Yes, I've written something. And I realized this is actually the first time I have ever written about actual game characters; all my other stories have been about forum members or fictional furries. So I think that's kind of cool.
It's just a short, impromptu story, not very accurate or detailed or exciting, I just did it for fun. I hope you get some enjoyment from it.

Okay, now, disclaimers.
First: My apologies to Slay, as I know I should be working on THAT story, but I started this a long long time ago and I'm only just now deciding to finish up the ending and post it.

Second: I am a huge, huge Razz fan, and I just wanted to write a little fanfic about him. I have taken several very broad artistic liscenses which I shall forthwith apologize for:

Yes, I have shamelessly made myself his unnamed girlfriend. Come on, we can all dream.

I know that Razz is Eva's cousin. But initially, when writing this story, I wrote Razz as a Jackrabbit brother, because it fit a lot easier with the storyline, and he's always felt like one of the brothers to me, and because I didn't want all kinds of inevitable star-crossed lover angst that would occur between him and Lori if he wasn't her brother. I think the version with Razz as a brother is better than this one, but I did decide to change it back to him being a cousin at the last minute even though it feels painfully like a Rogue/Wolverine kind of affair. Thus, I may have left some references in the story to him being a brother and its just because my proofreading was shoddy, if not nonexistant.

Third: This is crossposted in Lori Central, because I don't think anything ever happens there, and this is actually about her.

So, without further ado, I have carefully selected the lamest name I could come up with for this story:

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Razz MaTazz and the Lizard Princess of Medivo
(being the Long and Factually Inaccurate Depiction of the Origin of the Long-Lost Jackrabbit Sister)


The year is 2788. Jazz is King and is gallantly leading his people to a slow but steady victory in the galactic war.
Havoc is wreaked throughout the galaxy.
Dethman is still reigning mercenary, at the height of his power beside his friends.
Battle rages.
It was a dark and stormy night.


Thick rain poured down on Razz's back, drenching his long blue fur and plastering his ears flat. His feet were sore and muddy, damp through the scuffed and ragged combat boots, and his blaster was empty. Dashing across a flat muddy stretch, Razz hunkered down behind an empty chemical tank and squinted through the sheets of rain, trying to make some sense of the foggy grey shapes. The bandana tied around his forehead did nothing to keep the water out of his eyes and he swiped at them, knowing he wouldn't be able to see any better through the deluge than if he hadn't lost his glasses.
Razz didn't know why his girlfriend chose to live on Medivo; he'd visited the planet before, with her, and wasn't suprised by the weather now, but this wasn't inspiring any desire in him to live in the sodden world.
His communicator had long since ceased to work, fizzled out by wetness. Razz knew he was on his own, tramping through milennia's worth of ancient ruins against a constantly cloudy sky, authority sure to believe him dead by now, but he was unfazed. There was only one thought in his mind: the unrecognizable face of a golden-furred rabbit, waiting out in that damp expanse somewhere for him to find her.


Razz MaTazz was eighteen years old and his oldest, and favourite, cousin, Eva Yrlahng had just taken the Carrotian throne when he graduated from the Military Academy on Carrotus. He was highest ranking in his class and immediately drafted, but his bad vision kept him out of combat and within a few years of typing documents at headquarters, the war was over, thanks to the heroics of one Jazz Jackrabbit and his younger brother. Spaz wasn't much in the brains department but was a deadly aim with a weapon, and managed to score a few kills while Jazz saved the royal family. It wasn't long after that Razz recieved a wedding invitation from Eva. Smitten by his heroics, the young Queen fell in love with Jazz and the two were married. Razz had always been a welcome addition to castle life and with the prescence of the Jackrabbits, he became close friends with the brothers, who were four and eight years younger than himself, and came to know them well. Like Razz himself, the Jackrabbit brothers' had been orphaned about five years before,their parents, Jazz senior and Jessamine Jackrabbit, dying in a guerilla L'zrd attack in a suburb of Carrotus City, their home burned and the bodies charred. L'zrds were known for their strong religious beliefs and the violence resulting from them. The band of amateur renegade L'zrds had been caught and executed accordingly by Carrotian military, which all the Jackrabbit brothers later became a part of, attending the same academy as Razz.
Razz faded into the background not long after the wedding, content with the occasional family holiday(they grew more and more sparse as the years passed) and his groundbreaking work in biological engineering. He accepted a job with the Galactic intelligence agency, working in outlying combat zones with biological and organic weaponry. Although Razz was strictly engineering and it was by far his strongest facet, as he was often required to accompany field missions his supervisors on the GIA board of directors soon realized his capacities as a warrior despite his visual handicaps and his exceptional skills as a pilot, which he had trained extensively for in military academy. "It's nothing a good pair of contacts can't resolve!" they bickered among themselves. Against Carrotian ordnance, and Razz's preferences, the GIA wrote Razz a new identity so they could use his abilities in warfare. It was there, the base of his studies located in the autumnal Diamondus Warzone, that he met his girlfriend, a little grey-furred, native Medivan lop, bartender of the 'Tavern in Diamondus. He was 28.
Two years later, the two were engaged; the wedding was planned for the following October, the warmest month on windy Diamondus.
It was in August that Razz was deployed off Diamondus for the first time in many years, but it wasn't from the GIA that he first learned about the hitherto unknown L'zrd princess, Larh'ii, he was eventually sent to obtain. It wasn't even from Jazz, who, with the aid of his position as adored monarch, had eyes and ears places most intelligences had never even heard of. It was in the Tavern, Razz recalled, on a night much like the one he found himself in now- rain-soaked, windy, and dangerous.
--

"The usual, darling?" her green eyes danced delightedly at Razz, who smiled in response and leaned out of his corner to kiss his fiancee on the cheek.
"That would be great." The opaque yellowgreen, anise-scented beverage shimmered as she louched the absente into a tall thin glass.
Razz had brought with him a sheaf of papers thick with crumpling and stained from spilled coffee, planning on getting some work done at the Tavern while he waited for his girlfriend to close the bar. They were slightly damp from the driving rain outside, which even now Razz could hear howling and pounding the rattling windows with branches and the perpetually falling leaves.
The Tavern was particularly crowded tonight, maybe the dismal weather brought everyone out for some company. It was also the only building left in the district- if you could call it that, as the Tavern was located off the road deep in the forest- which still served most species. The majority of public houses on the planet had a sign posted dictating the denominations discriminated against- a practice Razz opposed, but understood and was willing to tolerate. Petty feuds between patrons could cause more than a small amount of damage and could often escalate into all out brawls. Razz's girlfriend was not the owner of this Tavern, but she ran it, and she still allowed customers to come and go as they please. Things she didn't want to tolerate were dealt with by her posse of waitstaff, all burly, intimidating warriors of varying species, and they ensured fights seldom occured again. At the bar tonight, Razz could see the familiar figures of Merlin and Wakeman, and perhaps that well-shrouded rabbit with his back to Razz was even Buster, joking casually with the slight bartender but still keeping a casual eye out for evildoers.

This evening a trio of L'zrds had entered the Tavern a half hour or so after Razz arrived, discarding damp cloaks and shaking rainwater from their scales before seating themselves at the next table. Their tribal tattoos identified them as being of high rank, possibly priest. Razz was not a spy by any means, but in times of war, he was not about to let any information that might prove valuable to the GIA slip by him.
He gazed blankly down at his paperwork, ears perked, eavesdropping on the newcomers, and was soon rewarded with a mention of his cousin's name.
"Jazz Jackrabbit was worthless." The speaker was a copper-tinted anole who spoke in the common tongue, but tainted his speech with the L'zrd lisp of long s's. "And the wife."
"Surely they were of no mention in the prophecies," a larger iguana, yellow scales dry with age, objected, "But are they not the sacred parents? Would there not, therefore, be some blasphemy in their deaths?"
Razz tensed at this. The third, a blue scaled L'zrd, queried. "If there is blasphemy in it, do you propose that this explains the dementia of the Chosen One? The Daughter is meant to lead us, in accordance with the prophecy, She is Worthy." Razz recognized the L'zrd title of Worthy; a higher being worthy of L'zrd's affections.
The anole answered tersely. "The Daughter is plauged by demons that blind Her from seeing who She is. In time these demons will be driven out and the lady Larh'ii will rise to lead the L'zrd to glory."
The iguana shook his head. "You speak on speculation. We have no way to know why She is unsound, or indeed if She will ever reawaken. The Prophecy cannot predict an aberration and it is possible it will not be fulfilled by the Daughter."
"But she is the Chosen One!" The anole objected vehemently, pounding a tiny fist upon the table. "Her time will come, I believe it."
The blue L'zrd spoke again.
"Perhaps it is wrong that the Daughter lives among us. The Prophecy only predicts the coming of our salvation. The Daughter is not of our kind, and she may not thrive on our lifestyle." The other two L'zrds flinched and hissed, saying, "Do not speak of them," and the blue L'zrd spread his hands. "What do you wish me to say! We cannot deny that she is lapine. Even The Prophecy declares it."
The iguana hunched over the table. "Brothers, we accomplish nothing here. Let us go from this place and hope that as the time of reckoning draws nearer, our questions will be answered." The anole mumbled a few words of prayer and the three departed, leaving untouched drinks and a confused Razz.

He arrived home that evening late, but unable to still his thoughts. He touched some symbols on his communicator, but before he had finished, he paused, and cleared the screen, thinking better of his decision to call Jazz without affirmation of his suspicions. He dialed a new set of codes, and a stuttering hologram appeared as he set the device on the table.
"Sir," he said, collapsing into a frayed armchair in his living room and brushing last drops of the late-night rainwater out of his eyes. A shower had began on his way home from leaving his girlfriend, and the late July weather was still a little chilly. The head of his department, Captain Delphi, appeared as the floating and staticky torso of a tawny hare and spoke brusquely. "MaTazz, this can't wait? I'm speaking with the Chief."
"With all due respect, sir, I have some questions and possibly information that may affect me on a personal level and everyone else on a ... political level." Razz selected his words so the captain would have no trouble determining he was speaking about the Jackrabbit family.
"Affirmative. I'm opening a comm with the Chief; anything that important should be discussed together. I'll secure the communication; are you alone?"
Razz nodded, and a security shield scrolling with encoded text blossomed into a six foot, faintly pink bubble, encompassing the armchair and the table containing the intercomm. A second head appeared to the left of Delphi on the tabletop, a heavily muscled, tiger-striped serval who was obviously seated with his arms crossed over a broad armored chest, eyes in shadow. "Officer MaTazz," the serval spoke. "You have intelligence pertaining to the Royal Family?"
Razz admired the Chief's attention to duty; never a word from him was spoken without necessity, never a second wasted with idle speech. "Yes, Chief. I overheard a conversation today that may or may not contain useful information to headquarters, but as it affects me on a personal level, I respectfully request some kind of confirmation on the matter."
"You are stationed on Diamondus, are you not?" Delphi appeared to be tapping information into his computer.
"Yes."
"And this information was gathered where?"
"In the Diamondus War Tavern, west side of the planet, at approximately 2100 hours on this day, July 31."
Delphi finished typing and nodded to the Chief, who had not removed his hooded gaze from Razz. "Please relay your information, officer."
Razz began to speak in the military dialect, short sentences with only detailed information, but soon gave up and began to speak faster. "I was seated in the Tavern, waiting for my fiancee to close the bar. I had brought some work to do, but a trio of L'zrds with rank tattoo entered not long after I did, and began to speak among themselves. I overheard the name of Highness Jackrabbit, which drew my interest."
The Chief interrupted. "Did they specify the King? Rank was mentioned?"
Razz furrowed his brow, frowning, trying to remember. "No, sir. Only the name Jazz Jackrabbit was used, followed by reference to 'the wife.' " Delphi nodded nearly imperceptibly as the Chief gestured Razz to continue.
"The L'zrds went on to discuss a prophecy pertaining to The Daughter. The made reference to The Sacred Parents, whom from the conversation I assumed to be Jazz and Eva. They mentioned... their deaths. 'As the sacred parents,' they said, 'would their deaths not be blasphemous?' However, they spoke of this daughter as though she was already here, born, as though they were familiar with her and her whereabouts, even as though her location was among the L'zrd, even with them, and they also made me believe that this daughter was in some way... mentally insufficient. But with all due respect, I think I would have heard if my cousin had had a daughter. And especially if she had been captured by the L'zrd." Razz kept his composure calm, although it was difficult to think about another L'zrd attack affecting his family. "So, sir, you see, if there is some truth to these statements, or if any of this information is new or useful, I wish to be enlightened."
For a moment neither Delphi nor the Chief spoke, but the the serval unfolded his arms and leaned forward.
"MaTazz," he growled in his smooth cat voice, "The information you have gathered tonight may well be the key to a long struggle in unlocking both a prophecy believed to be pivotal in the L'zrd religion and consequently their violence and dissent. Listen to me carefully, because I will not repeat again what I am about to tell you.
'The L'zrds revere a certain individual in their community as the highest being, although she actually wields no power. This person is a princess who is called Larh'ii, who for many years we heard only small facts about, as only recently has she come of age." The Chief's slightly African accent pronounced the foreign L'zrd word with a lilt, Low'ree. "We believed her to be a L'zrd like the rest, kept out of the open by rules and security, revered by all the L'zrd as the Worthy one and who lived, we established, at the center of the L'zrd temple on Medivo. However, recently intelligence has come to us that the L'zrd own a certain prophecy from many centuries past which tells of a lapine saviour that will lead their race to peace and harmony and, likely they believe, power. It took them a long time to establish that their messiah would be a rabbit and even longer for them to come to terms with that information. The people were very distressed by this news and several priests were assassinated under the belief that they were misinterpreting the Great Word. Now, however, they have determined that this prophecy is true and was translated accurately: the one they seek is called The Daughter, and it is predicted she will appear like the sun and her brothers will be as earth and fire. There is no mention of how she will survive the L'zrd or what their salvation will be like, only that their age will come and it will be blessed." He paused.
'Many of our best were slaughtered in bringing us this information, as the L'zrd guard their religious texts and knowledge with all means necessary. We have learned that the princess Larh'ii is not of the L'zrd, nor is even Reptilian. She is lapine, although this will be denied by any L'zrd. The L'zrd were not speaking about the king when they referenced Jazz Jackrabbit. They were speaking of his father."

Razz gripped the arms of his chair. "I don't understand," he said. "I didn't think that Jazz had any other siblings?" The two Jackrabbit brothers faces swam before his eyes, and he noted the solid, green-furred Jazz and scarlet Spaz, nimble as flame.
"Razz, we believe there was a daughter." the serval spoke strongly but Razz did not meet his eyes. "Their mother, as you may know, was killed by L'zrd guerrilla, but had found out she was pregnant only shortly before she and her husband were killed in the fire... except we believe she was not killed in that fire. We believe the L'zrd took her.
'The prophecy speaks of a woman who's birth is dictated by many events that the L'zrd have been looking for for a long time. They found every condition right in the case of your Jessamine Jackrabbit's pregnancy, although how they located her we do not know and probably never will. With the information you have just relayed, Razz, which I may add is of utmost importance, I can make this statement with confidence: The lapine messiah of the L'zrd, the princess Larh'ii, is in all likelihood the sister of the king, and your cousin."

For a few minutes the room was silent but for the slight electronic crackle of the communications and the dance of raindrops on the rooftop. When Razz spoke his voice only shook very slightly, and he did not lift his head.
"Does Jazz know?"
-------------------------------------------------

To be continued presently when I don't have to leave for class.

Yay I appreciate muchly. It's always sort of disconcerting to see someone else's interpretation of the Jazzverse, as they never really agree, but this one seems to work. The wide variety of species feels a little bit like namedropping after a point - the games certainly never went in for great understanding of diversity, and it seems somewhat unfair to expect that everything on Earth is going to be intelligent in the Jazzverse - but I don't particularly mind.

As for crossposting... I dunno. It makes perfect sense to send this to Lori Central the website, and help keep it alive, but I sincerely doubt posting it in the Lori Central forum really accomplishes much.

I'm... speechless. I don't think I'll ever be able to write that well =O

Same goes for me. When comparing this to the stories I have on my HDD, I think I'll have to add much more detail...

Yay. This is good...Very...good.

Is it me, or does the amount of talent coming to this board seem to be increasing?

That would be good. Anyways...I have nothing to say but...Great story and to keep going. You're work is good.

--
The team was assembled of three cats and four rabbits, Razz among them, suited in a black armor. The ops team was created exclusive of Razz, and he would not be mentioned in the mission files aside from his military number, 57.
"Men," Captain Delphi strode before the dozen soldiers at attention before him. "This begins Recon Mission Reclaimation. You will be teleported one mile due south of the L'zrd temple on Medivo. Your mission is to locate the L'zrd princess Larh'ii, who is believed to be lapine, possibly jackrabbit, light-colored. Obtain samples. Do not be seen. This is a L'zrd ritual day so we're hoping the temple will be mostly vacant. It's the best chance we've got. You know everything I'm telling you, you've heard this all before, you've been briefed and debriefed and you know your jobs. This shouldn't be too hard, girls. Let's go."

No, it wasn't supposed to have been this hard, Razz thought grimly. But it had gone wrong from the beginning, with the teleportation mistargeting due to some kind of undetectable L'zrd shielding. The L'zrd were all about organic weapons, defenses, technology, all of which was hard to locate with any radar. The team was dropped over a half-mile radius almost three miles from the temple and only three of them found each other in time to receive confirmation from headquarters to continue the mission. Razz, a burly calico cat missing an ear, Harley, and a light green, almost white furred rabbit called Vistana jogged the three miles to the temple.
That was just the start. The pouring Medivan rain made the going hard but the three of them had to split up once they reached the temple grounds. Still a quarter mile from the temple, there were L'zrd sentries everywhere, unheard of for any L'zrd temple even with the war. Turtles paced the muddy stones as well, grunting to themselves as they hefted clubs over their shoulders. Razz heard a click in his ear as Vistana keyed his comm.
"Diversion," Vistana murmured, as the highest ranking, impromptu team leader. "Blueprints say medical bay is three floors directly below the South entrance- that's the one directly in front of us. MaTazz, you have only menial equipment?" Razz confirmed. The two cats who should have been carrying the DNA sampling equipment were among the missing. "Harley, you have anything?" "Just the guns in my hands, boss," Harley grunted back.
"Mission still has potential for success. MaTazz, head for the south entrance. We'll divert the patrols and give you a clear path into the temple. It should be relatively vacated inside but once you're in, we can't help you. Harley, once he's in, we'll keep security as far away as we can and attempt to contact the rest of the team for an evac."

That was about six hours ago, Razz reckoned, clutching his side where a L'zrd, in an unexpected moment of heroics, had dealt him a blow to the ribcage with a spined mace. A rib or two was surely broken and the flesh torn, bleeding badly, as he'd discarded the armor for too heavy. His communicator had died long since and his last communication with Vistana and Harley was a garbled transmission that he couldn't be sure about, all he knew was the diversion didn't seem to have worked yet. He ducked and ran from structure to structure, boots heavy with mud and fur soaked with sweat and rain and at the doorway he paused and looked around. The locks were complex, and there was still a turtle he'd been dodging as he ran. The empty blaster in his hand was useless; he dropped it, and stripped a weapon from the gecko that lay dead on the stones beside him. Three shots took his opponent down with a blaze of local shields. He turned back to the lock; as if a machine he figured the keycodes and manipulated the structure to allow him access. The elaborately decorated door clicked twice and slid into the wall, but Razz was through as soon as it was open enough to allow him.
It was a mistake. He registered the softly glowing shield barrier only in time to realize they were panel mines, triggered by living flesh, and he crashed full tilt into the green translucence.
The explosion left Razz dazed, spinning in and out of consciousness, nearly collapsing though he managed to climb to his feet. His limbs were heavy and blood dripped into his eyes, but he knew he had to move- an error of this magnitude could bring the L'zrds at any second, and time was already short. He skirted the panel of shielding and moved beyond it, to a door he unlocked quickly with the glowing keypad to the right of it. It slid sideways with a small hiss of compressors and he lurched into the elevator, descending quickly with an unpleasant feeling in his stomach. The lift slowed, stopped, and the doors pulled in, revealing a corridor with three doors on either side. Razz swallowed hard and prepared to open the first door, but before his paw could reach the keypad a door farther down opened and he responded instinctively, silenced blaster in his paw and aimed at the chameleon's head. It died before the door closed, and Razz hastened towards the scaly body, avoiding yellow blood, and crouched before the open door. It was a chamber of medical cells, but all were completely empty, and he returned to the corridor, this time walking slowly up and down it, inspecting each door. He finally selected one of two that were slightly unique. The locks were organic - Razz's forte - but he had no time to exercise his brain in jacking them. He seized the bony wrist of the dead L'zrd and thrust the palm of the hand into the lock panel, where it was received and enveloped by shimmering grey mist. The already waning body heat did not affect it's result; L'zrds were forced to alter standard organic security devices to allow for their cold blooded bodies. The door swung inward on heavy hinges- no smooth sliding electronics.

It took Razz a moment to adjust to the dim lighting. The room he had revealed was only slightly smaller than the banquet hall in the Castle, and lit by a softly glowing red orb suspended from a curved ceiling that he guessed to be mimicking a natural sun. The walls and doorway were draped with sheer purple, pinstriped cloths, and in front of him a tree had stretched to the ceiling, then slowly spread vines across and down the walls. It's leaves and tendrils, trimmed back to allow entry, tickled the backs of Razz's ears as he came through the doorway. The floor gave slightly beneath his feet as he walked around the tree. He did not expect such aesthetic fastidity from the L'zrd; they were chary of too much pleasure and believed it to dull the senses.
The room narrowed as he walked into it, closing in like a cave. There was a small levitating platform beyond the tree in the smallest part of the room, a bed. Draped in black, the thin funereal silks appeared slightly macabre, clearly allowing the shape of a body to be seen, and Razz no longer hesitated. He sprinted the rest of the length of the room and would have flung himself at the figure but at the last moment, hesitated, cleared his vision, looked close.
The figure was lying on it's side, it's back to him, unclothed beneath the sheets and every needle-like bone of it's spine stabbing through the thin cover. It shook almost imperceptibly, but with regularity. It's head was covered and now Razz reached gently for the black cloth, sliding it off the figure and revealing, as the cloth fell to the floor, a long and tangled mane of pale, light colored hair sprawled over the bed and two long and slender, tawny ears streaming back through it.
Razz drew the blanket back from the body and caught his breath. The woman lay naked before him, young, almost a girl, but dazzlingly beautiful. She did not wake when the cover was removed, but the small sun from the height of the room caught and illuminated a thousand tiny points of light in her ragged blonde fur. Razz moved to her head, and realized with a start her eyes were open, startling violet eyes that looked beyond him and beyond the room, glazed grey with years of not seeing in front of her. Razz spoke, softly as he could, for the first time, the name of his cousin.
"My name is Razz, Larh'ii," he murmured, but she did not, or could not hear him. Every one of his senses screaming, Razz placed his hands on her soft body, able to feel every bone, the velvet fur under his hands making him tremble. With effort he tore his eyes away from her prone shape, with regret he watched his paws wrap her naked body in the black shroud she lay upon.
When he lifted her, her arms went around his throat, clinging to him, and she buried her face in his neck, vocalizing raspily. Razz craned towards her, trying to hear, but her sounds were nothing more than sounds, and he knew he had to leave.
"I'm taking you home, Larh'ii," he said to her shivering body, "we're going home."
When he pulled the heavy doors shut behind him they closed with a gong, and Razz did not stop running from that corridor until he had reached the highest deck of the temple. From here, a communication could be hijacked and patched into the Chief- and the Chief could get him out of here, although he had no idea what had become of the rest of his team. Crossed wires and sparking connections seemed to take an eternity, but finally the comm clicked open and Razz keyed numbers in frantically. A bad hologram image appeared, the serval in his armor straining to see Razz's expression.
"MaTazz," he said instantly, "You've been out of contact for more than 8 hours. The recon team has been evacuated. What is your status? Where the hell are you?"
Razz drew his breath, "Chief, sir," he said, "Unable to make contact with headquarters until now. Reporting from hacked communicator in L'zrd temple on Medivo. I have retrieved the princess Larh'ii and request a pickup immediately. Repeat, have obtained the POW and request pickup at the nearest location, immediately." The Chief's voice was barely more than a growl as he made an obvious effort to contain himself. "Officer, you have the princess in your possession? She is with you now?"
"Affirmative."
There was a very short, very pregnant pause, and then, "This mission was reconaissance only, MaTazz. Your orders were clear. You think you can just go in their and take the L'zrd's most prized possession and they're going to be okay with that? You think you're going to be able to just walk away with the thing that fulfills their prophecy for galactic power and they aren't going to retaliate, at Carrotian monarchy, with any and every means they have?" His anger was palpable but Razz felt his own mounting. "Chief. With all due respect. Sir. This is not a thing, a weapon, an object." his breath was heavy and he wiped a drop of blood from the keypad as he turned the hologram to the hunched and shaking girl in the chair beside him, making sure the Chief could see her.
"This is my family."

The serval cursed viciously at Razz, who said nothing, and the last thing he saw was the Chief's paw crashing down on the buttons of the communicator, and the hologram closed without a flicker.

---

Thanks, all. I have to say that the story doesn't exactly improve, I am not sure what I was thinking while writing it, but it gets a little lame and I think I must have just got tired of the whole thing. Regardless, I'm not going to take the time to edit it now, so whatever.

Unknownie, I know exactly what you mean, and I think for that exact reason I've never written about the Jazz universe. I know that anthropomorphic characters on this board are really diverse and are creatures like big cats and wolves, and it has always seemed totally out of sync that they would exist on a world where rabbits are the dominant species. Therefore I try to make only small mention of them, and I chose the lizards as the main enemy because they are a very prominent enemy in the games, and, well, aren't we all tired of the constant battle against turtles?
I think I should also mention that I didn't really think when I made Eva like ten years older than Jazz in the story. Oh well, she always looked older anyway.

Noted about LC. I was only going to post it there mostly because it is so dead and because I love Jonesy. :P

I actually did art for this story too. Of Razz anyway. He's so sexy.

Originally Posted by superjwren329

Is it me, or does the amount of talent coming to this board seem to be increasing?

Heh. Ducky's been around longer than most of us, including myself. She's also a far better writer than myself, as this story proves.

*hugs the Duckster*

Mmhmm. I like how even though I have the whole thing finished, I don't post it all at once.
Um, also, rereading, I apparently wrote the rest of this with no thought whatsoever except finishing it, so sorry for the trashy writing quality and content.

The Chief ended the hologram so hard he dented the control panel, but the image was trapped in his mind, burned into the back of his eyes. The thin, painful body, the mesmerising features, the clearly agonized, empty purple eyes of the lapine in the control chair beside MaTazz.
There was no doubt in his mind but he still closed his eyes and screamed a cutting monologue at Razz. He seized his chair and smashed it with one huge paw into the wall. Muscles rippling, he tore the room apart, his balled fists beating into the brushed steel walls.
Then he turned back to the communicator, and paged Captain Delphi verbally.
"This is Chief Rubicon. Deploy evac team to Medivan Temple, political code 117. Evacuation of last team member assigned to mission Reclaimation. Delphi, your boy made contact. He needs to be picked up now."
"MaTazz?" Delphi was clearly startled. "Affirmative, Chief. We'll send a bird in."
"And, Captain." the Chief's voice was hard. "You will need to allow space for any cargo he may be bringing with him."

--

The temple teleporter relocated Razz and Larh'ii to the outer, unwalled courtyard, which was miraculously devoid of life. Vistana and Harley had done their jobs better than he, Razz sighed to himself, and inwardly felt a small pang of relief that they had made it out okay. Outside the temple, Razz could see nothing through the rain, but he ran doggedly across the stones, the slight body draped on his shoulder weighing, he imagined, less than his rifle. The idea in his head was to commandeer a transport, any form he could, but every breath he took ripped through his lungs and pulsed through the wound and broken ribs on his chest, every step jarred the bones he knew had fractured in the explosion in the temple. He thought it was his own blood throbbing and pounding in his head, his ears, his whole body resounding with it, until the ferns sprouted up between the ruinous carved stones began to quiver and dance rhythmically as well, and he stopped running, looked up into the rain at the grey swirling sky.
The helicopter behind him reached him within a minute's time, hovering low, empty steel seats within, but it took all of Razz's strength to lift Larh'ii's small body in and climb up after her. The steel floor was cold, rainy, but Razz collapsed on it, feeling it warm with his own blood that was oozing freely after his exertions. Two soldiers lifted Larh'ii into the cabin but Razz's body surged with pain when they tried to help him up, and within moments everything was black.

--


Razz regained consciousness slowly, opened his eyes to see a painfully white wall and door in front of him, adorned with machines and artificially intelligent contraptions whizzing around shiny surgical steel accoutrements. A familiar voice was bellowing outside. "...All without any kind of heads up to me, and my own brother dying in the other room because of a crazy idea! ...Not informing me... can't imagine what you think I would have done if the mission was a failure...what the L'zrd will do now? We'll need military prep, we'll need undercover... never even mentioning the research put into this? I should have all of you euthanized....where is she?" the voice trailed off on the other side of the door and lowered a couple of decibels into a gruff growl. "Let me see him." A female voice Razz recognized as his cousin Eva. The door opened and Jazz entered -Jazz, always the casual one in the family, never awkward, never caught off guard, but now, the first time Razz had seen him in more than a year, he looked scared. Razz watched him appear over the side of the hospital bed and tried to croak out a hello, something to say to steady him, but his vocal cords seemed to have calcified.
"Jazz," he rasped, but Jazz stopped him.
"You're crazy. I don't believe this," Jazz said, but his eyes crinkled with relieved laughter. Razz observed over his shoulder the able figure of his cousin Eva, looking determined but emotional, and he reached a paw out to her. They were soon joined by the goofy smile of Jazz's young brother.
"Hey Razz," Spaz said, for the first time in Razz's memory looking almost serious. Though his vision was blurry, a small smile crept across his face as he looked up at Spaz, "Hey, little bro." As he swallowed his throat seemed to be becoming slightly less rigid and he struggled to sit up a little, wincing at the spot on his chest that was swathed in bandages.
"Guys, I don't.... I'm... I guess I'm sorry," he said, realizing he had no idea what would happen next. "Jazz...What have I done?"
The three regarded each other for a long minute.
Jazz spoke first. "I don't know what to say, Razz. I've never had anything hit me so fast or so hard. But I think the last thing you need to be is sorry. You found our sister."
"But the L'zrd. There will be war. The prophecy? And she's... she's not well."
"She's fine, thanks to you. She's been completely checked over and our doctors say that she has a very good chance of making a full recovery, with constant treatments. Her mental development was restricted by atmospheric deficiencies and instable climates, and of course the childhood trauma and L'zrd lifestyles are brutal on a lapine system. But she been eating and sleeping. Or, so I've been told."
Razz frowned at Jazz. "What do you mean?"
"I haven't seen her yet. None of us have. We just got here. I only found out...moments ago." Jazz frowned down at Razz, concerned, and Razz saw for what may have been the first time the age lining Jazz's face, life taking it's toll on him, and wondered how old he himself looked.
"I would like to see her, if I could," Razz said quietly.

The wheelchair glided silently along the tiled floors and stopped outside a small room with no window in the door. It was unlocked for the royal family, but as Razz struggled to his feet, Eva suggested that only one of them enter at a time.
Jazz remained in the room for only about ten minutes, but when he came out, his eyes were glassy and he muttered a curse under his breath. "She's asleep," he said, "Looks just like mom," he said, "I can't believe it. How old is she then?" He collapsed on the bench beside the door as though he had run a marathon, and Eva put her arms close around him. Razz looked at Spaz, but Spaz shook his head. "You go on," he said.
So for the second time in as many days, Razz entered an unfamiliar room, feeling like an old man as he walked gingerly through the carpeted, neatly furnished room, to the small divan upon which lay the pale yellow body of his sister. Her hair and body had been washed and though she appeared malnourished, she was clean, and a machine attached to an IV in her arm clicked regularly. She lay on her back, the sheets to her waist, her eyes closed but her body shaking like when Razz had first seen her. He lowered himself to the chair beside her head.
"Hey, Larh'ii," he said, softly, still weakened by her beauty. But though he had spoken quietly, her eyes opened, they're misty purple staring straight ahead of her. "Hello?" he repeated. Her head jerked towards the sound, almost imperceptibly, and instinctively Razz put his paw on hers, to alert her to his prescence. She froze, but her other hand stretched out to him, groping the air, and he knelt beside her. Her paw found his face and stopped there, stroking the fur and feeling his features.
"My name is Razz," he said to her, and though shaking like an aspen leaf in the wind, she lowered her head til it was resting like before, on the blue fur of his shoulder.

Spaz said nothing about seeing her for the first time, but rejoined the others in the hallway quietly.
"Razz," Jazz said suddenly, "What is her name?"
Razz answered slowly. "The L'zrd called her Larh'ii." He pronounced it the way the Chief had said the name, 'Lor'ee.' Eva repeated the name in her own Carrotian, "Laurey?" but Spaz shook his head and spoke up.
"No," he said, "Lori."

--
As soon as Razz was permitted to leave the medical facility, he flew to the GIA headquarters on Medivo, where the Chief was stationed. Razz had never spoken with him in person before, nor seen him aside from the hologram projection. Stringent security took a while to get past, but Razz found himself standing outside a black metal door with a plain silver placard reading 'Rubicon, Chief First Order. Number 39.' His knock was answered by a grunt which Razz took to mean he could enter, so he did, doing his best not to limp. The Chief was sitting in a high backed chair, only the tips of his ears visible with his back to Razz, looking out of a one-way window into the mezzanine of the headquarters. Razz cleared his throat.
"Officer MaTazz requesting an informal audience, Chief, sir."
The serval did not move for several moments, and then he revolved in the leather chair, regarding Razz with his deep-set, heavily lidded eyes.
Razz did not make any external movement, but inside he was shocked. The cat was not just well muscled, he was huge, his double paws draped casually over the arms of the chair. His tiger striped face, shown in blue and white pixels on the hologram, was indeed patterned, but with gouging scars as well as dark fur. They traced down his throat and into the collar of the black uniform he wore, but the uniform did not hide the serval cat's legs, and neither did the Chief make any apparent attempt to. They were both robotic, shining brushed chrome and black titanium in stark contrast to the neutral colors of the serval's fur, and ended in huge metal paws, easily twice the size of Razz's own, claws protracting slightly and the metal squeaking against the floor.
When he spoke, it was the same smooth growling purr. "Very well, MaTazz. You may speak."
"I wish to extend my apologies for acting out of order, sir. I am here to offer my resignation before I am discharged. I am... I am here to thank you, sir, for what you did for me, despite my behavior. I wish to offer you my services at any time if you should need them, despite my nonemployment." He stopped speaking and lowered his head respectfully.
The serval cat did not hesitate. "Your actions, soldier, were a horrible dereliction of duty and a blatant disregard to orders. You have endangered this entire galaxy and you have shown you cannot be trusted to follow even the simplest orders. I have told Captain Delphi for years that you should not be allowed to work in my facility but he has continued to undermine me and insist that you continue your work for us. I am forced to conclude that he was absolutely right in keeping you here and that as such I will not be allowing you to leave this operation, or stop working for this government facility, at any time in the forseeable future, and you will be recieving a promotion to commander."
Chief Rubicon scraped his metal claws on the floor as Razz stared at him.
"How is she doing?" the Chief asked, more quietly.

--
As the months passed, it was Spaz who Lori came to trust the most and he seemed to understand her better than anyone. She did improve greatly as time went on and the two of them would often be seen in the Palace grounds or in the castle, Spaz grinning with delight as Lori, dressed in a light purple gown, chased a butterfly or just spoke a hello to a guard walking past. Her mental state was not damage, but merely a response to the conditions she had experienced, a natural shutdown that had probably kept her alive all the years with the L'zrd. They had never mistreated her, quite the contrary, but the species difference had been too dramatic for her lapine system to handle; even though she was exposed from birth, she could never adapt. Her body was weak but she strengthened physically as her mind grew, and before a year had passed she was indistinguishable from any other rabbit her age, which was by now sixteen. She learned fast and grew faster, and under Spaz's skilled training, she learned weaponry and fighting skills. Razz returned to Carrotus monthly to see her, and he and Lori spent long hours together, talking in subdued voices. He always left troubled, although he smiled to see her practicing her fighting in the courtyard, her new muscles flexing under her purple top and short, comfortable pants, her fur shiny and her eyes sparkling.
The L'zrd did not attack Carrotus as predicted, although the tension between the two tribes grew stronger and more strained each day. They could not prove that their princess had been taken from them by Carrotian military because they themselves had done their best to deny her existence.
And then, one day in late July, she was gone from the castle.
Jazz was in a rage. He demanded to know of Razz what he had been telling her, if he knew where she was, what she could possibly think she had to do away from the castle. But Razz was silent, and though he did not know where Lori was, he guessed she had figured out for herself what she had to do.
"It's not my fault, Razz," she had murmured to him the last time he visited. They walked through the grounds, beneath willows through courtyards. "I don't have any idea what I'm supposed to do to fulfill a prophecy. I don't see how there's anything I can do. But can't I try? If they revere me as a goddess, will they not listen to anything I say? If I have any kind of power to quell the bloodshed, I want to try." And Razz had not tried to dissuade her, but listened in silence.

This time, dropped via teleportation with a land speeder, Razz and the Jackrabbit brothers arrived at the Medivan temple with no welcome of gunfire and no sentries to hinder their approach. The stillness made them uneasy, and Jazz led them with blaster ready through the heavy rain to the temple. As they cleared the last ruined architecture and the temple came into view, they percieved a mass of L'zrd civilians and religious leaders, all gazing at the temple, all riveted.

Lori stood before the assmbled L'zrd mass at the temple, her long blonde hair rippling down her back, her dark purple gown plastered to her body in the steady drizzle that streamed over her face, with no attempt to hide the weaponry strapped to her hips. She had not been touched; rather, the crowds had parted to allow her access to the temple, outside of which the twelve priests stood, their eyes averted respectfully.
"Worthy one," the eldest of the twelve spoke in a voice like snakeskin rustling over dry leaves. "You have returned to us. We believed you to have been taken."
"I left of my own accord. I cannot be kept. But You are my people," she said, softly but in a carrying, clear voice, "and I have come back to you, of my own accord. I will remain your Daughter, your princess, but I cannot dwell among you any longer. I have been ill for many years and now I come to speak with you and to offer you what wisdom I have."
"Your words are truth, Lady." spoke a green-tattooed lizard respectfully. "Let us hear them now. Let us be lead by your great knowledge to a season of glory."
"I cannot promise you all the prophecy insinuates," Lori said carefully. "But know this: the galaxy is not meant to be owned. It is not meant to be commanded by one species. We must allow the Carrotian System their rightful place, as they have allowed you the Pitt planetary system, and the Winterus, and as the Milky Way is allowed to endure untroubled. If you can abide peacefully with the other species in this universe, I will remain with you as your Daughter and guide you the best that I know how, and I promise I can lead you to the highest your empire has ever seen." There was murmuring, collective whispers breaking out all among the assembly, and Jazz mumbled, too, "Lori, Lori, I hope you know what you're doing... don't promise them anything..."
She continued speaking. "Do not doubt my words. Do not doubt your prophecy- " she turned to the assembly behind her and raised her voice, "Do not doubt the words of your priests! I will establish an alliance to hold you fast to your place in this universe. You will never lack, you will never be underestimated. You will be revered as a force to be reckoned with, but you will be known as merciful. Only listen to me, your Daughter, the chosen one that the prophecy spoke of in centuries past. If you do not trust my words, I cannot do anything for you."

As Lori had suspected, the L'zrd held every word she spoke as truth. She left them that day with a strange light in her eyes, but the L'zrd withdrew their troops. The spies and mercenaries were retracted and one day, the Medivan temple was found to be vacant. No surrender was offered but Jazz, at Lori's prompting, issued a peace treaty to the L'zrd and requested an audience with their leaders for negotiation. Within a month an alliance was signed and the bonds between the planetary systems on opposing sides of the galaxy made a powerful force, and a peculiar one, as the knowledge became common that the two systems were commanded by siblings.
The war was far from over, though, when Razz finally prepared to returned to Diamondus for what he hoped was for good. Battles raged in space and there was the constant threat of violence no matter where one traveled. Perhaps it would always be so.
On the day he was to leave, Razz shuffled his clothing into a satchel and set off down the hallway to say goodbye to his cousins. He found Jazz and Eva together in the dining hall, poring over transmissions and large maps.
"The wedding's soon, isn't it, Razz?" Eva said as she hugged her cousin tightly. Razz embraced her fondly. "Month or so. Should get the invitation any day now." He smiled into her warm brown eyes and kissed her on the cheek before turning to Jazz.
"Thanks for putting up with me. Good luck; if you need me for anything, you know where to find me." Jazz shook Razz's paw. "I can't thank you enough, cuz." But Razz shrugged. "Nah, I didn't do anything."
His tracks led him out to the courtyard where he found Spaz and Lori sparring together. As always, his heart skipped several beats when he saw her agile figure, fur damp with sweat and her hair pulled into a ponytail. "Hey, little bro," he yelled over the sound of their fighting. "Just saying goodbye." He and Spaz hugged quickly. "Take care of this one," he said, nodding at the yellow rabbit beside them, breathing heavily. "Of course, Razz," Spaz grinned mischeviously. "You take care of yourself, I'll see you in October. Wait til you see me in a tux. You won't recognize me."
Razz smiled drily. "Yeah, I know. " Spaz giggled a little sycophantically and clapped Razz's shoulder. "I'll see you soon." He hung his javelin on the weapons rack in the courtyard and pranced off, leaving Razz and Lori alone. Razz could feel his chest constrict as he turned to face her.
"You've done good, Lori," he said softly. Her wide purple eyes looked up at his face, "Razz, I've come so far, I'm still a little scared. I still feel like I'm just winging it. I couldn't have... I couldn't have done it without you. I can't thank you enough for bringing me to my family... for bringing me to you." She moved close to him, and in a familiar move, she pressed her face to his shoulder. Razz wondered if she could hear his heartbeat, a million miles an hour, or noticed he had stopped breathing. He buried his nose in her long hair and dropped his bag to wrap his arms around her.
"Razz..." Lori's voice was muffled from his shoulder, and he placed a blue paw under her chin and turned her face up to his. "There is nothing that needs to be said. You know where to find me if you need me. I will do anything for you, Lori, you just have to ask." He looked into her violet eyes and in one moment she had stretched to tiptoe and placed her lips on his, and he felt his whole body enveloped in her kiss, the warmth of her small lips and the softness of her tongue and the fur under his paws.
"I do need you, Razz," she whispered to him, and his every muscle tightened.
"You have me, Lori. I'll always take care of you." As he looked into her eyes, very young and full of vivacity though now tinged with sadness, he knew there was nothing he could do or say, that he fell in love with her the day he saw her wracked body on Medivo and that he lost a part of himself in her. But he forced himself to say it, because he knew she needed to hear it.
"But that's all I can do." He pressed his lips to her forehead and turned away from her. He did not look back, didn't need to, to know that she stood still behind him with her eyes welling, knew that she would always be looking after him and that he would always, deep inside, be looking over his shoulder back at her.

--
It was clear and windy when Razz arrived back on Diamondus, but with a warmth in the air that he knew meant October was coming. He entered the Tavern after dark, it's warm glowing windows welcoming, and inside the atmosphere was friendly and bustling. He nodded to a couple familiar faces and at the bar, ordered a tall carrot ale. His little bartender smiled at him fondly.
"Are you staying this time?" she asked, and Razz nodded. "I couldn't stay away any longer."
She put her paw on his.
"I really missed you."
Razz looked into her eyes, looked around at the familiarity of the tavern, thought of his small grey house with the red roof and of his wedding in less than a month to a woman he loved, and thought, isn't it funny, how you don't know you miss some things until you have them back.
He thought of his cousins and their faces before him made him smile; and he thought of Lori, and he knew that she would make it just fine.

FIN.

Awww, s'sweet. Always nice to see real proper Jazz characters interacting, rather than getting roped into some scheme by a dozen random overpowered community members. I wish I could offer some more interesting feedback but I'm not really in the right mood at the moment.

Lori being 16 years old? I allways thought she was more than 18 years old or so...
Anyway, I find it hard to see where your writing qualities worsen. The description of some objects and areas was somewhat hard for me to understand, though. But that'll probably has to do with my lack of English...

Loverly. The only thing is that the discrepancy between brother and cousin for Razz made it feel a little less real. Either that or some messed up hick family tree.

According to Lori Central she was created on her 16th birthday... anything on that site should be taken with a grain of salt, but I don't feel like looking for alternative sources right now.

As Eva's cousin, Razz is actually not related to Lori at all, so nothing too weird there.

I picked the age of 16 from nowhere. She looks youngish. Plus, this takes place BEFORE The Secret Files, which is an adventure involving the three siblings, so it's entirely possible she ages between then and now.

Unknownie, I'm glad you comment even when you have nothing to say <3

I'm readed this story, and I think about the love Lori between Razz. This is a nice and lovely story with good character and place introduction and I like your stories Ducky.

Originally Posted by Ducky

a woman who's birth

Should be whose