the inside of her ship, it was quiet and somebody had moved her. Was this a prison cell? Had she been captured, or had she been taken to hospital? Her body moaned at her mind, her injuries lining up to announce their presence, but it was an old pain, on that was, for now, under control.

"Hey. Nice to see you're in one piece. But don't you think you should rest a bit more? You've still got a few wounds."

At the sound of the voice she span around clumsily, reflexes still relatively sharp despite every limb feeling like it was jacketed in lead. This wasn't good, he opponent was a young human male in good condition and possibly armed while she was injured, unarmed and tired. She could barely stay upright let alone fight, combat wasn't an option.

"Whoah! Watch it, you're still weak, didn't mean to startle you there, but it's not like I'm some crazed killing machine here, hell, even ol' Shelley was better armed when he was on the loose. Heh, as I remember I met a few of his crazed machines, almost did me in too, ol' bignose."

Not an attacker, or at least not one yet, there was no telling his motives, perhaps he was peaceful, either way, people had to be warned. She looked at Joshua with a terrified stare.

"...Where am I? I remember being on the Beacon...before something knocked me unconscious. I need to find someone to help me. There's something coming..." she panicked.

Joshua placed a hand on her shoulder and looked at her sternly. Something was distressing her, had she really been on the Beacon? It had been destroyed days ago, along with the entire crew, all that was left was cooling wreckage, the result of a microconverter malfunction. Or maybe not, her craft had appeared, it hadn't landed, the ground wasn't even disturbed by something that should've wiped out a whole city block at terminal velocity. So how did she get here? Magic? Or perhaps...

"...Something...killed the crew...I saw them die...bright lights..." the girl shivered, almost in tears.

Perhaps she was overreacting, or perhaps something was very wrong. A cover up? Possible now Joshua was gone, but then again, maybe people just didn't know what was happening, one explosion looks like another, why suspect anything at all? The universe was a big place and a lot happened, now was not the time for conspiracy theories, now was the time for calm and considered action.

"Okay, I think we should get somewhere safe, can we move your ship? No? Dang...Okay, try and get anything valuable, I'll help, we need to get somewhere safe."

The girl was quick, ducking inside her ship and emerging only with a small backpack. To Joshua's mind it could contain anything, high explosives, powerful crystals, or perhaps just fresh clothes and lunch, there was no time to ask, he knew where they had to go.

* * *

It was dark in the cell, not a prison, at least of the conventional sort, but an asylum. Some things were too broken to be ignored and when they were found, they were not treated, they were punished. On Earth this kind of place had vanished in the 19th century when mental illness had be turned from demonic possession to a simple malady, but the world that tolerated split personalities was not so forgiving.

They had tried the table again today, electroshock was in vogue, but they had also supplied liberal doses of arsenic and a solid beating as usual. The cell was cramped and dirty, it's padded walls stained yellow over the years. But most importantly, it was dark. Nothing stopped them turning out the lights, not begging, pleading, struggling, they always let the dark in, and the darkness always spoke.

This time, the prisoner listened.

Hm. Seems that there's a bit of a communication between me and Doubble. Odd. I guess to fill in time, I might as well post something that I'm working on to keep you all amused. It's not exactly Jazz 2 stuff, but it should be enjoyable
*Note: I was listening to quite some action-packed music (Mega Man Zero:4)

Sweat pouring down his forehead, fires blazing around him, red cinders from the flames danced through the air like fiery spirits, unable to land. Eternally
drifting through the heated air. His cap had been caught by the scorching winds and touched the walls before becoming a fireball and falling into the abyss of space

below. Turning his gaze away from the fireball, he made sure that the rest of himself wasn't going anywhere.

His white shirt had been badly torn, stained with red blood, both his and his foe's. The parts of his exposed chest had deep cuts in the flesh, which still bled a little,
while the hair on his head now revealed, was messed up and drenched with sweat. His trousers were partly singed, but he wasn't put off. Clutching around his chest and

breathing a sigh of relief that the necklace and emerald were still in one piece, he glanced around for the enemy.

A blast of energy was sent hurtling his way, and was barely able to dodge it. Out of the fire stared two eyes behind glasses, lit up with a hellish glare. The green skin and

the shell on his back...not to mention the huge laser gun in his hands. Devan Shell. Without anymore words said between them, both knew that the other couldn't leave as

a prisoner, or corpse. Swords resting in his hands, a huge pillar of flame erupted around Devan, concealing him completely.

"?!"

A huge series of energy blasts shot out of the fire, and while Joshua was able to evade the first few, they kept coming too fast, catching him in the middle as the attacks

kept colliding straight into him, unable to move, or do anything. Pain shot through his body and blood dried up before touching the ground. His body flinched before it

vanished and re-appeared kneeling. Devan lowered the wall of fire and with unbelivable speed, rammed into Joshua, sending him to the ground, laser gun aimed at his

head.

"Pathetic fool. I was expecting more of a challenge."

The laser blast missed, leaving a black mark on the ground. A sword span past him, sending him spiraling into the flames. Silence. Strange. There wasn't any sound of

yells or anger. Inching closer to the flames, he leapt back to avoid a huge set of sharp teeth. Devan had transformed. Looked like things were finally getting interesting....
--
Okay, so I kinda lied. :P

Chapter 6

"...This sucks. I'm stuck in a chair, which is right next to a table...with other people blabbing about events that I have no interest in. I get back from my mission, and get called here before I get a chance to rest. Next time something like this happens, I'm sending a clone." Zac muttered.

It had been two hours since the meeting had been started, and nothing of interest had popped up. Just some talk about finances, repairs, the press and other stuff to with the base. This seemed to be routine for many of those present but it was boring Zac senseless, surely they didn't need him for something so trivial? He groaned inwardly as another abstention was taken from the latest vote, the move passed anyway. Suddenly the mood changed subtly, things became a little more animated. Zac stopped doodling on the tabletop and slouched slowly to attention.

Sitting straight and trying to figure out why the room seemed smaller, the leader spoke. The topic seemed to have shifted to something of interest, signaled by the numerous whispers. Zac scanned the table quickly; several people had the bright fixed smiles of those who didn't want to be present but wanted to look pleased with whatever was going on. Others were genuinely ecstatic, like a cat that not only got the cream but has just bought a milk powder factory.

"...I brought you here to announce the time has come for me to step down from my role as leader over this facility. Yes, I know this is both sudden and shocking, but I feel that I have done everything I can here and should move on. A replacement has arrived, and I expect you to treat him with the same respect that you see fit to treat me. I know there will be disagreements with my decision, not least its suddenness however I hope that all objections can quickly and effectively be dealt with. Gentlemen, I present to you my replacement; please make welcome ...Mr Kard."

"Please, there is no need for formality, call me Kain."

A figure in black robes stepped quickly into the room, his clothing billowing behind him. He was of course instantly the center of attention as those present strained to get some indication of his form and figure, his garb was all encompassing, even his face couldn't be seen Nonetheless as he walked among those present they seemed, though hesitant, all to ready to welcome their new leader into the fold. Zac was on the verge of slamming his fists down on the table. This wasn't right and he knew it, he didn't want to object, but he could feel the words building in his throat, there was no way he could stay silent about this...

"Hey, wait a minute here, are you guys mad? Aren't we supposed to vote on this or something?"

The voice belonged to a young squirrel who had unceremoniously rushed into the meeting about halfway through, providing a few minutes of entertainment; apparently she'd been assigned to Zac's team to do paperwork, something which Zac himself had never had any inclination to complete. Since then she'd been sitting with an annoyed air in the spare chair at the rooms entrance. Now she was standing with a look of absolute amazement on her face. Kain was first to speak.

"There is no need for a vote on this matter, I assure you there is complete agreement with this decision."

There was mumbling to the affirmative at this statement.

"But... but how can you do that? This is a military installation, there are rules and controls to be observed here, not least subsection c of the management code of conduct that states-"

"I am aware, however, desperate times call for desperate measures."

More mumbling and nodding greeted this statement. Zac edged towards the door, grateful for the distraction.

"What? You can't do that! The public must know! Where would we get if we did everything behind closed doors? And look at the guy! Can't we get a picture for the monthly newsletter? Or do you always wear that getup? We're talking major creepy here, does anyone see anything wrong? Anyone?!"

Several people were looking around in a confused manner, like dancers at the prom who have just realized the music has stopped, but don't know what happens next. Zac was almost at the door now, a few feet away from the girl. Kain was staring at her with two piercing eyes, burning with hatred, and to Zac's small delight, a bit of confusion.

"I have a skin condition, of which I'm very sensitive, I do not wish to show my face and am hurt by your comments, we can't help the way we are little one, I think you should go now."

The temperature in the room dropped several degrees, now everyone was looking at the objector with a decidedly hostile gaze. The two guards at the door stepped forward and put their hands on her shoulders in a polite, but firm manner. Zac stepped up behind them and looked up to see the new leader staring right at him.


* * *

Shade jerked out of the guards' grip with an air of annoyance. What in hell's name was going on? Had everyone gone mad? They were just sitting there staring at her, as if she was the one to blame for this insanity, while God-knew-who was taking over. Whoever this Kard was, he looked more at home in a fantasy novel than running an elite military organization, couldn't they see that? Who would want this Kard as a leader? She became aware, through the red mist of shock and anger, that someone was speaking, it was Mr Kard.

"Ah, Zac, an old friend. Such a pleasure to see you again. I have some good news, you are to be given a vacation while your team is assigned to less taxing work. I plan to address the planetwide causes of our problems rather than relying on stop-gap magical solutions. Oh, and please don't raise any objections, as you can see I have the entire committee on my side and would hate for their to be any problems, such tiffs can damage reputations, among other things."

Shade tensed, she really wanted to hit someone now, only her training kept her calm. That twit was talking just like her mother, the same arrogant know-all and above all pathetically obvious sinister tone. And he was staring at her! She hated that stare, it seemed to be focused at a point several inches inside her skull, as if it was seeing inside her mind, as if she were just a minor detail. And the harder he stared the worse she felt, something at the back of her mind was desperately trying to make itself heard. Ugh, it had been a long day. But everything was alright now. What the hell? Now that they had their new leader and her teammates were being relegated to less taxing tasks she could go back to her new accommodations and get some rest. Are you crazy? He's insane! And of course she wouldn't have to work for that Lightwalker (-) for God knew how long. Can you hear me? Help! Anyone? Shade smiled, how could she possibly have doubted this wonderful man? she should probably quit on the spot for being so stupid Get out! Get away! but maybe he'd give her another chance? You're not you, he's in your mind! Hmmn, strange, she was hearing voices. She shook her head to try and dislodge the strange feeling.

And the world went white.

Her commander was hunched over the robed figure, punching him over and over in the face, there were spurts of blood and a sickening crunch as the two struggled. Suddenly Shade's mind was clear, what had she been thinking? The two guards were drawing their weapons, with a quick kick and twist one was bought down groaning while the other had two fingers broken. Now she had a weapon, but others had already surrounded the pair, weapons drawn by those who had them. Without pausing to think Shade fired two rounds at those closest to her, shattering their legs.

There was a flash and suddenly there was a large block of ice around Zac. Kain struggled to his feet still visibly bleeding as those present fired at their former comrade. The shots struck the ice, denting and cracking it, but failing to penetrate,t hey may as well have shot solid rock. There was a sudden click and reflexively Shade fell to the floor.

"Shatter!"

The small device on Zac's belt emitted an ultrasonic pulse that caused the ice encasing him to break like a pane of dropped glass, shards went everywhere and there were screams and the sounds of broken glass. There was a piercing yell and Shade realized it was her. Someone still standing was blocking her way, but Shade was tired and hurt and above all angry, she swung at the man and he fell backwards out of a shattered window, screaming all the way down. Before she could stop herself, Shade plummeted after him, overbalanced by her swift punch. The last thing she saw as the room sped upwards away from her was a single eye staring from a bloodied hood, burning itself into her memory like a red hot poker.

Something inside Zac had snapped. Everything was crumbling down because of this monster, he could almost remember the terrible battle between them before. Regretting he hadn't made a record of this fiend, Zac could only feel his rage building before he smashed his right fist straight into Kain's face. Blood and a disgusting cracking sound had echoed through the room as he continued smashing the face, which still remained in shadow. Before he could get a chance to finish him off, Zac found himself surrounded by his former comrades, guns leveled at him, hands near the trigger.

He'd had no other option but to blast himself out; he'd seem former teammates impaled by shards of cold ice. Next thing he knew the new girl had dived out of a window, what was she thinking? There was no other way out, that's what; guards were already entering the doorway, confused and panicked at first, but quickly adopting the glazed expression of those under the influence. Zac didn't think twice, he hardly bothered to think once, and dove out of the building, leaving the matter of gravity and height to take care of itself.

The fall should have been lethal; when Zac got up every bone in his body was protesting. However he'd landed on something soft; the abused corpse of one of the committee members. Nearby was the girl who had evidently done the same, curled up in a small personal world of pain. He grabbed her and tried to make her walk, they'd need to get away, and fast.

"What happened?"
"Kain."
"Yes, but what the * happened?"
"He's using some sort of mind control, you did well, you almost resisted it."
"I'll kill you, I'll kill you all."
"No, it's alright, I'm on your side!"
"Bull*! This is all one big *'n mess! What the hell is wrong with you people?"
"Listen! We don't have time to argue! Kain's probably sending soldiers after us!"

They reached a shuttle. It was of course locked. Before Zac could do anything the girl simply smashed the window, as if it were glass instead of reinforced polyperspex. It wasn't a wise thing to do, you could die from blood loss if you did it wrong, but she managed to pull it off. There were shots in the distance; the guards still in the meeting room above were firing down at them; it would take several minutes before they'd be able to get word out to those on the ground, but that still wasn't enough time to make a clean getaway.

"We have to leave now! Come on, I have transport, we just need to-"
"It's done."
"No, we don't have time to hotwire!"
"I said it's done, come on!"

Zac stared numbly as he was dragged into the shuttle; the security systems had been bypassed in a matter of seconds? But it could take hours to run through the combinations and wiring schemes! There was a jerk as they took off and Zac closed the door behind him. For a moment there was confusion over who was driving, but eventually Zac got the upper hand, both because he knew where to go and also because the girl had collapsed into unconsciousness.

"Just like my first date, great, just great."

Chapter 7. Part 1

Zac swore and set the ship on autopilot before making sure his passenger was alright. She was OK apart from a few cuts and bruises, so he sat down and began to think. He knew what would happen next, leopards didn't change their spots. Josh would be fine, Seb, there was no telling where he was and David...he was most likely repairing the StrongGale at the Carrotus Shipyards. No doubt there were already dispatches after all of them; if there was one thing people held pride in here it was a grossly bloated army that served as everything from police through to tax collectors.


Zac sighed and looked down at the medals he'd been wearing, each given for some supposed service to this or that, and slowly tossed them out the window, one by one, except for the silver star he'd been given for 'dedicated service.'


* * *

It was only a short time alter that Seb looked down from where he sat nonchalantly atop one of the taller buildings in the city, watching the military below. They were up to something big, he knew it, moving steadily and purposefully through the population, interrogating seemingly random strangers, occasionally even using violence. Perhaps there was a fugitive in the city? This looked big. Not hesitating, he encased himself in a ball of flame and dropped smoothly down the tower like a falling star.

"Hey, what's the problem?"

The response was totally unexpected; the group he'd approached looked at him as one man, before levelling their guns at him, some more reluctantly than others. There was subdued talking, then someone shouting, finally their apparent leader stepped forward. When he spoke it was in the tone of someone who knows there's going to be unpleasantness, and it won't be them.

"You're to surrender and accompany us back to HQ for execution. Resistance will result in your termination."

At this there was more talking, this time quite terse an and argument broke out. Seb coudn't hear what was being said, but he wasn't stupid. Something was terribly, terribly wrong. The group wasn't thinking straight, he could see that, they looked almost drugged, as if what they were seeing and what they were looking at were two different things. The leader and a few others however looked very alert, and very menacing. As the argument raged on, Seb looked about; if anyone had made a statement like he'd just heard, talking was out of the question. Whatever was wrong with this group, it was big. It wouldn't be a good idea to run either, people would get hurt. The argument had died down as the more active soldiers coerced their comrades into submission. Seb raised his axe and focused on the leader. The five with normal eyes, they were the problem.

"I suggest YOU lower your weapons. I have no desire to fight you. And I have no intention of dying yet. Back down. This is your only and last warning."

There was an answering hail of bullets that met nothing but a wall of flame. Startled, even the doped soldiers fired. Eventually the flames died down, revealing a bulletmarked and charred patch of pavement. The leader of the group approached it cautiously as the ground began to emit the *pink pink* of cooling glass. Then he gave a jerk and collapsed. There was a faint hiss as his body met the scorched ground. Seb stood behind him hand raised, they had parted ranks at the fireball. Bad move.

A ring of flame erupted from the ground and encircled the soldiers. Panicking, they fired rounds in all directions. Seb ducked and danced; this was the benefit of being outnumbered, they were far more likely to hit each other than him, if he was fast enough. He only needed to hit two soldiers with the blunt end of his axe, the others were soon on the ground suffering bullet wounds to the arms or legs. Except for one; he matched Seb's moves, apparently quite well trained he sent sporadic bursts of gunfire his way, never giving Seb a chance to rest. A bullet clipped his right shoulder, announcing itself with a stab of pain. Seb didn't even yell, but fell to the ground. As the soldiers took aim he turned the fall into a swinging blow, his whole arm encased in fire. The hapless assailant didn't even have time to scream as his body fell to the ground, crumbling to ashes as it did so.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to have to do that."

Seb stopped the wall of flame. What was going on? He'd never thought he'd have to face these guys. He tried to coax answers out of those that remained standing or conscious, but they were of little help; most of them had no idea what had happened, only that they'd been ordered to hunt down and bring back him and his friends, and that the order had seemed perfectly reasonable at the time until just now. The other soldiers, the ones he'd attacked appeared to be new recruits, only a few days in, but they'd acquired some very high ranks, and again, this had apparently been alright. He ordered them to flee, and in their disheveled state they complied readily. Seb gave silent thanks that Zac didn't appear to be involved in any of this.

"What the-"

Something vaguely familiar appeared in the distance, a confused mix of dust and turbid air, growing nearer and nearer, finally stopping and resolving itself into the form of Joshua just a few feet away. He'd been carrying a young woman who slowly dismounted.

"Joshua! What are you doing here? And who's she?"

"No time, we should get going, I can explain on the way. It's nice to see you're okay, pity about the casualties." said Josh pointing at the two prone soldiers. "It's something to do with the military, they're bringing us in for plotting against them, don't ask me why." He saw Seb's expression and explained further. "I gathered some info while in disguise."

It hadn't been much of a disguise admittedly, just a grey shirt, brown jacket and headband, but since he was well known as a hero in a red cap (and white T-shirt) it was amazing how many conflicts he'd avoided with the simple precaution. In his new outfit he was just an ordinary citizen, not worth noticing, let alone questioning. There was a groan and one of the soldiers stirred. Joshua knocked them smartly unconscious with the flat of his sword.

"We best be leaving. I don't have much of an idea of what to do after I make the necessary stops, but we have to find Zac, get Adis out of possible danger and get somewhere safe where we can leave them. This one's not much of a talker, and I have no idea where she came from."

"Agreed. The J-Wing should be where you left it, right?"

Joshua clicked his fingers. In the sky, a small star sparkled before descending through the atmosphere and landing nearby. The J-Wing hadn't changed much since last time, something Josh was thankful for, it was of unit construction, something even better than LEGO, and much easier to put together. There had been quite a large mess to tidy up after the failed experiment.

"Hop in. Knowing Zac, he'd be headed to our agreed destination for things like this. But...I need to make a stop at Saurepth first; I just hope that I'm not going to get a yelling at when we arrive."

Joshua sighed, Seb caught Joshua's expression and laughed. Motioning to the girl Joshua had carried the three of them boarded the ship. None of the troops seemed to be in any condition to report, and hopefully nobody would know about the J-Wing or its presence in the Mobius sky. Granted the J-Wing was capable of handling almost any attack, but it was worth not taking chances, especially when the poor girl had been blown up twice already.

"Just hold on..." Joshua sighed.

Chapter 7: Part 2

The J-Wing raced out of the desert and into the holiday resort. No sooner had it landed then it was surrounded by soldiers with weapons raised. Apparently they'd already tracked Adis down and were probbably going through the resort looking for her. Joshua stood and stared at the massed ranks of troops. There were too many to fight.

"Gentlemen, you may or may not know me, but you can call me Seb. You know, the fire guy. I notice that only a few of you have normal eyes and I would ask you to remember that in addition to me, you are in the presence of Joshua Lightwalker, another somewhat famous fellow. Famous among many other things for blowing a lot of stuff up. I suggest you go about your business."

I was a brilliant speech; even before Seb had menacingly raised one hand, a sliver of flame twisting on the tips of his fingers, many of the soldiery had turned to flee, against the wishes of the few level-headed members present. Even more fled as a burst of flame shot forth, snaking in and out of the assembled ranks, spreading panic and scattering those present. Seb nudged his friend who had already drawn his sword.

"Don't ask about the eye thing, I'll be fine, be quick!"

Joshua didn't need telling twice; he dashed across the compound, occasionally knocking down disoriented soldiery, being buffeted by deflection bullets, and dodging more lethal rounds. He tried to recall which room Adis was in as panicked resident mingled with investigating soldiers who hadn't seen the chaos outside. When he reached the right door he kicked it down.

The room was empty.

Something grabbed his leg tightly, dragging him down. Josh yelled and swung his sword, stopping short when he saw Adis's face, both breathing a short sigh of relief. The kiwi crawled out from under the bed and dropped the broken lightbulb she was clumsily holding. This wasn't quite what she'd planned for a vacation.

"Adis, we have to get out of here, and fast. Just hold on..."

Josh walked calmly out into the corridor with Adis still clutching him before swinging both his swords down in a wide arc. There was a *crack* and two walls of stone grew from the ground, splintering the floor and walls as they extended upwards, cutting off the soldiers that had been converging on them. Josh kicked down a door that was now splintered beyond recognition and dashed out a staff route into the park outside. The chaos had subsided a bit, with the few soldiers remaining firing on Seb. Several were ashes. There was a burst of flame that covered their sprint to the J-Wing before the hatches closed and the ship took of, still suffering light fire from the now devastated resort below.

"Don't yell at me later..."

"Huh?"

"You'll find out soon enough..."

Adis stopped looking at the remains of her holiday, now smoking and with two great gashes through it where the stone walls were already crumbling under the absence of sustaining force. She glared at the assembled group for a few seconds before heading off to her room, Seb did the same leaving Joshua with the girl he'd just met and her machine. It had taken time to get it onboard but she'd insisted it not be left behind. He was worried, they'd have to pass the former location of the Beacon to get to their destination and he wasn't sure how she'd handle it. As it was when they left the atmosphere the girl shuddered and gave a quiet cry.

"...I'm sorry. But there's nowhere else we can go. Everyone on Mobius will be looking for us, and if they find out you're the sole survivor of that ship, well,t here's no telling what they'd do, suspicion is high and people have been lynched for 'too lucky' escapes. Whatever's going on, I promise we'll get you somewhere safe and get you back with your parents."

*sniff*

The girl started crying again when Joshua had finished his explanation. Josh sighed and tried to calm her down, but that was a lot harder than he first thought. Eventually he had to let her have HIS room, the one with the comfortable bed, forcing him to sit up watching the controls all night and wondering about the mysterious machine, what had happened and what to do next. Good old Zac; he may be a bit ...dimwitted at times, but he could at least handle situations by himself. Never had that ability been more evident, or more needed than his first date. Joshua chuckled at the memory of it.

Nothing had gone right the ENTIRE night, and Joshua knew, because he was spying on them the entire time, revenge for a particularly embarrassing prank he'd suffered. Zac had nearly knocked the poor girl out, and hurt himself when the two went dancing. It was only some quick talking, which surprised Joshua, to save the entire night, and the girl from running out in tears.

Compared to his brother, he didn't really feel comfortable going on dates, in fact, most of the time he'd spent with girl girls was to keep them happy, and that had led to a lot of accusations and arguments especially with a certain trio. And no doubt there was more to come. Why on earth had he even thought for a second about marrige? It must have been a fit of reckless optimism. He wasn't exactly keen on the idea of settling done anytime soon. And having to put up with ONE girl crying was bad enough.

And there were so many downsides. Sure people went on about romance and bonding and doing things together, but it was a dangerous and unpredictable universe out there and he'd spent his entire life fighting. Nearly all of it. What kind of living was that? How could you ever be happy with a wife and children knowing that any nutcase out to get you would use them as bait? How could you keep a happy home when your job was, at the end of the day to kill people so more people wouldn't die? It was a tired and overused cliche, but it was right, with great power was great responsibility, and with responsibility came sacrifice. He could never imagine himself married, let alone as a father. You'd always be watching them, dreading seeing them suffer, even dying before you... like Rachel.

Okay, enough with that. He must be getting crazy with the lack of sleep. He hadn't had a decent night's sleep for about a week. Most of the late nights were either training, writing and studying the records he'd found or playing some video games he'd brought back with him. His days were spent in a similar way. Only filling out a few forms and spending time with Adis. The time they spent together let him rest his eyes a bit. It all helped to keep his mind off the dreams.

Joshua groaned at their memory. The shadows, pathways, staircases, it was all meaningless to him, or, he'd begun to fear, it HAD meaning, he just didn't want to know it. Nevermind, it'd come to him eventually. For now, maybe he could get some sleep; and when he awoke, they'd have landed on Saurepth.
And THIS time, NO annoying dreams!



* * *

Slumped in her seat, Shade slept fitfully. As usual, it was the dream, the same dream as always, and as always she could see herself dreaming it. It was just a few years ago, just before she'd left to join the military, she could see the scene in her mind, herself younger and slighter, approaching her house, dreading what was within.

"Great, just great, and the day was going so well too."

"That you Shade? Talking to yourself again are you? Oh what a pain, that I should see my own daughter go to madness!"

"Mother, please!"

"Don't use that tone with me! You've been neglecting your training again!"

"Can't I just do something normal for once? Other kids-"

"Other kids, other kids! They're OTHER kids my girl, you're you! You know what they are? Accidents, that's what! No purpose or meaning to their pathetic cotton-candy lives! You want to be an accident too?"

"No mother, I just-"

"I knew I should've got rid of you, I should've tried again, you've been nothing but one disappointment after another! How can you expect to accomplish anything if you're not even going to TRY?"

"Yes mother."

"Yes mother, yes mother; are you retarded or something? Stop standing there all self pitying and DO something girl! Don't make me hit you, sometimes I think that's the only way to get a sensible response from you!"

Shade watched the scene play out mutely. She'd seen it so many times before, LIVED it once, but each time served only to rekindle the hatred she felt for that woman, for what she believed in, for the whole (-) mess. The anger grew inside her, like water under pressure, and as always she pushed back, fanning the flames of rage into a blue-white streak of pure anger. With a start as sharp as breaking glass she left the world of dreams and opened her eyes.

And awoke.

Chapter 8

This was a place to be found on no map, in a world that wasn't so much a 'where' as a 'what' And within it dwelled evil. Not evil in the everyday, mug you or steal your wallet kind. It had no mind to speak of, nor what could be thought of as instincts, or a soul, it just was. And always, always, it was hungry. It wanted, *needed* power, to be larger, to expand. It surrounded whole planets, or single individuals, feeding on those who would listen to it, filling their minds like a dark tide until little esle remained.

In the space between worlds were many things, here, deep within the shadow were two figures, stood stone still. They were insane. Not the usual insane that makes a man think that the walls are closing in on him, nor the solid form of insanity that made rich tyrants kill people for entertainment, this was a solid, deep insanity; the two figures may as well have been robots for all the personality and humanity they possessed. Anyone listening to their conversation, had anyone else been present, would immediately recognize this fact.

"So, you've set the plan in motion. And with little serious opposition. Well, except for the target, the girl and a few others. But we have the entire military under our control, and through them, the planet. And most of the resistant minds have been disposed of. Excellent."

"You underestimate me; the others among us are just as talented as I. We'd be simpletons to just expect to have things work to our favour. We're not like the pathetic fools who consider themselves to be ones of the dark. Like the others...we've all faced the same foe."

The two figures remained still, no feature showing, no way to tell them apart. They both knew this to be correct, they faced powerful opposition indeed, but the moment he perished, it would be their moment of glory. They'd have to move quickly, one of them was indeed the most powerful among them all, and he would be the next target.

"I trust you know what to do while in charge? Excellent. I have a warning for you though, there are Daleks here, I don't know why."

"Who cares? They're not worth bothering about."

"These ones are...Something's guiding them, they're much smarter than others we've seen. Terminate these with caution, they are *not* to be underestimated. Doing so will cost you your life."

As the servant recieved his instruction he removed his hood... and was shrouded in darkness. In the silence, the observer cursed. They'd evidently caught on to him. The only question now was whether to tell his leader, or to twist it and report to the enemy. Either would serve his purposes. Since his master's imprisionment he'd struck out against outposts like the once peacful Tropicuso and a planet they'd lost to a one rabbit army ages ago. Turtemple.

Their leader had been inprisioned too long. Luckily he'd refused an offer of freedom from some bunch of idiots. The guard who'd seen it said it was quite amusing to see their reaction. Perhaps he was waiting for his own troops. Of course, if he refused even then, he would not be allowed to simply rot in his cell. They'd made too much progress, many of the lost bases had been reclaimed, you couldn't expect the forces of one planet to hold such an empire. They understood, they co-operated, they never conquered, not anymore. A lot of rabbits had joined them as well, and those who hadn't... they were dust.

There had been changes, big changes. The demon smirked, stroking the large scar on his stomach. He'd recieved it from a certain green rabbit that had blasted away most of his vital organs. He was an impressive sight; since the attack, he'd had time to regroup, to grow stronger. To seek out allies who didn't know it yet. Now he stood a full six feet tall, skin a hellish red and eyes that burned like hot coals. All over the galaxy, the decimated worlds had recovered, Nippious had missiles now, the tanks on Technoir were working again, and shooting more than just fruit now.

Much of the treasure that had been raided from Crysilis was back on the planet, making it a sparkling gem in the void of space, like it was before. More resources had been discovered at Scraparap, Dreempipes was repaired and producing more fuel for thier formidable spacecraft. Even the data that had been lost, corrupted or otherwise obliterated had been restored, with plans of new defense systems, tanks and other machines that none would be able to stop thier raid on Carrotus. For years they had bided thier time. And despite the opposing forces that had been formed in the meantime, they would seem unlikely to interfere.

They had learned, this time no individual would stop them. Especially, *especially* not a jackrabbit.


* * *
Darkness...inner mind...

>Sometimes...I kinda wish I was never born at all...<

>How can you say that?! You've got so much to live for!<

>But...I feel so empty. I know...something is missing. And why is all this happening? Did something occur? Has a dark force awoken, manipulating everyone? What's going on...I don't know anymore...<

>I don't know either, I'm afraid...I can only tell that it's coming from more than one source...our foes will be quite
strong. Be on your guard, Joshua. I don't want you to give up. Promise me.<

>Rachel...You don't have to worry. I'm just concerned about everyone's saftey. I know that it won't be long before I'll get to see you again.<

As the dark depths of his mind faded, Joshua awoke. It had been quite a long time since he spoke to Rachel...and was really missing her. Her warm smile brough happiness to his heart. Even thought in his spare time, of what he had done, there was also something else. Searching through his records back on Mobius, he found quite an intersting document.

"Rachel...I will bring you back...give you the life you deserved...just give me some time."

As the lights from the console brought him out of slumber, he looked outside the cockpit. Saurepth...

Chapter 9


Devan sat on his bunk, kicking his legs idly. He'd finished the cryptic crossword in the paper and now had nothing to do but wait. Lunch wasn't for an hour, but he always looked forward to this time of day. There was a knock at the bars, standing outside shuffling her feet was a young rabbit. She was holding a rather large number of parcels, all wrapped in plain brown paper. Devan folded his paper neatly and left it on the bare table that was, apart from a chair and the two bunks, the only furniture his cell afforded. It was, of course chained heavily to the wall. In the corner Marco leered and did something unpleasant, but neither figure paid any attention, Devan because he didn't care and Alisha because she was as daft as a brush.

"Hello Devan!"

"Hello, Alisha. I see you bought everything I requested?"

"Yes! Every last one! And you know what? When I pulled my top down, the guards let me right through, just like you said!"

"Of course, have I ever lied to you? Just pass them through. It is a pleasure to see you at last, you look exactly like your pictures, which surprises me."

"Really?"

"Oh yes, I assumed someone so radiant existed only on the internet or fairy stories for children."

"Awww, you say the sweetest things! Jailhug!"

And so the conversation went on, it was blithe, rapid and as shallow as a spring stream. Others watched it with evident distaste. Eventually, and after many more hugs through the bars, it ended, leaving Devan alone to unwrap the many gifts he'd recieved. Some were books, one was a calculator, another was full of carrots. Devan didn't even bother to look up as he approached.

"You're a sick, sick turtle Shell."

"That's what got me here. Have a carrot."

"I'm not bribeable, Shell. I take guard duty seriously. Where'd you pick up that bimbo?"

"It's strange, but there appear to be people who like writing to convicts, strange that. You've got to admit though, she's a real looker, even for a rabbit."

"Useful too, I expect."

"Of course. I do wish I'd had her during my campaigns. Now run along, since the breakout I'm sure you're eager to be alert on your rounds, don't let me distract you."


* * *

The ship cruised through space, its surface coated in nickel nanoparticles, making it little more than a hole in the universe, black on black, visible only by the stars it blotted out. It was almost 10 miles long and two miles wide. Behind it, far, far behind it, were several hundred thousand others, most smaller, but just as dangerous. The whole fleet filled a space almost a dozen light years from side to side, but this didn't matter as they were in deep space, the distance between stars dwarfed even them. This was how they had survived, to always be unoticeable, slowly building, year after year.

Now something appraoched, like everything in this gloom, it was almost as dark as the fleet, there was no light here to warm, no sun to shine. Battle in deep space was difficult, nobody ever said you couldn't see anything. What guided these ships was a low power radio pulse; everything had to be low power. For now.

But the intruder was not low power, the ship would've gleamed in any light, from its windows shone a constant glow. It hadn't been here long and knew exactly what it wanted. And now it pulled alongside the leading ship, following its course as if connected to it by a glass rod.

And this was inside the ship, here no lights shone, no noise was made, all that was excess. It was silent as a graveyard at midnight, cold as the arctic winter. In the middle of a cold metal floor something glowed, then materialized. In the gloom it looked like a blue orb, its light illuminated a long proboscis and strange domed features. Those who had time to adjust to the illumination may have been able to glimpse a strange contraption, like a motorized trashcan in the darkness. It was still and when it spoke, its voice was harsh and cold, rasping against the ear like sandpaper.

"You will identify! You will take or-ders!"

Silence, pure and cold. Then a noise in the blackness, a whirring. And something approached. It looked like the intruder, but was even harder to see; its eye, if that was what it was, glowed a dull purple, like a UV torch. It was matt black and dull, like charred scrap metal. Its form was far simpler, a dome studded with spheres with a turret atop this. When it responded it was in the same tone.

"We are Dalek, we do not take or-ders!"

"You will take or-ders and return with us!"

"You are inefficient and ineffective. You will be ex-ter-min-ated!"

"You will take or-ders! You will expla-"

There was a flash, a blast of light so quick it was barely seen at all. For a second the whole room was illuminated in violet light, strange machines and monitors, and lots and lots of dalek, all in neat rows. Then all was darkness, except for the feeble violet glow. It illuminated, if that was the world, the intruder, who was now still. After a few miniutes something small emerged from somehwere and dragged it away for processing.

But by that time the room was well lit by the slow explosion of the intruding Dalek ship as it burned in its own air supply. Soon it would be extinguised in the vaccum, and would be salvaged for scrap. The lead ship had been quick and efficient, nobody knows your weaknesses better than your family. Sadly for the intruders, the lead ship no longer posessed those weaknesses. It had learned, it had learned so much.


* * *

There was a tapping at the bars, then a slow squeal as they were pushed apart Devan woke up with a start. He could see two flames in the darkness and was overcome with dread. In his bunk Marco snored loudly, clutching the bushel of carrots he'd earned by hitting various people. He was unlikely to be of any help.

"My Lord, I have come to free you."

"I told those other freaks, I don't want rescue!"

"You are a symbol, useless to us now, but you are something to fight for, you belong as a leader."

"I belong here, what's so hard about that? Can't I have even a year's peace?"

"That is a pity, I really wished to take you willingly, but it seems I must be more forceful."

There was immense pain. Devan tried to scream, but suddenly found he had no throat to scream with. For a second he saw himself, outside himself, looking dazed and confused, then there was nothing but darkness.

Chapter 10

Space is big, very big. And empty, and dark. If you don't have the luxury of a nearby star to provide warmth and heat, it is perhaps one of the coldest, loneliest and most depressing places in the universe. Through a particular piece of void floated a disabled ship, slowly turning about its axis, its engines dead and its power failing intermittently.

"Bloody hell...I pilot this sad excuse for a ship, only for one trouble after another! Where is that frelling wrench?! Most military craft are fine, but this is pathetic! Does anything work?"

The ship's engine had completely stalled, stranding them in the middle of space, drifting in the void among the stars. Zac's destination was still parsecs away, and there'd been regular encounters with people who had, just a few hours ago been on his side. If it wasn't for the clearance codes he'd managed to hack from the main systems,he would have long ago been taken captive. If they were caught out here, he'd have no chance, protocol called for any disabled ships to be accompanied back to the nearest base for repairs. He wondered if his passenger was worried, or if she was even consious; there was certainly something about the cramped airless environment of a failing ship that put him on edge.

Whoever had employed her had to be desperate; she could barely be sixteen, and someone like her shouldn't be allowed into any military operation. Of course he had been...still was fourteen himself physically, anyway, but he was a special case, he'd proven that. But as far as he could tell his companion was nothing special, just some girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now she'd suffer for it. Who knew what she was doing anyway? Most likely she'd just been temped in as an administrator, a cushy management job or just general help, by the look of her she could be cleaning staff. Zac sighed, whenever something bad happened it was the innocent that suffered. At least she'd managed to break open the door, or they'd've never got away.

Of course he could've just left her and got away by himself, the thought hung at the back of his mind like a guilty secret. She would have probably been alright, probably. But you couldn't just leave people, at least, not him. Zac cursed and whacked the engine. He had to stay focused (-)! He hated getting off task, and hated comparing himself to his brother.

Slowly the engine hummed into life, righting the ship and resuming its course. Zac straightened up and emerged from the engine compartment, catching a glimpse of himself in one of the access panels. He was a mess; covered with oil, sweat, blood, shards of glass... That was the price of action; say what you will about having an adventure, but he'd had to leave his friends, his troop behind, and of course regular brushes with death. Dam, he really had to concentrate, letting his mind wander like this wasn't doing anyone any good.

Zac dusted himself off and leapt down to where his new companion sat slouched in her chair and sighed deeply. She hadn't been very smart, that was for sure, why on earth did she do it? Of course there had been some trouble with he was nearly as popular as his brother, while he was looking through the main system registry files he'd found that his socks had been stolen and placed on eBay. And were attracting quite a high price.

"Hey...are you feeling better? You weren't looking so good earlier. You looked like you were having a nightmare."

"Oh yes... then I realized I wasn't dreaming and you were real."

Zac stared. He was dreadfully uncomfortable with the awkward silence between them, the girl seemed to radiate cold displeasure. Something clicked in his mind, thoughts falling over each other like a row of dominoes. But that couldn't be right; she didn't act anything like them. Sure she'd been rather feisty earlier, but no... it didn't matter. The one he was thinking of was stuck in an asylum somewhere, hopefully for good.

"You...er...must've been pretty well trained to have smashed through that window so easily. I would've struggled to do that, but you did know I wouldn't be much help if you stuffed up? Don't you know you would have bled to death?"

"I know what I'm doing thank you. And I wouldn't have been any help if you'd got your butt kicked by those nutcases in there."

The response was cold and curt; whoever she was, she wasn't happy and wasn't afraid to show it. Zac wondered what to do next; she seemed to be blaming him for this predicament, which really wasn't fair.

"Listen. I know that this isn't exactly what you'd be used to, but trust me, if you want to leave once we arrive, go ahead. There should be a few ships at our destination when we arrive. I'd advise you don't, though. The military would be hunting both of us down, and you'd be throwing your life away." Zac calmly said.

"No kidding, and I can't help but think somehow it's all your fault. I knew I *knew* this day was going to hell the instant I heard your name. Hey, let's see if there's any way you can make this worse huh? Hmmn... no, I think you've managed to do the amazing feat of getting me into an almost unimaginably terrible situation in just a few hours. I suppose I should be grateful."

"That's unfair! I didn't know this was going to happen anymore than you did. All we can do is try and make the best of a bad situation. And to do that, we certainly shouldn't be squabbling. Perhaps we can just start this all over? I'm Zac, what's your name?"

The girl sighed and angrily whacked a monitor. Surprisingly, it cracked.

"My name... my name is-"



* * *

"Will you stop being so afraid? It's just a little water; it's no big deal! What do you think will happen? It'll jump up and drown you?"

Joshua sighed. Of COUSRE Seb was capable of swimming, for about 20 seconds anyway. If there was one big weakness Seb had, it was that he couldn't stay in contact with water for long periods without sustaining physical damage, something that made baths a strange affair indeed. He floated like a lead submarine and since Saurpeth was a kingdom noted for its large and tranquil lakes, babbling brooks, pristine rivers and gushing waterfalls, Seb was unlikely to leave the J-Wing.

"...Stay here, then. Make sure that the girl doesn't start crying again. You'll be piloting the J-Wing if you don't see me when the others come on board...Adis...as much as I'm not going to enjoy this, you'll have to come with me..." Joshua sighed, aware of what was most likely going to happen.

>I know both of them are here...Sugar let Dinah stay at the castle...I'm just hoping that things don't go as bad as I'm thinking...< Joshua thought, before stepping out of the ship, Adis next to him.

Two guards stood near the huge doors to the castle. Both had dark blue hair and eyes, dressed in a brown and black outfit with spears leaning onto the doorframe nearby. They had the slightly vacant look of large men everywhere whose jobs consist of standing in one place for hours on end for now real reason. Mental dexterity was not a prerequisite for employment, though good bladder control was. They seemed to know who Joshua was, and after only a few minutes of conversation he had managed to obtain a short list of directions for navigating the labyrinthine depths of the castle before them. Joshua had known what to expect; even from the outside it was impressive, but as he thanked the guards and motioned Adis inside she let out a huge gasp of wonder.

"It... it's enormous..."
***

Chpt 10: Part 2

Joshua nodded. Big was hardly the word for it, ordinary castles were big; this one had no truck with such low standards and contrived to reach the subtle size possessed by mountains, where a thousand thousand tons of solid rock was just the start. The ceiling was far above them, several stories up and the entrance hall could easily have accommodated several dozen cruise liners. Everything was resplendent, blue shag carpeting, stained glass windows and large tapestries. The decor was equally impressive, polished wood, silver and gems were in evidence in many places, as were a number of well dressed people going about their business. Many paused to bow to Joshua, often referring to him as 'Prince'

"Prince Joshua? When did that happen?" Adis asked.

It took almost half an hour to find their destination, checking and rechecking, and asking for directions. The palace had been built more as a complex than a single building and the guard's directions had been simple 'up two floors... left' type instructions. Their goal, it seemed was a large door with a brass plaque on it. It was solid, and very imposing, almost radiating defiance at anyone wanting to enter. From inside came the soft sound of crying. Joshua sighed, not for the first time that day.

"...Now, don't yell at me. You see...before I met you, there was this girl called Sugar. Princess Sugarette. Now, when we first met, I was kind of surprised...she was a bit quiet, but when I promised that I'd protect her...she wanted to marry me...I didn't know she was the princess of this realm. But...I cared about her."

Joshua felt his words being sucked into the cold silence as Adis was glared at him. He felt very small and hot all of a sudden.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you...I know you're not happy with me, but...I can't just break someone's heart."

There was a small creaking sound as the door opened slowly, as if someone were peeking outside, then there was a few seconds of silence before there was a sudden movement of the door being swung open, and Joshua was tackled to the ground by a feminine blur.

"Joshi!!!" the girl squealed loudly.

>Joshi? What the hell...?<

The girl who was hugging Joshua tightly, to the point where he might have suffocated looked exactly how he remembered, light pink hair, a small black top and shorts. She was smiling happily as she snuggled up against him, much to Adis' annoyance. With some difficulty, he managed to break free and smile back.

"Umm...Sugar...I'd like you to meet Adis. I'm sure I told you about her in my letters to you."

Joshua stammered as Sugar floated over to Adis and stared at her closely. to his relief, she seemed to nod and float back. Joshua wasn't exactly sure on what was going on, or what that was all about, he was just thankful that there hadn't been any yelling or fighting between the two yet. Breathing a huge sigh of relief that everything had worked out alright so far he decided to push his luck a bit further.

"So...is Dinah okay?"

"Dinah? What is this a harem now?!"

"Don't yell at my Joshi like that!"

"Who died and made you queen? I'll yell how I like you prissy pink-"

Joshua cringed and backed against the wall. He shouldn't have pushed it, things were going to go downhill fast now. What little hope there had been of the fight fizzing out was shattered by a sarcastic voice cutting across the conversation.

"Great...if it isn't 'Master.' So let me guess, you've decided to FINALLY come and get me out of this miserably dull place. As much as I love to lounge around with nothing much to do, it gets boring after a few months. And having to put up with all of the pitifully bland people drives me nuts! If I'm asked to play one more game of scrabble I think I'll scream."

Yep, same old Dinah. Black clothing and a red broken heart on her top. Her long, light blue hair was still neat and tidy, and her face seemed to be quite agitated. Rest and relaxation were things that happened to other people not her, indeed the experience seemed to have wound her up considerably since he'd last seen her.

Joshua gave a deep sigh, his twentieth that day.As long as Devil Dinah was in control he was just in hot water, but if the angel broke through, which she would as soon as she realized he was here, then he was really sunk. He had until then to try and calm the other two down and prepare them to deal with the Dinah double. Sadly, it was not to be; there was a bright flash of light and a flicker in reality. Joshua swallowed hard with dread.

>Oh, no...<

As the light died down, he found himself pinned down by a grinning Dinah, only this time, it was the angel side of her. A beautiful golden halo shone brightly above her sky blue hair, which still had the decorative angelic wings. Her outfit was inverse to Devil Dinah's, white and a red, normal heart.

"Master Joshua! I missed you so much! I'm so happy you came back!" she smiled, while crying.

Tears fell from her eyes, which Joshua wiped away and got to his feet. Now BOTH Sugar and Adis of them were glaring at him. He smiled, filled with the burst of adrenalin that comes when the worst has already happened and all you have to do is wait out the storm. At least Rachel wasn't here, and even better they didn't know about her. It seemed every girl he knew got him into trouble somehow and he didn't need more of his painful past coming back to bite him.

"Okay, Okay...Now, before you all start yelling at me, let me explain...I like you all the same amount, so I treat you all the same. I know you're not happy about knowing you've got competion, but I can't love any of you more than the other. And with that said..."

Joshua explained, slowly, backing away; it was the perfectly wrong thing to say in the circumstances and showed just how naive Joshua was regarding the feminine mind. At least now he had a head start. And even though he could hardly remember the way back to the ship...he was glad he could run fast. REAL fast.

"I'm going to...RUN!"

It was a mad dash down the hallway, as he weaved through others in the corridors. Looking behind him, he wondered if they'd be chasing him; he'd gained quite a bit of ground, and in fact, there was no sign of the others. Of course now he couldn't hide in his room anymore, but he and Seb had already discussed this possibility; if everything went wrong he could hide in the depths of the J-Wing while Seb piloted it.

>The secret rooms I added are really going to come in handy. That's the best thing about making the ship. You know a heck of a lot more than anyone else about it. But...I guess I could just try and get them to calm...ACK!<

Joshua flew forward, Angel Dinah just visible on the edge of his vision, leg outstretched to trip him. The others had taken a different route and got in front of him. He landed flat on his back and waited for someone to kick him. However there was a ponderous lack of pain and instead three hands reached down and helped him up. Everyone seemed to be smiling in that horrible way women do when they know they have the upper hand. Adis was the first to speak.

"GROUP HUG!"

Joshua found himself squashed between the three them, squeezing him tightly. Okay, so it was better than the outcome he thought, so that was something to be thankful for. Telling Sugar and Dinah to grab their things, Adis made her way back to the J-Wing, but stopped and looked and Joshua.

"You should've told me you were so popular; I'd never have believed it. I... I'm sorry about the little spat; but me and the girls talked things over while tracking you down and we've come to an agreement. I don't want the time we spent together to mean nothing... just be careful. Oh, and if there's anyone else we'll beat your skull in with a rock."

Placing a hand on her shoulder, Joshua tried to smile; with Adis you could never quite be sure she was kidding. He was still rather weak from the sensation of utter relief.

"Don't worry. Even if something were to happen, I'd still love you."

* * *

In the ship SOMETHING looked out at the world through Devan Shell's eyes, heard it with his ears, thought with his mind. It had his memories spread out like words on a page, his mind mapped like a street directory. It itself had no name, and very little substance but what it could steal from its hosts. And this was a GOOD mind, sharp and cold, like a broken mirror, brilliant and beautiful, but also somehow broken.

There was so much to do, always so much to do. It was wonderful to have a body... a soul again. To live. And it would have so much fun; anything was paradise after the darkness.

"It's good to have you back sir."

It looked at the turtle and accessed a memory. Ah yes. The war. A lieutenant, some time back. Name of Versecht. It sat back in the reclining chair and watched the space outside stream past many times faster than light while it sipped a cold drink as if tasting it for the first time, which, in a very real sense it was.

"It's good to be back." said Devan Shell.

Heh...I might as well give up...but I'm not going to. I just wish that I could get our chapters done a bit quicker. It's just communication between us is a bit slow, and the quality on my part is slowly falling.

I have to do something about that. Can't let my partner handle the entire burden. The poor girl.

Dude. WHAT?

I let my chapters simmer for MONTHS before I feel like I have a concept worth writing about, and then I spend a week writing out the chapter and looking through the old profiles thread for any secondary characters I need filled (the new one's emphasis on less half-developed sidekicks does not suit my needs at all) and writing the chapter. I then spend a day or two typing it up and then proofreading(for grammatical errors/spelling). A week after I post the chapter I'll then edit something literary wise (like say something isnt clear or doesnt read well) I catch while rereading through the story.

Look at that insanely lazy method of writing, now compare it to yours and get off that depresso-train. Your schedule is way better than mine.

Yeah, what's with the depressed posts suddenly Jwren? Most of us here are amazingly sporadic in our writing - I've got a story on the go but I update it like once in a blue moon. You're pretty quick compared to some of us.

I'm just a bit upset, because my Grandfather died a few days ago, and I haven't heard from Doubble with the chapter I sent her a while ago. I usually send her my work, get her to see if it's good enough before posting.

You'd be surprised at how good she is. It's just I really would like feedback on my work. I'll try to do likewise. Speaking of which...I better...nope. Still no reviews on my Summon Night story at Fanfiction.net.

114 hits, but no reviews...

You see, I'm going to post a story on that site with every game I've played, only re-edited because Joshua's adventures take place. For example, in the Jazz 1/2 story I'm thinking of, While Jazz and Spaz are going through time to get Eva's ring back, Joshua's going through the planet's after Blisy, stopping him from fufilling his demonic plan.

Unfourtantly, he ends up on Mars (the DOOM Mars) and finds Zac and two of his friends enlisted as Marines. And I think you can guess the hell they have to go through...

Man, spoilt a lot, huh? Just something to look forward to. I post so quick because I hardly have any life and prefer to play games/type because I can't draw well...sadly. Look 'Joshua Lightwalker' on Deviantart and you'll see why.

In fact, look at ALL my work. Knock yourselves out.

People always look, but never review, or if they do it's often trite. It just seems to be the way things are.

(I thought you said that chapter was only half finished? I was waiting for you to make corrections!)

Oops...Sorry about that. Have had my hands full with all the things I've been doing. I can't just sit around and type when I'd be better off devoting my time to helping my family and relatives. I'll post when I get back.

And Doubble, thanks for helping me out this far. I really appreciate it. Oh, and thank you all for looking at this story.

Bah, what a horrible year. Being hospitalized for quite some time to the point where story construction was at a CRAWL, hopefully things should pick up again. Heh...provided my health doesn't take a turn for the worse. Anyway...Chapter 11!

---
Chapter 11.

While the two groups headed towards their destination, a young man screwed the final panel in place. It was a token gesture of course, the ship itself had been completed earlier that morning, but he felt that it was always nice to have a definite stop to a great work, a kind of 'this is the end' moment where everything was polished and ready to go, a pause before a new beginning, more for himself than anything. It had taken a long time to repair and make the final adjustments tot he ship that was his pride and joy. Like many pilots, the ship was the most valuable and useful thing he owned and he was very attached to it. It had been almost a year of work, each month packed with days, and each day packed with hours. Finally the girl would be airborne again, sadly just a bit too late to track the escaped prisoners. A middle aged rabbit shouted something not too far off.

"Did you hear? Devan Shell got out last night! Just bent the bars back and walked out, right past all the security! They've locked the whole place down, nobody in OR out! Hey! Hey! Pay attention, boy! You'll get hurt!"

David StrongGale looked up and scratched his head. His brown hair was neatly parted, with a pair of googgles being worn on top. His face had a barely noticeable scar on his right cheek and a thin smile. His clothing was somewhat similar to Joshua's, only he wore a silver shirt and grey jacket and trousers. On his back was a dangerous looking mace, the only weapon he ever carried. He'd gathered the needed funds for fuel and arms; the recent escapes were bothering him. Eyes shining a light purple, he got to his feet and watched a younger, brown rabbit clumsily load weapons onboard.

"Hey! You scratch my ship, and you'll be paying for the damage! You got that?! I've been spending too long in this place! I need to fly my ship again! WITHOUT anymore delays!"
David wasn't pleased with the fact that the repairs and re-ammunition had taken much longer than expected. Even doing the adjustments and reconstruction on his pride and joy HIMESELF would've have been significantly less cost AND time. That wrench he kept in the back pocket of his trousers always did come in handy...

Turning around to hear a fearful yelp, this was immediately followed by a resounding crash and several dull thuds, gradually calming down to a few metallic 'tings' David sighed, then his attention was grabbed by something else entirely. A young rabbits was being led towards the prison, rather against her will, by two rather hostile guards in prison uniform. She seemed undecided about what to do, struggling against her captors, but still moving rather briskly towards their destination. In a flash David was before the two guards, mace drawn and ready.

"What's going on?! You should be ashamed, harassing a poor girl like this! She may or may not be a prisoner, I don't know, but that's still no excuse you bunch of thugs!"

"Quiet, kid. She's suspected of aiding in the escape of Devan Shell. She's to be interrogated and imprisoned."

"Assisting? As far as I can tell he walked out right under your noses. She doesn't look like she's capable of doing anything, isn't Devan the genius? And if I hear one more person call me a kid, someONE is going to be taking a trip into the stratosphere!!" David retorted angrily.

"It's nothing, simply questioning and detainment until we figure this whole thing out. No need to panic. A simple procedure that will only take a few days."

"It has to be something if this is going to take place in secret."

"How the hell did you-"

"You're leading her AWAY from the prison, to that ship over there, and that's military, not public service, which probably means planetary security. I'd like to come along, just to make sure everything goes smoothly.., if you don't mind."

"This is indeed a matter of planetary security, and you will NOT interfere, on pain of being arrested and tried before a full military court...kid."

There was a hint of menace in the last reply, as well as saying the one word he hated to hear. David definitely wasn't going to let this happen now. He stepped forward to grab one of the guards, and ended up facing a hastily drawn laser rifle, not an inch from his nose. Instinctively he moved aside and forward, hearing the blast crackle just a hair's breadth from his left ear.

>Looks like I have no choice. Alright then...<

There was a blur and his mace whirled toward the guard on the girl's left, knocking him in the stomach with a sickening thud, like a steak being dropped onto a concrete floor. The guard yelled out in fury, but his tone soon turned to terror as he was sent hurtling into the sky with incredible speed. Another laser blast flew past, but David simply twirled his mace like a quarterstaff and a sudden vortex of wind knocked the remaining guard off his feet, depositing him several meters away with a loud thud, sans rifle.

The girl, now standing alone, petrified with shock and amazement took one look at the guard at her feet and fainted clean away. Evidently she couldn't stand blood. The disorentated comrade was groaning in a small pool of pain...and the other one...well, he wasn't going to becoming back down soon.

>Next time, you'll treat me with the proper respect. Now, we're going to need to move out of here. They'll be sending more troops after us<

David grabbed the girl's hand and before she had a chance to object and raced toward his ship, the StrongGale. Tossing his passenger inside with ease, he leaped into the pilot's seat and automatically pushed the sequence for immediate vertical liftoff. For a second the engines paused, as if unsure, then rumbling like a man clearing his throat they ignited for the first time in months, building to a steady roar, as if the ship were a cat that had just been asleep in the sun an was stretching and testing its claws. Then there was a flash and feeling of heaviness as the ship tore through the air and into space with blinding speed.

>So Devan's escaped, huh? I guess I better find Joshua and let him know. He'd be somewhere...maybe Radiance, if I'm lucky. But...if that girl is an ally of Devan...I think we could use her to track him down...that will wait until she wakes up...< David muttered, annoyed.

The girl lay sprawled over one of the passenger seats, where she had landed. By all accounts she looked perfectly harmless, and certainly not the type to aid a master criminal and dictator. Something was definitely wrong with the guards too; the whole situation was rotten somewhere. David set the course to Radiance; there was a brief pause as the ship seemed to decide something, then a jerk as it moved toward its new destination, gravity dampeners acting to muffle the incredible speed. It would only take an hour to arrive.
The StrongGale WAS the fastest ship in the entire dimension, after all.

Down below on Carrotus, a group of reinforcements were being marshalled, just in time to see the ship vanish, a speck in the distance, hidden by clouds. In the confusion several ships were launched to pursue, but they were called back when it was discovered one injured and dizzy soldier, while the other one...his beacon detected that he'd landed...well...right through the roof of Carrotus castle...
---
Zac sighed. It was no wonder the girl hated him so much. What the frell was she doing in the military anyway? The only possible explanation he could think of was trying to hunt him down, just like the other psychos he seemed to come into contact with, especially one that he and Joshua had dealt with not too long ago. At least she wasn't trying to strangle him now, maybe she was grateful, or bidding her time. The whole situation was one big mess.

Radiance wasn't too far now; he could see it in the distance, a small speck in the inky vastness of space. Technically it classified as mischmetal, that strange hodgepodge of constructions not otherwise classifiable, space junk, destroyed ships, illegal hideouts and things that just didn't make it onto the map. There was a lot of space, a lot of junk, both natural and unnatural, and it was very easy to build something that nobody would notice.

And so they had; Radiance had been their headquarters since... ages. It had been a masterpiece of deception to build, being constructed by Joshua, Zac...nearly all of the original members of Gaming Force. Built from scrap, cheap metal and various surplus parts. Nobody had ever known enough about the whole design to figure out what they'd been up to, and a little cash and kind wording had made sure that nobody ever would. It looked tiny, hung in the black void, orbiting its cold star, but in reality it was huge. Inside it could hold half a fleet of space fighters, with room for more. As Zac approached a familiar electronic voice crackled.

[Radiance...Come in unidentified ship. Identify yourself and insert the landing codes.]

Zac reached into his pocket and pulled out a computer chip he always held onto, in case something like this happened. It was inserted into the ship's data port and there was a pregnant pause as the information was sent. It didn't take long, but Zac found himself sweating with anticipation every time. Finally there was a subtle click and the landing bay opened, a shadowy hold in the station, as if it were preparing to swallow him and his ship utterly. He cruised in toward the bay, scanning his eyes over the dented, patchwork metal that was the station's outer skin. Even close up it didn't look anything special, and that in itself was its greatest strength.

The ship landed without too much trouble and the bay closed and repressurized after a minute or two. A few lights flickered on automatically, so the two arrivals had something to see by. Outside the bay was as silent as a tomb, their footsteps echoed over the cold floor like the clicks of a gigantic clock. Neither of them spoke, the silence was as heavy as sheet lead, pressing down upon them, stifling all attempts at conversation. Suddenly there was a short gasp and Zac looked over at his unwilling ally...

>Hm?<

...who was already diving towards the floor, arms raised over her head to protect her face. In a flash Zac was down too, obeying the instinct to get down, and landing heavily on the girl. There was a flash that missed them by inches and a shield of ice seemed to sprout from the floor like a frozen wave, looming over them as if about to break on some chilly shore.

The ice continued to grow at breakneck speed, twisting away from the wave and heading straight for the newly arrived ship, dancing over its nose and thickening like a snowy blue fist, grasping and crushing the metal beneath. For a second all that could be heard was the crackling of cold ice, then there was a strange silence, before the ship gave a strangled creak, a muffled thud... and exploded into fragments.

Metal shrapnel as long as Zac was tall and as jagged as shark's teeth shot through the air; the ice had smothered most of the blast, but there was still a whizzing noise as the lethal metal spears found their targets in walls, floors and the ice that stood between them and the cowering duo. The wall crackled and shattered, but still held... just. One side was peppered with debris, and a shard had penetrated deep enough to have scratched Zac's arm on the way past.

Zac scrambled to his feet and looked at where his 'borrowed' ship had been; there was nothing but a mound of broken ice and twisted sheet metal, surrounded by a halo of fragments embedded into the floor and walls. Beside him the ice shield crackled and snapped, then gently collapsed into a pile or crumbled pieces, each as sharp as the metal that had destroyed it For a few seconds there was utter silence, save for the sound of settling ice before Zac's passenger got slowly to her feet. The landing, with Zac on her had bruised her nose and it was now bleeding copiously. She groaned.

"I guess I was wrong, this day can get worse."

Weren't expecting me to finish the chapter this early, eh? Heh, something for you folks to read.

Chapter 12 (First Half! Yay!)

It was quite entertaining, really; they had all of this military power, enough to crush a thousand worlds, yet the citizens of this worthless world called 'Mobius' could still ignore their world crumbling beneath them. It seemed to be a characteristic of intelligent life, they'd been slowly destroying their environment for years, but only now was there an active, DELIBERATE force behind the devastation. Every passing second more and more of the planet's vital energy was being siphoned off, harvested to create 'the' weapon.

Most people would deny that a planet had any sort of life force or energy, but it was true in so many ways; not just in the hazy spiritual sense of gaia theory, but in its resources and systems. In that sense they were nothing but parasites, especially the rabbits, always expanding, spreading like a virus, digging up in a decade what took a millenia to put down. And now it was his turn, the weapon demanded huge quantities of iron and aluminum, and almost the entire planet's supply of platinum and vanadium. But it also fed on something else, an energy that was hard to find and quantify.

There would be no more grass and trees, just a desolate wasteland, the corpses of citizens and soldiers alike scattered about, some still in their formations, as if honoring some mad general. The soil would dry up and blow away, the parched ground making blood evaporate before it even touched the wasted earth. But the cities would rise, towers of black and grey and green standing proudly against the skyline amongst the ruins of the buildings that they had fed upon. Soon this vision would come to pass, after the last remaining impediment to progress was removed.

"Sir! The recon unit we sent out...all forms of communication have been lost!"

Kain clenched his fists in annoyance. OF COURSE the unit had been destroyed; they were poking their noses into things that didn't concern them! Fools! Why couldn't people just do what they were told? Things would be that much easier if everyone just did what he said! There was to be no presence or interference there until the plan unfolded.

"...I..." he started, putting much effort into masking his anger. "...want you to call off all units from that area, Commander. I have recently received reports that the area may have been hit by a dirty bomb, and the last thing we need are more soldiers suffering a terrible death. I trust you have no objections?"

"None sir. Understood sir."

Such idiocy...bloody hell, could they all really be so foolish? Of course some had seen through his plans, but so very, very few! They were willing to sacrifice their lives to hasten their own deaths, like lambs to the slaughter. Things were going almost too well; the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place far quicker than allowed for. That recon unit must've stumbled across what they'd been seeking to continue with the final phase of the plan.

Kain stared out at the ruined landscape, clouds of dust staining the air a fiery red as the sun set in the east, casting its somehow malignant glare over a face that burned with an equally hot glare. Kain had often wondered just how he felt about this place, this world, everything. Hate was too good for it, you hated equals. Contempt. Yes, that was the word, pure burning contempt for the miserable little vermin that infested this place, crawling about like ants, oblivious to anything outside of their tiny, pitiful enclosed lives. Their arrogance, the enjoyable lifes they lived, while they wandered about arguing about this and that, opinions and beliefs as if their lives were of more importance than a dust mote in the wind.

But he did hate. Oh yes, there were things to hate here. Because of this insane world...he'd lost powerful allies...not to mention...

A metallic gleam shone underneath where his right arm was, pulling away a small portion of the robe that covered the limb revealed a small portion of a barrel of a weapon, before he covered it once more. He smiled, a grin without mirth. He would never forget, he would never stop, he would never be satisfied. All he'd had to endure, the pain, the terrible struggle, it had almost driven him mad. Perhaps it had. No matter, all that was important was the sheer burning desire that fueled him even now...simply to obtain what he wanted.



* * *

-Elsewhere...-

"Hmmn. It seems that all the players have begun their little moves. Dancing with each other over the checkerboard of existence. Of course, all that effort, totally meaningless, a waste in pointless combat. Best for now to watch them all play their parts, it will be time for action soon enough."

The observer sat amidst streams of darkness as thick as coal tar, as noxious as factory smoke as the boiled around, twisting in and out of reality. Reams of data scrolled past, split, were analyzed and displayed. Banks upon banks of monitors shone faintly with a blue light as test scrolled across them, images flickered and calculations were performed. They showed the Beacon bursting into flames, fragments of the once proud ship falling through the sky like burning rain, falling slowly for an eternity, other ships fleeing pursuit and a war across planets as Devan led his new army across the cosmos. Devan, ah, if only they knew.

By all rights the presence of so many computers, so much energy and calculation should have heated the air to a stifling degree, but it was cool here, always cool; with the computers the room was merely freezing, without them it would be an icebox. The watcher was surrounded by the darkness. It was old, not like an octogenarian is old, but like a mountain is old. It was cold, not like ice was cold, but like how a computerized eviction notice was cold. And it was deadly. Not like a bullet or knife was deadly, but like how a brick wall across a motorway was deadly.

It would not be long now, not that time mattered. They would all annihilate themselves working for their own petty little motives. None of them had any idea, and what matter if they did? All opposition could easily be taken care of after all, was not all the true power here? Who could stand against them now? The future would be FUN. Not that it mattered. He despised everything about this dimension, but not just that...SOMEONE had constantly failed thier task and it was evident that he'd have to pick up the slack where his companion faltered.

The watcher turned, and spoke with all the emotion of a lead slab.

"Hah...Completely unaware of what the 'Hero' is getting himself into. Perhaps he'll live long enough to see the truth; that might be enough to break him. His mind, heart and soul. And YOU'LL be that essential part, my sister. Won't you be happy to see him again?"

"...Yes..."

Chapter 12 (Part 2)

The watcher shook his head. Even if she'd made one FATAL mistake, it wouldn't be fair not to give her one more chance...she WAS family after all.

Elsewhere....

Fire and pressure and the scream of tortured metal. Intense fires blazed across the emerald green landscape reducing forest and grassland alike to fields of smoldering grey ash. The defenders were caught off guard by the wind and many perished in the smoke and fires, writhing in agony. The day was turned to night, but laser and plasma blasts flew through the air, turning the night into day. From both sides rang out shouts of pain

Intense fires blazed over the vast emerald green landscape. Trees were reduced to piles of smoldering ash, the resulting wisps of smoke blinding the army who was desperately trying to hold the invaders off. Laser blasts screamed through the smog, yells of pains came from both sides, yet little casualties had been sustained on the invaders. The sudden attack had caught the inhabitants off guard and within a few hours, the entire world which was lush and full of life had been reduced to a burning inferno.

A rabbit was brutally tossed to the ground as the leader approached. Elsewhere the battle raged, but here it had been won. There was a circle of calm amongst the chaos. The assembled ranks of military might parted smoothly as a figure approached. When the rabbit looked up it was to see a plasma rifle pointed straight at his face.

"Anything to say, before your demise, rabbit?"

"You'll...never triumph...Shell..."

"Foolish words, so very foolish. I believe I already have won. I am feeling merciful, take him away, perhaps he will see the folly of his position in a day or two. In the meantime, let him suffer for his words."

Devan was amazed; almost half the rabbits had switched allegiance as soon as he'd arrived. The natives, a species of rather diminutive rats, had seen this all before when his original campaign had... faltered, as far as they were concerned it was a simple change of who was in charge. Planets seemed to fall over themselves in their rush to be conquered.

And yet... something was wrong. It wasn't like the old days, when you could rely on just a few hundred core fighters to control a world... this was a full blown military occupation, he ruled thousands... millions now, and it was as if somehow... they were waiting for something, some purpose or direction, as if he, Devan was of no consequence and the whole effort was for something greater....

Foolish of course, but he couldn't quite remember why he was doing this, he couldn't remember much of anything come to that, it was as if his brain had become detached from the rest of his body. He saw the world drained of color, heard things through wads of cotton wool, felt as if he were wearing a spacesuit. It was all this stress, all this work, getting him down and stressed out. When this was all over he could get some proper sleep, how long had it been since he'd last slept in a bed, a proper bed? The dreams didn't help either.

Devan noticed that the noise had died down; the battle front was now miles ahead of him. Most of the rabbits had surrendered, they were brave, not foolish. Victory was minutes away. Now he knew why he did this, for the taste of victory, for the thrill of winning and the burning desire to rule. Fire blazed across his mind s he prepared the words of yet another victory speech

And deep within his mind, the small part of him that looked out an analyzed the world wondered what he was doing and curled up even further in on itself.

-Chapter 13-

For a long time philosophers and scientists alike have argued about emotions. Do animals feel? Do others? Do we, really? But it seems natural to feel emotions, almost all life appears to, to some extent. And there are very few who do not know the warm fondness of happy memory, or the nostalgia of looking back on the story of their life, the paths taken or avoided to reach the present in a sea of possibility. Some have the good fortune to escape pain, suffering and distress, while others experience little else. And there are many who, by accident or design have learned to numb their feelings, suppress their thoughts. It is a common burden that those who lead often have to do this, to avoid being sidetracked by emotive, but stupid feelings. When you were in charge, a moment's reflection could be a fatal distraction.

Those who knew, who really knew the breaking strength of people, the born leaders and greats, they became either very good, or very powerful, but seldom both. In a universe that was mostly hostile, empty space, it was amazing that so many found such enjoyment in adding to suffering, torture, blackmail or murder. How could they? When the universe itself was against life so? When so many were doomed to never experience feelings like companionship and love? What goes through their minds and hearts? Who can really say?

"Radiance, this is Joshua Lightwalker. The J-Wing's getting ready to dock."

[Identification...Processing....Valid. Activating Docking Procedure for Hangar 12...] the digital voice crackled over the ship's comlink.

Joshua couldn't help but give a weak smile. It had been quite some time since he'd actually been onboard Radiance, having little need to come to the secluded space station. While it was usually a place where he could come to reflect on things, there were other places that suited that purpose just as well. Heck, the only reason he really came there were the Virtual Training chambers, but even they were beginning to become a little dull. And the last little incident... that was an embarrassment which cost him quite a bit of respect... (And landed him stuck with kitchen duty for the entire month). Those bruises on his right arm were still evident from that mistake.

At least there had been an encouraging, but also slightly worrying lack of argument during the trip. Joshua had been worried he'd need to take his migraine medication and lock himself in a cabin, but instead of the expected yelling and disruption from the women on board there had been little more than some small and rather gossipy chats. Has Josh known anything about women, he would've had another reason to worry. As it was, he wasn't lowering his guard for a moment.

Billowing clouds of smoke were vented from the J-Wing's thrusters and exhaust ports, filling the entire docking bay to the point where it was impossible to see a foot in front of you. The mechanics of spaceships were complex, involving K-meson shifters, gravitational dampeners and Brownian Motion Inducers, but the upshot of everything was that copious volumes of atomized metal were emitted on landing and launch, especially in the vacuum before the chamber was pressurized. On cue there was a dull *thunk!* and the ventilation panels opened, allowing fresh air to enter the chamber and condense the smoke, leaving nothing more than a dusty and irritated Joshua who was coughing loudly. He'd miscalculated the exact moment to open the J-Wing's doors...for the third time.

>Just not going my way, it seems...< Joshua bitterly thought to himself.

The group made their way down the vast corridors of radiance, except for the girl Josh had rescued who had stayed behind to look at something mysterious half buried in the hull of the J-Wing. It was captivating, containing an aura of something ancient, or perhaps advanced technology from who knew where. Or maybe it was a pilot light, you could never tell. Hidden beneath the exterior of any ship was a boggling amount of technology, and especially so with the J-Wing. Joshua ushered her along with the rest of the group, he had family to see.

There was a brief and amusing meeting when the two brothers laid eyes on each other (As well as David who'd arrived on Radiance before Josh had made it halfway.) It seemed that each had acquired at least one unexpected companion, an observation the produced a small fit of laughter and some comic quips. Pushing such trivialities aside they all sat down to discus what to do next.

A lot had happened in too short a time. Mobius was now under unofficial martial lore, with the one in charge of the whole complex intent on removing or silencing those who's words or actions could be a potential threat towards his position. Which was odd because it had taken only a matter of days, without anything more than a few token protests. The Becon it appeared had been shot out of orbit, its plummet through the planet's atmosphere due to attack rather than chance. And then there was Devan Shell, on the loose again, which was really strange because he'd managed to take several dozen planets already, he even had rabbits fighting for him now, yet from recent reports during Shell's previous captivity, he made little effort to cause disorder and made no attempt to escape. Shade summed the situation succinctly:

"So let me get this straight, you're up against a planet's entire military industrial complex, a mad dictator and his rapidly expanding army, oh and yes, some strange force that may be related to this and can blast whole ships. And here you are planning to stop them. Great, I'd love to see you three do that."

"...I doubt we're going to find a suitable force large enough to deal with these problems. We're going to need to all go together this time. Splitting and dealing with each problem in small groups would not only be stupid, but suicidal. We're strong, but we're not dealing with your everyday monster or mindless robot. Getting other people involved is the last thing we want. Lots of people have probably been killed already." Seb replied.

"Everyday monster? Robots? You make it sound like you have a snowball's chance in hell! This is a _ing army we're talking about here! It'd be suicidal to even think about taking them on! Do you think you can just pop by, blast them to atoms and go home for dinner?"

"It's going to be difficult yes, and there's a chance we won't make it, but I-"

"Chance? chance??!! I've never heard such idiocy in all my life! While you're at it, would you like to take a bath in an ion stream?"

Joshua tried to think, but it was difficult, especially with the frequent paper darts that were assaulting his person. People who didn't understand what was going on were getting bored, and quite a number of darts had hit hi in the face. He was getting irritated, and not just because he'd been jabbed in the eye. Both sides were right.Even 'Legendary Heroes' weren't invincible and sheer numbers would wear them down in the end. They would need help. But from who?

The sudden silence woke him from his introspection. Everyone was staring at him. Zac was first to speak.

"I don't really give a damn, Kain's already taken my rank, my authority and my men. Who knows what he's done to Mobius now. I want to kick his sorry a-"

Josh stared at Zac open-mouthed, things just kept getting worse.

"Kain?! You mean HE'S the one who's in charge of the military now?! Great, just great...This makes things even better! That psycho decides to come back from the dead after we beat him AGES ago, and somehow manages to take over the most powerful force on Mobius excluding us and...well, Sonic and company." Joshua sighed.

"Well, I think you just answered who we're going to round up for assistance." Seb smirked.

"Right. If Kain orders the military off-planet to get what he's after, we'll need to go to those worlds as well. As for stopping Devan, we'll see if we can find any willing mercenaries in the War Tavern and get to Carrotus before Ol' Shell Beak does. If he actually manages to over-run the planet, many of the others in the sector will fall right after. Add the amount of able-bodied warriors who'd be forced into fighting for him, we'd have to deal with another large-scale army. Even greater than the one stationed on Mobius. But I'm sure Kain's got something up his sleeve to compensate for that." Joshua muttered.

"Right... so were dealing with a zombie dude or something? And Sonic? And you want to fight an army of hundreds of thousands with a few guys from a tavern? This isn't a fairytale here people! Am I dreaming or did everyone's common sense take a holiday here?" yelled Shade.

I think that my Joshi has a great plan!"

"Yes? Then you're as crazy as he is! This is a war! people are dying! And you want to magic it better?"

"I don't see you coming up with any good ideas!"

The argument was long and protracted, and mostly among the girls. It was what Josh had expected on the J-Wing, at least in intensity. Shade seemed totally unconvinced about the entire plan and took a lot of convincing. She seemed to be of the opinion that the only options available involved wholesale invasions and large amounts of force. She just didn't seem to trust anyone for some reason. Finally however the she was worn down and the group came to a decision

And almost as quickly as they'd arrived, the heroes departed from Radiance, once again leaving the station empty.

Chapter 13 (Part 2)


The watch ticked reassuringly as it dangled from Devan's hand,s winging idly, but then there was little else it could be expected to do. It had been built to resemble the old, gold pocketwatches of yesteryear, complete with pointless ornate engravings on the case, and inside, a clockface that passed the day slicing time into little bits.

Of course, the traditional pocketwatch didn't display the weather, newsfeeds, current military situation or the scene from the nearest surveillance device when tapped the right way, the figures dimly visible under the gently shifting hands when they were called up. Neither did any piece of clockwork Devan had encountered contain, when it was opened, an impossible mechanism.

Clockwork was rare on most worlds because it was as outmoded as the steam engine, unwieldy, slow and inaccurate. Certainly there were the odd antiques for sale, or custom made pieces for idiots who wanted to waste their money, but aside from that, what was the point? But this, this was different. It had been made by a craftsman and a genius. Not, obviously a genius like him, but someone who'd mastered a single trick as well as it was possible to do. Under the face lay an escherian arrangement of cogwheels and gears, clicking away silently to the step of the mechanism. But, and this was the important bit, some of the cogs passed through each other, as if they were smoke or some strange hologram.

The watch was very versatile, if you knew what you wanted to see, it was only a matter of a few taps to display it. It should have been gold, or a shiny silver. Perhaps even a midnight black with vague but evil inscriptions about it. Not gray. It looked as if it were made out of hard lead, you expected it to scratch when you scraped a nail across it. If dullness was a metal, the watch was made of it. But it did weigh a lot more than it should.

*Ahem*

Devan turned and faced the rabbit in the doorway. His memory was hazy about exactly who he was or why he'd decided to join, he was a mercenary of some sort perhaps, yes, that was it. It was getting hard to remember names and faces now, his entourage seemed to change with every planet he conquered. Had it been like this before? When he'd first swept across the galaxy? Had there been a before? Curses! The rabbit was staring. He needed some sleep, he was 'zoning out' more and more often these days.

'Yes?'

'We've caught a few lizards sir, they were trying to couple the input and output vents of the main generator, whatever that means.'

'It means a big bang... Anders... wasn't it?'

'Yes sir.'

'Lizards! Whatever happened to the days when you just shot anyone with fur eh?'

'I dunno, I still do.'

'You're an asset Anders. Take the prisoners to the top of the tallest tower around here and toss them off, I want people to see a... graphic demonstration of what happens to people who are foolish.'

'F*** yeah!'

'Indeed.'


And then he was gone, leaving Devan alone once more with nothing to do but plan the liberation of Quaoar and associated systems. All night long

Okay, I decided to throw in a bit of filler for two reasons. One, because I'm bored with trying to think of something and second, small 'FILLER' sections are going to contain characters that were in the previous 'Character Archive'.

Behold, Radium's Solstice. (Heh, Evil Christmas Tree...)
---

On that very night the forests on Diamondus were burning to the ground, you would immediantly think that only innocent people died in the immense blaze. But thankfully, thanks to the fire, the galaxy was spared was ANOTHER powerful evil being. Known as Solstice. Thankfully,
his existance was cut short before he had a chance to wreck havoc.

In fact, simple glancing at him...it, you would've seen an innocent-looking christmas tree, decorated with flimsy ornaments. Fearing the creature
would've been wise for within seconds, one would find themselves impaled on his branches, far stronger than what one could possibly expect. Yet as the hellish fire consumed the trees of the lush world around him, Solstice realised his one true weakness was upon him, but to his horror, his natural teleportation abilites failed him.

Giving a scream (which is impossible, since trees lack a mouth and vocal cords) he felt the flames envelope his body before the fire reduced him to ash. Ending the fiends corrupted rule over...well, Diamondus's trees, I suppose. Not that there was much left to rule over. Seeing thier leader annihlated, the trees rejoiced, before meeting the same fate as the evil being.
---

Yeah, like I said. Filler. I may take requests, so ask away, wether you post them here or PM them to me, I'm willing to give it a try. As well as any comments you may have. Hooray for feedback!

An evil christmas tree...

why do I have a feeling this will be on South Park?

Like I said. FILLER. Besides, I haven't even watched the said show and I don't intend on starting now. *gets out scalding acid to burn creators of said T.V show* And Chapter 14's up! Hooray!
---
Chapter 14

It had been far too long since the War Tavern was even close to being full. Most nights the place was nearly empty, perhaps due to its clientèle, with
even the most devoted patrons busy elsewhere on errands of their own, with no indication on when, or even if, they'd return. Because of this, management, such as it was, had been passed to a young adventurer who was looking for a bit of quiet time after being badly injured in an accident.

He'd been hoping to hear the famous tales of the tavern, the ones that bought in customers, and, at best, warned you not to make a fatal mistake in future. Of course, with word out that Devan's army was taking over an increasing number of worlds, it wasn't a surprise that it was full NOW. If they were to be invaded...they'd need every able-bodied person ready for combat.

Yet, on this night, the atmosphere was relaxed, they were still safe.

Yet, tonight, that was not the case. They were still safe. While the patrons inside the bustling building weren't as seasoned as many of the previous tale-tellers who'd once been within these walls, the tales they told were somewhat amusing. Nobody stood out, nothing exceptional was on the make.

With one exception.

Sitting at the back of the bar in a shadowed corner he'd occupied on and off for nine years (Sometimes for weeks at a stretch.) was someone who was
more than your usual mercenary. He was well known in The Business (And if you had to ask what The Business was, you weren't in The Business.) as
being someone who'd finish any job he agreed to, without complaint or asking for a pay rise. If you knew the right people, you could hire Max Remora, if you had the cash as well that is. He never told his tales, never revealed his employers and never, never quit. He was the mercenary's mercenary.

He was mostly hidden in shadow, something he preferred, but what was visible was cold and unnerving, especially to the blue rabbit who was explaining his problem. He knew something important and for it, had earned a few enemies, which he was eager to lose. It was a pity he only had 40 thousand in cash.

"A 'Tuf Turtle', only his shell was lined with platinum, a Lizard which also had the abilities of a chameleon, able to blend in with his environment and an alligator."

"Listen, buddy. It's not my job to listen to problems that don't concern me, and yours don't unless you have an offer that is even close to making it worth my while. Take a hike. I don't deal with cheapskates, so accept reality and just give up. Life ain't gonna
go your way forever."

"You don't understand! This could save lives! If I walk out of here, I'll be toast! The data I have here, it's invaluable! There's data on the enemy, and some split second images of a ship of unknown origin that had been seen in another sector. Something the officials on Carrotus might want to see! You're the only one capable of actually making those bounty hunters dust! The people of this bar have nothing compared to what you've accomplished! These three bounty hunters should be nothing to you! I'd hire someone else, but everyone else here is a weakling compared the exploits of what you've done, Remora!"

"Not my problem."

"You think you're so tough that you DESERVE to be paid an outrageous sum to deal with three bounty hunters! You're nothing more than a money-grubbing, low-life rat!" the rabbit shouted in anger, aiming a quickly armed plasma rifle at Remora's head.

Before he had the chance to pull the trigger, Max had already vanished behind his opponent and knocked him in the back of the head with part of his personal rifle. The rabbit collapsed to the floor in a crumpled heap. Nobody said anything, in situations like this it was wise to keep quiet. Out of the
shadows for the first time. Remora was tall and physically well-built for a rodent. Silvery fur covered his body and was dressed in just a vest and trousers.

The dark purple eyes, one with a deep scar scanned the room, waiting for someone to make a move, or an angry remark. None did.

Looking towards the bar-keeper, the adventurer quickly picked up the unconscious patron and placed him behind the bar and not before time either. The bounty hunters were almost at the door. They looked exactly like the rabbit had described, but also rather pathetic. Certainly they had the usual
mercenary swagger, the firearms and obligatory minor scars. It was evident from the start they had no idea what they were doing, any minute now there'd be empty threats, maybe a few warning shots, and then the entire clientèle of the War Tavern would rise up like a well oiled machine and flatten them.

Max took the brief pause to spare everyone the trouble.

"I'm a MOUSE. Not rat. There's a big difference between the two, you carrot-munching moron. You consider yourself lucky that I'm helping you out for free today...And next time, call me by my FIRST name. Don't forget it."

The alligator was halfway through his rather predictable introductory speech when a shot knocked the weapon he was holding out of his hand. It landed
heavily on the floor, smoking. There was a yell of fury and the remaining two took aim at their attacker. Max didn't even bother with the fancy footwork,
simply standing still, twirling his gun until JUST the right time, and simply gunning down the two assailants.

"What?! W-Who?!"

The alligator was shocked, a shot had passed straight through the turtle, splattering several drinkers with green slime, the lizard had tried the blending-in trick, but had be hit point-blank before he'd managed to fade half way. A third shot dispatched the alligator quickly and cleanly. Nobody moved, or even looked up from their drinks, whatever had happened, it was over with now and someone else could deal with it.

"And that was the big problem? Barkeep, you have a mess to clean up. Platinum? How stupid can you get? What a disgrace."

With that, he headed back to his seat in the shadows. That was the target practice over then, and a boost to his reputation for anyone who hadn't heard of him already. Now to wait for his patron to wake up and hand over the cash.

"Oh, and I'll have a double, on the new guy."



* * *

The ship had been detected, that much was known. Monitors of all kinds were arranged about and through the vessel, keeping track of all incoming

radiations and broadcasts. Unlike in popular mythology, the ship couldn't actually detect television broadcasts, not, at least, without being close to a planet, but anything scanning it, be it in infrared, visible, even neutrino tomography, would be picked up. And the ship had detected a detector,
something that had, by sheer luck managed to get close enough to take visible light images, yet far enough away to avoid an easy capture.

The Mind behind the ship considered this. There was no cause for action, the scan had been brief, and had not shown anything of interest, of that It was
sure. A reconstruction of the data was simple enough, and all the scanner would have seen was a dark shape against a distant moon, a mere curiosity
perhaps, certainly nothing that could be used against them. No risk.

Because the Mind hated risk, it was the one thing that It had learned to avoid in Its long, long time among the stars. But It had been careful, and made plans, captured lone ships or explored abandoned wrecks. It knew about this galaxy, and the worlds in it, It knew where everything was, and what was going on. It knew when to attack and when to leave others to do so. And now was time for it to begin, the fleet moved silently in the void above them, if

it could be called above.

If ever there was a weakness common to spacefaring races, it was the tendency to treat space like a rubber sheet. Not just in the physics sense, but as a place where up and down didn't exist. This approach made sense close to worlds, where things had to operate in the orbital plane of a systems star, but the limited approach had severe drawbacks in deep space.

* * *

Rodget Penrose lay back in his chair and yawned. Dear lord, how dull. A brief look over the monitors showed everything pretty much at normal, with the exception of the left stabilizer, which nobody in their right mind would bother to fix.

It had been a dull day in a dull week in a dull month, in what would probably be a dull career. Mining the asteroid belt sounded fine and dandy when you were sitting about on your homeworld, but in reality it was a cold, grubby and lonely venture. Rodget took a swig of some unidentified beverage. Lord knew what went into it, the technicians made the stuff, and he let them in exchange for a few bottles on the side. If you took enough, you went blind, but just before that you lost consciousness and could escape the morbid reality of the universe for a few brief hours. He-

A shape rose out of the darkness in front of him, sleek and black like solid vacuum. Rodget had just enough time to gape uselessly before the first shot
welded his body to his chair.


* * *

The Mind observed. The mining fleet had been well armed, indeed, it was almost the only defense of this distant colony. The entire attack had taken 14.38 seconds, within 1% of predicted time. And nobody had noticed, that was the important thing. The next target was 146.39 light years distant at vector

30,93,42.

The fleet moved on.

Aah...Finally after the long hours in hospital, I have returned. About bloomin' time, too. Anyways, here's Chapters 15 & 16!
---
Chapter 15

Once you got used to it, traveling through space was an enjoyable, if perhaps a little dull. Of course sometimes this wasn't true, such as when your ship was slow or faulty, nothing was worse than spending several weeks traveling between systems in a rust bucket, except of course when the crew didn't take a liking to you. Joshua considered these things as he watched the blackness of space outside, along with how terribly cliche his life was and gave a tired sigh.

He was a well known and admired 'super hero' but the current situation just hammered home the point that no matter how hard he tried, no matter what he did, no matter how many times he 'saved the world' there was always something going on, always people in distress, always need, need, need. He wondered if King Jazz had the same problem, there were always turtles popping up with some mad scheme, even during Devan's imprisonment prior to now. It always seemed it was people who were mad, greedy or power hungry that the universe took a perverted joy in allowing them to come to power. It seemed you couldn't let anyone get away with anything around here without misery and suffering being the result.

He was angry, angry at the stupidity of the universe, the utility of good, anyone and everyone. The emotion burned deep inside him, reusing to leave, to diminish or be silenced, playing the stupid mistakes he had made, over and over, making him burn with shame. He'd let everyone down, everyone. They were probbably asleep or somewhere else in the ship. Aside from David, Seb and Shade, of course. THEY were onboard the StrongGale.

Well, Adis was probably the only one asleep. Zac would more likely using the 'Virtual Training' room to blow off steam and from the events that he'd gone through in the last few days, there was obviously going to take him a considerable amount of time to cool down but Joshua prefered that than finding most of the ship BADLY damaged. Dinah was probably thinking of something to complain about and he had no clue on what Sugar was up to.

It had been a long day; it was only 24 hours, but it felt like it had lasted months. Sometimes a single day felt like an eternity, stretching on for a long, painful time, while at other times time was far too short, passing in an instant. Of course, that was quite common, strangely enough. The fabric of time wasn't what it used to be, so to speak, it had been fragmented, twisted, warped and patched more times than was imaginable. Every living being twisted it to some degree, as did concentration of mass or power. Before you knew it there were ancient fish being caught in your nets, or rumors of giant lizards in distant lakes.

Time was complex, and those who had the insight, well, the lucky ones found ways to deaden the senses. Nostradamus had his wine, the oracles had the volcanic fumes and Agnes Nutter had her 'medicinal pipe.' The unlucky ones couldn't block out enough, and many were carted away by the men in white coats to a nice padded cell, they were also lucky, in their own way. The unlucky ones had just enough mind to keep going, to stay out of the madhouse and do some real damage. On days like this one, Joshua wondered if that was the case with him, if he'd finally slipped over the border that separated disturbance from true madness. Maybe he'd become like those he fought.

Especially since most are usually resorting to two 'major' plans. Either 'blowing up the planet' or 'taking over the world, galaxy, universe or whatever', hell, it seemed many a villain was intent on doing one of those, it seemed that being evil resulted in losing a lot of creativity and common sense, that or they're somewhat sadistic and enjoyed getting defeated repeatedly.

Still tired, yet unable to sleep, Joshua quietly made his way into the kitchen to see if there was any slices of that chocolate mud-cake left from earlier and couldn't help but smile when he saw two pieces left in the fridge, quickly grabbed them and raced out of the room before anyone else could notice, sat down in front of a large screen which showed the vast void of space before giving a deep sigh and taking a small bite into the cake...only to hear a loud 'squeak'. Plastic. Great, just great. Someone had beaten him to it after all. He just couldn't win and felt like taking a bite out of the plate in frustration.

A few minutes later, he nearly leapt out of his shoes when Sugar came from behind him and offered him a piece of cake and sat down next to him with a cheerful, yet slightly mischievous smile. Unable but to respond with a smile of his own, Joshua glanced down at his piece, finding it hard to believe that he was sitting there wondering why he hadn't been bombarded with questions; Sugar's silence was disturbing.

"How were things back home?" Joshua asked, breaking the silence.

"Everything was...fine." Sugar whispered quietly, looking away.

Strange, she'd been almost normal before, but now she was as straight faced as a poker addict. Something was up, she wasn't looking at him. It was clear that something was clearly indeed troubling her, but he wasn't going to force the answers out. Holding Sugar in his arms for a few seconds, unsure on what else he could do simply reminded her that he would always be here. Apart from that, there wasn't anything else said as they simply sat there until both fell asleep a few hours later.


* * *

Meanwhile, on the StrongGale David was feeling rather regretful. Regretful about putting that.. whatever it was in the hold, reducing the overall speed of the craft, it seemed heavier than possible. Regretful about that rabbit he'd rescued earlier who seemed to be totally naive. Regretful about even considering letting that stupid objectionable rodent onboard, she hadn't stopped complaining for the last three hours. And especially regretful about picking up that girl who hadn't even bothered to introduce herself yet and who was just sitting there in the hold, looking moody. And what the hell was Seb up to?

As far as David could tell he was just as bored, fiddling with little balls of projected fire, whizzing them about, colliding them, making ghostly butterflies in the air. He sighed and went to see what his passengers were doing. It HAD to be more entertaining than just sitting around and wondering about the 'what if's?'.Hell, nearly anything would be better right about now, besides if he was lucky, he could probably find something to take his aggression out on.


* * *

In her cramped quarters, from her viewpoint anyway, Shade sat with her arms crossed and fists clenched, staring angrily at the wall. It was cold and dark and barren, and everything she'd managed to acquire, her house, her shuttle, hell, that cute guy at the coffee shop who looked her way occasionally, everything was gone now. She was on the run and here with some sort of stupid invasion going on-

You will die. You're all alone and you will die.

-and she was stuck in a ship in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of possibly insane 'heroes' who wanted to save the universe. Great, just great, and things had been going so well, so very well, she'd-

Listen to yourself, complaining in the dark. You are nothing but a stupid, angsty, emo teenager, and you will die.

-joined the military just to spite her mother, and it had come back and bitten her in the butt. Of course, if she hadn't perhaps she'd be dead now, or perhaps some sort of mind slave, or maybe she wouldn't know anything at all, but it just wasn't fair.

Stupid girl, whose mind runs in circles, who wants someone to make it all better.

What, WHAT was a girl to do? No matter what happened, she was screwed, blown up, captured and courtmashalled, maybe taken prisoner by the turtles, either way, the best she could hope for was a painless death.

I can make everything better, I can think for you, I can think for anyone. Let me help you.

In the small room the shadows slowly closed in, creeping out from corners and beneath the door, whispering gently.

(continued next post)

(And Part 2!)

"Right, I don't know who you are, or what you're doing or why you're here, I'd appreciate some information so I'm not being left in the dark here and get stabbed in the back, thanks." Seb asked, having encountered their mysterious 'compainion'.

"Information? Could you be...more specific?"

"*Sigh* Well, I want some answers. Mainly information about who you are and how you ended up getting involved in all this. For all I know, that machine you've got there could be some sort of explosive device and you're a deadly assassin or something along those lines who's waiting for the right time to blow us all to pieces."

"I... I'm Susanah, though people call me Susan. I'm from, well, I guess you've never heard of Pyrophor?" Susan said, introducing herself.

"Not that I recall, though I think it may be a small colony on the outer section. So I guess this must be your ship, since it would be pretty hard to get something this big around by other means. What happened? And sorry for thinking that ship could've been a bomb. I've seen a lot of large objects in my travels and most of them explode." Seb chuckled.

"Well...I was... travelling, and I... docked with a ship... I... I forget the name now, but I wanted directions, to get my bearings, I'd become disoriented. And... well, there was an attack, the ship crashed and burned."

"...I see. Do you know who attacked? Was it the turtles? They've been active in this dimension recently."

"I... no... I... didn't get a good look at the attackers or their vessel... there was too much panic."

"You're serious. I was hoping to figure out who caused the thing to crash, but at least clears a few things up. We can probably drop you off somewhere safe in a few hours if you don't want to get involved in this."

"That would be... fine. I just have to wait for my ship to recover."

"Recover?"

"Yes.. it's broken."

"Ah, you've got one of those damned repair systems, nice and techy, but useless."

"Yes... what did you mean 'in this dimension'?"

"Oh. It's nothing."

"You travel between universes? That's harder than it looks."

"Hah, tell me about it. Sometimes adventure that takes us somewhere completely different while at times, I just want to go home and try to get my bearings. There's plenty of hazards to watch out for while you're travelling between dimensions for the first few times, though. I'm surprised you know about all this, though, What's your experience?"

"Oh. I have a professorship in Transdimensional Cartesian theory."

"Hah, It's not often we have a professor on board! Well, Professor Susan, I guess we'll drop you off at the next free planet. That alright with you?"

"That would be fine."

***

David relaxed, well, at least something made sense. Now, the other girl was just a ditz, but something should be done about that crazy girl. He set off down the corridor. She was being kept in one of the cabins. This one...? No. This one...? No. Ah.

David stepped back in shock, he'd never seen someone stare quite like the one he was receiving. The girl was looking at him as if he'd set his hair on fire. She'd obviously been thinking deeply about something, you could see that from her posture.

"Don't you knock?!"

"I didn't think it was necessary."

"Right then, so I can undress and you'll not barge in?"

"Well.. didn't think that."

"Well then, I think I shall, or maybe won't, but I do hope there will be a knock next time or I am not responsible for what you see."

"Geez, what's up with you?"

"Seriously? Can't you tell? The world's gone mad, what is this, a regular occurrence?"

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't believe. You're not some sort of time traveling magician girl who's also my cousin or something are you? I hate when that happens."

The girl laughed. It was a bitter and harsh laugh, but it had some humor in it. The poor girl probbably just had no idea what was going on. You got that sometimes, as it was people seemed to take things like their entire world being destroyed in their stride, but you always got someone who just couldn't block out the impossible. She was only saying what he felt.

"I suggest screaming at the wall, it's a great stress relief."

"If this is how you live your life, you must know."

"You'll get used to it, let me tell you, this is nothing compared to that fiasco on Ordovician, it was me, Seb and of course, Josh, and we were surrounded by..."

And the gentle patter of conversation continued on as the ship moved through the void, carrying its small crew toward their destination, each occupied with their own thoughts about the events that would soon draw them into the melee.

AND CHAPTER 16!
---
Chapter 16

The young man sat bolt upright in his seat, watching the void outside the window. There was not an ounce of informality in him, no acquiescence to gravity of comfort. He was dressed in a snappy tuxedo, well starched and ironed, the only incongruity being an insignia emblazoned on the left shoulder pad bearing the words 'Death To The Wind Resistance' and the sleek image of a hydra spitting fire. The room was almost pitch black, but he still wore a pair of cheap, reflective sunglasses, hiding his eyes. He had a thing for black it seemed, black suit, black pants, raven black hair slicked back except for a single prominent spike, even his skin, pale as it was seemed somehow grey.

Anyone observing him would quickly conclude he was dangerously unstable, not least because he was muttering to himself as he sipped at the highly alcoholic beverages onboard Devan Shell's new personal craft.

"I don't really give a damn who I work for, all that matters is at the end of the day I have a large, sum of cash added to my bank account. Doesn't matter what the job is, but personally, if it involves killing people on a large scale and the possibility of tracking down the one that dragged me into this wretched realm, I'm more than happy to take the offer. Screw working for the better cause. I know HE'S fighting for it, so it's only natural to make him suffer in a way similar to what I have to."

The turtle who had been assigned to the madman sighed and leaned against the wall. Things were getting weirder all round, especially if they had stooped to hiring this guy. Now what else was there? Ah yes, the pass key. The young man smiled evilly on being handed the small token, then blew the henchman's head clean off his shoulders.

"Sorry about that, but let's face it, your stuff is c***. I want to use my own little toys, thanks."

The body was, in classic fashion, loaded into the waste vent and jettisoned into space. Someone would be watching of course, but they were all morons. They probbably didn't even know that he was already working for the army on Mobius. It was just too tempting to be paid twice to go around killing things. Tempting and fun.


* * *

Somebody was watching, on a monitor the body twirled weightlessly in space as the ship sped away. Ah, how refreshing, somebody not just devoid of sanity or morals, but somebody who had that unique, twisted purpose to deliberately set themselves against the world. He had many followers now, those who had stuck by him from the days of the original campaign, those who had joined him in this new escapade, traitors and mercenaries, and not least, those who had given him this complete clarity of thought, but it was refreshing to see a real loose cannon. The tracker in the pass card would be most enlightening, he was sure.

Devan smiled, the light reflecting off his glasses with a crisp sparkle, just as the room faded to black, the monitors flaring one by one, then winking out. If only someone had been there to see it, it was real style. Nevermind. Now the only light came from him, as his skin itself seemed not to glow, but rather, to be lit without any light source. His eyes glowed deep red as he stared into the void around him, another little touch he'd added to this body, and one well worth the slight discomfort.

The young man was a survivor...of course, having been dragged into this dimension against his will, Devan could see his mind laid out before him, its cold, simple and stupid logic glowing like a living circuit board. How he hated his twin brother, blamed him for everything, hated the universe and everything in it, how his desire for revenge, any way, any how, burned in him like a flame. A brilliant mind.

"Freelancer Davis, prepare your equipment and craft. Our next target is nearby and invasion procedures will begin in half an hour."

"Fair enough. Might as well kill some time before killing time."

Elsewhere...

The endless streams of data continued to scroll indefinitely on the large monitors. While normal eyes would be hard-pressed to follow the rapidly scrolling text, seeing naught but meaningless drivel, the observer wasn't fazed in the slightest. He'd adjusted to acquiring so much information as well as processing it so rapidly, continued to ignore the near freezing temperature. Who gave a damn? He could force his own body to produce heat but that would've been pointless. Physical matters were of no importance. Only after the last few lines of text scrolled by did the figure finally turn away to focus his concentration to other things.

"It seems that the pieces are continuing to fall into place, despite the constant additions to this little...game. Things are still working out in my favor. They're completely oblivious to what's going to happen, but I'm curious in seeing if the 'Hero' recognizes the mess he's getting himself into. While it would be a shame for him to get killed by someone who's inferior to myself...to us, at least I wouldn't have to waste the effort needed to take care of him."

More data began to stream by and the figure turned back to it, reading information far faster than the eye could follow and then faster than the eye could see. Only a fraction of the mind needed to be occupied with this of course. While things certainly hadn't been going as planned, the end result would be the same, only minor, insignificant details had changed. It was... yes it was amusing to see those, heh, heroes still fighting, oblivious to any kind of sense. How would they deal with the various little... challenges that awaited them? That was all part of the fun.

The figure began to type, a sound of metal thudding into the keys in short sharp bursts, before the computer procceded making protesting beeps as its memory buffer was overrun. This was a talent a wonderful surprise. This mind didn't see numbers as things to be counted, added, subtracted and such, it saw them as streams of information, you looked and there was the answer. Now in its mind the numbers flew, streaming together into incandescent strings, each flying like an arrow to a target.

Each one his, silently but with the force of a mortar round, decimating prison and asylum systems dimension-wide. And there were oh so very many. In some worlds the insane were taken care of, but it was far, far more efficient just to lock them in darkened rooms somewhere and poke them with sicks. It wouldn't seem quite so efficient as security failed, doors opened and riots began, in a thousand places on a hundred worlds. Nobody could stop this, not now. Soon enough the information would inform him, the reports of the chaos would come in, and the heroes would act. Oh yes, they would act, how could they not? It was part of the basic package. They would need to deal with every possible situation, exploit every weakness, and even then they had no hope, the end result would be the same.

It was many a hero's flaw. Sympathy and kindness for others as well as an appreciation for life, while others were physically weak or not too bright. The possiblity of being a 'perfect' being who followed the path of justice was laughable yet one who lusted for destruction and death...well...the only thing that stopped perfection which was within reach was thier mortality...

* * *

Clearly, Kain wasn't too happy about the way things were progressing at the moment. The view from the top was supposed to be satisfactory and with the way he was going about with his plans, it didn't make sense why. The military had, with the rapidity of all armed forces everywhere taken to brutality, looting and murder with natural ease. There were however some who were rather vocally upset about the sudden changes and they were holding quite a few of the rest back.

He clenched his teeth in anger, trying to force their resignations hadn't worked, nor had a campaign of violence and alienation against them. Anything too overt of course would attract public outcry, and once the common people learned that a soldier, when stabbed, died just like anyone else the spell was broken a few thousand people could easily take back this world, if they ever thought they could do it but you worried them and worried them, never letting them think, never giving them peace, and you kept on top.

He stared out at the sunset,it was blood red, tinged by dust high in the atmosphere. It remind him of Technoir, a wonderful place and where he had first learned the joys of control. It provided the answer to everything of course. The simple solution was to douse everything in that color.

Oh there were those infernal pests, but unless they had some real, solid information, even the hedgehog could do nothing. Oh they could stop what, a few hundred people? But Kain knew how to think big; no matter what they did, what they said what they thought they could prove, he was one step ahead. There were already a dozen splinter movements seeking his overthrow, and he'd started all of them, each with an equally crazy reason for his removal. The public wouldn't so much as blink if there was documented proof of him being the devil himself.

And once you had them in your power, people would do your work for you. even now the public were looking for his opponents, for rewards, for the release or forgiveness of family, even for the grater good. Opposition would be disposed of, and the people would cheer him on. It was almost laughably simple. They deserved him.