Darkest Descent: Echoes Through Mists

by JamesJabber

A story. Kyoko Shira, Geoff Thomas, Itoki Norishiba, Korani, and many others find themselves in a moment in-between dimensions and times and locations all across the world and must work together and exist in a story where the Author dictates every action and word and situation of the characters themselves.

Darkest Descent: Echoes Through Mists

Chapter 1: Before the Explosian

Kyoko Shira is sitting in her room with the warm morning sun shining through the window and warming her knees. She is playing with her flute, a gift to her by her parents at age four. They had told her then that the flute is a sign of purity and of hope, and to master it, one would master them both and bring harmony and fluidity to the world. In her own time she has found the flute difficult, she is certainly not a prodigy. Throughout her young days she tried so very hard to master the flute she had been given. She tried so very hard because if she could master the subtleties of purity and hope she could also bring peace to her brother Naki, a boy ten years her senior and fraught with impurities and indeedn, hopelessness. Every day it seemed Naki brought more and more trouble to the household, bad grades, bad temper, bad breath. Every time Naki came home he was a mess.

Today, ten years later Kyoko is sitting, playing her flute as she waits for her brother to bring home what a year of absence in a foreign country would have corrupted. The list her parents recited every moment he was away. Her parents implored her to play well to soothe the coming agitation. So, hours away from that moment, she relaxes with familiar tunes she has played since her youth, most of which troubled by her brother of course, but mastered all the same. As her knees as warmed by the sun, she explores the soothing melody whispering through her breath to an audience beyond the foundations of her home, into the verdant forest in her vision, to the birds and squirrels and all manner of woodland creatures. She fills the air with lustful trills and soothing melodies so sweet as to ice the frosting on a frosted filigri. And then it happens, the door slams, followed by an announcement by a crude and obnoxious twenty-four year old brother known only as Naki Shira.

"I'm home! Where's breakfast?" He would always insist that Kyoko make his breakfast everyday he was home. "There's just something I like about your cooking, Kyoko. I think mom and dad made a mess when they made me and gave you all the good genes, especially the genes for cooking." He would always say, giving her a good kiss on the cheek. Of course the moment she picked up a flute he would be no where to be found. "If you could play that flute like you could cook you'd be good at it, Kyoko, why don't you just stick to cooking."

"But I like the flute, I... I can play it really well!"

"Like I said, stick to cooking and you will really attract a boy someday, but I wouldn't play that flute if I were you. I can think of two squalling cats back at university who can keep a good melody."

"But I... I like the flute..."

"Kyo, in times like these we all have to make sacrifices." He pats her black-haired head and grins at her. "Now how about some of your waffles?"

"Okay, Naki."

"Now there's a good girl!"

Kyoko didn't know it yet, but her day was only just beginning. Of all the infinite possibilities of living in this world one girl could not simply comprehend the outcome of a single day and least of all could she comprehend her brother's next move. It is during the middle of her cooking when the doorbell rings.

"I'll get it!" Yells Naki as he walks toward the door. He opens it.

"Naki!" It is a girl's voice, and Kyoko watches as the pink fluffy creature attacks Naki and starts to bite at his face. The thing continues her assault with a choke hold, bringing Naki to the floor, and then with ravenous eyes she begins to advance on toward her in the kitchen with blood dripping from her fangs. Thankfully Kyoko has a knife and rares it threateningly at the creature who now looks completly scared and backs away. "What is she doing with that knife, Naki, I thought you said your sister was harmless!"

"Kyoko! Put that down. She is harmless, Kitty, she's just cooking and she was so excited to see you that she forgot that there was a knife in her hand."

"N... Naki? Y... you're alive?"

"Of course I am, Kyo, see here? Check my pulse." He advances toward her and touches her hand gently. "Kyoko?"

"Y... yes?"

"You still have the knife in your hands." He gestures at the monster, "This is Kitty, she's my fiancee' the one I've been telling you about?"

"O... Oh... OH KITTY, I'm so sorry!" She sees the knife in her hands still pointing at Kitty, who she now recognizes to be a human female in pink fluffy furs furs and throws it on the counter.

"Nice to... meet you, I'm Kitty," She does a little show off dance and offers Kyoko her hand, "Naki has told me so much about you and your famous cooking, I can't wait to try some!"

Kyoko inspects her hand to see if there are any hidden weapons and focuses especially on her ring finger, which has a ring large enough that it could definately be considered a weapon. For a long time Kitty's hand remains suspended in mid-air.

"Kyo..." She looks at him quizically and he gestures at Kitty's extended hand "Are you going to shake her hand, Kyo?"

"O... Oh!" She finally realizes what she is supposed to do and takes her hand and shakes, both in a jovial manner.

"Naki, your sister is quite charming, it is nice to meet you, Kyoko."

"A... and you too... Kitty. It's nice to meet you!"

"I can't wait for breakfast, Naki it smells so good already!"

Kyoko looks intently at Kitty, wondering if she is going to grow fangs again and when she can see her eyes twinkle she swears she can see her fangs start to grow.

"Kyo, can you make Kitty some breakfast as well, we were just going to... be in my room."

Before she has time to respond, He and his girlfriend vanish into the inner sanctum. She does not protest cooking for another person, especially since Naki seems to favor the girl so well, and without another thought she prepares double ingriedients of waffles for their guest.

Outside, the sky begins to darken as the rains begin to fall, a soft drizzle at first for a couple of hours, and giving Kyoko time to finish for a now famished Naki and Kitty. Kyoko has set the table as Naki and Kitty enter the kitchen engulphed in one another, but aside from the attack this morning, she is merely nibbling on his neck. He moves the chair and offers her to sit down, which she does with a smile and a 'thank you.' Naki sits down and Kyoko serves up the waffles with some strawberries and whipped cream, which of course she mad herself, though she wouldn't admit it. Everyone is starting to eat when they hear a loud crack and the ground begins to shake. Kitty and Kyoko let out a scream, and now just outside the window they can see the rain pouring in buckets, and the sky dark as if it were night time.

"That's it, we're done for!" Says the boy, laughing histerically at the two disheveled girls before him. "You guys must have strong skin, because any louder and both of you would have been flying towards heaven by now."

Lightening strikes again, this time closer than before and indeed louder, but each of them knew to expect it again and were not nearly as startled. A second later the power goes out, endarkening them within the kitchen.

"Hey!" cries Kitty, "but I haven't even gotten a chance to eat my waffles, and now I can't see them!"

"Wait here, I'll get my flashlight." He runs off intothe darkness, seconds later there is a loud thud, "Ouch!" there is more fumbling, followed by the slam of a door, the foot steps get louder and suddenly there is light shining on the table, "There you go, love, just for you." He leans in close for a deep kiss and then shines the light under her blouse, "Wow, those are nice!"

"Give me that!" Kitty grabs the light and light-heartedly shoves him away." Thank you Kina!"

The phone rings, giving them each a shock, the power is off so how is the phone ringing? It rings three times before Kyoko answers. "S-Shira residence."

A female voice answers which Kyoko immediatly recognizes as Mother's. "Kyoko don't be alarmed, your father has been injured and we are at the hospital now, tell your brother he is in charge, do as he says, we will not be macking at back for a few weeks. And do not go anywhere out in the storm, do you hear me?"

"Y-yes mother. I-I understand. But father, i-is he okay?"

"Kyo don't worry about your father, he will be alright, but I need you to hand the phone to your brother."

"Y-yes..." she clutches the phone close to her ear, not wanting to give it up so quickly.

"Kyo let me talk to her..." nhe reaches out his hand and then after seeing her reaction moves in closer, "Kyo, it's alright, let me talk to mom." He hugs her around the shoulder and gently takes the phone from her hand. "Mom? - Yes mom. Yes, Kitty's here - Yes, right away, we'll move fast. Right." He hangs up the phone and puts it back on the reciever. "Kyo, Kitty, you have to listen to me, we need to get to a safe place, quick, do you understand? Do not panic."

"Wha- what's going on? Naki, you heard, about Father?"

"Naki, what's going on?"

"There is some one coming, we have to get to a safe place-" there is a knock on the door followed by a flash of lightning, and there is silouette of human figure at the door. "Quickly! This way! My room, quick!" He grabs Kyoko by the hand and ushers Ktiiy to follow, they both comply and quickly head to Naki's room and shut the door. "Help me move this bed! They all push the bed toward the window opposite the door and then pull the carpet panel off, revealing a coded lock securing a hatch large enough for each of them to fit through. He keys in the code and the hatch opens, reveling a ladder. "Kyo, you first, hurry!" she steps down, letting out a muffled cry, once she gets far enough he calls to Kitty "You next, Kitty I love you," he gives her a quick kiss and sends her off. She is about half way down the hatch when the plates shutter in the kitchen. "Hurry!" As soon as she makes it all the way past the hatch door he closes it. He hears the muffled yells of Kitty but he has to secured the door. From then ladder, Kitty and Kyo can hear the loud fumblings of what sounds like a struggle. Suddenly the hatch flys open and now there are foot falls on the ladder followed by the sound of the hatch closing. Panicked, Kyoko and Kitty keep climbing down, finally after several minutes, Kyoko reaches the bottom, the chamber echoes as it is several meters wide, she hold on to the rail, not able to see a thing, but standing on a solid surface. Kitty reaches the bottom as well, followed by a light source, Nika, who reaches the bottom several moments later.

"Thanks for the light back, Kitty. Now let's get to the control panel and turn on the generator."

One thing about this room is that it is huge, several meters turn into several turn into several hundred meters when Naki shines the light through it.

"Stop. Here it is." Naki flips the switch.

From deep within an alarm sounds followed by a flash of light. A massive explosian rocks the surface, sending debris in every direction. The ground begins to shake badly and dust and dirt from the ceiling collapse all throughout the compound. Naki grabs the two girls and covers them with his body as a large metal panel falls on their position, but Naki breaks its fall, pinning himself against the two to the floor, and on the moniter screen they can see it, a nuclear explosian, just above them, seen live from a satellite feed, right on their hometown, right on Norishiba High School, everything is obliterated. To all know knowledge Naki, Kitty, and Kyoko, are the only ones left alive.

End Transmission. Chapter One.

Chapter 2: Songs of the Dead

A thousand screams are silent. One voice echoes throughout the metal halls, merely meters beneath the ground. There is no hope nor healing. All is quiet in the night. My heart hurts. Every day I feel the pain, no words will come to heal me. The cancerous, leprous fields are full of vile twisting thorns. And none but God can undo, uproot, weed out these poisons.

There is rubble everywhere. Naki is squashed between Kitty and Kyoko and a large, heavy ceiling panel. not too heavy, because with one push from the three together they shove it to the side. Kyoko and Kitty stand up to dust themselves off while Naki stays sitting down. He rubs his head until Kyoko realizes what has happened. "Naki are you alright?" She examines his head and sees blood, "You're bleeding!" she takes off her shirt and rips off her sleeve and begins to tie it around his chin.

Kitty shakes her head in an attempt to rid her self of her disorientation. "Naki where are we?"

"Kitty, don't you see Naki is hurt?"

"My back." Naki winces in pain and Kitty finally realizes what he is getting at.

"I'm coming baby!" she reaches for his shirt and rips it off, nearly fainting at the sight of all the blood dripping from a gash about eight inches long starting just above his right shoulder blade and extending towards his spinal column. "Kyoko look! Hand me another peice of your shirt!"

She rips off another peice and hands it to her. Kitty it seems, is just as clever at patching up wounds. After awhile Kyoko asks, "Naki, why are we here?"

"I don't know, Kyo, sometimes we have a greater purpose, sometimes we just have to figure things out on our own. It's like what mom says 'Go and clean up your room.' I guess my room was really messy."

"Naki you're crazy. What do you mean by that anyway?"

"Kitty, it's like this: we're here, because our mother told us to go here, and now that we're here we realize it was the best move because everything above us is now destroyed."

"But how did it happen? Where did the bomb come from?"

"I don't know, but Mom, that's why she warned us. And she asked for you by name, so she knew who all she was saving."

"So what is this place, Naki?"

"It's a bunker for situations like this, I bet you were surprised we've been living on it the whole time, and that the hatch was in my room, Mom and Dad told me to keep it a secret from you."

"Why now? Where did that bomb come from anyway?"

"Kyoko, you're special, and there are certain people that want the power that you posses. But there are some people who would rather see you destroyed than be put in the hands of the wrong person. They would even go so far as to wipe out the entire city that you are living in. And judging by the pain in my shoulder they have done just that. But we were smarter than they, and here we are."

"I'm… special?"

"Kyo, of course you are!"

"But what can… what can I d-do?"

"Isn't it obvious? You patched my head up didn't you?"

"I d-did"

"You did, Kyo, and I must say I thin my head is gonna heal up even better than it was before!"

"Y-you really think so? But I-I didn't do anything really special."

"Kyo, you're my little sister, so it doesn't matter what kind of special powers you have. To me, you're always special."

"Thanks Naki, I-I think you're special too!"

Kitty's pacing stops, as she listens to Naki and Kyoko warming up to one another, after several years apart, who wouldn't want that chance at sibling intimacy? Instead of butting in on their relationship, she decides to do a little exploring. The bunker is huge, at least six meters high and several hundred meters in either direction. It doesn't take long, however, to realize that the bunker was built to house a lot of people, if that is what its main purpose was for. Nothing of extraordinary interest makes itself known visibly. She distinctly remembers the flash of light and the image of a nuclear blast on a screen, but there is nothing to indicate such technology. There are endless columns spaced evenly every ten meters, the lights above are spaced cross-even with the columns. The presence of footsteps startle her.

"Kitty what are you doing?"

"Naki, don't sneak up on me like that, what were you thinking?"

"There's a secret panel over this way, it'll lead lower down into the main facility. If you're interested, we could be alone for awhile, Kyoko's heading there as we speak and I've instructed her how to access the control panel."

"Well then by all means, let's be alone."

As they are leaning in for a kiss a loud noise stops them and starts humming. "It appears Kyo has found the control panel. Let's go, shall we?"

It is a giant elevator leading further underground. So much further that Kyoko lost count at how many lights they'd passed. So far that several hours had passed until finally they entered into the clearing. The molten expanse before them melted their hearts and the crystal structures echoed to one another, resonating a song of deep fury. the heat filled their nostrils and the smell of sulphur baffled their minds. What baffled them most was how their hair nor their clothes were singed, as if there were some invisible force protecting them. Soon the smell drifted away, and slowly the air around them began to cool, until it remained constant at a comfortable temperature.

"Wow what's happening?"

"Kitty, it's… the crystals."

"N-no I-I think it's me. My body it's… it's resonating, I-I could feel it on the way down. right h-here, on my heart. I-I'm keeping us safe!"

"I know you are, Kyo, I've known all along. This is why I brought you here, this is the only place we can be safe for now."

"By the way, Naki, don't lie to me again. I forgive you this time." She looks him in the eye and he smirks.

"Who, me? Besides, I was going to tell you the truth anyway."

"It's okay, baby, I love you." She watches him come over as he swoops her in his arms and gives her a passionate kiss… all in front of a disturbed Kyoko.

"Naki!" she gasps "Are-are you okay?"

"Oh come on, Kyo, it's not like we're singing songs of the dead yet."

Chapter 3: Press Play for Power

"The sea, a calm, cool breeze. The echoing of sounds on the rock face, the roar of the passing waves. The cool morning mists carrying the long forlorn incense of time beyond time, memories of old lords of the earth shifting salt waves wafting through the trees above and green green grass beneath. A lost boat drifts across the swell as sea-barnacles cling to salt-smelted oars and shining bait-buckets. This boat drifts endlessly atop ebbs and flows, fulfilling its God-given mission across the earth. There is no one to see it here, no one to mourn the passage of a friendly traveller long-forgotten: on the shore by the rock face covered in moss and sea-barnacles.

"Amidst the boat with oars and the smell of sea-salt, sleeping under a blanket is a boy no more than twelve. None knows where comes this boy nor no one near to know. If no man can own an island, then whose island shall this be? A boy of eight, a boy of four, how long has this boy been? How long till he finds where? In the midst of rocks and salt water and sea barnacles this boy has found one solace, one sleeples slumber long-remembered but long-forgot. Alone in the darkness of night the man's beast howls. How furious and forlorn! An island fit for one boy such shall never feel man's beastly fury. And the full-moon that shines asbright as day shall overcome man's wickedness.

"I claim to tell no tale of lies but burgeoning with only truth. I am the boy so long forgotten, but now remembered. I speak, and with me to end all that will be.

"A winter's chill sets, in this time of long ago, this same boy sitting by the fires of his house where he dwelled since time immemorial. Asleep of course and warm, covered in furs of felled forest creatures. The scent of pine strong and soot and flame. The winter-crafted interior kept warm from the fierciest cold man can bear. And here the boy lies snoozing and sweltering. Nothing stirs him, nothing shakes him until a fateful day comes knocking in the night. This boy it would take not one but three knocks on his door for him to wake. How long it was for him to make it to the door, to answer that which fate sends him in the dead-cold of night. One. Two. Three times knocked and the boy answers. 'Who is it, at this hour?'

"'It is I.' a lustrous voice befitting ten-thousand queens"

"'A girl, I am enchanted by your beloved song-chords. Why have you bothered me?'"

"'I am cold.' the girl says. 'Let me in.'"

"'This girl wishes in and away from the cold. I shall be obliged, dear girl, to offer warmth and flame to your heart, please come in and we will sing songs of the dead and the living.'"

"'You are kind, dear boy.' she says to him. 'And very brave.'"

"And the boy and the girl sit by the fire singing songs of long ago, when the earth was young and the fires raised high in the night. Soon the weeping eyes of children sends them each to silent slumber shoulder to shoulder and head to head, on by the fire they rest renewing his heart renewing her heart together until the morning awakens."

Deep in the cold night, Itoki Norishiba, subtle and dark, waits beneath the stars. the snow beneath his feet is soft and still falling, slowly accumulating by his side and across his lap, engulphing him in a sheath of white powder. He is sitting on a rock, smooth as the ice that covers it. His breath is steady and his eyes are alert, searching in the dark. Slowly he moves his hands to his chest pocket, pulling out a small oval-shaped stone, examines it, and rolls the stone through his fingers. The stone emits a soft violet glow, barely perceptible beneath the trees and the cover of night. He places it back in his pocket.

The snow has stopped and the last chill wind blows through. The eyes of Itoki focus forward, alerted by a lone apparition.

The apparition speaks, "I can see you here, you know. Do you think you are hidden from me, Itoki Norishiba."

Itoki does not say a word, intent, alert.

"You think your silence will sway me? what is the matter, you can't speak?"

Not a word from Itoki.

"Go ahead, be silent. Focus! Be patient. you will get what you desire."

Itoki jumps to his feet, withdrawing the stone from his chest pocket, vanishing instantly. Miles away, he reappears on a lonely road as a single carriage passes by. Pulled by four horses and making a loud racket. As soon as it is in range and under cover of trees, he grasps a hold of the final railing and pulls himself up and over and covers himself with a blanket.

"Whoa! Wintersononata, calm down." The carriage driver steadys his fore front horse, unaware of an extra passenger.

"Itoki, you're late, what kept you?" the girl who speaks with him removes his blanket.

"Korani, what are you doing?" He whispers furiously.

"You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago."

"I was detained, the stone had a mind of its own."

"The stone does not have a mind of its own, you have to control it."

"I did, I felt calm, focused."

"And now, you're drifting, do you know how I know?"

"Korani, keep your voice down. He'll hear you talking."

"Itoki I know you're drifting because you're talking. It is why you were delayed. Now be silent."

"Whoa! Wintersonata, whoa! Easy girl."

The two travel in silence, Itoki again beneath the blanket. After about an hour the carriage driver halts his horses. In that hour Itoki had managed to doze off, and was reprimanded by a swift kick in the side.

Instantly he became alert, remembering the details of his mission. We're here. Itoki, time to go."

He pulls out the stone, which is shining brighter than before and cuffs it in his right palm, he closes his eyes and in an instant he vanishes. He reappears deep inside the mansion, as close as he can get to his target. Once inside he immediately finds the nearest closet, situated near an extremely valuable vase. The candles in this room have been dimmed for night-time affairs of which the master of the house was about, and soon after hiding, the door to the larger room is opened and in he comes, with a cup of tea and a candle of his own. As Itoki watches, the man mumbles something to his desk and it comes alive with all sorts of brass gadgets moving on their own, buzzing and squeaking. He begins to dictate to his desk and something like a ball-point pen and a peice of yellow parchment are picked up and placed upon the desk and automatically the pen begins to write down every word uttered.

Itoki can make out bits and peices of what he says and listens carefully. "- of all my studies, the boy has been most helpful of demonstrating his abilities- the scientific implications are phenomenal, and with just one finger! The genious bestowed upon us can only be characterized as a gift from some cosmic power based upon the very laws of meta-physics- astonishing! I must admit I am delighted at our current progress and therefore declare that the Extra-Human Ability Project be moved to the second stage of testing and research. Signed: Lord Richard Edward Thomas PHD."

The brass ball-point pen stops moving and places itself flat on the desk and the brass arm holding the parchment hands it to the doctor. He takes the parchment and looks over it, examining it with a magnifying glass.

Itoki uses his moment to step out beyond the closet door. He speaks while undercover of shadows. "Doctor Thomas, it is a pleasure to meet you."

The gadgets about his desk immediately revert to normal, disappearing into deceptive obscurity. "Who's there?" the doctor implores.

Itoki steps into the dim candle light, revealing his dark and handsome facial features. "Who else, doctor, it's me."

"I don't recognize you. Who are you? Are you that new servant of mine? That must be it, they did say you would be getting in late today. What are you doing in my private study and why haven't you checked in with Anlon, all new servants are to report to the head Butler upon arrival. Well then, hop to it, down stairs with you."

"Doctor Thomas." Dispelling all arguments from the doctor.

"The way you say that name is so familiar." The doctor straightens up his posture, throwing back his shoulders. You're not one of my servants are you. Yet I know who you are, come closer, into the light."

Itoki moves forward, fully revealing his form in the candle light..

"Itoki? but how can this be? You're... older, and even handsome. How have you done this? Have your abilities... gotten stronger." He reaches out, touching his palm to Itoki's face. "So what was it you developed? Rapid growth? Teleportation- time travel? I- I have to admit I wasn't expecting- here, come you must be hungry I'll have my servants make you some dinner, we can talk in the dining hall."

"Doctor, that won't be necessary."

"Tea then, in here, we have much to discuss."

"Doctor, that really won't be necessary-"

"Oh then come I have a little something I want to show you, in comemoration of such an event and your outstanding progress."

"Doctor I have come to you from another dimension."

"Inter-dimensional travel! Now that's a new one, how did you manage to pull that one off with a stable portal? Do you have a device, an amplifier, you must have found a way across this way. Am I right?"

"Please, it is true that we use an amplinode, it keeps the portal stable just as you said, but we need your help, we can no longer get back to our own dimension."

"We? You mean there is another one of you out there? Oh the implications would be astonishing!"

"She's a girl, and she doesn't exist in this dimension, because she was killed by us, Doctor, she died because we got lost in this dimension! Help us, please."

"Oh dear, that is just dreadful, well then tell me how it happened. Was it something to do with the amplinode? Do you have it, or was it destroyed as well?"

"It's right here." Itoki pulls the stone from his breast sleeve pocket from within his coat. The stone is black without the intent of use, He hands it to the doctor."

"By George, where did you get this? Wait a minute, this is mine, how did you-"

"You gave it to me, doctor."

"But how can that be, I have it right here." He gives a command to the desk and the whole desk transforms, becoming sleek and compact, revealing a safe. the doctor inputs the combination on the spin-dial until it clicks and opens, he pulls out the bottom tray and removes the black silk lining, revealing an identical black opal. He examines the two, putting them together under his brass magnifying glass.

"Remarkable, these two stones are identical in every possible way, and you say I gave it to you? Tell me, was the other me just as charming and remarkable as I?"

"Unfortunately, Doctor, soon after giving this stone to me, well let's just say you vanished from all existence. Until now, where we find you here."

"And you need me to right some wrongs in the cosmic meta-physical multi-verse. Sounds about right, doesn't it? You know, there was a strange coincedence involving your beginning stay here in this facility, somehow I believe by adressing these coincedences we shall be all the more closer at solving your riddle. And your friend, I'm sure she's close is she not? Oh and here's your stone back, I'll be putting my original stone back in the safe.

From behind the door there is a loud humming followed by a loud pop and a gush of air. "Actually, I'll be taking that stone, thank you." Korani bumps into the doctor, taking his stone and vanishing out of sight.

"Well that was unexpected. Your friend I suspect? Itoki, don't tell me, you were in on this as well? I had hoped your manners would have changed by the time you were older, but if you feel this is the correct course of action, consider my second stone a gift to you as well."

"You're not mad?"

"Itoki, there are things about this universe that neither you nor I can begin to comprehend. I had hoped to give you that stone on your twelveth birthday, just as I assume the other me had done with you."

"I promise you doctor, if we can bring back Nikora to your world, it will be well worth it."

"Itoki, I think you are being misguided, for some reason you seemed just as surprised as I was by your friend's thievery. Either you agreed to steal the stone yourself and upon seeing me changed your sentiment, or you came here precisely to see me and your friend got impatient and decided to take the stone now. Either way it is remarkable and delightful to finally meet another like you."

"At any rate, Doctor, I am going to catch her."

"Then, it is my turn to say farewell."

"Doctor, it's not that simple, you're going with me." Itoki takes the stone from his breast-pocket. The stone shines an intense violet as he reaches for the doctor's hand. Immediately upon touching they both vanish.

In their place, a man dressed in all black appears. He gives a command to the desk and the brass arms and gizmos come alive, revealing a lone parchmetn signed: Lord Richard Thomas man picks up the parchment and calmly places it in his black satchel, pulling out an identical parchment. He puts it on the desk and gives a command, the brass gadgets pick up the parchment and close down, becoming an average desk once more. A glimmer over the man's face reveal a ball of light. He speaks into it, "We have it." And he too vanishes.

The parchment on the desk reads:

Instructions for desk:

Press play for power.

-Doctor Richard Thomas

Chapter 4: Our Father

If there was ever a time for Kitty to feel awkward, this is it. "Um, Naki, I really have to pee."

"I-I guess I can lower the shield for you and y-you can go behind that crystal."

"Good thinking, Kyo, that would be a great idea."

"Naki, we're surrounded by lava, if Kyo lowers her shield we'll be dead in two minutes. But I have to pee so bad."

"I-I can go with you, the shield surrounds me." Kyoko speaks, and begins to dance a little, "I-I have to go too."

"Then what am I going to do?"

"Naki, you can come too, if you turn around. What has gotten into you, have you lost your brains in this heat?"

"Of course that's what I'll do, that's what I said."

"Don't deny it, you wanted another peek at me didn't you."

"You got it!"

"Thought so, but this time Kina, you'll have to turn around because me and Kyoko will be doing it. Come on Kyo, let's go!"

"Wh-what was that? Wh-what do you mean?"

"Come on Kyo, I know it's your darkest fantasy."

"O-okay— I-I mean I have to pee. Let's hurry!"

The three of them walk over to the large crystal. Kyoko and Kitty head in first, followed by Naki, who is abruptly stopped by Kitty. "Seriously Kina, it's your sister beyond this point. But I might let you sneak a peak when it's my turn." she winks at him and smiles seductively. She turna around, "Kyo, wait for me!"

"K-Kitty I-I'm busy just a minute!"

Finished, Kyoko, Kitty, and Naki are together again.

"Just one problem, we have no food or water and I doubt we will find anything here in this heat. And the lift will take hours to reach the bunker again."

"Oh! I know where some water is!"

"Kitty that is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard from you. Your speaking priviledges have been revoked for five minutes."

"B-besides, K-Kitty, i-isn't it dried up already? I-I saw mine evaporate as soon as it hit the ground."

"Kyoko! You too, I never knew you had a dirty mouth!"

"W-What did I say?" Kyoko begins to pout, just the nerve of being punished by her own brother.

"Oh, Naki, don't even get me started." Says, Kitty, refusing to be punished by her boyfriend. "Besides, we're getting married soon, are you ready for me to put you on a ball and chain?"

"I could get used to it."

"At least you've admitted we're not the only ones deserving of punishment. you speaking to me is proof enough."

At that the ground begins to shake ever so slightly, and a small wave of magma can be seen moving deep in the crevice.

"W-Why are we here, Naki?"

"I don't know, Kyo. We're waiting for… something, a way out or something like that, something to keep us on our feet."

"I think I get it." says Kitty aloud. "I just know we are supposed to wait for a giant robot to come and rescue us. It's the only logical explaination."

Once again there is awkward silence. "What? No one has a rebuttle to my statement of pure logic?"

"It's true, Kitty. It's been the instructions given to me by my father and mother since I was very little. not only are we to be rescued by a giant robot, but also we are to be sent into outer space to colonize the nearest habitable planet.

"Illogical, Kani, there are only three of us, and one of them is your sister."

"See, Kitty, that's where you're wrong. All I need is you."

"And you have me, Kani." they lean in close for a passionate kiss. Gradually and gradually the temperature begins to rise, almost to the point of becoming steamy.

"Um, N-Naki? I-I'm getting tired. I-I think it's getting harder to hold onto this shield for very long."

"Here, hold on to me and sleep, I can help keep the shield up."

"A-are you sure you can help me?"

"I'm sure Kyo, count on me."

"I'll help too!"

Together they each hold on to Kyoko, giving her their strength while she sleeps between their intertwined arms.

"Kyoko," whispers Naki "Isn't it beautiful seeing all of these geodes and crystals so deep beneath the earth and seeming to be as high as the sky."

"The reflection looks like firery stars in the night sky. It's like I can almost see you and Kitty up there, and you have children. Three boys and a girl, and the girl has your eyes, and the boys each have Kitty's bright green eyes. A-and there's you with red and orange eyes."

"Kyo, it's good to be home."

"Kitty says that one looks like Kyo Kyo!"

Naki almost laughs until he notices Kyo has closed her eyes, leaning her head on his shoulder and breathing very slowly. Sound asleep. He becomes alert, determined to keep her shield steady and he thinks to himself. 'I hope father is okay.'

"Naki," whispers Kitty. "Tell me about your parents."

"I actually haven't been around them that much. They sent me half-way across the world when I was very little. I lived with my foster parents in Japan until I was five, who then sent me to Moscow to live with my second pair of foster parents. I remember Russia the most, we visited Saint Petersburg so many times. I almost carved my name into one of their benches, actually I did, but then the authorities caught me, my parents beat me so hard I still think I have a bruise on my butt. When I was ten my Russian parents told me about the birth of Kyoko, but that I should be more concerned about my schoolwork. I passed all my classes, but I couldn't stop thinking about my baby sister. When I was thirteen I discovered hidden letters in Ivan's closet (He was my Russian dad). the letters were adressed to Naki Shira, that's me! I had thought, when I opened them there were literally hundreds of pictures of baby Kyoko, and growing up to three years old. I was so mad at Ivan I didn't speak to him for a week. Only when he refused to feed me that I finally apologized for my behavior. When I was fifteen and just about to enter a prestigious Russian high school, I recieved word that my biological parents were to meet me at the airport to fly back to original home in Virginia Beach. They didn't show up. Instead, Ivan and Veronica urged me to get on the plane anyway. I wasn't mad though, and I didn't ask many questions either. I had heard a lot about America and was excited I'd finally get to go. So I get to America and this man in a black suit meets me. He tells me he works for my parents and that he is going to take me home. At this everything gets kind of fuzzy, like I dreamed it, you know. There was a lot of yelling and suddenly I couldn't hear anything. I felt someone grab my arm, and moments later I'm thrown into the back of a car, and then the car starts to fly! It's weird because I remember everything outside the car melting into twisting miasma. I begin to scream when I realize my arms and legs are melting too, and they were sticking to the car fur'niture like glue. It turns out my real parents were Ivan and Veronica all along, and they were the ones who threw me into the back of the car, which turned out to be a flying robot. Truth is stranger than fiction. I finally got to meet Kyoko, wouldn't you be surprised to find out she was adopted. Turns out it was all a ruse to keep me safe. But there was something about Kyoko, a deep connection I never knew I could have. We became best friends in the few years we had with each other. I got into trouble a lot in the Virginia High school I attended, but I learned English quick enough. All for nothing it seemed when mom and dad sent me back to Moscow just before graduation. Mom stayed in Virginia to tend to Kyoko and Dad came with me to Russia, we didn't see each other much though, he would be gone for months on end. I was sixteen at the time. He had me stay in the house and continue to go to school while he was away, he gave me an allowance, just enough to cover food and supplies. Sometimes he would come home so haggered he would look like death. It wasn't until I finally graduated high school in Russia two years later that I got to visit my mother and Kyoko again."

"Naki?" Kitty whispers. She looks at him and Kyoko, both sound asleep. "I guess it's up to me to keep the shield up. It's easier than I thought it would be."

The ground and the atmosphere around them settle down. Yet still there is an unease lingering just beyond the foundation of the shield. Kitty looks around her, wondering what it might be and she remembers something from her past. A faint glimpse of the father she never knew. for some reason Naki's story stirred something within her, a memory of him, her father, keeping her safe from unknown evil, guarding her with his life. Just like Kyoko and Naki are doing, with her help of course. He is smiling, telling her she is going to be safe. The thought puts her right to sleep with her thumb stuck in her mouth.

They all wake up when the ground begins to shake. the shield has held up, but under the violent shaking, the shield begins to falter. Behind them, the lift powers on revealing very powerful lights and arcing electric currents. All three of them hurry to the lift, as it is just beginning to rise. A faint glimmer appears, the lights falter for just a microsecond. Naki reaches for the control panel and opens it. "Kitty, Kyo, hold on to me and focus your energy upwards, we're about to be moving very fast."

"I-I will!"

"Yes, Kani."

"I love you, Kitty." He presses the red button and the emergency thrusters activate a microsecond later after a shrill warning sound. The three of them focus upward to relieve the inertial tension of the lift. Twenty minutes later they reach the surface and are launched into the sky. Above them, across the horizon they see it, a blip in the distance followed by a deafening noise. Suddenly a giant hand swoops them up, holding tightly. The hand is metallic. Inside the palm a door opens, leading to a corridor. The girl who opens the door grabs them and pulls them inside.

The corridor is just large enough to crawl through. The girl who grabbed them is now holding a gun to each of them.

"Just keep crawling until you reach the interior." Since Kyoko is the nearest one to her, she got to face down the gun at close range. she gasped and nearly burst into tears at the sight of the cold metal. An energy surge erupts throughout the corridor emanating from Kyoko. Then there is a sense of freefall as everyone begins to float towards the middle, then suddenly they each hit the roof, the hand they are crawling in is falling. Naki grabs a hold of Kyoko's leg and steadys her. The problem rights itself as they are each subject to normal gravity again.

"Bad idea, girl, you don't want to point that gun at my sister again."

"It doesn't matter, keep climbing and get inside."

They do as she says and keep climbing without incident. It's not long before the reach the cockpit, which is surprisingly roomy considering there are four people.

"Joeseph, get strapped in, we're moving to France."

"Joeseph? Who are you and where did you get that name?"

"I still have a gun, remember, and you don't, so get strapped in and do as I say. The rest of you, Kitty, Shira, you're with me. Use your ability and focus your power on the control panel."

"Right on it, sparky!"

"I knew I could count on you, Kitty. Shira I need you to do the same.

"I-I-"

"Do it now or I'll jettison you out into the radioactive waste land below!"

"Kyo, do as she says, it'll be okay, I'm with you up here, remember."

"I-I- o-okay." She focuses her energy intensley, But she can't control it, and the energy becomes chaotic, soon, an oval appears all around her, encompassing her in violet light. She starts to cry as she remembers what happened to her father, an intense light, shielding her from destruction, or was it Ivan her father, or her parents from Japan, she can't remember but she remember each as if they were own, and then suddenly she can't contain what's inside her, trapped and unable to move. She let's out a scream. The whole cabin begins to melt away, and the face of the girl with the gun appears and melts away. And then her Father appears.

"Kyo, you're safe now, no one is going to hurt you. You're with me. Don't be afraid." The deep, gentle voice soothes her aching heart. "Kyo, I need you to stay awake for me, there are still things I want to show you. If you ever get lost, listen to me, I'll lead you in the right direction. For now, look what I have for yuu." He holds out his hand, but she can't see what's in it. "Come with me, Kyo. Here is my hand." she reaches up as if to take hold, but half way she withdraws.

"Who are you?"

"Kyo, I am your father, and you are my daughter, the beutiful Kyoko Shira, you were born with that name on the tip of your mother's lips."

"Oh, Father! I love you!"

"Oh hoh hoh, I love you, Kyo, you are my greatest joy, my only child. Kyo, I will never leave. you. And so where I guide you, you must never stary from its path. Be brave, Kyoko Shira." Whith that, the image of light fades into blackness. when she awakens from unconsciousness, Kitty, Naki, and the girl with the gun are nowhere to be found. Instead, she is surrounded by pews, and a massive cathedral above her. There are people surrounding her and a man in a robe flinging water on her, speaking in a language she could not understand. He then speaks to one of the other men surrounding her and he leaves immediately. The man in the robe starts to speak to her. The other men have propped her up. She can't understand anything he says, all she can do is look at him, perplexed. The man returns with a pillow, a towel, and a glass of water, and urges her to take the water for a drink. she takes a sip from the glass. when she looks into the face of the man with the robe she recognizes him instantly as having been the man from her dreams.

"Father!"

The man looks down at her, thoroughly confused. Finally the man picks her up by the hand just to be attacked by a hug from the girl. The man accepts the hug, but then grabs her by the shoulders and gently holds her at arm's length, getting a good look at the fourteen year old girl's form with his eyes and cheeck bones, like looking into a mirror. At a loss as how to explain how a vow of celibacy for thirty years resulted in a remarkable resemblence of progeny fourteen years in the making.

The congregation has become curious and louder. One of the deacons begin to adress the crowd, followed by more murmurings and sideways glances. The man with the robe looks decided, motioning the girl to follow him. They leave the pulpit and the main cathedral. The man holds her hand, leading very quickly, determined to reach his destination, and without realizing it has begun to squeeze the girl's arm so tight that she begins to squirm. He looks at her grimacing, realizing what he had been doing and lets go. He knocks on the door in which they have arrived. the door opens and an older woman with a dress and a head-covering answers. The woman with glasses is only an ear taller than the girl, and is surprised to see such a familiar face at her height, she is so delighted by the girl that she seems to forget there is a man standing behind her, and when he makes a noise she nearly jumps three inches off the ground and gasps as if seeing the man's twin right in front of her. This twin however, having long black hair and a female figure. In nearly every aspect the two are identical, the same shade of black, given a few gray hairs. The same emerald green eyes, the same cheeck bones and even the same smile, which she happily discovers. Her nose and ears are what set them apart, but only slightly.

The woman pushes the two out. The man then beckons for her to follow him. They walk down the dim, candle-lit hallway until they reach a wooden door, the man opens the door and ushers her inside, when she follows him inside, he shuts the door behind them and motions for her to sit on the wooden chair by the bed. He begins to speak with her, only to find her facial expression perplexed by his words. He tries something simpler. Holding his hand to his heart "Michael."

Finally understanding, she does the same, but the words do not come as tears begin to fill her eyes.

Chapter 5: Grinning With Tears

Seeing the girl brought back many memories for Michael. Thirty years of celibacy and a devoted life to christianity could not have prepared him for this. A girl suddenly appearing out of nowhere in the middle of a sermon with so many witnesses. The last thing he expected was that the congregation would be looking more at him than at the girl. The stares he got from his closest friends is what got him the most. The most astonishing thing to him though, he found that he did not care what everyone else could have been thinking. The girl was naked after all, and she certainly did not understand the common language. And of the one thing she did say, she directed at him. What does 'Father' mean anyway. Whatever it meant, it produced a powerful longing unlike he had ever felt before. Mother Minea, bless her heart, she nearly fainted at the sight of her. She simply would not see the girl nor him, not until he sat down alone with the girl. When he finally did get to talk with her, the girl was not able to speak. She could only cry. And… not knowing what to do, I did the only thing I knew how to do… I sat down next to her and gave her a shoulder to cry on.

It wasn't long before she was grinning. Just grinning and happy, and when she looked into my eyes with her eyes swollen and her face puffy, I could not help crying myself. she was so happy and it made me glad. I held her head with my hands and wiped away her tears with my thumbs. Her hair was in her face so I moved them aside as well and kissed her forehead.

Since that day she has stayed with us in the cathedral. Mother Minea still has refused to talk to her, and not willing to give infromation why. I've respected her wishes, but seeing as we all live together, it's bound to happen that the two are going to bump into each other.

As for the girl, she still hasn't been able to say a word. Some of the boys attend cathedral on weekends have gotten into the habit of calling her Saint, because of her somewhat angelic appearance. Sometimes when she has been in the gardens tending the plants, the boys report seeing an angel watching over her. I quickly offer rebuttle saying it must be the sunlight shining through the trees, but they refuse to listen.

I'm going out to check on her. She's in the garden again. She seems sad today, maybe because it is misty and dreary out today. She has found a cool spot of grass to sit upon and I join her to see what she is up to. As usual she cannot speak, so she is pointing at the ground a few hands away. It's a yellow flower and a bee. she is frowning, and she shows me her foot. It is swollen and red with a tiny puncture wound in the center. Judging by experience I recognize instantly that this is a bee sting. I waste no time in swooping up the injured victim into my arms to carry her inside. Lightning strikes and the rain begins to pour as soon as I shut the door. Mother Minea of all people is there to greet me with a wet towel and aloe vera paste and places the cold towel around it and props it on a pillow. I am about to leave the room when she stands in my way and pulls up a chair next to the girl's bed. She leaves the room, entering moments later with a pitcher of hot tea and two glasses, which she gives to me and the girl and fills them. Once she is done she leaves the two of them alone.

I am overcome with a sense of guilt. It has been several weeks since I met the girl and I don't even know her name, nor have I tried hard to ascertain what it could be.

"I'm Michael, what is your name?" When she doesn't answer, he tries a different tactic. "The boys call you Saint, do you… like that name? Shall I call you Saint?" even as he says it there is a certain revulsion to it. "What can I do? How can I get you to talk to me? Please, Miranda, don't leave me! Where am I going to go without you?" I couldn't help myself, the flood of memories came to me like a storm. The night she left there was a lightning storm just like this one. That happened so many years ago, but I had thought I'd come to terms with her death… and the pregnancy. Her and the baby had died in the same gruesome way at the hands of a pitiless murderer. That night there was no way to save them, the inflicted knife wounds were too many.

The tears would not stop, but for some reason I could hold it in, my baby girl is in pain and I have to comfort her. It was all he could do to call her White, like the light. It was his name for purity.

"White. You are my White, beautiful girl."

She grins a sheepish grin, showing all of her pearly teeth. she holds her hand to her breast. "White." she says, grinning from ear to ear, tears streaming down from her emerald green eyes.

Chapter 6: Building Walls Next to Bridges

"The bad guy, I once was: No longer. Stolen from me, from me, from time, a life precious as any stone, smooth. rock, dirt, engraving. He is still with me, there is freedom here. He is my brother, my big brother. And he is watching, protecting, exploring, feeling. He is the protagonist to my antagonism: White against Black. The ninja within me is Black and he, White. We are brothers, and waring clans, fighting for honor and justice. We are the original White ninja and Dark ninja. We step on buttons to transform, unkowningly pited against each other since time immemorial. Together we are Rainbow Man versus Fly Man."

"White Tiger Tea, it is what we are drinking."

"I did it."

"What did you do, Mr. Norishiba?"

"I detonated the nuclear bomb that killed everyone. It was murder."

"What make you so sure it was murder? Can you prove it?"

"I pressed the button that killed everyone, do you call that commiting murder?"

"Sure, you pressed the button, but was it really you who murdered everyone, destroying them bit by bit, decimating them into tiny unliving molecules?"

"Greater is he that is in me, than he that is in the world."

"I understand that, Mr. Norishiba, but answer the question."

"I acted with intent to murder an entire civilization. To preserve the time continuum."

"If you acted under a code of ethics, why call it murder?"

"Then in that case I acted to preserve the lives of others by setting an example."

"Then why not come out and say it, instead of arbitrarily calling it murder. You acted to preserve the lives of others by destroying an entire civilization."

"Itoki, what have you got there?"

"Geoff, this is a highly sophisticated recording. The date doesn't match up though. It is reading three hundred years into the future."

"What is it doing here then? Is it A fluke in the time-travel paradox?"

"More than likely that is the case, I haven't pushed any button lately."

"You pushed that red button the other day. Maybe that correlates with the appearance of the recording."

"According to the database cryptogram there are twenty-two seperate instances involving a convrsation with a Mr. Norishiba, all recorded at the same time interval. Four mention a nuclear explosian, twelve times a button is mentioned being pressed. Twenty times Mr. Norishiba confesses that it is murder. Sixteen times the second person mentions a second bomb. This last one is the only one that mentions preservation of the time continuum."

"Is there any mention of the other person's name? I bet this person is very important."

"He does mention a seperate control device on two occasions."

"Shimiya, come and take a look at this."

"What is it Geoff, what are we looking at."

"It's crazy, I'm in this recording talking to some guy I've never met, about other recordings supposedly coming from the future."

"You mean the past, that date reads Eighteen Twenty-two. And look here, three-hundred into the future. That's right now in twenty-one twenty-two, it seems we have three months until the bomb explodes, or something happens."

"What am I doing in eighteen twenty-two?

"Hey Geoff look, here's another one. It reads: "From James Roberts, July 29, 2012."

"It's blank, no wait look it's writing something."

"The Author"

"That's it? Where is the rest? Geoff, make it do something."

"It's easy encrypted bananas. Flying Elephant."

"You're just making stuff up. Bar Author."

"Hah! You too! We're not getting anywhere. Wanna do it? You and me traveling through time."

"You mean time travel? Let's go!"

"That's all, it won't write anymore."

"What do you think it means, can we really travel through time?"

"Of course we can, Geoff."

"I'll get my boots."

"Geoff, where are we?"

"We're here in the library, basement two."

"I suppose you know how to travel back in time then?"

"I'll get you a pair of boots too, and by boots I mean time traveller's shoes."

"Shimiya, I believe these have your name on them."

"Shimiya? Shimiya where did you go?"

"Geoff, stop! Don't put those on!"

"Shimiya? What happened to your eye? Are you okay?"

"I will be if you don't put those shoes on. There was a… malfunction, you didn't make it, Geoff, and the blast nearly… oh Geoff, I'm so glad to see you again!"

"When did you… put the shoes on? I never saw you put your shoes.."

"Geoff? And… wait, are you…"

"Shimiya."

"… there are two of you…

"Don't put those shoes on, me, unless you want to end up looking like this…"

"I'm so confused. Shimiya… what's going on?"

"I'm just as surprised to see her as you are, Geoff."

"There's only one problem. I can't get back to my original time."

"What exactly is your original time?"

"Geoff, I was just about to put my shoes on as soon as I could see you again, so I guess she would be from about twelve seconds in the future."

"So, Twelve, what happens in the past that brings you here? How did the boots malfunction?"

"Geoff, there is no reason for you to put those boots on, ever. I recommend you blow them up."

"So I guess you made it here, at least something has changed. Can you use our boots to send you back into your time?"

"Only if he fixes them, the configuration he has now would send us one-hundred-million years into the future."

"I guess I could dial down the shoe-lace input by a couple of holes."

"Too risky, the time matrix fluctuates."

"If the shoe fits."

"The shoe doesn't fit."

"Geoff, give me the shoes."

"Shimiya, what are you going to do? Don't put them on!"

"Twelve, cool it. I'm going to dismantle them completely, since you did come here to warn us I guess it is the least we can do."

"We can fix them. I can fix them, there is a controlled modulation device situated in the center of the shoe, if we tighten up the tongue it won't go wild."

"Twelve, if you were able, and we could fix the shoes, would you be saftly transported back to your time?"

"Who do you think made allof the recordings in the first place? My point is, I've already been to all of those time periods. Trust me, there is no possible way to fix this."

"Shimiya, let me talk to you. There is hope. whatever you have gone through, you came here didn't you, after twenty-two different permutations you made it here to warn us of the danger. I say, if the shoe had a malfunction, it was only a minor error, an imperfection. If you were still able to come here, then the technology can be directed. We find the source of these errors and correct them, then we can stop the explosian and get you back to your friend intact, twelve seconds into the future where you belong."

"I have an idea, Twelve, but first you have to tell us, what happened to your Geoff?"

"We both got transported one-hundred-million years into the future."

Chapter 7: One-Hundred-MillionYears

"Shimiya, come and take a look at this."

"What is it, Geoff, what are we looking at? Is that you, what are you doing with a videograph?"

"It's a pictogram control matrix, it can record sounds and images."

"I'll take that."

"Hey."

"Get over it, Geoff, it's mine now."

"It's pretty neat once you figure it out… and it looks like you've figured it out."

"So where are we exactly?"

"Library basement two, ancient artifacts."

"But this isn't ancient,you invented it."

"That and many other things. These shoes for example, adjusting for temporal modulation, can send you through time to any point you desire. In theory however, as I've yet to put them on."

"Then I guess I'll put them on for you."

"Hey. Good thing I've made a second pair, just for you, Shimiya.

"Aww how sweet. Now let's see it, just whip it out."

"Okay, here you go. They have your name on them."

"They're on, what do I do now?"

"Just adjust the tongue and tie the strings and you're on your way. I'll calibrate mine so our temporal destination is the same."

"Geoff, what's that noise?"

"The shoes-.. they're going through a feed-back loop! We're going to jump!"

"Over here. You might want to take your shoes off. This vegetation is intense, I can't see you."

"Follow the sound of my voice."

"Here's my hand, I can see your skin."

"I see you! Got you!"

"You hand is so soft, Shimiya."

"Yours is too."

"Wait, look at me. Your irises are yellow! They're… glowing."

"Yours are too, you look so pretty and - what was that?"

"I saw it too, my hearing, I can hear for miles, every little insect, every movement, and I can even hear you… your heart… it's beating so fast."

"You can hear my heart? I can see your every detail, and your smell is so… intoxicating… I think I'm going to…"

"Your lips are… changing color. Yellow, like your eyes… I'm so… glad you're here… so I can… we can…"

"Your… pants are ripped… I think 'll help…

"Your heart is getting louder, I can… feel your heart beating… you're so…"

"You're so… warm, and your skin is so… rough and… invigorating… and your… is pulsing."

"Your breasts are soft… and so… your smell… your body."

"I can see your body heat rise like a mist."

"And… your lips feel… wet… slippery…"

"Moist…"

"Shimiya, what just happened?

"Ung, Geoff, I feel like a puddle."

"I… I hear a bug… flying - there!"

"Got it!"

"Shimiya… your tongue… it flew twenty meters…"

"It did what? Hey wow I'm feeling energetic!"

"Your throat is glowing…"

"There's another one!"

"I got it! Wow you're right I'm starting to feel energetic too!"

"Geoff… your tongue just flew out fifteen meters."

"You know, now that I think about it your skin looks a bit scaly, and the yellow pulsing down your neck is very… alluring. I think I'm getting… aroused."

"Geoff, have you ever… mated before?"

"Sh… Shimiya? I… not before marriage… it's my policy!"

"I don't mind… if you want to mate… with me…"

"Shimiya I… there's something big headed this way, in the distance, can you hear it?"

"What is that noise? It is filling the whole atmosphere!"

"There it is, it's huge and white and flying this way, look at those wings!"

"Geoff, it's landing here - I think it has spotted us."

"Wow, are those teeth? Here comes the tongue, watch out Shimiya! Jump out of the way, here I come!"

"Geoff? Geoff!"

"It's okay, I made it, I'm alive."

"I think we better get out of here, where are those shoes, let's go back to our time."

"Right, here they are… after you."

"This is where things start to get a little… hairy."

"Twelve, I think I can see it, your eyes have a yellow glow about them."

"The changes remained for two years, now that I'm back in a time near my own, the effects have almost started to reverse."

"And your tongue is it still…"

"Yes. Sometimes my instincts kick in when I sense a flying bug nearby."

"So your senses are heightened and your skin is tougher… is your mating drive still overpowering?"

"Do you want to find out?"

"… my policy is still after marriage, just like I said one-hundred-million years ago in the future."

"So what was the big white thing with the teeth and the tongue?"

"We called him Kiter, and it wasn't the last time we saw him either. The first malfunction occured withe the shoes after our first bout with Kiter, sending us to eighteen-twenty-two, our feral instincts intact."

"Okay so what were you doing in eighteen-twenty-two, what is so significant about that date?"

"We were confused too, there was no precedent for us to be in the time period and we certainly didn't dial it in. Ultimately, we met Geoff there and he told us to go back to one-hundred-million-twenty-one-twenty-two. We were reluctant, but he forced us to go, muttering something about the time continuum matrix getting erratic. On the whole, the other Geoff was ragged and worn out, He put us in a chamber with our shoes on and we went straight to post-historic times."

"Seems like there was a lot of time-flux, how did you finally manage to get back here?"

"Geoff, there are some things even you don't understand about technology."

"I never pretended to know everything, I find it fascinationg to discover new things every day."

"Why are we having this discussion, Twelve, if there is anyone who knows you, it's me. Something dreadful must have happened because I would have never withheld information unless it was absolutely necessary."

"You didn't put on the shoes, I did, and now you are looking at the consequences. My mistakes… they can never be unmade."

"You're alive aren't you? You made it here, and not by accident. You found a way to go back to all of those time periods and make recordings. We have an easy solution for you: the universe hasn't exploded, so we can assume that you being here with our Shimiya is totally plausible. You can stay here, meanwhile I'll be going to the distant future."

"Geoff you can't!"

"It's been nice seeing you, Twelve, and I hope to see you again in one-hundred-million years."

"Geoff no!"

"Twelve… it's too late, he's gone."

"I… should have told him more about Kiter…"

Chapter 8: The Fields are Here

A cool breeze blows through the shade trees of summer as the wet brook splashes the smooth, eroded rock. A pair of feet surrenders-her dirt and grasses to the cold cleansing flow. The girl of fourteen watches as the minnows nibble at her toes, tickling them to giggles. She splashes and they swim away startled, just to return to nibble again. She sheds her cloths on the rock face and sinks her body into the cool stream, to be greeted by the minnows all over, tickling her skin to gooseflesh. She cannot supress a giggle herself, as the calm pleasant flow washes over her.

White, of all the things she can remember, it is the name her father had given her. She did not understand why, she doesn't even remember where she came from, or what she has been doing in a monastery. The accomadations have been pleasant: open air, green grass, the fields of flowers are surrounded by a vast forest, and encompassed by mountains in the distance. Every day so far has been cloudy, except on rare occasions when the sun gives way, shining upon the earth, usually adding to the humidity. She doesn't mind, whatever the circumstances, she is calm and quiet, not bothering anyone, and not being bothered.

Out of nowhere a boy appears above her and splashes in the brook right next to her. She is so startled by his sudden appearance that she does not know which way to start swimming first, she let's out a short scream when the boy's head pops out from the water, gasping for air. She reacts fast, grabbing the boy's head and plunging him deep into the water again, and when she pulls him up again she begins to punch him in the face.

Nose bleeding, the boy holds up his hands. "Ow! That hurts, what are you doing to me?"

"T- turn around, boy, what are you doing, you're not supposed to be here."

"I don't know where here is, where am I?"

"Turn around first and I might tell you, and go over there, behind that rock."

"I'm going, just don't punch me." The boy has a hard time swimming with all of his clothes on, but he finally makes it to the shore with the large rock, which he notices girl's clothing strewn upon. "I'm… sorry, I didn't know you were naked."

The girl reaches the shore as well and stands up. "It's alright, hand them to me, will you."

"Hand you wha… oh… here you g -"

"Don't look this way! I'm naked remember!"

"Sorry!"

"What were you doing scaring me like that, it's not nice you know, and what are you doing with clothes on jumping in the brook?"

"I… you see…"

"I'm still changing…"

"Right, you know, it's nothing, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Okay, I'm clothed now, I'm not as scary as you think."

"Oh… I didn't notice… but I - I do think you're beautiful… I mean… with your hair and your… your…"

"Why do you have your clothes on… jumping in the water like that in the first place, did you not see me here?"

"It's not that, I think I… sort of jumped here."

"Of course you did, that's not the question, the question is how badly I'm going to beat you up for lying to me." At this she does a running tackle on her ill-prepared prey and begins to pummel him in the face and chest, followed by cries of pain as she begins to scratch him, once in the face and twice on the arm.

"Okay I give! Please stop scratching me. I… traveled in time to here: one-hundred-million-twenty-one-twenty-two. the boy scrambles to his feet and begins to take off his shoes.

"Stop. Don't move. I don't trust you, and I certainly don't believe you, and I really don't understand you." She looks him up and down, the way he is dressed, his height, his damp blue eyes. "What kind of story are you making up anyway, it sounds fun."

"Fun? But I'm telling the truth, I really did travel in time, but by all means I did not mean to startle you and… see you naked."

At this the fury in her eyes flare up, causing the hapless boy to scream in high pitched tones. "Please don't kill me!"

"You're lucky I like stories, I'll let you live… for now. Just tell me more about your story. Don't hold back…"

"O-okay I-I won't… Y-you see…" Her eyes begin to flare up "I came from the year twenty-one-twenty-two. I invented time-traveling shoes to save the time-continuum from an evil unkown entity that you may know something about…" The girl's emerald green eyes turn fierce into flames and she lashes out a nail that grazes the boy's face, causing a streak of blood "M - my name is Geoff!" He crouches down and cowers behind his arms and hands "Please -.. don't kill me."

"Geoff? Well Geoff, come with me, I find you… interesting."

With the boy in tow and under careful supervision she decides to bring him closer to the mountain ranges just beyond the forest. "Where are you taking me?"

"You're going to the cave, the hall of the secret lair."

"Sounds menacing, I'm pretty scared you know?"

There it is again, the ferociousness flaring up, fulminating into a quick sideways glance.

"Or… maybe not - I'm not scared." The boy stands tall and tense, awaiting another scratch somewhere across his body. However, the striking girl before him turns around, walking once more in a measured pace.

"You live… be thankful."

"So where are you taking me?

"To a place I know where you can tell me more stories.

"I'm going, just don't punch me."

"Is that so? And would you have me do next?"

"You tell me stories and you stay alive, I'll tell you what to do next when you have no more stories for me."

"After I tell you my story, we can make up our own stories together."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, I find you interestingn only for the moment."

"Then I guess I'll have to find a way to escape."

"Escape? Good luck, you're going to need it when it gets dark."

"When I get through with my stories, you'll be so entranced that you will be hanging off of my every word."

"We're here. Okay you go behind that rock over there and take all of your clothes off."

"Wha…?"

"Do it or die."

"Okay." The boy wastes no time doing exactly what she says, thinking to himself: what will it hurt, this is actually pretty exciting.

"Are you done? come out now."

"By the way, I'm naked if you haven't already guessed."

"It's only… fair, you saw me naked, I see you naked. But don't worry, I'm naked too."

"Oh boy." The boy steps out from behind the rock, hands covering his genitals.

"Lift your hands up where I can see them." She is standing naked just like she promised just in front of the cave. The boy lifts his hands to reveal an unashamed erection. "Are you… excited to see me, Geoff?"

"Well… is it obvious? Of course I am, I mean, look at you - you are beautiful, your breasts, and your thighs, your long, flowing black hair, and your abdoman I find particularly soft and round and, pleasing." At this the flame of undying passionate alight in the fire of her eyes, she immediately steps forward. the movement almost causes the boy to faint for fear but he stands his ground. Instead the girl grabs the boy's hands and kisses him passionately on the lips. the boy is startled and aroused even further. He makes a step toward the girl, pressing their bodies together. She kisses him again and again, tasting his mouth and breath feeling his erection pressed against her body and her breasts to his chest. The fire's light against the night heats up the pair as sweat beads up and drips down across nipples and abdoman, arms and hands and fingers. The boy looks deep into the girl's eyes and she looks deep into his. For a moment, even the stars themselves came down to dance around them, adding to the mystery of love's last hope.

"Tell me your story, your hope and your love."

"Here, where my heart lies, reach inside and heal the pain."

"Boy, I see your pain, reach here, in my heart and touch me. Feel me with you and follow me here, the fields ofmy love are here, waiting to come flow to your body to heal the very hurt which pains you."

"Girl, I hear you and feel you, your body and your mind strengthen my heart, and I give you, my story."

At this the girl leads him closer to the fire holding him with both hands. She sits him next to the fire knee to knee holding hands and gazing deep into his eyes she stands up, moving her body to his and slowly, gently begins to break herself upon him, pain shooting up throughout her body, until the very last, when she has taken him into herself completely. The boy shudders in ecstasy of the first time and immediately releases himself fully into her, with each shudder a new life is released deep inside of her. The boy's passion resides and slowly but surely he lowers his back to the ground in rest. And the girl with passion holding the boy continually inside of her until every ounce of the boy is saftely deep within her core.

Chapter 9: White

Standing still atop a large precipice, Itoki Norishiba waits. His shoes are dusty with dirt and sand from the surrounding desert landscape. A burial ground with a tombstone reading: Kyoko Shira White, She made History and Love, died: 1823.

"We need to get going, Korani, they're waiting for us."

"Show some respect, Itoki, she is your ancester."

"Me? Kora, in all of my existence there can be no timeline that leads to my origin from White."

"Then why are we here?"

"It is a simple matter of ex'huming the body, she has been given an artifact that will further our cause, placed here, at her burial."

"And you think after a thousand years this artifact will be preserved?"

"I assure you, the shoes are quite resilient, created by the greatest minds of ten millenia."

"It is why you are to do the digging."

"Not one to get your hands dirty?"

"As it so happens, I have an extra shovel for myself."

Itoki and Korani begin their dig. Nearly a quarter of the day passes when they reach the wooden crate. Inside they find the form of not a skeletal remains, but a living, breathing body in the form of a woman not more than fifteen years of age.

"Itoki… just what have we found here?"

"It appears to be a woman, Korani, one Kyoko Shira White."

"Excellent, okay first, my surprise is absolute. My second idea is that we rescue her. you have the stones don't you, let's get her and us to a more hospitibal dimension."

"Korani, you have impeccable assessment of the situation." He takes from his breast pocket the two oval stones, each glowinga vivid violet in response to intent. He touches the girl White's hand and then Korani's, concentrates and vanishes instantly all three of them.

They reappear in an advanced research facility.

"Professor Mordon, prep the table." He indicates the unconscious woman.

"Right away sir. Sir, if you don't mind me saying, it has been such an honor serving with you… I-I just can't express in words how much this means to me that you wouldallow me to help this woman in her time of need. I - I think I'm tearing up…"

"Thank you, Mordon. I'm touched."

"Her body, it's twitching. Itoki, look."

"Korani, put this stone on her chest." He reaches into his breast pocket and gives her a stone, the stone shines bright violet with the indication of intent. Suddenly her body begins to twitch more violently as in REM sleep.

"Is she a robot?"

"Kora check her pulse and examine her for brainwaves. Mordon, ready the telluric stimulators. If I can just follow Doctor Thomas' procedure from memory we may just get her conscious again."

Slowly the woman's body before them begins to vanish, almost out of sync with each other, she bends the light surrounding her and suddenly there are two of them occupying the table.

"Quickly, readjust the telluric stimulators and move the original stone to her ab_doman, and here, use this other stone on her new body."

The two stones form an arc of violet light between linking the two of them together.

"Itoki stop the procedure, don't you see the link… it looks dangerous."

"Korani, do as I say, if we want the one Kyoko Shira White, we are going to have to find the correct frequency."

"Itoki, they're getting further apart, and they're each fading quickly, if we don't sever the connection neither of them will survive in this dimension."

"Almost, we can bring back the original, all we have to do is dial the…

"I'm cutting it." With one hand she reaches for the newly placed stone and removes it from White's body, severing the connection between the two. The one vanishes in which she removed the stone.

"Korani what are you doing? We were so close, it was stable, not like the last time."

"I will not let you do what you've done again."

On the table the girl opens her eyes, looking around in unfamiliar territory. "Where am I?"

Korani is the first to answer. "You're in a research facility, one you might be familiar with, twenty-eight-twenty-three."

"Really? Is it r-really one-thousand years into the future? How did I get here? Where did I come from?"

"We haven't figured that out yet."

"We think it has been the work of the dark figure."

"I remember you, you were the one who put me in that grave with the shoes on."

"I was?"

At this Korani gets angry faced, looking directly at Itoki'.

"You? What is it you're doing, Itoki Norishiba, are you playing with time now just to run your experiments?"

"But … how? And why? Korani, I don't understand… I would never… " At this Korani has rared back and punched him straight in the nose, causing several ounces of blood to spill all over his hands and face.

"Enough! Kyoko? If I may call you that, we're leaving." Korani grabs the two stones and concentrates while holding on to Kyoko, vanishing them both far away from the research facility.

"We're going to visit an old friend. Here, get in the car."

The car is a black sedan with dark-tinted windows on all sides. When Kyoko enters on the passenger's side, she is greeted by black cloth and cedar rims and console. The chair she sits in conforms to her body shape.

"Wintersonata." Korani speaks to the car, instantly the car turns white inside and out, hovers about four feet and takes off into the hot desert sky.

Chapter 10: Basics

"You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish."

"Excellent saying, oh great one, where did you learn that, in preschool?"

"Quiet fool, I'm rehearsing."

"Rehearsing for what? Practicing being the bad guy?" I say you're doing a wonderful job already."

"Insolence, you will be punished!"

"How will you punish a vapur? With steam?"

"Ventilation."

"Fine, you win, I give up."

"Out of the night that covers me- "

"Oh, that's a great one, I think I like it."

"You're not helping."

"How am I supposed to help if you cannot stand my commentary?"

"Silence is worth ten thousand pounds of gold."

Deep in the cavern of the secret lair, Korani and Kyoko conspire.

"What is it?"

"Itoki, he is in league with the author."

"What do you mean?"

"If you don't know, don't ask."

"And just how did that happen, Kora. Care to explain yourself?"

"Itoki!"

"Yes, Kor, it's me."

"Liar! Don't listen to him, Kyoko, he says nothing but lies."

"I - I'm so confused."

"It's all the work of the author, heis the reason for all of this."

"Kora, I - I'm not following."

"The author is manipulating Itoki's speech and actions. It's because he's in league with him. Itoki's in league with the author!"

"Kyo, come with me, hurry, back to the robot, quick, it's your only chance.Concentrate!"

"Naki? Naki it's you!"

"Quick, Kyo, there is no time."

"What are you,. saying Naki, look, I have time travelling shoes."

"They won't work, it's his ploy. Quick, make the shield you made in the beginning, it's the only way, trust me!"

"O- okay, Naki." She closes her eyes, focusing on the energy within. she begins to glow a soft blue at first brightening by the minute.

"Kyoko, what are you doing, stay here with me, it's just a ploy of the author, he's manipulating your brother."

"I- is that true, Naki?"

"Kyo, focus, look within you to find your answer. Trust me, Kyo."

"I - I'm focusing." The light from within her grows brighter, illuminating the entire room.

"Kyo, you know it's me, Korani, I'm telling you the truth."

Kyoko refuses to listen to the outside voices telling her what to believe. Instead she continues to focus within her very being, so intensely that now a shield forms all around her.

Naki presses a few buttons, and suddenly both he and Kyoko are aboard the giant robot, once again flying through the air at top speeds.

"Welcome back, Kyo, nice to have you aboard the ship again."

"K- Kitty?"

"It's me, in the flesh."

"Kyo, let me introduce you to our pilot, Captain Nikora, she's also the one who pointed a gun at us but she's actually pretty nice."

"Thanks for the unneeded introduction, Ensign Naki. Kyo, you better do what I tell you or I'll jettison you out into the radiation below, understood?"

"Y- yes ma'am."

"Good, then welcome aboard the Percy, my flying robot. As of this moment I am granting you the field commision of Commander. Congratulations Commander Kyoko Shira, meet your subordinates: Lieutenant Kitty Karaban."

"Sir! Pleased to meet you, Commander." She winks and smiles at her new play thing.

"And you well know - Ensign Naki Shira."

"I guess no more nick names. Sir, it's an honor to serve under you."

"What's this, Naki? How did you become the lowest ranking officer on this ship?"

"It's a long story."

"So what is it?"

"What is what?"

"That thing you're holding."

"A pencil."

"It's a pencil."

"Yes."

Chapter 11: Percy

Somehow this story will begin

It goes like this, Kyoko Shira, no Naki Shira the boy, and his sister Kyoko, Kitty Karaban is about to become his wife, namely his fiance' or something like that. They are all in a robot giant flying over radiation devastated ground of Norishiba High School, namely Edimara Central, near Virginia Beach, Virginia. Radiation everywhere, high flying in the sky and Nikora is Captain of the Percy, or Percy, the flying robot, who now has a title of "The Magnificent" Where did heget that from? Anyhow, what we do is this, we start story like so.

And Kyoko said "Wow Naki, you are such a Baka because you now are Ensign, why are you Ensign, Naki? You dumb?" At this she scowl, cruel dark Kyoko, high flying in the sky and far from home.

"Long story, Kyo, you know that don't you? And why do you have strange accent? What has happened to you anyway?" He scowls back at his little sister, unable to grasp the new changes within her body and soul and mind.

"Naki has long story, Kyo has long story, maybe we sit by exhaust heater and take a chat with the whole of family, Nikora Captain, Lieutenant Kitty Karaban and Naki Shira Ensign, and of course Commander Kyoko, of course." Kyoko runs off to the locker hold and pulls out a round box and opens it, inside are two black stone of unkown design, they immediately glow violet with the intent of the owner. "Captain we need to get to Geoff Thomas he has been put in a holding cell in way past, he in 1823 and we are in 2123. We use time shoes to get there, Captain."

"Kyoko, Commander Kyoko, I am the captain for a reason and I have no idea what you are talking about." Nikora was livid, her smile turned scowl directed toward Kyoko. "So… I'm waiting, tell me what's going on? You are mad, sad? Who is Geoff thomas?"

"Captain, I think I- I know him, he is my love, I love him, and he is in the past now because I was put here in the future because of Itoki Norishiba, three-hundred years into the future. We can go back and get him if we use the time shoes like here." She shows Nikora the shoes and coerces her to put them on. "I think the author knows what you are doing here, Nikora, and he will not think twice about eliminating you."

"Well in that case we better do exactly what he say, isn't that right, oh great author? What was that? Oh there's no response, of course the author wouldn't answer us because the author doesn't even exist!" Needles to say Nikora, she is fume, and very mad at her crew. "Why are we flying in this ridiculous robot! Why can't we have a normal existence and go to school like everyone else?!"

Everyone stares at her like crazy, they think insane. Naki, Kitty, and Kyoko are almost in tears and finally Nikora relents. "It's just that I don't believe in an almighty author controlling our every action and word, especially if all he can do to tell our story is make it up, I mean even she can't do that? We can't do that because we all have same life to live and grammar to speech." She takes control of the Percy. Percy is refusing to be controlled and suddenly gives a violent jerk for no apparent reason. "This is my house Percy, and I'm flying and you will obey me! Please?" She begins to cry, she breaks down in front of everybody and begins to drop wet tears of saddness.

"Is cold day, Nikora, we forgive you, we want you to be Captain as you already are and always will be, we love you, Nikora, please lead us." She walks over to her Captain and gives her a hug, and kisses her cheek, and then with both hands she grabs her face and presses her lips to hers.

She feels the moist wetness touching her tear-drenched mouth-folds and takes it all in, drinking deeply of divine stillness and wine breathed breath that is Kyoko's moist breath. Nikora kneels, to Kyoko, "I am not worthy to be your captain."

Kyoko smiles. Kitty and Naki join her at her side. "Nikora, you are the only one who knows how to Fly with Percy, we think you should be Captain."

With her kness to the floor and her head bowed, she begins to look up, into the smiling faces of those who adore her and for the first time realizes the worth and enormity bestowed upon her, and the immenseness of her divine mission. "O-okay, if you s-say so guys, a-and I h-hope I lead you w-well." She wipes away her tears with her hands and fingers and stands up. "O-okay guys! I-it's time we move forward, let's move out!"

And like so

Nikora is flying high, higher than the sun because she is heading towards outer space. First stop is the moon, because is land there. "Nikora stop here because is land here." Says Nikora, in a funny accent just like rest of crew.

"Nikora you are crazy please stop with funny accent we hat you, just kidding we love you Nikora." Naki smiles at her, because all he can think of is how badly he could have hurt her feelings just now.

"Be glad I don't throw you out into space alone, Naki. You and I both know what's out there." Nikora stops with the funny accent and gets down to business. "So here we are, the Moon, space and stars, we stand upon the precipice of a new era, a dawn of a new age of religion. Today is the day that we of the Percy Magnificent, declare, 'Meow.'"

"What did you say? Nikora? Meow? What does that mean?" Kitty was perplexed.

"Shhh, Kitty, it's my! I speak of great things for a great day and you will listen! And like so, Today is the day the day that we of the Magnificent Percy shall go forth and colonize space. Our mission, our duty, and all of that we do, we start here, at the moon of Earth, Moon. We start here and move forward into the great beyond into the lies of skies. We go and we conquer the universe!" At this a comet flies past the Percy as Nikora stands proudly next to her giant nipple construct control panel.

Kyoko, Naki, and Kitty Karaban all cheer at her words of great understanding and commision. And now for the darkness that comes when these things get going under way. A little foreboding and utter tremor of fear and worriment gives shake to Nikora. Nikora is afraid but does not declare it openly, and no one hears her and understand the darkest parts of her heart.

"So, I guess it's time we—" the ground shakes, the Percy makes a large heave as something has attacked it form the outside, something dark and fearful and scary, very scary, like aliens but only not aliens.

"What was that?" Kitty holds on to her head whilst Naki hugs her back to protect her, Kitty shugs him off though, not wanting to be protected like that.

"Kitty be careful because theres a sharp object near your head." He shows her the sharp object when suddenly the ship heaves again, in a heavy lurch.

"Okay guys I need everyone at a control panel we need to find out what is going on and why we are shiking. Everyone, now!

"But I - I don't know what these buttons even mean!" Kyoko sits down at a funny-looking control panel with large breasts, she has now idea what they mean so she presses the middle button, suddenly the whole control panel lights up and a screen appears, it's a three-dimensional radar dectecting things outside the ship like anomaliea and perephenalia. The screen shows nothing. "There is nothing out there! I - I don't see anything, Captain!"

"It's - It's HUGE! Captain, it's coming in off the port bow, something's amiss! It's himoungous!" It's the voice of Naki, having better control of his moniter than Kyoko. At least he thinks he does. "Actually, Captain, I have no idea what it is, can you interpret these symbols?"

"Morons! I'm surrounded by morons! Captain Nikora, it is the Moon, we just hit the Moon, we forgot to slow down." It was Kitty who said it, not me.

"The Moon," said the captain, "someone quick, get me a gun. Percy, a gun please."

Percy shrugs… and the entire ship lurches, being a giant robot. He starts to dance on the moon, kicking up a cloud of dust all around in space, there is now a robot-shaped crater on the moon and while he was dancing managed to kick up some dust that manages to land in the footprints of Angler the Great's first encounter upon the surface of the moon, whoever Angler the Great really was is still a mystery to this day, as his footprints have now been coverd with moondust. Meanwhile, Percy continues to dance his little jig all over the place, bouncing around his confused crew.

"Percy! Percy stop this instance, you're shaking everything up all in here!" Percy stops immediately, and is again, an obedient robot space ship.

Chapter 12: More Portals

A lead in: some pretty terrible stuff. You do not write that stuff as an intro into a paragraph! It just doesn not happen. Itoki, however, disagreed. "Professor Mordon, have you gotten all that I have asked for?" The professor had been in the family for five generations. Why did he remove the light? There is no morning after breakfast. Do not eat.

"Itoki, my master, I have it all right here." said the professor who spoke.

Itoki glanced at all that was given to him. And then, upon inspecting the items further, discovered a problem. "Professor, this is not what I asked for. I asked for more of this." He holds up a metallic plate, placed it in Mordon's hands and had him glance at it.

"Master, this is exactly what I got." He looks, puzzled by his master's inordinance.

"Nevermind, professor." Itoki busys himself with a configurement on his control panel.

Mordon is perplexed by his master's will and leaves hesitantly. The room he is in is filled with instruments and experiments. Nonoe of which seem to hold his interest for very long.

"I just want to close my eyes." The voice says to him. "Take my pain away. I listen to your heart beat, and it is dark. Release the pain. Give it to me."

Itoki ponders this for amoment. What could he possibly use that would end him? What would cause the least amount of pain and maximum fatality. The touch of death. The end of the sentence. He ponders the meaning of the end, wishing to uncover it's very secret. What is it like to end for eternity? What is it like to die? He looks at an exceptionally dangerous katana hanging over his bed. Too messy? Is death really clean? He looks at a match. Unbearable, that is way to painful, and the melting skin would be a terrible stench. "What about this?" He holds up something, and he looks at it. "This. This should do it." In the wink of an eye he is gone forever. Never to be heard from again.

"No," the author says to himself, "I will not bring him back. He then belches very loudly, filling the entire room with his boom.

We will go on to the next person, setting in motion his obliteration, until everyone is no more. We will start with a new boy named Geoff.

Geoff Thomas was left at the monastery when his friend, Kyoko, was sent one-thousand years into the future, the year 2123. He could not understand why he had to leave, but he did. And he could no longer time-travel because Kyoko, she had taken his shoes. He had been cut off from the one girl he had ever truly cared about and he was distraught. He examined his shoes, leather, unordinary, time-travel-less shoes.

He was stuck in the woods, lost, without absolutely no bearing on his direction or where he was supposed to go. He found a rock to sit on, a big brown boulder having rolled down the mountain ages ago. It was poised as if it could roll again at any moment, but, however, it did not. There it stayed, resolute, though a boy of sixteen sit atop it.

The rock said to him, "Geoff, why are you sitting on me?"

Geoff stood very still, and then pretended he did not hear anything.

"Have you lost your way again? I can see it in your eyes, you are lost." He rock stood still.

"No I'm not, I know exactly where I'm going, I just haven't gotten there yet." He shuffled his foot across the rock's surface.

"And yet you are still here, shuffling your feet across my face. What is the matter with you." He said it as a statement.

"It is just that I… but that can't be it, I know I should still be working on my project, because it hasn't been finished yet, and there is this girl that I like and we did it together, I just… I don't know, I mean I don't think so…" He held up his hands to his chin and proped his elbows on his knees in exasperation.

"You are sitting on a rock." Said the rock. "I am here, at your feet, and your butt. I can feel your tail bone pressing against my surface."

"I don't know what to say? What do I say to that?" It was not his voice that spoke, but his heart. Beating inside of his chest.

"It's my heart in there. I can feel it in here."

Geoff sat up and got off the rock, because his butt was getting sore. "I wish I could find my way back to the monastery at least. I think I'll just go this way. No don't go that way! why? Because. Because why? Who knows."

"That's right, Geoff, Whoray knows best! Follow me boy." The owl again, in the trees. Geoff could not see him though.

"Where are you? I hear you, Whoray!"

"Hear me? No way, you are lost, I have no interest in you. Perhaps if you can give me something, I'll give you something in return."

"Return? What is it? What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? Exactly, my boy. You know exactly what I mean. Hahaha! I've come to you. Now I am here, and you can't even see me. How convienient for who!"

The owl who spoke was not in plain sight, nor gave Geoff a chance to see him, and then flew away with all of his might.

"What does it mean? Why have you left me here to die?" He noticed his surroundings, the wall of trees to his left, the twigs and brambles beneath his feet, the significance of the buzzing cicadas charging through the tree tops and middles. The sunlight shined through the leaves to his right, as a great hot mid-afternoon sun. The birds were twittering, the flys and beetles bounced through the dead-leave brush. And the ground was a moist and damp dirge of mud and earthworms. He could smell the dust and the pine needle sap that stuck to his fingers and pands. The thorns ripped his shirt and peirced his skin through his jean pants. He could feel the stinging pain of cold sweat mixing with blood scratches all over his arms and abdoman. What does it mean? Why have you left me here to die?"

But there was no answer.

"Geoff Thomas, what are you doing out in these woods all by yourself? Where is Kyoko? Where is White?" A man of about forty, husky and hairy, and fat, appeared to his left, from the direction of the monastery. He was a panda in a red leather jerkin and red-corded wooden cloppers on his hind paws. He stood abroad and extended his fore paw to Geoff as to help him out of his bramble prison.

Geoff wondered and thought that he was seeing things.

"My paw won't grab itself, either you grab it or I'll grab you. Someone has got to find Kyoko if she is missing."

Geoff reluctantly held out his hand and the panda grabbed and pulled hard, nearly knocking him out of socket, some of the brambles cut deep and peirced his skin and he yelped in pain.

"Oh, woops, didn't mean to hurt you like that. Let's see here," the panda pulls out a salve he had been carrying behind his back, opens the leather patch, and hands a bandage to Geoff, "here hold this and I'll patch you up."

He takes his treatment gingerly, not willing to trust this strange visitor. "Who are you?"

"Who do you think that I am?" the panda replied.

"I don't know. Are you… from the monastery?" He engaged, questioningly.

"Obviously not, I am not from the monastery."

"Then where? Where have I seen you before? You are so… familiar."

"Alright that should do it, you're all patched up. Find Kyoko." With that he, the panda, vanished in a cloud of smoke. Leaving Geoff. Alone.

Chapter 13: Leaving Geoff Alone

So there he was, stranded yet again, with no one to help him. He found it amusing that everyone he ever met knew exactly what they were doing except for him. He decided to live with it and put that brilliant mind of his to good use. The monastery in the distance may have technology to utilize, so he thought it best to head in that direction. Thankfully for him, the dressed bandages held together really well, and he could feel the health seeping into him.

The field he had to cross, once he got passed the tree line, sloped upward as he walked. It was filled with muddy dirty grass, brown, as having been harvested for the winter season. So it was muddy, cold, damp, and windy. And of course the wind was blowing against him. Of course. Not to mention that the slope to the top of the hill was very long. He wondered if he would ever make it, with his feet shlomping in the mud.

His hands began to grow numb, the cold biting into them like tiny sting rays. He rubbed the tops of them vigorously, to allow the blood to flow warmly. He also blew warm hot breath throug them, just to find that that made them damp and cold instead of just cold. He rubbed him palms together and then placed them in his pockets. That made them a little bit warmer.

When finally did make it to the top of the single hill, he found he had an entirely new problem. He could see. And what he saw. Wasteland. There were buildings everywhere, leaning into the ground, half toppled over. Rust gnawed at the scraps of metal support structures. Moss creeping up the sides of the sloped buildings. Maybe. He could see what was there.

He was not worried though, he took his time to climb on things, what else was there to do? He fcound some good footing on one particularly mossy-slopped building and stepped, gingerly, as to avoid slipping donw and busting his knee. When he reached the top, he could see the setting sun. across the distance. It looked like an apple. That is because the building in front of him made the silouette. The seal of wet. He could not fathom why he thought such things, merely that they were there. If anyone could think of them, Geoff could. The stories foretold of my coming, he thought.

Chapter 14: The dull Pencil

Traveling at warp speeds through space, Captain Nikora, of the Magnificent Percy.

"CSpace, my fried, it is the place between my legs. It is the center of the You Nee Verse. If you come here, you will die. And I will stail alive. E-verse, the hyphen will seperate me and two you. I will die. The end."

Perplexed, Kyoko pipes up. "What R you reading, Nikora?"

"Commander, do not speak to "I" in that tone of voice. You will adress I with complete word usage. Spell out ur word."

"Er? Captain, I think forgot how to say "your"." Kitty in all of glorious kittydom spake to her captain almost brashly.

"Is everyone going to mock I? What you say to that, Naki?" She gave him a haught, condescending look.

Naki froze at his workstation, not able to say a thing. He tried to speak up, but immediately he was squelched, "Me thinks that -"

"That's enough, Naki, you are expelled. Kitty, Kyoko, please escort Mr. Dead to the docking bay. He is about to be dogged. Outside with you!"

"Dogged? But I love you, Captain. I love-"

"I thought you loved me?" Kitty implored Naki. "Come inside of me!"

"Spell it out for me, Kitty. Do you love Naki or don't you?"

"Butt I doo! I love Naki with my heart, All!" Kitty makes some strange gestures with cher eyes.

The voice speaks, saying something.

"Something."

The warning bells of the Magnificent Percy began to shout and cry, warning of an immene[]nt black hole.

Naki begins to cry, "We are going inside of the O. The O! My G is toolost!"

"The G-string, pluck the G-string. This is an order. Sanction the oblivian. O balls of Glory. The baals are here. Burn them with fire, Elijah!" Captain Nikora gave the command. The Percy lurched, did a flip, stepped to the right, swung his hips, and did the time warp. Right through the black hole.

"Quick, Kyoko, grab the shoes, we may be able to land saftely on the other shores. The shoes!"

"We can't," said the voice. "If we use the shoes wie will survive. And the author want us to die the death of dog. We will be gone butt alive. Shoved out and lived. Outside the hutt. We must go in and die the death of oblivian. Gone forever."

"Kyoko, Naki, Kitty, we are going inside the vagina in space, we are to be reborn into oblivian!"

"Into oblivian!" They all shouted.

And with that they charged head long into the void of space, whilst Percydanced his jig. And the dull pencil waste no more.

The end? Find out tomorrow.

Chapter 15: Kyoko's Speech

Kyoko did not know what to say, she had been cooped up in the monastery for far too long. "Judging by the current conditions and weather fragment I would say it is going to rain." She said into her hand radio, a broadcast to all of the know colonies of Earth. Monastery or no, she would make the best of her chosen exile. "If these conditions continue," she spoke once more into the device, "we may have extended vacations for everyone, especially for me." She laughed at her own irony; she didn't worry about vacations anymore. Her mother was science. "Now, it is time to get serious." she tapped the mic, "Is this thing on?" and she began her diatribe.

"It has come to my attention, citizens of Earth and Earth's colonies, that we as a nation, are under duress. Our father's fathers complained when they needed to work hard. Our brothers and sisters fought one another, to gain footholds through teeth and nail fighting, biting and scratching one another to be first in line, and not the last. It is through their actions in the past that we here now exist in this timeline. We have our very being set upon the foundations of facebiting. I live, you live, we live. We are us, not because our ancesters loved each other, but because they hated their guts. If you don't mind the rhymes you slimy pigs." she shuffles the mic, feeling a bit shameful of her own words. "Less, we couldn't even form a sentence correctly to save our lives. they failed, and we live because of it. We lost everything. Now are being bombarded with doubt and hate again." She pauses to gather her thoughts and notes, not knowing what to say. she clears her throat. "We of Earth and Earth's colonies cannot declare anything, because we are not one, not two, but three nations split apart. We have been cleansed of evil and now sit idyly by with no one to aim our frustration at. We drink tea. We eat. We die easily. but we have no one to fight. Let us discover what it is like to be utterly foul to ourselves. Let us grease of the sprickets and minnow's barley."