Disclaimer: I STILL do not own, or even pretend to own, Escaflowne or any
of it's characters. Please stop bugging me about it.
A/N: Hello again! Wow, can't believe I'm already starting on the third chapter for this, that has to be a new record for me. One small thing though, the Doppelganger(s), I have no idea if they have genders or not, so if you prefer them to, then by all means let me know. For right now, however, unless I decide otherwise, they will be, for all intents and purposes, Its, and they will be referred to as Its, thank you. All right, for the second chapter I made some mistakes, like writing notes to myself and not erasing them, but when I can, I'll get rid of them, and I apologize for it. Also, I apologize for some grammar mistakes, I found them when I was reading it over after I printed it, then forget where they were. So if they truly bug you, please let me know and I WILL fix them! Thanks! On with the THIRD, I repeat, THIRD chapter
"Mom?" Hitomi's voice cracked slightly as she tried to keep her emotions from overwhelming her.
"Is this Hitomi Kanzaki?" An unfamiliar deep, male voice answered.
Hitomi's vision wavered. "I, I think I have the wrong number." She moved to hang up the phone
"WAIT!!" The voice sounded urgent. "This is Lieutenant Oshida, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news," he didn't sound very sorry. "But, you're family is dead."
"No." The phone dropped. "Mom, Dad, Satoshi." She fell to the floor sobbing, not heeding the frantic voice on the phone.
"Ms. Kanzaki! If you're there, please answer. Ms. Kanzaki!!"
When Hitomi finally came to, she had no idea how long she had been out, or why she was on the floor, for a blissful second she forgot everything that had happened. Then with a flash, the memories returned. Once again they threatened to overwhelm her, but with a strength she didn't know she possessed, she fought for control, and won. "You've cried enough." She reprimanded herself. "No more tears." Standing up, an indifferent look settled over her features, while inside a deep, burning desire for revenge raged. Whoever had done this would pay.
Without realizing what she was doing, she summoned her Tarot Cards. She didn't see the energist's faint glow, nor the bright flash the message on the wall gave, her attention was on the cards. "Shall we start?" The question was aimed at no one in particular. Squatting on the floor, she laid out the cards Death. "No surprise there," she murmured. Betrayal. War. Danger. Travel. "Looks like I'm off to Gaea."
Slowly getting back up, she glared at the door leading out. With a creak it slammed shut. Walking purposefully back to her grandmother's room, she stepped in front of the message. "What do I do now?" She snapped.
You know what you need to do. The words were suddenly there.
"No, I don't."
Please, you're such a weakling. JUST DO IT!
"DO WHAT?!" She screamed. But nothing happened, no other words were appearing, and the new sentences were beginning to fade away. Sighing angrily, she began to pace, racking her mind for some sudden inspiration that just wouldn't come.
She paused in front of the lone window and looked up at the sky. "Van's up there." With another sigh, she began to move, but stopped. "There. That's the Mystic Moon, that's where I want to go." Her smile was cold, she knew what she had to do. With a slight wave of her hand, the Tarot Cards gathered themselves up and flew into a pocket. "I will get revenge." She swore. "You can't escape from me!"
Gripping the energist tightly in her hand, she glared at the sky. "Energist!" She cried out as the stone glowed faintly. "Dragonstone!" It glowed brighter. "Dragonsheart!" The stone glowed brighter with every word. "I have one wish, and one wish only for you to grant. Send me to Gaea, give me a chance to enact revenge. Don't send me home until I give the word!" The last sentence was added as an afterthought, she might want to stay longer. Nothing was keeping her here, Amano and Yukari had each other, and a new baby to look after. The light had filled the room and was beginning to pulse. "Bring me to Gaea!" With a flash, Hitomi was gone, but for a brief second the light stayed, then, with one final pulse it to disappeared.
Hitomi clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming, or shouting, or making any noise that would giveaway her position. Contrary to her other experiences, there had been no pillar of light, she had just appeared, and there was no disorientation. It had been like stepping through a door. Even though she had no idea where on Gaea she was, she did know she was on Gaea. "I hope." She whispered, before firmly putting a clamp on those thoughts, to keep the terror at bay.
"Ribbit." Whirling around to face some unknown assailant, she almost laughed out loud. It was a frog, a stupid, insignificant frog. Taking a minute to look at her surroundings, she surmised that she was either in a marsh or wetland. The area was wet and kind of boggy, a little stinky, but not too bad. "Ribbit."
"Shut up!" She snapped. Glaring at the frog, who glared right back for being told to shut up, her vision went black for a second and was replaced with a, a Doppleganger! She hadn't seen one in years! Normally she would've been terrified, but now, she just watched passively. The Doppleganger looked offended as it looked at a frog. Muttering something to itself, it gripped the frog and with a silent, or at least it was silent to her, roar, it took the frog's identity.
Hitomi came back to herself with a gasp as she stumbled backwards, pushed by an invisible force. "Why me?!" Disregarding her safety, she let it all out, all the stress and frustration in a howl. "What did I do? What did my family do to you?"
"Nothing." She wasn't surprised to see the Doppleganger back in It's original form. "It's what you haven't done." It chuckled at the brief look of confusion that flitted across her face. "You haven't done anything to earn the life you have, oh, excuse me, the life you HAD, and because of this, you have earned my leader's wrath. Not only that, but you are of the Chosen, making my leader's job that much harder, and those who are Chosen tend to be quite jealous of each other. Also, you are a key piece to the demise of Fanelia."
"You wouldn't!" What right did this Doppleganger have to say whether she had earned her way of life or not? How dare It call her bait. Taking a deep breath, she gained a measure of control. "So I'm to be bait?"
"No no no. You're reading into this all wrong. You're the trap. We are the bait." As It was speaking, It was slowly getting closer and closer. "You see, through you, we have a contact in Fanelia. It will be you who will be the cause of the impending doom of the kingdoms. Unfortunately," It's eyes gleamed and It bared It's teeth. "You have something of ours, and we want it back. Besides you can't remember any of what I've just told you. So."
Hitomi realized with a start just how close the Doppleganger was getting. "Get away from me!" Shoving him violently away she started to run. With a feral smile the Doppleganger gave chase.
Shao would let her get to the edges of the marsh, right before the Patrol came by, then It'd strike. A veteran warrior like Itself should have no problem keeping up with her, especially since It was on familiar territory, while she was not. Herding her in the right direction wouldn't be a problem either and if she collapsed before they got out of the marsh, Shao's job would be that much easier.
Violence was nothing new to Shao. Being a Doppleganger, It had grown up with wars and random acts of killing, that was the way of the Doppleganger. Fire. Screams of the wounded and dying were like music to It's ears while the stench of blood and death assaulted It's nose. Bloodlust flashed in Shao's eyes as It relived It's earliest memory. Even at such a young age, the stench, sight and sounds of death had not bothered It. Shao was a cold- blooded killer to the full extent of the term. Unemotional and unafraid, unafraid of anything except for Serori and Thirteen, all It really felt was the lust for war, the bloodlust, and rarely, rage.
Samel-Kahn was the name of the nomadic band where It had been raised. Renowned for their fierceness and prowess in battle they were the most sought-after mercenaries anywhere. However, since they were Dopplegangers and even those in their own band barely trusted each other it was hard to keep their loyalty. If you earned their trust, however, it was hard to lose it and they stuck with you 'till they died. Even other Dopplegangers avoided them if they could, but it got boring having others always avoiding you after a while so eventually they started creating wars. Finally other bands of Dopplegangers got sick of it and got together and fought back. All of the Samel-Kahn died out except for those who were off being paid mercenaries.
Serori had earned the Samel-Kahn's trust a long time ago and had paid for three of the Doppleganger's services, and Shao had been one of them. She had paid nicely and there was a lot of killing involved in the job so it never really got boring. This had been the strangest assignment yet, take a frog's form and wait in the marsh until some stupid girl came along and instead of killing her, It had to go and block her memories. However, an order was an order and It was bound to fulfilling her wishes, hers or Thirteen's.
A quick grin flashed across It's face, they were at the edge of the marsh and the patrol was due in. five minutes. Giving a huge leap, It closed the space between It and It's quarry and landed on her back. Ignoring her muffled pleas of mercy, It sat there for a minute, thinking about how to do finish the job. Shao decided on a quick mind-meld.
Gripping the sides of her face between It's hands It dove into her head. It didn't notice her scream of pain, all Shao was focusing on was getting out as quickly as possible. All this light, this. goodness!! Shao gave a mental shudder, this was going to make It physically ill. Get it over with as quickly as possible and then It could get out of there. With a quick mental nudge here, a nice shove there and. FINALLY, it was done. Sneering at how easy this had been, It turned back into the frog and hopped off, just barely avoiding the patrol that had rounded the corner.
"Oi, girl, are you all right?" Not even noticing the frog that was hopping away, the patrol leader rushed to the girl's side. "Lady! Lady!" He hopped off his horse and turned to his patrol. "Shigeru! Get over here quick! This girl doesn't look so good."
An old, well-built man slowly got off his mount. Ignoring Satoshi's frantic orders to hurry up, he was a sharp contrast to his leader. Old age and experience had taught him when to be hot-tempered and when to be cautious. Now was the time to be cautious. "Satoshi back away, she could be a Doppleganger!" Unlike the others, he had noticed the lone frog moving away, not going back to the swamp like a normal frog would've done. Shigeru was an old war veteran, he had been in the active service since he had turned 16. Not once had he ever asked for leave, without the military he had no purpose in life. Currently, he was teaching Satoshi how to be a good leader.
Satoshi, a hot-tempered 22-year old, had been in the service 5 years and had been promoted for excellent behavior, and for exhibiting signs of a good leader. However, many of his decisions and orders were rash and made too soon and he wasn't very cautious. That's why Shigeru was with him, to help Satoshi learn caution and self-control. "Yeah right, look at her!" Glaring at Shigeru, he grudgingly backed away.
"I am looking at her and I see a potential enemy!" The rest of the troop grinned at each other. They were used to it by now, but sometimes Satoshi's stupidity amazed even them. But that was why he was with them, an experienced troop, so they could help Shigeru help Satoshi. "This is why, boy, you've had so many near-death experiences."
Blushing furiously at being called boy, Satoshi thought he had outgrown that name, he nodded submissively. "How can you tell?" His blush became much worse when the troop started cheering, he had finally asked an intelligent question!
"First, she isn't a Doppleganger. Ah, ah!" He held up his hand to stop Satoshi's furious tirade. "Because she hasn't moved once, with the exception of breathing, and she hasn't attacked us, or you. Second, whenever you have a situation like this on your hands, have your psychic probe the person or thing's mind. They'll tell you." Grinning, Shigeru leaned against his horse and didn't move. Patiently waiting for Satoshi's outburst, he wasn't disappointed.
Finally Satoshi exploded. Throwing his hands in the air, he started screaming at everyone. "What do you want me to do? What do expect from me?! Why me?! WHY?!" He collapsed on his knees, wordlessly screaming. Nobody moved, even the horses were still. His screams gradually turned to moans, and eventually even those stopped, he was silent. No wind moved the grass, nothing moved and all was silent.
Still leaning against his horse, Shigeru glanced at the girl and did a quick mental probe of her mind. Shocked at the utter blankness there, he probed deeper and discovered an impenetrable wall surround her essence, trapping it there. Whoever had done this was an incredibly powerful psychic who knew how to use his power. The Doppleganger? No, the only Dopplegangers who could manipulate their minds like that were from the Samel-Kahn band and they were all dead, right? But what was the Doppleganger doing here and what business did It have with this girl? Standing up, he pushed the question to the back of his mind to deal with later, and walked over to Satoshi. "Get up fool. You have a troop to lead." One thing he did know was that the girl would have no memory and would need help. They could provide that help.
Flinching at Shigeru's voice, Satoshi slowly dragged himself up from the ground. Standing, back straight, head held high, he met Shigeru's hard gaze for the first time, and held it. With a proud voice he answered, "Yes sir." Turning to face the troop, he barked out an order. "Medic Yamano! Check this girl's condition."
At Satoshi's challenging glare, Shigeru simply nodded. It was about time he took charge, Shigeru was beginning to get worried. Ignoring the medic's report, since he all ready knew what was wrong, he walked over to the girl and knelt beside her. "Girl, hey, girl!" He whispered, shaking her gently, careful of her bruises and cracked ribs. "Get up girl, c'mon we have to leave soon, wake up!" He moved back a little ways as she moaned and rolled over slightly. "C'mon, you need to get up so we can move out sooner!" She moaned again, attracting the attention of the Medic and Satoshi.
"What do you think you're doing?" Purposefully striding over, Satoshi towered over Shigeru's squatting form in an attempt to intimidate. His attention was quickly diverted, however, as the girl groaned, opened her eyes and shot up, looking around wildly.
"Who are you?!" She hissed, getting into a defensive stance. "Where am I?!" She didn't recognize them, this place, anything, she didn't even know her own name!
Shigeru quickly stood up and raised his hands in an unthreatening pose, Satoshi and the Medic following his example. "I'm Shigeru, this is my protégé Satoshi. We're the leaders of the Troop, oh this is our Medic, Medic Yamano. We found you lying here. Who are you?"
The question caught her off guard, and she was silent for a moment. Then in a quiet voice she replied, "I don't know, I don't remember my name, where I came from. It's all blank."
"You can stay with us until your memory returns, if you'd like." The last part was added hurriedly, seeing the wary look flash through her eyes. "No pressure, it's completely your decision. If you don't want to, we'll give you a spare mount and provisions to last you 'till you get to the nearest village."
She nodded and looked at the men, then back at Shigeru. "Would you," Her voice cracking with emotion, she cleared her throat and started over. "Would you mind if I stayed with you guys? Then you could fill me in on where I am and all that."
Spluttering angrily, Satoshi finally hissed out. "What do you mean you can stay with us? You aren't in any position to make these decisions! I'm in charge here!! NOT YOU, so why don't you back off and let me make the decisions!" He turned his back on the girl, who was looking slightly shocked. "We don't have time to take her with us, we'd have to turn around and lose valuable time taking her to the garrison, time we don't have I might add!" His angry tirade slowly faded away at the calm expression on Shigeru's face.
"First of all," Shigeru grinned slightly and his voice became soft and fierce. "I'm still in charge here. I wasn't lying when I said you were my protégé, which means I'm still top-dog and I can override any decisions you make, if I so wish it. I make the decisions around here, NOT YOU, so why don't YOU back off and let me do my job. If the girl wishes to come, then by all means let her." He turned back to the girl. "Now, as I was saying, if you wish it, come along. We will not lose any time as we will not be turning around to drop you off, so no worries. You will be with us the whole time while we, excuse the expression, take you under our wing. We will teach you what you need to know about the different cultures here, and much, much more."
The girl nodded slowly. "If it's still all right, I would really like to stay here with you guys." She looked piercingly at Satoshi and didn't look away until he nodded, defeated and deflated. Shigeru nodded as well. "Thank you."
"Of course." Shigeru gave a low bow. "But what should we call you?"
She looked away, thinking hard. Finally she turned back to him and took a deep breath. "I don't know."
Medic Yamano laughed softly. "How about we call you."
A/N well that's the end of that tale. Hehehe. Until next time my good friends!
A/N: Hello again! Wow, can't believe I'm already starting on the third chapter for this, that has to be a new record for me. One small thing though, the Doppelganger(s), I have no idea if they have genders or not, so if you prefer them to, then by all means let me know. For right now, however, unless I decide otherwise, they will be, for all intents and purposes, Its, and they will be referred to as Its, thank you. All right, for the second chapter I made some mistakes, like writing notes to myself and not erasing them, but when I can, I'll get rid of them, and I apologize for it. Also, I apologize for some grammar mistakes, I found them when I was reading it over after I printed it, then forget where they were. So if they truly bug you, please let me know and I WILL fix them! Thanks! On with the THIRD, I repeat, THIRD chapter
"Mom?" Hitomi's voice cracked slightly as she tried to keep her emotions from overwhelming her.
"Is this Hitomi Kanzaki?" An unfamiliar deep, male voice answered.
Hitomi's vision wavered. "I, I think I have the wrong number." She moved to hang up the phone
"WAIT!!" The voice sounded urgent. "This is Lieutenant Oshida, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news," he didn't sound very sorry. "But, you're family is dead."
"No." The phone dropped. "Mom, Dad, Satoshi." She fell to the floor sobbing, not heeding the frantic voice on the phone.
"Ms. Kanzaki! If you're there, please answer. Ms. Kanzaki!!"
When Hitomi finally came to, she had no idea how long she had been out, or why she was on the floor, for a blissful second she forgot everything that had happened. Then with a flash, the memories returned. Once again they threatened to overwhelm her, but with a strength she didn't know she possessed, she fought for control, and won. "You've cried enough." She reprimanded herself. "No more tears." Standing up, an indifferent look settled over her features, while inside a deep, burning desire for revenge raged. Whoever had done this would pay.
Without realizing what she was doing, she summoned her Tarot Cards. She didn't see the energist's faint glow, nor the bright flash the message on the wall gave, her attention was on the cards. "Shall we start?" The question was aimed at no one in particular. Squatting on the floor, she laid out the cards Death. "No surprise there," she murmured. Betrayal. War. Danger. Travel. "Looks like I'm off to Gaea."
Slowly getting back up, she glared at the door leading out. With a creak it slammed shut. Walking purposefully back to her grandmother's room, she stepped in front of the message. "What do I do now?" She snapped.
You know what you need to do. The words were suddenly there.
"No, I don't."
Please, you're such a weakling. JUST DO IT!
"DO WHAT?!" She screamed. But nothing happened, no other words were appearing, and the new sentences were beginning to fade away. Sighing angrily, she began to pace, racking her mind for some sudden inspiration that just wouldn't come.
She paused in front of the lone window and looked up at the sky. "Van's up there." With another sigh, she began to move, but stopped. "There. That's the Mystic Moon, that's where I want to go." Her smile was cold, she knew what she had to do. With a slight wave of her hand, the Tarot Cards gathered themselves up and flew into a pocket. "I will get revenge." She swore. "You can't escape from me!"
Gripping the energist tightly in her hand, she glared at the sky. "Energist!" She cried out as the stone glowed faintly. "Dragonstone!" It glowed brighter. "Dragonsheart!" The stone glowed brighter with every word. "I have one wish, and one wish only for you to grant. Send me to Gaea, give me a chance to enact revenge. Don't send me home until I give the word!" The last sentence was added as an afterthought, she might want to stay longer. Nothing was keeping her here, Amano and Yukari had each other, and a new baby to look after. The light had filled the room and was beginning to pulse. "Bring me to Gaea!" With a flash, Hitomi was gone, but for a brief second the light stayed, then, with one final pulse it to disappeared.
Hitomi clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming, or shouting, or making any noise that would giveaway her position. Contrary to her other experiences, there had been no pillar of light, she had just appeared, and there was no disorientation. It had been like stepping through a door. Even though she had no idea where on Gaea she was, she did know she was on Gaea. "I hope." She whispered, before firmly putting a clamp on those thoughts, to keep the terror at bay.
"Ribbit." Whirling around to face some unknown assailant, she almost laughed out loud. It was a frog, a stupid, insignificant frog. Taking a minute to look at her surroundings, she surmised that she was either in a marsh or wetland. The area was wet and kind of boggy, a little stinky, but not too bad. "Ribbit."
"Shut up!" She snapped. Glaring at the frog, who glared right back for being told to shut up, her vision went black for a second and was replaced with a, a Doppleganger! She hadn't seen one in years! Normally she would've been terrified, but now, she just watched passively. The Doppleganger looked offended as it looked at a frog. Muttering something to itself, it gripped the frog and with a silent, or at least it was silent to her, roar, it took the frog's identity.
Hitomi came back to herself with a gasp as she stumbled backwards, pushed by an invisible force. "Why me?!" Disregarding her safety, she let it all out, all the stress and frustration in a howl. "What did I do? What did my family do to you?"
"Nothing." She wasn't surprised to see the Doppleganger back in It's original form. "It's what you haven't done." It chuckled at the brief look of confusion that flitted across her face. "You haven't done anything to earn the life you have, oh, excuse me, the life you HAD, and because of this, you have earned my leader's wrath. Not only that, but you are of the Chosen, making my leader's job that much harder, and those who are Chosen tend to be quite jealous of each other. Also, you are a key piece to the demise of Fanelia."
"You wouldn't!" What right did this Doppleganger have to say whether she had earned her way of life or not? How dare It call her bait. Taking a deep breath, she gained a measure of control. "So I'm to be bait?"
"No no no. You're reading into this all wrong. You're the trap. We are the bait." As It was speaking, It was slowly getting closer and closer. "You see, through you, we have a contact in Fanelia. It will be you who will be the cause of the impending doom of the kingdoms. Unfortunately," It's eyes gleamed and It bared It's teeth. "You have something of ours, and we want it back. Besides you can't remember any of what I've just told you. So."
Hitomi realized with a start just how close the Doppleganger was getting. "Get away from me!" Shoving him violently away she started to run. With a feral smile the Doppleganger gave chase.
Shao would let her get to the edges of the marsh, right before the Patrol came by, then It'd strike. A veteran warrior like Itself should have no problem keeping up with her, especially since It was on familiar territory, while she was not. Herding her in the right direction wouldn't be a problem either and if she collapsed before they got out of the marsh, Shao's job would be that much easier.
Violence was nothing new to Shao. Being a Doppleganger, It had grown up with wars and random acts of killing, that was the way of the Doppleganger. Fire. Screams of the wounded and dying were like music to It's ears while the stench of blood and death assaulted It's nose. Bloodlust flashed in Shao's eyes as It relived It's earliest memory. Even at such a young age, the stench, sight and sounds of death had not bothered It. Shao was a cold- blooded killer to the full extent of the term. Unemotional and unafraid, unafraid of anything except for Serori and Thirteen, all It really felt was the lust for war, the bloodlust, and rarely, rage.
Samel-Kahn was the name of the nomadic band where It had been raised. Renowned for their fierceness and prowess in battle they were the most sought-after mercenaries anywhere. However, since they were Dopplegangers and even those in their own band barely trusted each other it was hard to keep their loyalty. If you earned their trust, however, it was hard to lose it and they stuck with you 'till they died. Even other Dopplegangers avoided them if they could, but it got boring having others always avoiding you after a while so eventually they started creating wars. Finally other bands of Dopplegangers got sick of it and got together and fought back. All of the Samel-Kahn died out except for those who were off being paid mercenaries.
Serori had earned the Samel-Kahn's trust a long time ago and had paid for three of the Doppleganger's services, and Shao had been one of them. She had paid nicely and there was a lot of killing involved in the job so it never really got boring. This had been the strangest assignment yet, take a frog's form and wait in the marsh until some stupid girl came along and instead of killing her, It had to go and block her memories. However, an order was an order and It was bound to fulfilling her wishes, hers or Thirteen's.
A quick grin flashed across It's face, they were at the edge of the marsh and the patrol was due in. five minutes. Giving a huge leap, It closed the space between It and It's quarry and landed on her back. Ignoring her muffled pleas of mercy, It sat there for a minute, thinking about how to do finish the job. Shao decided on a quick mind-meld.
Gripping the sides of her face between It's hands It dove into her head. It didn't notice her scream of pain, all Shao was focusing on was getting out as quickly as possible. All this light, this. goodness!! Shao gave a mental shudder, this was going to make It physically ill. Get it over with as quickly as possible and then It could get out of there. With a quick mental nudge here, a nice shove there and. FINALLY, it was done. Sneering at how easy this had been, It turned back into the frog and hopped off, just barely avoiding the patrol that had rounded the corner.
"Oi, girl, are you all right?" Not even noticing the frog that was hopping away, the patrol leader rushed to the girl's side. "Lady! Lady!" He hopped off his horse and turned to his patrol. "Shigeru! Get over here quick! This girl doesn't look so good."
An old, well-built man slowly got off his mount. Ignoring Satoshi's frantic orders to hurry up, he was a sharp contrast to his leader. Old age and experience had taught him when to be hot-tempered and when to be cautious. Now was the time to be cautious. "Satoshi back away, she could be a Doppleganger!" Unlike the others, he had noticed the lone frog moving away, not going back to the swamp like a normal frog would've done. Shigeru was an old war veteran, he had been in the active service since he had turned 16. Not once had he ever asked for leave, without the military he had no purpose in life. Currently, he was teaching Satoshi how to be a good leader.
Satoshi, a hot-tempered 22-year old, had been in the service 5 years and had been promoted for excellent behavior, and for exhibiting signs of a good leader. However, many of his decisions and orders were rash and made too soon and he wasn't very cautious. That's why Shigeru was with him, to help Satoshi learn caution and self-control. "Yeah right, look at her!" Glaring at Shigeru, he grudgingly backed away.
"I am looking at her and I see a potential enemy!" The rest of the troop grinned at each other. They were used to it by now, but sometimes Satoshi's stupidity amazed even them. But that was why he was with them, an experienced troop, so they could help Shigeru help Satoshi. "This is why, boy, you've had so many near-death experiences."
Blushing furiously at being called boy, Satoshi thought he had outgrown that name, he nodded submissively. "How can you tell?" His blush became much worse when the troop started cheering, he had finally asked an intelligent question!
"First, she isn't a Doppleganger. Ah, ah!" He held up his hand to stop Satoshi's furious tirade. "Because she hasn't moved once, with the exception of breathing, and she hasn't attacked us, or you. Second, whenever you have a situation like this on your hands, have your psychic probe the person or thing's mind. They'll tell you." Grinning, Shigeru leaned against his horse and didn't move. Patiently waiting for Satoshi's outburst, he wasn't disappointed.
Finally Satoshi exploded. Throwing his hands in the air, he started screaming at everyone. "What do you want me to do? What do expect from me?! Why me?! WHY?!" He collapsed on his knees, wordlessly screaming. Nobody moved, even the horses were still. His screams gradually turned to moans, and eventually even those stopped, he was silent. No wind moved the grass, nothing moved and all was silent.
Still leaning against his horse, Shigeru glanced at the girl and did a quick mental probe of her mind. Shocked at the utter blankness there, he probed deeper and discovered an impenetrable wall surround her essence, trapping it there. Whoever had done this was an incredibly powerful psychic who knew how to use his power. The Doppleganger? No, the only Dopplegangers who could manipulate their minds like that were from the Samel-Kahn band and they were all dead, right? But what was the Doppleganger doing here and what business did It have with this girl? Standing up, he pushed the question to the back of his mind to deal with later, and walked over to Satoshi. "Get up fool. You have a troop to lead." One thing he did know was that the girl would have no memory and would need help. They could provide that help.
Flinching at Shigeru's voice, Satoshi slowly dragged himself up from the ground. Standing, back straight, head held high, he met Shigeru's hard gaze for the first time, and held it. With a proud voice he answered, "Yes sir." Turning to face the troop, he barked out an order. "Medic Yamano! Check this girl's condition."
At Satoshi's challenging glare, Shigeru simply nodded. It was about time he took charge, Shigeru was beginning to get worried. Ignoring the medic's report, since he all ready knew what was wrong, he walked over to the girl and knelt beside her. "Girl, hey, girl!" He whispered, shaking her gently, careful of her bruises and cracked ribs. "Get up girl, c'mon we have to leave soon, wake up!" He moved back a little ways as she moaned and rolled over slightly. "C'mon, you need to get up so we can move out sooner!" She moaned again, attracting the attention of the Medic and Satoshi.
"What do you think you're doing?" Purposefully striding over, Satoshi towered over Shigeru's squatting form in an attempt to intimidate. His attention was quickly diverted, however, as the girl groaned, opened her eyes and shot up, looking around wildly.
"Who are you?!" She hissed, getting into a defensive stance. "Where am I?!" She didn't recognize them, this place, anything, she didn't even know her own name!
Shigeru quickly stood up and raised his hands in an unthreatening pose, Satoshi and the Medic following his example. "I'm Shigeru, this is my protégé Satoshi. We're the leaders of the Troop, oh this is our Medic, Medic Yamano. We found you lying here. Who are you?"
The question caught her off guard, and she was silent for a moment. Then in a quiet voice she replied, "I don't know, I don't remember my name, where I came from. It's all blank."
"You can stay with us until your memory returns, if you'd like." The last part was added hurriedly, seeing the wary look flash through her eyes. "No pressure, it's completely your decision. If you don't want to, we'll give you a spare mount and provisions to last you 'till you get to the nearest village."
She nodded and looked at the men, then back at Shigeru. "Would you," Her voice cracking with emotion, she cleared her throat and started over. "Would you mind if I stayed with you guys? Then you could fill me in on where I am and all that."
Spluttering angrily, Satoshi finally hissed out. "What do you mean you can stay with us? You aren't in any position to make these decisions! I'm in charge here!! NOT YOU, so why don't you back off and let me make the decisions!" He turned his back on the girl, who was looking slightly shocked. "We don't have time to take her with us, we'd have to turn around and lose valuable time taking her to the garrison, time we don't have I might add!" His angry tirade slowly faded away at the calm expression on Shigeru's face.
"First of all," Shigeru grinned slightly and his voice became soft and fierce. "I'm still in charge here. I wasn't lying when I said you were my protégé, which means I'm still top-dog and I can override any decisions you make, if I so wish it. I make the decisions around here, NOT YOU, so why don't YOU back off and let me do my job. If the girl wishes to come, then by all means let her." He turned back to the girl. "Now, as I was saying, if you wish it, come along. We will not lose any time as we will not be turning around to drop you off, so no worries. You will be with us the whole time while we, excuse the expression, take you under our wing. We will teach you what you need to know about the different cultures here, and much, much more."
The girl nodded slowly. "If it's still all right, I would really like to stay here with you guys." She looked piercingly at Satoshi and didn't look away until he nodded, defeated and deflated. Shigeru nodded as well. "Thank you."
"Of course." Shigeru gave a low bow. "But what should we call you?"
She looked away, thinking hard. Finally she turned back to him and took a deep breath. "I don't know."
Medic Yamano laughed softly. "How about we call you."
A/N well that's the end of that tale. Hehehe. Until next time my good friends!