Chapter 9 – The Demon God of Haruhi Suzumiya

Along with the Peacemaker craft lit aflame, Sensei Fujisawa, Itsuki, and I began plummeting rapidly towards the reddish rocky barren ground below. From what I could tell, we were situated near El Hazard's equivalent to the Grand Canyon of America, Earth. I could actually see the quickly onrushing view of geological cycles in sediment layers, as a broken flying vessel and gravity pulled me alongside it. Those geological cycles could serve as striking symbolism for the cycles of violence that gripped the otherwise magnificent world of El Hazard. For all of El Hazard's magnificence, war had nonetheless torn it asunder for far too long, serving to break its various peoples and species against one another in the most grim of conflicts. Now, in a fitting but tragic manner, the SOS Brigade that I belonged to had also been torn asunder, and broken in half…

"Yuki!" I exclaimed to her in stupefaction, attempting to have my voice carry over the cacophonous caterwauling of the plunging Peacemaker, "Where have you been?! What are you doing?!"

"Kyon!" shouted Koizumi to me, "We'll need to find out about Yuki later! Right now, focus on using your magnetic powers to land us safely!"

Itsuki was quite correct, as heat friction caused by the pull of gravity and dancing flames caused by Yuki's earlier attack threatened to incinerate us. Hence, I used my magnetic powers to slow the largely metallic Peacemaker's descent, and us along with it. This had an effect very similar to that of a parachute, and hence after a minute of gradual descent, we came to a soft landing.

"That looks like one of those demon gods that Makoto and I have run across a few times!" exclaimed Sensei Fujisawa, in reference to Yuki Nagato, who he had also stolen a glimpse of during our downward descent, "Her height and face are very different from, but her clothes are just like, Ifurita's!"

"…demon god…?" I whispered to myself in disbelief, alarmed and amazed at the idea that the ever calm, quiet, and rational Yuki could become such a thing.

"We don't yet have the luxury to stop and make assessments!" shouted Koizumi, as his esper senses were screaming warning signals at him that he perceived much as we would hear the blaring sirens of a ambulance or a police car, "Sensei Fujisawa… behind you…!"

"Starlite…" reverberated the exotic voice of Nanoha Inverse, "…SLAVE!!!"

A cannonading meteoric rainbow of colossal power bore a deep cut through the air, heading precisely for the chest of Sensei Fujisawa! Thankfully, Sensei Fujisawa had been given just enough warning by Itsuki to leap over the blast, while Itsuki and I dived to opposite sides, away from it.

"Fujisawa....Roundhouse… KICK!!!" exclaimed Sensei Fujisawa, as he made a simply super signal bound towards the spotted Nanoha Inverse, knocking her Raging Heart sniper rifle out of her hands as she grunted in pain!

Sensei Fujisawa's impressively quick combat reaction time combined with his startling speed had taken Nanoha by surprise, and hence she tumbled backwards somewhat clumsily. He then grabbed Nanoha by her neck collar and lifted her up slightly so the two could meet eye to eye.

"Now just what do you think that you're doing, young lady?!" he asked in the tone of a sincerely concerned disciplinarian, "You're not supposed to attack your elders like that! You could take an eye out with one of those blasts!"

Nanoha was confounded by Fujisawa's words here, as his endeavor to reason with someone who clearly had attempted to kill or maim him struck her as both strange… and oddly merciful given what she had come to expect of full-bred humans. She was very much uncertain of what to say to him. Thankfully for her, the hovering Yuki Nagato would break up this tense moment.

"Move" Yuki said very pronouncedly, as she motioned her key staff sideways.

Suddenly, a powerful air current erupted seemingly out of nowhere, and all around Nanoha. This air current served to toss a yelling in turbulence Sensei Fujisawa a good three hundred feet away. With that, the initial bloodcurdling assault of Yuki Nagato and Nanoha Inverse finally began to slow down somewhat, giving Itsuki and I a change to regain our bearings. The two of us were breathing very heavily from the sheer excitement of the past minute, and while we were concerned for Sensei Fujisawa, we couldn't take our eyes off of Yuki Nagato, wearing a rather colorful and ostentatious outfit that reflected well her imposing nature.

After taking a moment to size up Nanoha Inverse in order to ensure that her ally in this mission was relatively unharmed, Yuki Nagato began to slowly move about to face Kyon and I.

"Nagato…" I began in breathless question and wonderment, "W-where have you been? Are you… are you Ok? Koizumi and I were worried about you!"

On an emotional level, I wanted to get through to the Yuki Nagato that I knew and considered a friend, and talk her down. However, on a purely intellectual level, I had already surmised that something within her had changed drastically, and in such a way that she had somehow come to view one or all of the people in Koizumi's party as an enemy. I briefly recalled the small tidbits of information that Makoto had given me concerning Ifurita during our second night in Canbia.

Makoto had done this just to be sure we knew how dangerous Katsuhiko Jinnai could be if the power of a demon god, or a close approximation thereof, had fallen into his hands. I now feared that this is what had happened to Nagato, and why she was attacking us. Perhaps… perhaps she felt that Koizumi's plan was too great a risk to Haruhi's mental health, and that the best course of action of all would be to simply allow Haruhi to continue on completely unaware of the darker deeds of Katsuhiko Jinnai.

As problematic as my theory here would be, it was arguably not as problematic as what the reality of the situation was, making this a rare occurrence where my low assessment of a situation was actually not low enough. This was one 'demon god' that Katsuhiko Jinnai did not, nor would ever, control. Rather, the even more destructive Shadow Tribe held her within their insurgent grasp.

"Yuki Nagato and Nanoha Inverse have both intercepted the Itsuki Koizumi party, Lord Galus" reported Nahato, as he had watched that volatile interception unfold through cameras that Yuki and Nanoha each had with them, "They have already reduced the ironically named Peacemaker craft to so much scrap metal! However, I regret to report that Itsuki, Kyon, and Sensei Fujisawa are all still alive, my Lord. Most worrisome is how Kyon is attempting to rebuild his friendship with his lost SOS Brigade comrade!"

"Patience, Nahato… patience…" implored Lord Galus, "Koizumi's esper abilities meant that a quick and easy assassination attempt would be unlikely… but I have no doubt that the sum power of Yuki Nagato and our own Nanoha Inverse is sufficient to crush these three obstacles here that lie in the way of our path of vengeance. And… though it is not a certain gamble… I strongly suspect that the same Yuki Nagato that failed to recognize Haruhi Suzumiya will not recognize Kyon or Itsuki Koizumi either!"

And hence, Galus and I were like two poker players playing Russian roulette with our very lives and fates. We both had bets, of sorts, placed on Yuki Nagato. Soon we would know which of us held the better hand…

"Yuki!" exclaimed Itsuki Koizumi, hoping that the addition of his voice and words to that of mine would improve our chances of getting through to her, "Are you still in contact with the integrated data entity? However much your memories or mind may have been corrupted by travelling to El Hazard, you must remember the integrated data entity, at least!"

Yuki Nagato, who had up until now seemed flawlessly cold, emotionless, and mechanical, suddenly gasped at Koizumi's mention of the integrated data entity. Yuki Nagato actually began to grip her head tightly between her two elegantly garbed hands, leaving her key staff somehow floating aloft in midair. Her eyes rapidly shot back and forth like slot machine openings, as she frantically searched her memory banks for anything that could even remotely be referring to this mysterious integrated data entity that she currently knew nothing of… yet somehow, as if by mystical revelation of all things, she knew was of great importance! Nanoha, now fully recovered from Sensei Fujisawa's earlier counterassault against her, and with her Raging Heart sniper rifle retrieved, had turned about to look into the face of her perplexing ally. At this point, Nanoha was almost as confused as the rest of us where over what she should do next! Itsuki and I took this opportunity to confer amongst ourselves.

"Koizumi…" I stated in whisper to him, "While Nagato doesn't seem to remember the two of us at all, you're mentioning of the integrated data entity has really set her off."

"While you, Miss Nagato, and I are all friends and fellow SOS Brigade members…" stated Koizumi in reply, "The truth is that she has not known us all that long, and in fact, has only made a few truly notable memories during her time with us thus far. The integrated data entity, on the other hand, shares a great link… an irrefutable bond… with Miss Nagato that reaches deep into the metaphysical depths of conscience, consciousness, and sense of self. Even if that link has been severed through some magnificent means, the residue of that link can be no more scattered away than a young man could scatter away the residue of the bond and love that he shares with a recently passed but beloved mother."

"Do you think, then, Koizumi…" I responded to him, "That your mentioning of the integrated data entity will get through to Nagato? Do you think it will repair her of whatever currently ails her mind? Does it have a chance of working, Koizumi?"

"It is our only chance, Kyon…" he replied to me in an unusually stern tone for him.

"Who are you two?" suddenly asked Yuki Nagato in an equally unusually stringent tone for her, turning her attentions back to Itsuki and I.

"Yuki… don't you remember Itsuki and me?" I asked in turn, temporarily taking leave of Koizumi's reasoning in order to attempt every angle possible at getting through to Yuki, "You, Itsuki, Mikuru Asahina, and I are all members of Haruhi Suzumiya's SOS Brigade. Don't you remember all the bizarre adventures and erratic expeditions and whimsical school events that Haruhi put the five of us through?! The five of us have become a team, Yuki; a team that works for a special goal to help Haruhi! Don't you remember the discussions that you and I had about Haruhi?!"

Yuki's face began to abnormally contort, and twitch, as an actual anger began to build up within Yuki, likely over her being utterly unaccustomed to being completely in the dark on something; something, in this case, that she should know everything about! Infuriatingly difficult to discern split second images of memory began spiraling through her mind like a slideshow blitzing too quickly through a wide array of slides. Eventually, this led to Yuki astoundingly boiling over in rage!

"I don't know you!" she screamed at us, while she briskly took hold of her key staff, and began pointing it at Kyon and I.

"Finally!" stated an exasperated Nanoha, as she had grown impatient herself in waiting for her ally to take action.

Nanoha, with a determine smile on her face, pointed her staff at us as well.

"Kyon!" shouted Koizumi in supreme alarm, "Put the most resilient magnetic force field around us that you can muster up… and then get down!"

"Shoot…!" cried Nanoha, as she began to discharge relatively small, but numerous blasts of a cohesive spiritual energy of sorts from her staff, just as Yuki began to fire a much more potent blow from hers!

While Koizumi and I took the best cover that we possibly could given the circumstances, and I summoned forth a magnetic force field that I sensed should repel any attack that involved actual electrical current even in the slightest… I had my doubts that this would be enough. The exact nature of Nanoha and Yuki's blasts was unknown to me… I deeply hoped and actually prayed that there would be at least some electrons or protons somewhere in their attacks! My prayers, however, would be answered in a manner that I had not expected.

With a great samurai shout, Masamichi Fujisawa leapt on top of Yuki's staff, forcing it to discharge harmlessly into the ground around us. At the same time, Nanoha's blasts had just enough actual electrical current within them to make my magnetic force field an effective deflector of them. Sensei Fujisawa quickly raced over to where we were.

"Now lift your force field, Kyon!" Koizumi outright bellowed at me, as he had taken notice of Sensei Fujisawa racing over to help the two of us.

Doing as he said, I left him and myself open for Fujisawa to pick each of us up, one dangling precariously from each arm! Fujisawa than sprinted wildly towards a small twenty foot tall rocky hill of sorts in the distance, as he took special care to dodge the rapid and explosive fire of Nanoha and Yuki! Sensei Fujisawa made it there just in time, and the three of us slid our backs up tightly against the side of it that was facing away from Yuki and Nanoha. The distinctive oscillating sound of Nanoha and Yuki's discharging weapon fire, followed up by the much more deafening sound of that fire striking violently against the ground about us and the slowly crumbling hill that currently provided us with shelter from their storm, told Itsuki and I that our current protection will not last long.

"We're going to have to fight back, Kyon…" he said to me in a deeply regretful, yet unflinching tone, "If we don't… we will die."

"I know, Itsuki… I know…" I replied in a somewhat more dejected and uncertain tone.

"Sensei Fujisawa…" stated Koizumi, "You stay here while I try to subdue Yuki, and Kyon focuses on the unknown assailant. If it looks like one of us is about to be defeated… please help us!"

"Gotcha, kid!" replied Sensei Fujisawa, "Don't worry… Sensei Fujisawa has your backs!"

"Ok then…" responded Itsuki Koizumi, breathing heavily and trying to remain firm for what he knew would be the toughest fight of his life as well, "Let's go, Kyon!"

"Right!" I managed in surprising steadfast shout, even startling myself somewhat.

Tactically, at least, Koizumi's plan was sure and sound. I lacked the sheer speed necessary to even have an infinitesimally small chance of subduing the likes of Yuki Nagato, while I knew that an airborne Itsuki Koizumi in his esper form could manage impressive combat speeds. At the same time, Nanoha was heavily reliant on one metallic weapon; a weapon that I could easily disarm her of.

While rushing at Nanoha, I commanded my magnetic power as hastily and forcefully as I could, causing Nanoha's Raging Heart to literally jump out of her hands, and land a safe distance away. I then tackled her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. Our two hands soon became tightly strained against one another in fierce finger lock, while I gazed down at her making a sneering, yet determined, face at me. For some strange reason, I actually tried to flatter her into submission. It probably helped that she looked to be just a year or two younger than me, and with a rather cute face, hairstyle, and outfit.

"You know… you're pretty cute!" I stated to her, "Why don't you forget about this insane attack on us, and just try to calm down! Whatever's bothering you so much as to cause you to attack Itsuki, Sensei Fujisawa, and I like this… we can help you with it!"

"I-it's nothing that you can help with!" she shouted back at me, though not after blushing ever so slightly over me calling her cute, "I-I don't like doing this to you and your friends, but I have no other choice! I have to do this for Lord Galus and Master Nahato!"

"What is she saying?!" cried a questioning Nahato in horror before bringing his two palms his face, and after he had been watching and hearing this entire spectacle unfold from the safety of his observation laboratory, "She's given us away! They now know of Shadow Tribe involvement here!"

"…That was careless of her" admitted Lord Galus, "Of you, her, and I, it is Nanoha who has the least control of her emotions. She is such an inherently good-natured young woman, and hence actually very much ill-suited to be a Shadow Tribe assassin. That is partly why I had favored Kiriya over her, in spite of Nanoha's persistence to avenge… to avenge my family, and restore its honor on my behalf by taking upon herself the most important Shadow Tribe role that she could. While I was being resuscitated, Nahato, I suspect that Nanoha's unique powers were enough for you to try to turn her into something that she is not, weren't they?"

"…yes, Lord Galus, you are essentially correct." Nahato answered, "It seemed such a waste, to me, for someone as unusually powerful as Nanoha to be left on the sidelines!"

"I understand your sentiments, Nahato…" responded Lord Galus, "Let us just hope that Nanoha does not disappoint us again!"

As if on cue, Nanoha then pulled off a very effective maneuver. Suddenly… it was like she had disappeared on me; vanished into thin air! I suddenly perceived a… a… gigantic wave of water erupting out of the nearby great canyon of El Hazard! It would surely be enough to kill me! I could perceive so very little metal around me… certainly not enough to shield me from this oncoming wave! Hence, I ducked and covered and tightly closed my eyes for dear life!

I would soon find myself stunned to be yet dry and standing. It was all a masterfully casted illusion by Nanoha, clearly showing how she was a Shadow Tribe member.

"Foolish human…" she stated with a smirk, suddenly reappearing behind me, "You allow your sense of sight to guide you too easily, failing to perceive hidden reality that lies deep below!"

Nanoha than belted me with a decisive punch across the face, and kicked my legs out from under me. She then pointed her Raging Heart directly at my neck.

"You are defeated, Kyon…" she added, "I… I thank you for complimenting me earlier, but I'm afraid that your gentlemanly nature is not reason enough for me to disobey Lord Galus and Master Nahato. However, I sincerely wish for you the best in the after…"

"Fujisawa… Kick!" shouted the streaking form of Sensei Fujisawa as he delivered an incredible kick directly to Nanoha's shoulder, sending her careening violently sideways, and bouncing several times roughly upon the ground, screaming in pain. She eventually came to a stop, and with a loud groan, gripping her shoulder while winching in disorienting pain.

"…I'll never live down doing that to a young woman…" stated the chivalrous Sensei Fujisawa, "But… sigh… she gave me no choice. I'm not letting you down this day, Kyon!"

Sensei Fujisawa held out his hand to pick me up off the ground, and I gratefully took firm hold of it.

"As always, Sensei Fujisawa…" I stated to him, "You're a real life saver!"

"Thanks, kiddo!" exclaimed Sensei Fujisawa, "But… truth be told, I'm worried about Koizumi."

The two of us then looked upwards to gaze at the fantastically fast slashing attacks that emanated bright red and purple slivers of light. These attacks were being made by Yuki and Itsuki jousting against one another in midair. Being unarmed, however, Itsuki was taking the worst of the fight, as Yuki's key staff had slashed him twice across his left side, leaving slight scars and hemorrhaging blood in their wake.

'Yuki!' he shouted at her telepathically, and while forming a cross block with his two arms against Yuki's downward thrust of her key staff, 'Please stop this! Please let's talk this over! Kyon and I don't want to fight you, Yuki. Please… let's talk this over logically and rationally. Is that not what you believe in, Yuki?'

'Yes…' she answered telepathically, and while lowering the strength and pressure behind her push against Koizumi's arms just enough to ensure that her attack wouldn't push pass them, but not enough to let Koizumi feel comfortable in releasing the cross block, 'Logic and rational thinking is of core foundational importance…and logically and rationally… I find that the aggressive actions of you and the one called 'Kyon' to contradict your claims of not wanting to fight me.'

'We're defending ourselves, Yuki!' he continued in loud telepathic reply, 'You're giving us no choice!'

'Then you, like I, must have been given a mission by superiors to do…' responded Yuki, 'There is no choice… merely obedience. There is but obeying the master of the key staff. It is… odd that you so emotionally rebel against the mission to fight me that you must have been given. You have given me intriguing data to disseminate more thoroughly once I have completed my current objective. Goodbye… one called Koizumi.'

Yuki then increased the strength and pressure behind her downward push tenfold, resulting in Kyon being sent hurtling down towards Sensei Fujisawa and I. With a great shout releasing from his winded lungs and diaphragm, Itsuki would crash upon the reddish rocky barren ground beneath him. With one final soft moan, he would be rendered unconscious for a couple short minutes.

"Uuunnnnhhhh…" he made, before his head tilted to the side, and his esper powers flashed away from him.

"Koizumi!" I exclaimed in impassioned horror at the sight of my fallen friend.

I knelt down at the side of my friend, instinctively grasping his head into my arms.

"Itsuki…" I cried, "We can't do this with out you! You have to get back up!"

"What are you doing?!" exclaimed an enraged Masamichi Fujisawa – well, as enraged as the affable Fujisawa ever got – at Yuki Nagato, as he stared up at her, motioning with his hands to accentuate his words, "I now recognize your face. You're Yuki Nagato! You're the friend of these two young students. You're not a demon god of El Hazard – you're just a kid like them! Stop this madness – now!!!"

"Begone" responded Yuki Nagato in turn, as she created another very localized; very strong air current effect to blow Masamichi Fujisawa and myself out of the spot that Itsuki was currently lying in.

"Itsuki Koizumi is my top objective" she continued, "He is the one called 'the superb diplomat', and hence his termination must be achieved first. Then I will attend to the one called Kyon, and the one called Sensei Fujisawa."

Watching this from afar, Lord Galus and Nahato breathed a collective sight of relief.

"I have to admit that I was worried for a second there" stated Lord Galus, "But Yuki Nagato has proven her worth to us this day, Nahato. Now if only Nanoha…"

"Wait!" cried Nanoha at Yuki Nagato, as if the faraway mention of her name by Lord Galus was enough to restore her to action, "Please let me do it, Yuki Nagato! I have to prove myself to Lord Galus and Master Nahato! Please let me be the one to assassinate Itsuki Koizumi for them!"

"…Very well" replied Yuki Nagato after a tense pause, and searching Nanoha's eyes to see if they reflected the steely will of her voice, "It does not matter to me how my objective is achieved; just that it is achieved."

"That's it, Nanoha!" exclaimed a proud and beaming Nahato watching from afar, pumping his hands into tiny fists, "I knew that I made the right decision in making you the top Shadow Tribe Assassin!"

Nanoha, badly beaten and bruised, and with her lip busted open and seeping a small trickle of blood, began to stride determinedly over to the fallen body of Itsuki Koizumi, with her Raging Heart in tow. She then changed Raging Heart's setting to solid projectile, aimed it with one of her anesthetic poison darts, and pointed it at Itsuki. She was just about to discharge it when Itsuki began to come to, mildly aware of his predicament.

"No… please…" he managed weakly to her, "Don't do this… Nanoha…"

Nanoha hesitated ever so slightly over the sound of Koizumi's now gravelly voice.

"I can tell…" he continued, "That you are not… a killer… not in your heart of hearts…"

Nanoha now began to shake and tremble a bit, as Koizumi's words were cutting through to her.

"I want… the same thing that you do…" Itsuki continued, "I want peace… I want to be reunited with cherished friends… I want to please those under my care… there is another way than murder and violence to achieve that… I just know that there is!"

Nanoha was now sobbing slightly… she couldn't kill Itsuki. She just couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to kill a human so unlike her perception of the humans of El Hazard. She couldn't kill a peace-loving man who loved his friends… just like her dearest Alicia did.

"You are taking too long…" stated Yuki, after noticing that I had begun rising back to my feet, and while pushing Nanoha aside, and taking hold of her Raging Heart, "I will do it myself, then."

"N-no!" protested Nanoha, but with Yuki not taking heed of it this time.

Nanoha's involvement and hesitation here had bought us priceless time. Sensei Fujisawa was back on his feet! With his veins coursing with righteous drive like never before, he drove forward like a race car! He sprinted with astounding speed at Yuki Nagato, and leapt at her.

Yuki, at the same time, began to discharge one of Nanoha's poison darts…

"FUJISAWA KICK!!!" exclaimed Sensei Fujisawa in a thunderous voice, striking Yuki in the shoulder with a kick much like the one he had delivered to Nanoha earlier.

Now it was Yuki – yes, demon god Yuki Nagato – that had been sent careening wildly sideways! Fujisawa had actually struck down a demon god of El Hazard!

"This is not good!" exclaimed one of the Shadow Tribe's top scientists, as he was monitoring Yuki's vital signs and read outs, "That hit has caused substantial damage to Yuki's internal configurations and schematics. It's… it's as though pistons are seizing up, and sparks are flying! That is the best analogy that I can use!"

"Damn!" exclaimed Nahato, pounding his fast down hard on the console station before him, "Nanoha… you will be severely disciplined for this!"

"Yes, she will be…" added in Lord Galus, before making a smile, "But… Nahato… there is no need to be so outraged. Yuki Nagato's top objective has been realized! Sensei Fujisawa's strike came one second too late!"

The anesthetic poison dart had been shot directly into Itsuki's right arm, and had forced him into a comatose state. Sensei Fujisawa had, indeed, been one second too late…

"You're right!" exclaimed a joyous Nahato to his Lord Galus, "Yuki Nagato! Nanoha Inverse! Pull out… now! Eliminating Itsuki Koizumi is enough!"

"Agreed" stated Lord Galus with a smirk, "With the diplomat fallen, war is now ensured. With the diplomat fallen, Sensei Fujisawa and Masamichi Fujisawa will rush, in futile attempt, to save the live of Itsuki Koizumi!"

And with that, Yuki Nagato quickly took flight, while trying to ignore the pain in her shoulder. Nanoha Inverse, very sad and frowning, did the same. Sensei Fujisawa glared at the two of them as they rushed off into the reaches of the horizon. I… I became very emotional, I have to admit.

"Itsuki!" I cried, as I took notice of the poison dart in his arm, and pulled it out and threw it away.

"Wake up, Itsuki!" I shouted more loudly this time, as I gathered him up into my arms, and shook him slightly in an effort to wake him up.

He would not awake however… and that fact shook me to my core.

"NOOOOOOOO…!!!" I cried, both figuratively and literally, as tears actually poured forth from my eyes as I looked up, vainly I felt, at the heavens above.

My lost was Katsuhiko Jinnai's gain. My scream would pave the way for his laughter. This day would be lost for myself… for Itsuki… for Sensei Fujisawa… for Makoto and his friends as they searched aimlessly amongst desolate regions for Yuki... and for the Alliance nations, as fear and trepidation began to spread throughout Roshtaria given the unfortunately leaked news that Afura Mann and Shayla Shayla had brought to Princess Rune Venus earlier that day.

But, the day would be won by the Shadow Tribe and the Bugrom Empire. Lord Galus had prevented Itsuki Koizumi from reaching Haruhi and Katsuhiko in time. Haruhi, with the diligent help of her Bugrom Empire, had already seen to the formation of a thousand SOS Brigade promotional boxes, including a wide assortment of items, most notably a SOS Brigade armband. Jinnai persuasively argued to Haruhi that a thousand such boxes would be satisfactory for the first day of "Operation: Permanent Vacation" – the name he gave to his mission to absorb all of El Hazard into the SOS Brigade.

"We're going to send the Alliance on a permanent vacation!" he had exclaimed gleefully to Haruhi, "They're going to go on a permanent vacation to the history books of El Hazard, replaced forever more by the burgeoning power that is the SOS Brigade!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" laughed Haruhi, finding Jinnai's choice of words here quite amusing, "Yeah, this Alliance club is no match for my… no, our… SOS Brigade, Katsuhiko! Like a vacation, we're going to bring some great joyous times to El Hazard!"

And with that, Haruhi and Jinnai laughed in unison… foretelling of what awaited El Hazard, and the country of Gagnon in particular, on the fifth morning of the presence of the SOS Brigade of Earth upon El Hazard.

"March on, my legions!" shouted Katsuhiko Jinnai, pumping a fist into the air, and riding upon the back of the Red Comet, during the early hours of this fifth morning.

Gigantic flags bearing the SOS symbol had been partitioned between various pairs of the Voyager class of bugrom, as they all followed behind Jinnai and his Red Comet. Due to the thunderstorm weather conditions, Jinnai had successfully pleaded with Haruhi to spare him the full SOS Man outfit this day… such spandex would prove quite vexing when drenched by rain, he argued. Hence, for this invasion of Gagnon, he was back in his usual student uniform, complete with the medals that Diva had given him. The only change was that he was wearing his SOS cape, draped over his student uniform.

"Today we take back what is rightfully ours!" Jinnai continued in oratory to his bugrom forces, while crackling lightning and pouring rain frequently framed his speech with an epic glistening shine, "Today we conquer Gagnon once more! Once we are within the central square of the capitol of Gagnon, we will declare to everybody within earshot that they are welcomed to join our SOS Brigade! The first thousand who do so will be given SOS Brigade promotional boxes! Everyone beyond that first thousand who are also willing to join will have their names wrote upon the large sheets of parchment we have brought with us; at a later date we will deliver their SOS Brigade promotional boxes to them! But before your Queen's most daring plot to propagandizing the humans of El Hazard can commence, we must crush the military of Gagnon! Show them that the Bugrom Empire is back! Show them no mercy! Show them that Haruhi Suzumiya and Katsuhiko Jinnai will not be stopped! Bwa-ha-ha-Ha-Ah-Ha-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

To be continued…