Slayers! Yoyutchi
by Leaf-Chan (leaf_chan@excite.com)

"Trust.
Denial...
Devotion.
Belief.

Shatter before the light that Ilyuum and I wield.
Pulse that brings life, abyss that harbors death...
Stretch both expanses before my darkness and my light
And fly forth across the space of time to vanquish
Them all: beast, beastmaster, and master, heed my cry!

... Seventh Absolution."

Episode VII: Maniac Magi

[-----]

Lina was running fast, very *very* fast. Behind her, the prone form of
Kiseki 'Umi' Rendahl fluttered back and forth like a flag in the midst of a
raging tornado. On both sides of her, an endless sequence of trees splayed
themselves out, choking her with their--

... okay, this isn't working. Let's try again.

First off, Lina was running, running, running very fast. And Kiseki was
behind her, levitated by a Raywing bubble, trailing like a very large and
bulbuous tail. As for the trees... all detailed prose aside, she was in the
middle of a forest. And further behind her, the scraggly marchers of a
vigilante group made themselves seen, wielding pitchforks, torches, small
swords, pieces of string, the family cat--anything that could be a potential
child hazard, really.

She looked around once and decided that a quick escape was in order. Only
she really had no where else to go but up, and even then she didn't know
where the hell she would be flying towards.

Ah, hell with it.

Lina quickly leapt up, and stayed up as a form-fitting (well, there wasn't
much form to speak of, but you get my drif--OW! That hurt, Lina...) bubble
of energy surrounded her as well. She quickly glanced back again to make
sure Kiseki was still in tow; the girl had been knocked into sleepy-byebye
land with one Dill Brand, something Lina hadn't expected at all. It did make
things easier, but as for being of any use...

She decided not to think about that now and instead focused on looking up,
up, up, and down, down, down as a large bluish flare of energy boiled
angrily out from the midst of a town in the far distance.

/What the *hell*.../ she thought, and flew in closer to take a look.

A blur of light streaked by and nearly slammed into her.

"AAGGHH!!" Lina yelled, spiralling out of control for a moment before
managing to regain her stability. Behind her, Kiseki was tossed about like
a fresh French salad.

The blur paused, then turned around to face Lina. "*Lina*?!"

"Damn it, watch where the hell you're going, you as--Nevv!?"

Nevv Swanson relaxed slightly before smiling an uneasy smile. "Yeah, that's
me. We've got trouble," she said worriedly. Then, she noticed. "Why are you
dragging Kiseki behind you?"

"What's going on? And don't mind her," Lina said.

The more ample-chested one turned back around, and rocketed off without a
word.

Lina cursed and followed her.

Nevv took a high, arcing path that looked as if she was following someone
who she had recently sent sailing sky-high with some spell. She eventually
wound up in some part of the land that happened to be surrounded by trees
and a jutting mountain that looked not unlike a huge stone dingdong, with
what appeared to be mansion on top of the... tip.

"Where the hell are we?!" Lina shouted out over the rush of wind around her.

"I have no idea!" Nevv shouted back. "I'm just following the path of--ah!
There we are!" She pointed.

The target of her finger was the lavish mansion set atop the hill--lavish,
that is, in every sense save for the three large holes in the roof. Nevv was
fairly sure she knew what caused those, but she hung back for a bit,
studying the situation carefully. Lina drew up next to her, powering up a
spell in her hands.

"All right, so what do we blow up first? The house or the mountain?" she
said with the familiar I-will-kick-your-ass smirk.

"Nothing," Nevv said quietly. "Look... I was trying to get Emmanem
earlier--"

"Did you take him?"

"*NO*." She stuck her tongue out at Lina, who mirrored the gesture in
response. "He... went berserker, or something..."

"Berserker? As in, he started foaming at the mouth and smashing everything
in sight?" Lina said.

"Pretty much... except now those two fruity Mazoku have him, and there's no
telling *what* they can do with him," Nevv muttered darkly.

"I'd rather NOT think about that," Lina shot back, turning a bit green.
"Urp..."

"Not *that*, Lina... ew." Nevv managed to turn a bit green herself before
regaining her composure. "Look... whatever it is they're trying to do, if
they manage to manipulate Emmy into doing it..."

"So... what's the problem here?" Lina said easily. "I mean... it's not as if
he's done anything to help us, right?"

Nevv groaned. "Lina... as odd as he is, he *is* our friend... we should at
least *try* to help him out."

"... aaaahhhhh, I see how it is," Lina said, winking at her.

"What was that wink for?"

"It wasn't a wink, I got a fleck of sand in my eye from this wind," Lina
said, trying to blink the sand out. "Let's land."

Nevv nodded, and the two swooped down and perched on the top of the
dingdong, which was a lot larger than it had seemed from farther away.

"Wow... it's so big..." Nevv noted.

"It sure looked small up in the air," Lina said, looking around as well.

"They say that things look bigger up close," Nevv said, finishing her
examination of the air and now checking out the house itself. It was done in
the typical Victorian style--or was it Gothic? She didn't know the damn
difference between the two anyways. Aside from the three holes in the roof
that Ace and Gary would probably pass of as "ventilation shafts", it really
*was* a beautiful house, and--

"AERO BOOOOOOMB!" Lina shouted, unleashing a compact ball of gale-force
winds that went flying across the space between her and the house, nearly
clipping Nevv in the head before smacking straight into the side of wall.
The windows promptly shattered outwards in a satisfying crash and tinkle of
expensive glass, sending debris flying into the air around Nevv...

... who promptly wheeled on Lina angrily. "Hey, *watch* it!" she yelled.

The heretic genius, however, was currently indulging in a moment of
stupidity. "Next on the menu... FIIIIIIREBAAAAAAAALL!" And the familiar
blast of swirling red energy shot out and struck the house on another one of
its walls, setting the wood (wood? Mazoku used wood to build their houses?)
ablaze. With a smirk, Lina dusted off her hands and waited for the Mazoku to
come out from their now-ruined mansion.

Nothing happened.

"Lina, you idiot!" Nevv yelled. "What was that supposed to accomplish?!"

Lina smiled coolly at her. "If I calculated correctly, those two spandex-
clad morons will come running out in about... three, two, one..."

She pointed at the door in a dramatic gesture. "NOW!"

Nothing happened.

"You idiot," Nevv muttered. "If we had followed my idea, we would've been in
and out already, instead of staying on top of this oddly-shaped mountain
waiting for those two to finish consummating their relationship with each
other. Uck."

Lina bristled. "Yeah, well, if your idea's so hot, why didn't you--"

Nevv cut her off with a wave of her hand. "Shhh!" she said, straining as if
to listen to something.

"Don't 'shhh' me!" Lina shouted, her voice becoming increasingly shrill. "I
can do--"

"... guwwwaaaah..." came the faint but unmistakable moan of something very
Ghostly and In Pain and Suffering.

"What was that?" Lina said, her gaze darting around nervously.

"If you'd actually stay *quiet*, I can try and find out," Nevv muttered.
"Please?"

"Oh, all riiiaAAAAAHH!!" Lina's last syllable was dragged out and converted
into a nice, typical scream of surprise as something dark, blue, and large
leaped out at her from the side. There was a flash of light, a glitter of
sparkling, maniacal eyes, and Lina was sent flying by a wicked right cross.

Groaning, she managed to stand up as Nevv swung by her and fired off some
sort of strange bluish blast of energy at the attacker. The thing slipped
aside in a flash of white, landing behind Nevv before she could even blink
and sending her sprawling with a strike to the back of her head.

Nevv looked up to see the hulking, menacing form of a blue-haired maniac in
tattered clothes standing over her, his face twisted in a wicked grin.

"Emmy...?" she said hesitantly, reaching towards him.

A strangely-calm voice came from Emmanem's throat, a voice laced with metal
but still more than a little reminiscent of its former sound. "Jukaara has
lost himself," the voice said. "There is only me now... the being of rage
within him."

"Jukaara... I think I liked 'Emmanem' better," Nevv muttered, before a
streak of light smashed into Emmy's back, sending him reeling forward. Lina
dashed by, her face set in determination, and managed to wave hi to Nevv
before gathering another blast of energy in her hands and setting it loose
at the berserker.

Emmy dodged aside from the second blast lithely and cracked his knuckles,
leering at Lina with a low, contemptuous growl.

"God, you're sure ugly in that form," Lina managed. "Take THIIIIIS!"

Before she could fling the spell at Emmy, though, she was caught off-guard
once more as a savagely-powerful kick hit her on the shin. Lina yelped in
pain and started hopping around, clutching her leg in agony.

Nevv looked up. And decided to stop looking.

"*Prepare* for--" Ace began.

"Ace, it is my turn to begin the recitation," Gary said, plucking the rose
out of his mouth.

Big Ol' A looked at him, a bit disgruntled. "Such matters do not *concern*
us at this particular time, Gary, especially in the midst of a battle which
we have a lead on. We shall discuss this *later*."

"Oh, very well. Spoiled upstart."

"Who are *you* calling 'upstart'?!"

"Guys..." Nevv chimed in. "... I think, anyways. Look, can we skip past the
fancy stuff and get to the asskicking?"

"Heh... looks like you're finally learning, Nevv," Lina said, still
clutching her mortally-wounded (or just in a helluva lotta pain) shin. "You
sound just like me!"

Nevv blanched, and turned back to the Mazoku. "Emmy's ours, thank you. Just
turn him back the way he was and we can all go scot-free, except maybe for
Gary, who I *know* tried to touch my breasts," Nevv finished somewhat slyly.

Ace glared at his partner. "Gary, is this *true*?" he demanded.

As Gary fumbled for a response, Lina finally realized that Kiseki was still
out like a light. /Could use some help,/ she thought. /Or just some fodder.
Lessee here.../

And Kiseki wasn't there. The Raywing bubble had long since disappeared when
Lina broke concentration.

"*Damn* it!" she yelled, looking around. Over here, Nevv was in a stand-off
with Emmy, the two of them doing nothing except exchange glances once in a
while (glances that glimmered dramatically with an almost-audible sound);
over there, the two Mazoku were arguing over the accusation of being
unfaithful; and up on the second floor of the mansion a blue-haired girl was
chanting something that sounded like the Giga Slave.

... eh?

"Source of all disrespect...
Taunting that flows within...
Reveal to me now your true lack of power!"

So sayeth the first High Mage of Saikyouism, the Grand Mistress of
Ineffectuality, the One Below All Herself, Kiseki 'Umi' Rendahl.

Lina didn't know what to say. Then again, she was glad Nevv wasn't aware...
yet. She'd have a *mouthful*.

"Emmy... listen to me. Back down. Now," Nevv warned, trying to charge up
some sort of spell in a fashion that he wouldn't regard as suspicious.

"Foolish little girl," he said, smirking. "My goals are my own. You shall
not interfere with them."

"Yes, yes, I've read 'Bad Dialogue for Dummies' too, now can we *please*
come to some sort of solution?"

Emmy's response was to swing a punch that scattered black fire straight
towards Nevv.

"From forth the arcade joysticks and now into my hand...." Kiseki continued,
a deep hue of pink beginning to gather around her waving hands and gyrating
body.

"This is *it*, Gary. We are *through*," Ace pronounced.

"But... Ace! You must understand! I never had any desire to caress the
smooth, round mammaries of Nevv Swanson! None at all!" Gary protested.

"... and yet you describe them in such a revoltingly-succulent fashion," Ace
pointed out. "As of this moment, the Disturbingly Ambiguous Mazoku are no
more."

"King of mockery, sea of inanity, I summon thee! Swear myself to thee!"
Kiseki continued. It was at that point Nevv chose to notice her.

Needless to say, she was more than a bit incensed.

"Kiseki, what the *hell* are you doing?!" she demanded.

Lina, who recognized the familiar sounds of Something That Goes Boom Very
Big, leapt into the air and rushed off with a Raywing, leaving Nevv behind
to wonder what sort of life she managed to draw in the evolutionary game of
bingo. Emmy, Ace, and Gary looked up as well--and each had a few moments to
take cover before...

"Uncurl my fist and mock those below us! SAIKYOU SLAAAAAAAVE!"

And both the righteous and unrighteous were consumed in that fiery blast.

[-----]

She dreamed the dreams that were of the foreboding type. Which was odd...
because dreams were not supposed to pervade even into the realm of death.
Then again, as any Mazoku can tell you, death isn't any big deal. It's
simply... oblivion, lack of sensation and consciousness. It's almost
pleasant, because you got a well-deserved rest and you were not aware of the
actual process, because... well, because you're dead.

Nevv didn't like being dead, really. It sucked.

It irked her even more that she had died because of one spell that was cast
by some sort of pretentious mage that just *happened* to be uber-powerful.
And the fact that she wouldn't be able to catch Lina and fulfill her mission
also happened to be of great suckitude.

Then she noticed that she was getting mad. Dead people usually don't have
feelings of any sort...

Nevv looked up. Above her, a blue-haired, blue-eyed girl was shaking her
forearm fiercely, a pink aura the size of a small tree surrounding her.
Further up was Lina, watching in semi-dumbfoundness. And across from Nevv
were the two former Disturbingly Ambiguous Mazoku, clutching their faces in
agony as strobe lights brighter than the sun at 5 yards burned into their
retinas.

She turned around. Emmy was lying on the ground, his muscular body gone. In
its place was the familiar, wiry blue-haired shadowy figure that they had
come to know and lov... well, know, at least.

Death was beginning to drop lower and lower on Nevv's coolness scale.

Actually, that wasn't right.

Those feelings weren't getting any less intense; she had the desire to blow
something up, bad. Plus, there was that not-so-fresh feeling again...
surely death supplied its own maxipads...

Nevv glanced down, and saw that she was sitting on cold, cold stone. She
quickly got up and took a *good* look around this time.

After a repetitive descriptive paragraph, she finally realized that she
wasn't dead at all; but the current situation wasn't much better.

"Strobe... lights... too... bright..." Ace groaned, writhing in apparent
pain.

Nevv had no idea what the hell she was supposed to do. This was something
that was really becoming all-too-common these days.

And then her and her three companions faded out in a wink of light, leaving
the two Mazoku alone on top of the phallic mountain. The ensuing depravity
shall not be detailed.

[-----]

"Where the hell are we *now*?" came the irate voice of a certain heretic
genius.

"Dunno," the big-chested, billowy-clothed mage replied. "What about the
other two? Emmy-kun and Kislappy?"

Lina looked around. And saw her sister leaning off to the side against a
nonexistant wall, trimming her nails. She was wearing an odd getup that
looked as if it should reveal a lot of skin; but featured large patches of
swishy robes and fancy doodads where her body would normally be. Lina
blinked, unused to seeing her in anything aside from a waitress' uniform.

Luna didn't say anything, although she did give Lina a cool two-fingered
salute for a brief moment before going back to doing her nails.

"Who's that?" Nevv muttered, pointing at Luna.

The older Inverse's gaze met Nevv's.

"Hiya, Knight of Ilyuum," she said.

"... oh *shit*," Nevv muttered. A brief smirk crossed her face, and was
quickly replaced by her usual confident smile.

"Nevv?" Lina said, looking over at her. "Wha? Knight of Ilyuum? Damn it,
*somebody* tell me what's going on!"

"Not going to happen," Nevv replied, turning to Luna. "Sorry. We'll have to
deal later... I've got business to attend to."

Luna nodded off-handedly. "See ya."

With that, Nevv simply stepped out and disappeared from wherever they were,
leaving Lina to stare in dumbfounded amazement at what she had just seen.

A few seconds later, the groans of a very-harried girl and a formerly-quiet
shadowy figure came up from behind Lina. "Wh... where am I?" Kiseki moaned,
wishing she had a nice cup of clam chowder right about now.

"Dunno," Lina shrugged, tending to Emmanem (who was strangely--but not *too*
strangely, since shadowy figure usually stay hushed--quiet). "Ask sis. She
probably won't tell, though--ARGH, I'm beginning to talk just like her."

Luna Inverse smirked. "Hadda take ya guys here. Need ta talk for a bit," she
quipped.

"Yeah? About what?" Kiseki replied, pointing an accusatory finger at her in
true dramatic accusatory fashion. "*You* were going to help me spread
Saikyouism across the land! And you double-crossed me!"

The Knight of Ceipheed affected not to let the scapegoating get to her too
much. "Never said that. Offered ta help you get revenge, 'member? Here ya
go. Lina. You. G'wan."

Kiseki blinked. "Oh yeah."

"What the *hell's* going on, sis?!" Lina demanded. She shook Emmanem a good
one, and still no response came from him.

"Nothin'." Luna sighed, then decided to try Plan A. "Wanna eat? I'll
explain."

"Eat? *Now* you're talking!" Lina smiled, heaving Emmy up to his feet and
promptly back down onto his knees as the man allowed himself to go limp in
her arms. "What the hell's wrong with you, Emmanem? I mean, aren't you
hungry after going into some weird berserker form and nearly killing all of
us?"

"... ngh," he replied.

"Food. *Now*," Kiseki demanded, still levelling her Finger of Blame (which
almost seemed larger-than-life by this point) at Luna.

"'kay," Luna said, and then they were in a restaurant.

Normally, it took even the mighty Lina Inverse, heretic genius and beautiful
mage extraordinaire a small span of time to make her way towards a source of
abundant food--a span of, oh, approximately 0.03 seconds. Luna, though, as
usual, outdid her in every way. There hadn't even been a whoosh or any
other distinctively magical sound ("kerplunk"?) as they had moved--if they
even moved at all. And the food was already all set out, and it was exactly
what Lina wanted. To hell with the others.

"Favorite," Luna nodded, as if reading her mind. She sat herself down on a
chair and eased off her apron, folding it in a neat little bundle and
setting it on the chair next to her. "Like Mom's cookin'. Y'know?"

"Yeah..." Lina said dreamily, thinking about home for the briefest instant
before the clinking of coins invaded the sanctuary of her thoughts. "Hey,
look, I want some answers, and I want them now!"

"Yeah! Like... tell me what you're doing to us! I'm confused..." Kiseki
trailed off.

Emmanem remained silent, the only sound coming from his mouth being that of
a neatly-eaten bite of veal.

Luna nodded vaguely and clasped her hands, looking at them in a fashion that
suggested she may be serious--well, relatively, anyways. Slowly ruffling the
elegant frills of her outfit upwards, she brushed the strands of hair aside
from her face to reveal two very human eyes that were currently regarding
all of them with a look of mild amusement.

"That is a secret," she said.

The two girls didn't get very far when they tried to smack her.

"Will you *tell* us already?!" Lina demanded, hanging upside-down from the
ceiling in a cocoon of flower-print magical energy.

"Don't make me use the true power of Saikyouism!" Kiseki warned. *She* was
standing right-side up... in a pile of pastel-colored pudding.

"Okay," Luna said. "I'll tell ya."

And she did.

"... oh my God," Kiseki muttered, paling, falling silent.

Lina didn't say a word. Neither did her sister.

That's when Emmanem chose to speak up. "... excuse me, ladies..." he began,
his voice cracking and wavering. "M-may I have... a word with you all?"

"SHHHH!!!"

"I apologize."

Further silence.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Lina said, glancing at the clock. Fifteen
seconds. "Look... how are we going to deal with it?"

"I don't know," Kiseki replied. "I think we should wait until Emmanem's
taken care of first..."

"... you're not going to slap a piece of tape over his mouth, are you?" Lina
muttered warily.

"Oh, no, no!" Kiseki smiled a bit shyly. "In fact... I think I want to help
you now, Lina Inverse. Surely the Knight of Ceipheed and her sister--"

"You can at least give me some proper titles," Lina grumbled.

"--can help me spread the influence of Saikyou!" Kiseki finished, raising a
forearm into the air.

"... yeah."

"May I speak now?" came the quiet, silky-smooth voice of Emmanem.

"Yes," Kiseki nodded. "You have a lot of explaining to do... and I still
have to take my revenge on you!"

"Whatever for, Kiseki Rendahl?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I just know that I have to."

"I see..." Emmanem said slowly, finding something interesting to look at on
the ground. "I must apologize for my rude actions earlier today.... although
the one I must apologize to is Nevv Swanson. Where is she presently?"

Luna bothered to talk. "Gone," she muttered. "Gonna go find her."

"Where has she gone to?" Emmy said, beginning to look worried.

The Knight of Ceipheed didn't look up. "Ilyuum."

[-----]

/Shit. Shit shit shit./

Nevv cursed as she headed towards the source... the center of it all. This
wasn't how it was supposed to be going, damn it! Sure, she didn't plan any
of this out--legend wasn't how people thought it was, nothing was really
*destined* or anything; in fact, the ones behind the scenes had to work
*damned* hard to fulfill all those rubbish Prophecies--but it wasn't
supposed to go *this* off-course!

She'd been discovered by Luna. And what's worse, Emmanem had been completely
unstoppable by normal means. Sure, vaporizing him would've worked... but
that idea wasn't feasible. She needed them--all of them--to complete the
plan.

Touching down, she made her way towards a seemingly-barren field that was
oddly discolored in a strange, twisted shape. Nevv ignored the sharp twinges
of bladefoot scratching against her legs, and pressed on, running as fast as
she could towards a spot in the off-center of one of the patches of color...

She didn't want to do this, of course. Despite everything she'd said, she
really had grown fond of Lina (whom she'd known before that time when they
had met--not coincidentally--on the outskirts of Scriim, under the
'clutches' of those two Mazoku) and Emmanem (who she didn't know about at
*all*--although she managed to deal with him adequately enough). Kiseki was
a different matter... then again, she didn't fit into all of this. It wasn't
about Saikyouism at all.

It was all about the Ilyuums, biyatches.

Beneath her feet, the ground began to flare slightly: a faint bluish-green
marring the rich golden wheat hues of the discolored dirt against the
verdant green grass.

Nevv positioned herself on top of a completely-inconspicuous patch of dirt
and took a deep breath. The two round highlights seemed to rise
dramatically.

/Okay... this is it,/ she thought. /I chose to do this years ago... and now,
I'm going to do it. Ready. Here we go./

The words... what were the words again? Of *course* she would get stage-
fright at a time like this... she quickly took a slip of paper out from her
pocket and began reading the incantation.

"Maikoryu... sendoth brenne akama tokai spoo," she began. /God, this chant
sounds stupid. Why can't mystical chants ever be short, or poetic?/

The ground pulsed for a moment, the flare of bluish-green energy growing
brighter for just a second.

"Konna mansen tushela mon mmmbop... yuyu ma sennaiba inna gadda davida..."

Dirt flew. Light pulsed. Beings arose.

"Vajeru... vajeru on ahkai sinmothkia lop sum bugii!"

Said beings slapped the snooze button.

"I *said* 'lop sum bugii', you lazy bastard!" Nevv yelled. "Now get the hell
up and do something already!"

Said being destroyed the alarm clock in a blast of effervescent power, and
slowly began to stir. And as it did so, the ground beneath Nevv--or, more
specficially, the discolored patches of ground--began to split and rise up
slowly, pushing itself up from the earth.

"About damn time," Nevv muttered, and hopped onto one of the largest chunks
of earth, watching as the sky began to get closer and the ground a lot
farther.

A faint whine of energy building up, the kind usually reserved for galaxy-
destroying cannons and the like, cut through the air and resounded in Nevv's
ears. She turned around, seeing nothing... then looked down again.

Where the bits of discolored ground had lifted away (leaving a few giant
landmasses floating in the sky like a big broken cookie), there was a bulge
of blue-green energy.

Nevv smiled.

[-----]

"I hope you are *satisfied*," Gary muttered, picking himself up off of the
ground. "I know *I* am not."

Ace glared at him. "How can I be satisfied? It was so despicably *hard*."

"I did not know you preferred softness to turgidity," Gary replied, dusting
himself off, not offering a hand for his former-companion. "You should have
specified."

"Softness," Ace scoffed, "is the best way into a Mazoku's heart."

"Then perhaps we should pad the mountain with a soft substance, so your next
fall will not be as harsh," Gary suggested.

Ace didn't deign to reply, and looked around. The magi--and their little
berserker friend--had escaped. This was most unpleasant.

"What shall we do, Gary?" he said, already scheming up a plan. Yes... yes...

Gary didn't reply.

"It is rude not to respond when addressed," Ace chided him.

"Run," Gary said.

"What *ever* do you mean--" Then Ace saw the glow of bluish-green power in
the distance, and what appeared to be a mass of floating islands in the sky.

The amalgam was headed straight for them.

"Pardon my French," Ace said. "Oh shit."

[-----]

Luna Inverse looked up. "Hmm."

"What is it, sis?" Lina called from across the room. She and Kiseki were
currently tending to Emmanem, who was explaining every bit of his suddenly-
regained memory.

"Probably a mosquito," Kiseki remarked, looking Emmanem over and brushing
those oh-so-delicate blue strands of hair out of his face. Wasn't he just so
*cute*?

Luna shook her head no. "Nope. Startin'. Gotta go, *now*," she said,
sounding a tad bit shaky. Just a tad.

"Starting? ALREADY?!" Lina yelped, on her feet in a second and clad in full
busterball-fan gear. "ALL RIGHT! I hope the Sailoon Posers win this one--"

"They lost," Luna said easily, grinning. "Not th' game. Somethin' big."

"... oh," Lina said, deflated. She dropped her tiny flags and big foam
"we are #1" hand. "Damn. Well, what's this big thing, then?"

"War," Luna muttered, and stared at them intently, her eyes flaring a very
bright azure for a flash.

"War? We haven't had a war for centuries!" Kiseki said. "Not since the--"

"That's long ago. We're talking about here and now. And we're in the wrong
place and running out of time." Luna looked at the other three. "C'mon.
Let's go."

"Luna Inverse... what is going to befall us? Who are we fighting?" Emmanem
managed, standing up. He was now bandaged in a few parts of his body,
although his hair retained its shiny, glittering sheen.

Luna smirked. "Your friend," she said, waiting for them expectantly. "Don't
hafta help. Just don't blame the end of the world on me."

"... *again*?!" Lina demanded, outraged. "How *dare* she--"

"She took us... for *fools*!" Kiseki fumed.

The others looked at her.

"What?" Kiseki muttered.

"She--" Lina continued, too outraged to even speak coherently. "She--
*used*--"

"She *used* us..." Emmanem muttered, not sure how he knew but feeling quite
sure of it. "She used us as her pawns..."

"Such... such a BLATANT cliche!" Lina finally finished. "How *dare* she
use--how she *used*--such a trite goal!"

A cricket chirped loudly.

"At any rate... we must stop her!" Kiseki suddenly shouted, raising one
forearm in defiance.

"Stop her... from what?" Lina blinked. "She never did anything bad to us..."

"Oh, just shut up and follow us," Kiseki urged, and grabbed Lina's arm,
ignoring the sharp yells of protest. With a snap of a finger, the four
simply vanished from the restaurant.

"Hey--HEY! You didn't pay the bill!" the manager yelled, red-faced.

[-----]

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