Draco: This would be the plot-important extra Yaksha chapter I promised you guys.

Heads up. Yaksha is the shadiest kingdom in Ransei (under many definitions of the term) and I've been watching Pirates of the Caribbean. Expect a port and some references. If any non-Warlord names are mentioned, I picked them at random from the appropriate gender.

Pokémon and protagonist © Nintendo. Character designs © Koei. Ransei © somewhere in the middle.

Yaksha: Freeing The Umbra Hearts

"Gyah!"

No sooner had Oichi touched the door of the Warlord Chamber in Yaksha Castle than she heard Evia give another cry of pain. The six Warlords had decided to meet up for dinner after everyone had recovered from the various wounds that Kotarō and his shinobi had inflicted. The discovery that the castle servants were of the same necrous outfit and eerie behaviour as the townspeople was not comforting - regardless, most of the party had opted to go to the medicinal hall rather than treat the wounds themselves.

Evia was one who had chosen to tend to her own injuries - and her injured screams had caught Oichi's ears from clear across the castle.

Panicking, Oichi pulled the door open and rushed in. Evia's cape was on the floor at the foot of her bed, and fearing the worst, Oichi rushed towards the nearest window, fearing a rouge shinobi had captured her.

This put her in line with the washroom, where she saw something much worse.

Evia was standing at the mirror, her hands on one horn of her Warlord Crown. There was already a small pool of blood at her now-bare feet, and the cuts on her arms and legs were untended, covered in bloody streaks. Trails of crimson flowed from each gash in her flesh.

And there were rivers of red flowing down her neck, from her crown.

Oichi nearly dropped her staff. "Lady Evia!"

Evia fell still at Oichi's voice. Slowly, she lowered her hand from the horn - and Oichi was horrified to see the beautiful rose metal was caked in blood.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me Lady."

The Warlord's voice was wracked with pain. A startled gasp, Oichi approached Evia, setting one hand on the Warlord's own. "What happened...?"

"Kotarō's bloodstained trap box," Evia muttered. "It took me under the earth and seven different ways before I ended up under that roof of vines. I didn't have time to sheath my blade." She winced and reached for the horns of her crown, but Oichi's other hand caught her fingers before they could arrive at their destination.

"Evia, what are you doing?" Oichi demanded.

"My crown," Evia insisted. "It was that peddler in the town, first. He grabbed me by my crown. Then Kotarō's trap jammed it further in. It's just constant pain until I can return it to how it's supposed to be." She tried to pull out of Oichi's grasp, but the healer held fast. "Damn it, Oichi, let me go! This is a wound you don't know how to treat!"

"What, just because I've never treated one before?"

Oichi's retaliation caused Evia to fall silent. "You mean-?"

A soft chuckle passed through Oichi's lips. "Evia, it's a wound. I can heal it. Just promise me you won't pull on it."

She took a chance and released Evia's hands. Shocked, Evia spun to face her. "But Oich- Oh my." She turned away, covering her mouth. Oichi wasn't sure about what she was reacting until she realized that she had left the medicinal hall in one of the none-too-obscuring hospital gowns that they kept there for patients meant to be bedridden.

This realization was met only with a roll of Oichi's eyes. "Evia, just sit down, close your eyes if you need to, and relax your body."

Evia stumbled until she found a bath stool, drew it under her, and sat down, closing her eyes - not for Oichi's attire, but because it had always been easier to relax when she could see nothing.

Oichi waited until her body was completely still before picking up her staff just below the head. Swiftly, she lifted the head over Evia's legs, letting the water flow out. As it drifted over the cuts, Evia gave a gasp as the cuts slowly closed. Once the wounds on her legs were nothing more than white lines, Oichi took both of Evia's hands in one of hers and raised her staff over them, soaking the cuts on there as well.

She waited until the wounds had closed, and Evia's body had relaxed; then she raised her staff between Evia's horns and released the contents over her helm.

Evia tried to start, but Oichi set a hand on Evia's arm. Her mouth opened with a gasp of shock, then one of pain - and before Oichi's eyes, the horns of her Warlord Crown shifted, angling themselves against her helm until they were skyward from her helm, standing tall once again.

There was a moment of quiet.

Then, shaking horribly, Evia managed to pull herself to her feet, opening her eyes only once she was standing straight. "Oichi... how...?"

A soft smile rose on Oichi's face. "I'm a Dragnoran, Lady Evia," she insisted. "And you never know what will happen around a Dragon."

Evia returned Oichi's smile with an amused grin of her own. "Prove it."

Oichi took one step forward and set her lips on Evia's, finding the Warlord to mirror her actions perfectly as she closed her eyes.

There was a moment of quiet as the two allowed each other those few seconds of bliss; then Evia pulled away, her eyes flittering open.

"I saw that coming."

"Smartass," Oichi mused, stepping away. "Come on. Your banquet's on."

"Hold on," Evia insisted, tapping her earpiece as she turned away. Oichi glanced over her shoulder as her Warlord raised her bracelet to her mouth. "Yukimura, Kanetsugu, respond." As the Warriors replied, she said to Oichi, "You're gonna want to get changed."

"Yes, Lady Evia?"

"What would you have us do?"

"Yaksha has been taken," Evia replied. "Station yourselves in Cragspur."

"Understood!" the two Junior Warlords replied.

+x+x+x+

Kunoichi was waiting for them in the dining hall, along with the rest of the team, when Evia and Oichi arrived. "Hey, you two!" she called, now her usual pleasant self. "You're late to the party!"

"Alright, alright, we're here," Evia insisted, taking a seat across from the ninjette. As Oichi sat down beside her, the Warlord leaned forward. "You think you can handle Yaksha, now?"

The shinobi nodded. "Yeah, I can."

"I can't," Ginchiyo muttered. "This place is horrifying." She grabbed a glass of what looked like Chaos Wave and took a long drink from it.

Oichi turned to her. "What do you mean?"

"The servants," Muneshige replied. "The maids. The townsfolk. Everyone. They all look like monsters."

Evia glared at Kunoichi.

"Hey, I never said anything!" the ninjette insisted.

"It was Kotarō." Aya's voice caused Evia to turn towards the Illusian. "Were you not listening when he said farewell? 'I entrust to you, Yaksha, the kingdom of Umbra Hearts'." She shook her head. "Everyone. Their eyes are those of the heartless. They are monsters to the core, stained by the darkness of the blood knight who acted as their Warlord."

Evia fell quiet, turning back to Kunoichi, who had her gaze on the drink she had to her lips.

"Told you," she muttered into her glass.

This prompted Evia to shake her head. "That's it, then. We're not moving on until we've pulled the darkness from this kingdom."

"What?" Ginchiyo's cry of shock caused Evia to turn to her. "You mean to say..."

"War is never a priority," Evia insisted. "The people of the kingdom come first. Once that's done, then we can worry about Nobunaga."

That statement settled on the table firmly.

+x+x+x+

"Where to first?"

Evia and her Warriors were in the meeting hall, the day after the banquet. At Oichi's question, the Warlord glanced over the kingdom map, curious.

"Alright," Evia mused. "Kunoichi, Ginchiyo, I want you two to go to the cave and the floating rocks. See if you can find any Warriors, peddlers, townsfolk - anyone who's got those eyes you mentioned. Try and get them to come to light." Before the two could reply, she quickly added, "And stay together."

Ginchiyo turned to her, offended. "Lady Evia, I'm fully capable of defending myself."

"That you are," Evia admitted. "But I'm willing to bet this kingdom is packed with ninjas and Muneshige is going to slay me if you die on my orders."

The observation caused Ginchiyo to turn to Muneshige, who was suddenly very interested with a nick on his buckler.

Evia turned to Aya-gozen. "Aya, you and Oichi, stay in the castle. Try and get the servants to... enjoy themselves. I don't quite care what you have to do, just find some way to get them to come out of that darkness. Anything"

Oichi bit her lip and turned away.

"Okay, not anything," Evia withdrew, "but I trust you two to limit yourselves. Muneshige," she added, turning to Ginchiyo's knight, "you and me are going to go to the port and see if there's anything down there that has to do with this darkness."

Muneshige nodded. "Very well, Lady Evia. When will we be departing?"

Evia rolled her eyes. "Immediately. That goes for everyone."

"Understood."

+x+x+x+

It wasn't long before Evia and Muneshige arrived at the Yaksha port.

The flags on the ships were the first clue as to what in Antimatter Evia had got herself into. Each and every one carried some form of Jolly Roger waving in the wind. One had crossed Crobat wings in place of crossbones. Another had a Gyarados helm in place of the human skull, and a third had two golden feathers like those on the flag of Violight, crossed beneath a white silhouette of a Luxray's helm.

Staravia whimpered.

Muneshige whimpered.

Evia, who had insisted Eevee stay with Oichi to help with the castle servants, only grit her teeth. "Pirates," she muttered. "Why am I not surprised."

The two of them approached a ninja-cowled peddler who was perched on a stand covered in bottles. He had his gaze low until Evia stepped up, glancing over the price list. Small rum... medium rum... large rum... extra-large rum... barrel of rum... six barrels of rum... landlubber's nightmare rum?

"Only an earthbound would be unable to hold his drink..."

"What-?" Evia raised her gaze to protest and nearly screamed.

Now she saw the eyes that her team had been talking about - the peddler's eyes were inverted. The pupils were necrous white, the corneas were pitch-black, and his irises were a dead-halfway shade of silver. Combined with the icy white cowl, the all-obscuring black robes, and his blank gaze being focused on Evia, this was more than enough to communicate exactly what the others were talking about - a monster in a human's body.

"What the hell...?"

Muneshige set a hand on Evia's shoulder. "You were speaking aloud, Lady Evia," he prompted. "We all heard you."

Now, that was not what Evia was freaking out about, but it did provide an excellent cover for her shock. "Oh... sorry..." She glanced down. "Um... How much for... an extra-large?"

"That would be eighty gold..." the peddler mused darkly.

Evia set a hundred and sixty gold on the counter. "One for me," she prompted, "and one for the good man I know is still under those robes."

The peddler gazed at her blankly for a long moment. Then he reached forward, accepting the coins and sliding them into a money tin before reaching under the counter and drawing out two bottles, setting them both just in front of Evia.

Evia picked up one bottle.

When the peddler made no motion to drink, Muneshige attempted to reach for the other, but Evia slapped his hand away and glared at him before stepping away from the stand. Muneshige glanced at the peddler before following suit.

The salesman watched them for a moment; then his gaze settled on the drink left on the stand.

Evia slipped the rather large bottle into her pocket as she and Muneshige made their way further across the port. A moving flag prompted Evia to gaze as she watched a lone ship flying the Yaksha flag as it sailed into the furthest port. Curious, she started towards it, only to come to a stop when she saw several men at a round table.

One had a three-pronged hat, another had an eye patch on one eye and a scar across the other; and the other had a wooden stick for a leg. Each of them had a leather cup in their hands, shaking them with the sound of dice - and after a moment, they each slammed the cup to the table, top-down, with both hands on their cup.

The one with the hat, who seemed to be a captain of some sort, glanced at each of his men. "Three fours."

"Four threes," the man with the replacement leg retaliated.

"Four fours," prompted the eye-scarred man.

The captain angled his cup so he could see his dice, but the others couldn't. "Five twos."

"Six twos," mused the man with the eye patch. His gaze shifted, and he angled his cup again. "Sorry, six threes."

"What are they playing?" Evia asked of Muneshige.

Staravia chirped worriedly as Muneshige answered with a whisper, "It's a game of deception. They cast five dice within their cup and guess at their roll, trying to one-up one another. Then they peek at their dice and try again - and this time, they know they're lying. After everyone's cast a bluff-"

The man with the leg looked at his dice. "Seven sixes." At the captain's glare, he mused, "You gonna call me a liar?"

Muneshige winced. "Once they've all bluffed, they try and intimidate each other. The first to grab a lying opponent's cup gets that opponent's prize. Anyone else can keep going. If there's one person uncalled and uncalling, they leave as they came. Of course-"

The eye-patched man grabbed the captain's cup, revealing a four, two sixes, and two ones. "Captain, you're a liar, and I'm taking your gold!"

The captain scoffed, drawing out a coin bag and tossing it at the man - right into his nose.

"Everyone's lying," Muneshige mused. "You just don't always want to face the consequences."

Evia hummed curiously. "And... is this a game well-played?"

Muneshige chuckled. "Every pirate will play this game."

A smile rose on the Warlord's face. "Alright."

She grabbed Muneshige's shield off his arm and drew her own. Before the Violitian could stop her, she slammed the buckler into her battle plate, and the strike of metal on metal caught the attention of every pirate in the port. Once she was certain everyone had their eyes on her, she tossed the buckler back to Muneshige and turned to the crowd of pirates with a smile on her face.

"Who wants to play a game against the Warlord?"

There was a long moment of quiet... and then everyone began to laugh.

Evia's smile fell. "What, no players?"

"Yer not the Warlord, lassie," the captain from the previous game stated. As Evia turned to him, he prompted, "The Warlord of Yaksha is a monster of the night."

"And I kicked his ass," Evia mused, a smile on her face.

The port went silent again. The captain tried to laugh nervously, prompting a few chuckles from the others. "Ye can't defeat Kotarō of Yaksha alive, lass."

Evia reached into one pocket, driving the back of her hand into the metal there before drawing it out again - and she had Kotarō's backhand claws clipped onto her knuckles. "I've got proof."

The captain stumbled back in shock. The port went silent.

A thought occured to the Auroran, and she reached into her pocket and drew out the bottle she had just purchased. "And I've got rum."

The captain grinned. "Alright, lass! I'll play ye! Men, move!"

The men took off, leaving their captain and Evia to take seats. The two men swept a set of dice into their cups before handing one to Evia and the other to the captain; then they picked up the last cup-and-dice and set it on the edge of the table, raised so the dice were still within.

"I'll set the stakes, shall I?" he prompted. He lifted his hat from his head and set it on the table. "Me ship - the Burning Dragon-" and here he beckoned to the ship with the Charizard's helm in the Jolly Roger "-against yer bottle of rum."

"Alright," Evia mused, surprised that he would bet that much for so little. Regardless, she set the rum on the table before picking up her dice. She set her palm against the mouth of her cup, and the captain did the same. A moment passed; then the two shook their dice, Evia matching his movements inch for inch.

Then the two slammed their dice to the table at once.

"Ekans-eyes," Evia bet, going for minimal. Then, unsure if the captain knew that term, she explained, "Two ones."

The captain grinned. "Three twos. And I know Ekans-eyes, lass."

Evia lifted the rim of her cup so she could see her dice. "Four ones," she added. "Double Ekans-eyes."

A moment passed as the captain lifted his cup. "Seven threes," he mused, raising his gaze to Evia.

The two eyed each other off for a moment.

Then the captain reached forward and lifted her cup. "Warlord lass, yer a liar, and-"

His statement fell flat - for Evia's cup indeed held four ones, as well as a six. "Oh, bugger."

Evia knocked over the captain's cup, revealing three twos and two fours. "Captain, you are a liar, and I'm not impressed."

"Damn, lass," the captain muttered, sitting down again. "Fine, take it," he muttered, lowering his gaze to his lap.

Curious, Evia picked up the hat, looking it over. It didn't look like much - just a mangy fold of cloth that smelled like barnacles - but Evia regardless lifted it as though to set it on her helm.

Then she turned it around, and nestled it on the hat of the captain, prompting him to raise his gaze.

"You can keep the ship, captain," Evia insisted, getting to her feet and picking up her bottle. "But I'm keeping the rum."

Then she turned to the crowd. "Anyone else!?"

Muneshige was worried. "Lady Evia..."

Evia had a smile on her face as she pointed at an eye-patched pirate with a cutlass in hand. "You, sir!" she prompted. "Do you play?"

The man raised his cutlass. "Ye insult me, to say I don't."

The Warlord only set her hand on the dull side of the cutlass, lowering it before her. "Let's play, captain. My rum, your sword. Could someone get this good man some dice?"

The two took seats at another table, where they were each handed a cup of dice. Evia set down her bottle, and the captain set down his cutlass as they shook their dice and slammed them to the table at once.

"Yer not an 'Lusian, are ye, lass?"

"Auroran, thank you," Evia mused. "Two twos."

"Four ones."

Peek. "Four threes."

"Seven threes," the captain mused. Then he grabbed his cutlass, using it to flip her cup. "Warlord, yer..."

There they were - four threes and a one.

"...tellin' the truth..."

Evia flipped his cup - one, three, four, two, six. "You, Captain, are a liar. But still a good man. Keep your sword."

She continued to go around the port this way, people trying to play her and watching with awe as she won the play without a single deception and not taking her prizes afterward. Muneshige and Staravia followed nervously, confused, but to Muneshige's surprise, this only earned her some joyful cheer from the crowd as she continued to approach the Yakshan ship - which had docked at the .

When she arrived, she was not surprised to find the men were in cowls, though they wore jackets and baggy leggings rather than robes - presumably for ease of maneuverability when running a ship, Evia assumed. Evia looked around at them, but didn't see a hat like she had seen on all of the captains she had met.

"Excuse me!" she called to the crew.

This earned her a wave of blank, Umbra stares that drew the crowd back.

"Which of you is the ship's captain?" she asked. "I don't see any hats."

The gangplank was drawn, and now one figure proceeded to walk down that gangplank, arriving at the end with a blank stare on Evia. There was a version of the Yaksha emblem on the front of her hat, with black wisps replacing the white.

"I am captain of this ship..." It was a female voice, but just as empty as the others.

Evia nodded. "I am Evia, your current Warlord." She held out a hand. "May I ask your name?"

The captain glanced at her hand.

"Alright, you don't have to tell me." Evia withdrew her hand. "So, captain, do you play the game of deception?"

A slow nod from the captain. "I do know the rules..."

"Very well," she prompted. "I'd like to challenge you. Can I get some dice?" Here she turned to the crowd, which had handed her and every one of her opponents dice as she had played through the port.

The crowd just stared at her.

Evia turned to Muneshige. "Are they glaring because I'm playing an Umbra?" she asked in a whisper. "Or because she's not a pirate? I don't think she's a pirate. She doesn't look like a pirate, and she's not wearing a pirate captain's hat."

"Little bit of both," Muneshige admitted.

"Lovely." She stepped towards the crowd. "Good men! Dice, table. Please."

One captain handed her two cups of dice. Another drew forward a barrel that reeked of brandy that had gone bad. Evia rolled her eyes and marched through the crowd, grabbing a proper table before drawing it towards the captain.

"Take the seat, captain," she insisted. "I'm sorry these men wouldn't bring two."

The woman sat down on the barrel. Evia knelt on the other side and handed her a cup of dice.

"What are the stakes...?"

Evia hummed for a moment, angling her head from side to side. "Tell you what," she prompted, drawing out her bottle of rum and setting it on the table. "If I win, I'll give you this extra-large bottle of rum, for you and your crew to share."

The crowd began exchanging glances and murmuring. A port full of pirates murmuring will create a lot of noise, so Evia grabbed Muneshige's buckler and slammed it against her own shield again to silence the crowd once more.

"Sorry about that, captain," she insisted. "As I was saying - if I win, I'll give you an extra-large drink."

The captain had a confused expression. On an Umbra Heart, that was hella progress. "And... if I win...?"

Evia grinned when she heard the not-understanding tone in the captain's voice - and she raised one hand before her.

Her index and middle fingers were set against each other - the others were parted.

"If you win, I'll give everyone in this port an extra-large drink."

The captain's eyes went wide.

"And a barrel for everyone on your ship."

The crowd cheered, causing the captain to look from side to side as they chanted. "Captain! Captain! Captain! Captain! Captain!"

"They're cheering for you, captain," Evia mused. "Cast your dice."

The two shook their dice, eyes on one another, and slammed them to the table.

The captain was quiet for a long moment. "Ekans-eyes..."

"Two twos," Evia countered.

They both tipped their cups to see their dice.

"Five sixes," the captain mused.

Evia grit her teeth. "Two, three, four, five... six," she replied, raising her gaze. "A full line, one off the ace."

A long moment; the port was silent.

Then Evia reached forward and warily lifted the captain's cup. "Captain, you..."

There they lay - five sixes.

Evia blinked. "...are telling the truth...?"

She raised her gaze to the captain's cowl - to see a smile in her eyes. As she watched, she lifted the Warlord's cup to reveal her dice.

Two, three, four, five... six.

"As are you, I see," the captain mused, raising her gaze.

Her voice failed to carry the trailing emotionlessness that had plagued every Umbra's words before.

There was a long moment of quiet.

"Seeing as I accused you first," Evia mused, "I do believe that acts against me."

The port cheered.

Evia swept the dice into the cups, holding out her hand to the captain again. "Good game, Captain."

"Kitsuno."

"Sorry?"

The captain drew down the face-guard on her cowl, revealing a smile on her face - and Evia saw her eyes fade, until the pupils were shining black, the corneas brilliant white, and the irises a bright green.

"Captain Kitsuno. Good game to you too, Evia."

+x+x+x+

"Anything?"

Aya and Kunoichi had just got back from the Yaksha cave. Oichi and Ginchiyo, who had been having no luck with the servants of the castle, had hoped to hear good news; but Oichi's question brought only a shake of Aya's head.

"Nothing," she murmured, nursing a wounded shoulder. "There were no Warriors to be found. I fear Lady Evia is fighting for a lost cause."

"I think you'll find that's not quite the case."

Muneshige's voice over the com-crystals prompted Aya to look down to realize she had the crystal on her bracelet sitting right below her mouth. Ginchiyo quickly set one hand on her earpiece and raised her own bracelet to her mouth. "Muneshige? What do you mean?"

"I'm approaching the gates," Muneshige replied. "I have Lady Evia with me. She's drunk."

Oichi's face darkened. She rolled her eyes with an irritable tremor before snapping into her bracelet, "Why?!"

The gates burst open.

The assembly of ladies turned to see Evia stumbling in, with a large bottle in her hands. She had a very pleased look on her face, a set of Kotarō's claws on the back of one hand, and the bottle was nearly empty. Behind her was Muneshige, with an embarrassed look on his face.

No sooner had their Warlord stood properly enough for girls to see her expression than Oichi stormed forward, snatched the bottle from her hands, and propped Evia up on her staff.

"You're drunk."

"Yeah."

Aya blinked twice, confused. Evia wasn't the type to sound gleeful about that.

"You are drunk."

"I played with some pirates, bought some rum, made some noise with Muneshige, and had a little fun with a ninja captain. Why does that sound weird? Oh, and I was gambling. I think I was gambling. Is deception gambling?"

Ginchiyo fumed when Evia said Muneshige's name, her ears turning crimson.

"Why are you drunk?"

Evia blinked rapidly. Her face scrunched up against itself as she tried to think through the liquor, and slowly, she set her hands on the staff to support herself until she could stand straight.

"I was in the port," she mused sternly, her voice slow. "There was a peddler at a stand covered in rum. That stuff has one Distortion of a foul taste. I grabbed the biggest bottle he sold that wasn't a barrel and took off for the only Yakshan ship in the port. I came across a few men playing a game of deception and decided to challenge a few sailors to rounds..." Here she set one hand on the bottle in Oichi's grasp. "With this as my bet. When I reached the Yakshan ship, the crew was all Umbras. I challenged the captain. I said that if I won, I'd give her the bottle, and if she won, I'd get everyone in the port a bottle. And she won. And she and her crew aren't Umbras anymore."

"But why are you drunk?" Oichi demanded.

Evia blinked again.

"Hell, I dunno."

Then she fell back, slamming into the floor of the entry hall.

Aya angled her head to one side. "That only makes less sense," she mused. "If she dislikes the taste of the alcohol..."

Oichi rolled her eyes and thrust her staff forward. It caught Muneshige by the shoulder, and Oichi drew her forward, raising the bottle to his neck.

"Why is she drunk?"

Muneshige gulped. "The captain of the ship was the first to... um... not-Umbra. Then the peddler when he saw the crowd. Kitsuno advised Evia take a drink to help persuade the crew to lower their cowls. That drink multiplied fast."

"And... the 'noise' she mentioned?" Ginchiyo demanded.

"My buckler, her shield, impromptu gong," Muneshige explained quickly. "Nothing more."

+x+x+x+

The month passed like this. Evia kept going to the port, taking a different companion each time, and finding more Yakshans there every day - courtesy of Captain Kitsuno acknowledging Evia's mission and desiring to help. Evia would gather a crowd by telling the truth in the game of deception, and then buying a drink for any Umbra Hearts that had shown up.

Though she avoided drinking any more than she had already, the others were not so hesitant - Ginchiyo, especially, was glad to grab a drink, get the Umbras to drink, then come back to the castle and pull Muneshige into the Warrior's Chamber. Oichi stayed in the castle to try and heal the servants, but otherwise the Warriors kept cycling their positions - two to the battlefields, one with Evia to the port, and one with Oichi.

"She's right," Evia mused as she sat down across from Oichi in the dining hall, having taken Ginchiyo for her last trip into the port. "Alcohol does help with her relationship issues." It was the last day of the month, and there had been very few Umbras today - Evia felt that she was almost done with Yaksha. Turning to Oichi, she asked, "How are things in the castle?"

Oichi looked away. "It's... work in progress."

Evia raised an eyebrow. "How's progress?"

"Not working," Oichi admitted. "I've tried everything that I can do in good conscience. Dance, games, karaoke... nothing gets through to them."

"Nothing...?" Evia fell quiet for a moment; then she turned away with drink in hand.

Oichi raised her gaze. "What?"

Evia only raised her glass to her lips.

Her Junior Warlord stared at her back. "What?"

"I have an idea," Evia admitted, not turning, "but... I can't guarantee you'll like it."

Oichi read between the lines way too quickly. "Oh, no you don't, Lady Evia."

"Do we really have a choice?" Evia asked, glancing over her shoulder.

"You know that's a bad idea," Oichi stated.

"Look, Oichi..."

"Evia, no."

"No to what?"

Both girls were surprised to hear Kenshin's voice coming over the com-crystals. "Wha...?" Evia set her drink down before raising her bracelet before her. "What is it, Kenshin?"

"Both of you have voices that carry when you're upset." Shingen this time. "Lady Evia, what exactly is the scenario?"

Evia glanced over her shoulder at Oichi again.

Oichi gave her a Dragnoran glare.

"No."

+x+x+x+

"YES!"

Oichi was a dark spot in the middle of a very bright party. It was the day after her and Evia's discussion; Kunoichi and Aya had been sent to Cragspur to switch places with Shingen and Kenshin, while Muneshige and a hungover Ginchiyo had been sent to Terrara to get Shingen's stock.

Aerospark and Black Cauldron whiskey, Ruby Light saké, Judgement Bolt hard liquor, Diamond Dust vodka, Demon Eye malts, Angel Feathers wine, and a barrel of Chaos Wave brandy, all straight to Yaksha in a blimp. The castle servants had all been incredibly dumbfounded at the sight, but had obediently taken the drinks to the dining hall. The long tables had been pushed to the walls, smaller tables had been brought in, and everyone had chosen to party it up.

Eevee and Jigglypuff made sure to keep Evia's drink full.

With the Dratini twins on her shoulders, Oichi was pissed.

Evia had invited some of the pirates from the Yaksha port, including Captain Kitsuno. The pirates were glad to join in the party with a barrel of rum, and everyone was singing a song that belonged on the Burning Dragon.

"We're devils, black Mareep, and really bad eggs!" Evia's cheer came close as she tumbled out of a crowd of servants, with Eevee on her shoulder and a near-empty glass in hand. She was in the same outfit she had won during the party at Terrara - crimson short shorts, ice-white tank top, and a rainbow of ribbons off each strap. "I'll be right back, guys, I need a break!" she cheered, before sitting down next to Oichi.

Oichi had a fierce glare on her face.

Evia gave her a soft smile. "Come on, Oichi, lighten up."

"I'm not lightening up," the healer scolded. "Seriously, Evia? We just had this problem after the fight in Illusio! And then you got wasted in the port! Do you really expect me to-"

She was cut off when Evia lurched forward, setting her lips on Oichi's. The healer shouted into the kiss, pulling away, and both of the Dratini twins leapt onto the table as she fell out of her chair. Evia smiled, leaning against the back of the abandoned seat as Oichi lay on the floor, dazed.

A moment passed.

Then Oichi rose to an upright position.

"Your lips don't taste drunk."

Eevee gave a laughing cry, then set one paw on his face and looked around like he was scared of someone hearing that.

Evia grinned, reddening slightly, and held a hand out to Oichi. When the healer was on her feet, her Warlord raised the glass next to Oichi's ear - and Oichi heard the fizz of cola crackling from the glass.

"You-" Oichi turned to her in a shock. "You've been faking drunk?"

"Absolutely," Evia mused. "I've seen seventy-three Umbras go light over the course of this party."

"There are only sixty servants in this castle," Oichi countered.

"Peddlers," Evia mused, swirling her glass. "Why should I stop with the people I can see?"

Jigglypuff's cry caused Oichi to turn. The singer was leaping between pirates and servants, a bottle of cola between her hands. When she landed, she quickly topped off Evia's drink, and the Warlord took the bottle from Jigglypuff before holding the glass out to Oichi.

Oichi gave her Warlord a smile - the kind of grin that said 'clever little sneak' - before sitting back down and accepting the glass.

"Hey," Evia interrupted. "You're the one who said you never know what'll happen around a Dragon."

"You-!"

Evia only laughed, holding out her bottle.

"Drink up, me hearties, yo ho!"

Draco: I'm on a roll today. Except not really. These two were lying in wait.

I acknowledge artistic liberties with the game of Liar's Dice. Sue me.