Not long after midnight, Abenti curled into a fetal position as an orange aura surrounded her body. Black stripes seemingly crawled across her body as a feline tail sprouted from her tailbone. Unaware and still asleep, Abenti's body morphed into that of a tiger. A secondary consciousness surfaced and took over the now feline body.
The tiger, aware of Abenti's persona and life memories, got up off the bed and went to the fire escape. Looking outside, the tiger grinned at what appeared to be a clear cool night sky, then went down the stairs very swiftly.
Silently the tiger loped throughout the shadows and alley ways of the city until she reached the country side. The tiger paused long enough to check for any unusual smells or sounds before continuing into the open spaces of the country. When she was far enough she slowed down and started sniffing at the grass. She did so until she found what looked like a paw print impressed into a patch of mud.
The tiger placed her front left paw on the impression and let loose a mournful growl. Then she did something she hadn't done in a long time. She said one word in the human language.
"Elysian."
A portal opened up not more than a few feet in front of her. Without a moments hesitation, the tiger leapt into the portal and found herself in what could only be described as a never ending forest dotted with crystal outcroppings. It didn't take long before the tiger met up with Helios.
"You have come to find someone." Helios stated matter of factly.
"You were expecting me?" the tiger exclaimed in surprise as she sat down.
Helios simply nodded at the statement, then led the tiger in silence to the shrine room where two shrine maidens stood waiting with three differently colored balls of energy. The three balls slowly lowered to the ground and elongated into oval spheres.
"It was foretold that the day would arrive when after a long period of peace, three souls would be revived upon the Guardian's wishes. However, along with the revival, the peace would shatter and a new era would arise."
"Shattered? By whom?"
"If only I knew. I can only pray that most of that omen will not come true."
The tiger sighed as she looked at the three spheres of energy.
"If this shall come to pass, I shall speed up the search until the day when the true Guardian emerges and all will be explained."
"If you are certain..." Helios started.
"Yes."
Helios turned to the three spheres and emitted a soft white glow from his hands. The tiger muttered a few words under her breath before turning and leaving Elysian.
"Hello, Ami?" Abenti started as soon as the other end of the phone line was picked up.
"Abenti, nice to hear from you. It's been a while since we actually seen each other because of work." Ami replied.
"And we work at the same hospital too, you being an intern, me being a nurse there..." Abenti said with a smirk. "Any chance that by some odd chance that you have today off too? I really need someone to talk with, and you're the first person to pop into my mind."
"Let me check," Ami said as she flipped through her scheduler. "Yes, it looks like I'm free today. Where shall we meet?"
"Near the Crown Arcade. I hear there's a new bar opening up near by."
"Okay, I'll meet up with you there in half an hour. Bye, Abenti-san."
"Good bye, friend Ami." Abenti set the cordless phone down, checked her hair in a mirror then set out to the Crown Arcade.
"What was that?" a thin white haired figure inquired as he looked at his partner.
"Three sources of very familiar, but definitely altered, life lit up in the Sol system." replied the stockier, darker skinned figure. "Let's see if we can get a location, shall we?"
The one with the white hair pressed a few buttons and the third planet from the sun magnified many times upon the main monitor. Statistics scrolled across the top of the screen.
"Hmm...Oxygenated, some pollutants, massive areas of H2O..." the first figure muttered as he read the statistics.
"Could you put that in layman's terms?" came a confused retort.
"Welcome to Earth, third rock from the sun." the disembodied voice of their master replied as his shadowed form appeared within the room.
The two figures turned and bowed formally to the shadowed representation.
"I see you two have found something of interest in this particular planet. Very well. This shall go smoothly with my plans. You can continue whatever you were doing as long as you are able to prepare this planet for my arrival."
"Yes, Master." the two figures said in unison just before they teleported to a remote region of land on the planet below.
"...It all started months earlier. For the most part, it was the same dream every night, where I was represented by a tiger in my dreams. It was me, but not me at the same time, like if it was someone else." Abenti explained to Ami as they walked from the Crown Arcade in the direction of the new bar. "But the dream last night, I shudder thinking about it. In my dream, I was still represented by a tiger, but this time, I was in this forest that was dotted with some sort of crystal outcroppings or something. And then I met up with this guy dressed in whites and light blues. He seemed to be expecting me. I followed him to an area where two women were waiting with these, oh, how to say it. They weren't energy balls, more like oval..."
Abenti stopped talking as she looked up. With a smile, she nodded towards the building.
"Aha. I thought as much. Grand opening of the Wild Amazon. After you!" Abenti said as she held the door open for Ami.
Ami took a few steps into the bar and gasped in surprise as she stopped suddenly. Abenti nearly crashed right into Ami when she stopped.
"What is it?" Abenti inquired.
"It can't be...but he died. All three of them did." Ami muttered incoherently.
"My friend, you must be cracking under the pressure of school work and the internship. What in the world are you talking about?"
Ami simply pointed at the light-blue haired person behind the counter. Abenti looked at who Ami was pointing at.
"You are most definitely stressed out. That is a she, not a he. And she is definitely cute. Not that I'd go for people of the same gender, mind you, but still..."
"Maybe you're right." Ami sighed and shook her head. "Let's sit down and get something to drink. We came here to talk about your dream, right?"
"Right. Hmm...over there in the corner seems free. Let's go."
Abenti led Ami to the corner booth. They took their time to look at the interier decorating of which the bar was aptly named. Vines hung all over the place from what looked like tree trunks protruding from the walls. Less than a minute after they got situated in the booth, a waiter came to take their order.
"Welcome to Wild Amazon. I will be your host for your stay. Is there anything I can get you?"
"What would you...recommend," Abenti caught herself on the last word as she looked up at the waiter. Abenti's jaw dropped as she blushed. Ami took notice of Abenti's awestruck face.
Ami then glanced and gasped at the waiter. He looked awfully familiar. Everything from his golden brown hair and blue eyes to the striped pants. Except for the fact that there was definitely a different shirt, no jewelry and no whip, there was little difference from the last time she saw him five years ago.
Abenti broke her gaze from the waiter and looked over to her now nervous friend.
"You look like you saw a ghost." Abenti said.
"Maybe a drink will help. I know, the preferred drink we have is called Amazon Dream. I'll be back with it. Compliments of the house." the waiter said. He then winked at Abenti and dashed off to fetch the drinks.
"What happened? What has gotten to you, my friend?" Abenti said as soon as the waiter left.
"That waiter, and the bartender. Both of them I'm pretty sure I saw years ago, and both of them, plus one other I was pretty sure I saw die so long ago."
"Strange. They look very much alive to me. Maybe you should splash some water on your face while we're waiting for our drinks."
"Good idea." Ami smiled faintly as she got up. She carefully walked over to the restroom and disappeared behind the door.
A sudden commotion at the entrance of the establishment caught Abenti's attention. Two men had entered Wild Amazon, but instead of finding a table, the expressions on their faces told that they were looking for trouble with the bartender, the waiter that Abenti talked with and another waiter. Not keeping her eyes off the scene, Abenti attempted to listen to the conversation.
"I'm sorry, you must have the wrong place. Please leave before we contact the authorities." the bartender said in a soft but stern voice.
"Oh, please. Your attempt to pull the wool over our eyes, as the saying goes, didn't work. We know who you are, and we are here to take you with us. Forcefully if necessary." the dark skinned man said.
"Who the hell are you?" the golden brown haired waiter asked in frustration.
"We were waiting for you to ask that." came the reply. A snap of the fingers brought forth a curtain with a snake hanging on a bull's head emblem out of thin air. As soon as the curtain left, the two trouble makers had reverted to their natural forms. The one that did the talking looked almost like a minotaur, with a mostly human body, with definite bull features, including an elongated jaw and nose line, bull horns and a large nose ring. The other one had hardly noticeable peach flesh colored scaly skin, dull gray eyes, extended fangs and a forked tongue, while an actual snake was wrapped around his right arm. Both wore what resembled bronze gauntlets on their wrists.
Meanwhile, the tiger persona inside of Abenti did not wait until Abenti slept this time to take over Abenti's body. Fortunately hidden within the high backs of the booth seats, Abenti's body writhed and shook slightly as it automatically morphed into that of the tiger. The tiger stalked silently until it was only a few booths away from the entrance, waiting until the time was right to pounce.
"Snake Eyes? Bull's Eye? Is that really you?" came the shocked voice of the bartender.
"Present and accounted for," the one called Snake Eyes hissed. "Just as you three are Fish Eye, Tiger's Eye and Hawk's Eye. And we're here to.."
"You'll be here long enough to leave." a voice called. The five standing there turned to the source of the voice, which happened to be the crouched tiger.
The tiger bared her fangs and growled loudly as she walked past a surprised Tiger's Eye and Hawk's Eye.
"I knew I smelled trouble. Or was it appetizers and dinner I smelled?" the tiger said while licking the rim of her mouth.
Bull's Eye snorted and lowered his head.
"No overgrown cat is going to scare me that easily."
"Bull's Eye, no! You can't have forgotten what going up a tiger is like, have you?" Snake Eyes warned.
"I was weaker and less experienced then! I can take this tiger on. No problem."
"What about two tigers and a hawk?" Fish Eye called out.
That got a grin from the tiger and a startled look from the other four men.
"What are you saying?" Hawk's Eye inquired.
"Don't you remember? We had animal forms long before we had human forms. I'd be useless if I changed, but you two plus this tiger here can change the odds."
Tiger's Eye sweatdropped and concentrated. A few moments went by, but he still retained his human shape.
"No such luck. Maybe we're completely human now."
"Not entirely, but I'll explain later." said the tiger before extending her front claws and with a low growl charged at Bull's Eye. The tiger leapt over Bull's Eye's horns and attached herself to his back. Her hind claws dug into his shoulders and her front claws dug into his waist. Which meant, "Rump roast! Very rare!"
Two seconds later, the tiger was laying on her backside and Bull's Eye bellowing in agony. Snake Eyes sighed in expectation as Hawk's Eye, Tiger's Eye and Fish Eye laughed so hard, they practically were in stitches.
Bull's Eye temporarily recovered long enough to pull a knife out of thin air and throw it at the tiger. The tiger attempted to get out of the way, but the knife grazed her left shoulder. The trio stopped laughing as the tiger roared in anger and pain.
"Mark my words," Bull's Eye stated. "We will do what it takes to get what we want!"
With that, Bull's Eye and Snake Eyes vanished with a teleportation spell. The trio then gathered around the wounded tiger.
"You're not a normal tiger, just as we aren't normal, but you're not exactly like us. Who are you?" Hawk's Eye asked as Fish Eye attempted to clean the wound.
"I am..." the tiger grimaced at the pain. "...the reason why you were revived, and most likely the same reason why trouble will once again befall this planet. I am half of the persona of a greater whole, but who or what that whole is, I cannot tell at the time. Until I become one with my other self, my memories are mostly blanketed."
At this time, Ami was rushing out of the restroom and over to where the Trio stood.
"What happened? I heard howls of pain? Did someone get..." Ami stopped in mid-sentence as she saw the tiger. She gasped, "Oh my god, what happened to that tiger?"
"This tiger tried to protect us from some unwelcome company, but got wounded." Hawk's Eye replied.
"Why in the world is a tiger here in Japan?"
Tiger's Eye was about to respond when the tiger did so.
"Ami, you and the trio here are going to have to help me."
Ami's eyes bulged slightly, not only at the fact that the tiger talked but that the tiger knew her name.
"But how..." were the only words that was able to escape Ami's mouth.
"We're all not what we appear to be. You know my other form and persona, Abenti Galger. She was not aware of me, except in the fact that she thought that I was part of her imagination. Yet I'm always aware of what she says and does. However, I've always, until now, only took control when she was asleep. You four should not tell anyone of what you know of me, except with Abenti, for she should learn the truth as I have to try to merge her persona and soul with me, so that the True Guardian will appear. I'll understand if you want to back out of it, Ami. For this is bound to be a bit of a shock. But Abenti's going to need you now more than ever. Especially with this wound." the tiger cringed again. The tiger then looked from face to face, starting and ending with Ami. "Will you help me?"
Each one of the four people nodded their heads. The tiger grinned and with an uneasy movement, produced a yellow broach that had a paw print embossed upon it.
"Give this to Abenti and explain what happened. Hopefully she'll have no problems using it when the time comes."
With that, the tiger reverted to the human form of Abenti. Abenti blinked a few times and shook her head.
"Did anyone catch the license plate of that freight train?" she half joked as she reached cautiously to her left shoulder with her right hand.
"Hang on, Abenti. We're going to have to take you to the hospital to check your shoulder." Ami said as she picked up the broach. "After wards, I'll explain everything over a drink."
"Yeah, you have still yet to try the Amazon Dream. As soon as you get patched up, come back and you can have as many drinks on the house as you'd like." Tiger's Eye added with a warm smile.
Abenti smiled back then promptly fainted.
