A/N: And it starts. Well, this is the point where my millions (read: two) of readers run off to gouge out their eyeballs. Oh well. I have been planning this out, truly. It may not seem so, but there is a point to it. And the point will be slowly but surely coming out from now… forth? Yes, that works. Anyway. Woo. I really wish my site would stop being stupid. Anyway, um…. On with the show?

~*~

Inez smiled, looking at the progress charts as the Nadesico was flying ever so close to Ninlan. 'We should be able to land there in a day or so. But how will I make sure Kanchou lands? It's imperative that we go there…' Inez frowned once again, and then massaged her temples. 'It's been taxing, but once we're close enough, I have to leave it to those who fear us. I don't think I could do it myself. I've been weakened over the past week. But that's what happens when I overdo it. In any case,' she pulled the plate out of her pocket, 'I believe it's time.' She floated up to the top of the computer and held the plate over the slot.

The door to her lab opened and closed, and Inez looked up and smiled maliciously to see Izumi standing there with her mouth gaping. "What are you doing, Inez?" Inez stated, matter-of-factly, "Why, sealing our fates." She pushed the key into the hole and heard it lock, never to be released by anyone but her again. She smiled and hopped off the computer, floating down to the floor where Izumi stood. Izumi shook her head slowly, shocked. "Sealing our fates?"

Inez placed both hands on the girl's shoulders. "Come now, Izumi. It's not so bad. In fact, it's going to help us. Our main goal for the moment is to get on that planet. We have a prophecy to fulfill, you know." Izumi glanced at the floor before whispering, "Does Kanchou know?" Inez turned and walked toward a cupboard. "No, but she will. Eventually. I'm sure she feels it too. It's just that she doesn't know. Not as I do." She pulled a beaker out of the cupboard and placed it on a table before calling Izumi over. "I'm going to need you to help me with an experiment. Rather… you will be the experiment." Izumi stiffened and Inez chuckled. "Oh, I won't be probing you or anything. I just want you to think for me, all right?"

Izumi nodded slowly, suddenly very afraid of the woman she had an obvious crush on. She sat down at the chair before the table. Inez turned around and danced a finger around the rim of the beaker. "What is this, Izumi?"

Izumi laughed out loud at the stupidity of how Inez wanted her to think. "God, Inez, do you think me dumb? It's a beaker. Who doesn't know?" Inez smiled knowingly. "Fascinating. And what could go into a beaker?" Izumi shrugged. "Anything really."

Inez's gray blue eyes flashed into a glare. "I'm looking for something specific." She took a deep breath. "Here's a hint. It's 71% of the Earth's surface." Izumi snapped her fingers. "Water!" Inez smiled and nodded. "Guess what I want you to imagine. Think of any form of water that makes you angry, sad, happy, anything. Any kind of water that appears in your mind first and focus on it."

Izumi was confused, but she didn't question Inez's order. Her crimson eyes slid closed and she imagined water. Water at the beach, when they were on Tenician Island. The tides moving in and out, a never-ending intercourse with the shore and the sand. The waves rising and falling, like lost breath. 'The breath of the Earth is not wind, but waves… Why are my knees wet?' Her eyes reopened to find water spouting in the beaker, overflowing onto the table and dripping onto her and the floor. Her eyes widened, then she looked to Inez for an explanation. The woman in question smiled, satisfied. "So, the energy is getting stronger as we get closer to the Ninlandish temples. You are probably the only one to not have it burst out on it's own. But for you to do something so… spectacularly strong, I will definitely be able to speak to those on the planet. Thank you Izumi."

Izumi had to blink to go from listen to talk mode. She looked at Inez, mentally kicking herself for feeling so childish. "I did that?" she pointed at the beaker before her, which was starting to slow the bubbling.

Inez nodded. "Aqua's Rage."

~*~

Igadosu Toccata was not surprised to find his apprentice Rumiko storm into the main worshipping room in the Temple. The younger man was swinging his Book of Holy Words as he ran towards the altar. He reached it breathless, collapsing against the wood. "The… the prophecy… it's coming true, Igadosu…" The old man smiled, then continued going over what he would say at sermon that morning, making more little notes. "I know. You've been dreaming about her, haven't you?"

Rumiko's dark eyebrows snapped together. "How did you- Wait. I'm being stupid. Rage." Igadosu nodded slowly, then finally locked his light blue eyes with Rumiko's amber ones. "When you first had it, you had a cloud over your head. I've been watching your dreams and thoughts for the past week." He chuckled slightly. "I would bet you forty pence less than twenty of those at today's ceremonies begin crying, and I inform them that our end is very near." Rumiko outlined his lips with a finger. "Sixty says more than twenty." Igadosu shook Rumiko's hand. "It's a bet."

~*~

Izumi came to breakfast late, but all of the pilots were still there… all but Akito, again. When the door opened for her, Gai jumped up, but sat down again when he saw who it was. Izumi's visible eyebrow jumped as she walked towards her seat next to Itsuki. "Expecting someone, are we?" Hikaru rolled her eyes as Gai bowed his head sheepishly. "Baka wrote 'Kito-chan a letter. But tell me, Izumi. Why are the nylon-part of your knees darker than the rest?" Izumi sat down in front of Jun and shrugged. "Inez made me wet."

Jun spit his coffee out in surprise. "What?!" Izumi grabbed a napkin and started mopping her face. "And now Jun's made me wet. Thanks." Jun started to blush insanely while the others laughed. Gai saw Ryoko lay a hand on Itsuki's arm as the purple-haired woman snorted while laughing, sparking more laughter. His brow furrowed. "Are you guys together again?"

Ryoko smiled faintly and nodded slowly, before Itsuki grinned and draped herself on her lover. Ryoko just looked like she wanted to kill her for that. Jun crossed his arms on the table. "What is this, the fifth time in a week?" Itsuki flapped a hand at the Executive Officer. "Oh, calm down. I wouldn't call our arguments relationship ending. More like…" Izumi whispered behind her hand, very loudly, "Married Couple!" Itsuki snapped her fingers. "That's it."

The door to the cafeteria opened and six heads turned to see the panting cook in the door. Hikaru gave him a knowingly glance, playfully glaring at him. "Wow, the Martian has decided to greet us! Amazing." She couldn't help but notice Itsuki's expression grow cold as the sight of Akito.

Akito walked exhaustedly towards their table. Jun got up to go get another chair, but Akito didn't sit down. Instead, he clapped a hand onto the table and held an envelope in his other. "I think we need to talk, Gai." The younger man in question did not seem confused at all, just nodded and got up, walking out of the cafeteria, and into the hall.

The other five present blinked simultaneously. Izumi turned to the others. "So, how about that generic sports team?"

The second the door closed, Akito jumped to his toes and kissed Gai. Gai lost himself, completely forgetting about the day before, a month ago, what day it was, what year it was, where they were. He was just reaching the old familiar feeling of comfort, when his gray-brown eyes popped open and he pulled away. He glared at Akito. "Don't use me, Tenkawa. I'm no fucking rebound." Gai walked out of the hall, turning towards the Observation Deck. Akito glared back, but Gai's words rang through his head. 'Am I just using him for a rebound? Am I lonely without Yurika, so I go to him for a relationship? Am I just uncomfortable being single?'

~*~

Igadosu handed Rumiko a velvet pouch, holding sixty pence. "You win." Rumiko weighed the pouch in his hand before smirking, but then he frowned. "But, Igadosu, about the prophecy-"

"It takes place today."

Rumiko's eyes bugged out of his head. "What?!" Igadosu was not so surprised. "For being Calm, you're certainly easily excited." He chuckled. "Yes. The foreseen comet passes us this day. Of course, we must do all we can to make the fortune not come true, so we must attack, obviously."

Rumiko rubbed his lips with a thumb. "What are we attacking it with? It's outside the atmosphere, and we're no longer equipped to leave or bubble." Igadosu rubbed his temples, actually looking his old age. "I'm very aware of this. Since you started having this dream, I've been sending message doves to Head Priest Mythos Entrada at the Temple in Carmina, but I've been getting no answer. Either they're following the Ninlandish tradition of letting people take care of their own problems, or they're just so used to sitting pretty that they don't believe that the Holy Words will be followed. In either situation, those arrogant bastards don't seem to want to help the only two mages in a small town."

Rumiko's amber eyes darkened to light brown. "So we attack with psychic energy. Doesn't sound to hard."

Igadosu smirked grimly. "Easier said than done."

~*~

It took nearly three hours for everyone to get to their posts to prepare a scouting team onto the planet. Yurika's voice traveled loudly through the bridge. "We'll send a team down onto the planet to see if there's civilization, and if there is any technology at all." She glanced at Akatsuki, who stood next to her. He cleared his throat. "Unfortunately, Doctor, your experiments will have to end. We're leaving the computer here, so that no one knows where it is." Inez, standing in the center of the bottom level, shrugged. "That is fine. I am finished with it, actually."

Izumi noticed she didn't mention the key. 'Of course she's done with it. She placed the key in it, unlocking it's secrets and doing something to either us or the ship.' Her bangs shadowed her face, and her frown and the darkness in her eyes made Inez flinch slightly. 'Shit. She knows. Dammit. I knew I should not have let her get close to me.'

Mr. Hory lifted a paper. "Now, for the mission assignments." He interrupted by the ship shaking violently, knocking several of the crew to the floor.

~*~

"Remember, Rumiko. Just enough to knock it out of our line of space. We don't need to bed-ridden for three days." Rumiko glared at his mentor. "Don't treat me as if I'm green, Igadosu." The old man chuckled, but clapped his hands together, then curled his middle and ring fingers so that only his thumbs, his pinkies, and his pointer fingers were left standing straight up. Rumiko closed his eyes in concentration as he made the same prayer position. The silver markings on their right hands began to glow, Igadosu's much brighter. Rumiko reached out with his magic, feeling the comet coasting in orbit around Ninlan. 'As if watching us.' He shook off the feeling just in time, Igadosu hitting the comet with such a brute force; it was hard to believe he was Magus's Rage. He was preparing to hit it himself when he heard a female voice in his head. '"Use me. Fulfill the prophecy. You will not regret it."'

~*~

Inez grabbed Yukina as she slid across the floor with the initial hit. Inez began to float, just enough to keep them from getting hurt. Inez felt out, and recognized the magic that was about to be used against them. 'Naked Copy… And a Copy in my hands.' Inez charged energy through Yukina's nerves, making them tingle as she tried to get the mage's attention. '"Use me. Fulfill the prophecy. You will not regret it."'

Ruri clawed her way back up to her console. "Omoikane, what is the status of the Nadesico?" Omoikane peeled himself from the floor and scanned with his inner eyes all the hardware of the ship. "The Y-Unit has been disabled, and our Distortion Field is not blocking these attacks. Our PT Engines are at a low, and I can not override the speed."

Suddenly they felt the ship pitch forward and begin to fall. Megumi screamed, but Yurika was still heard over her. "Brace yourselves! We're going to crash!"

Despite the situation, Inez smiled. 'Much more dramatic than I had guessed, but at least it worked.'

~*~

After Rumiko felt the voice in his head, he gritted his teeth and his the comet with all he had. But it was not his own power that made the comet start falling to Ninlan. It was someone else's in his skin.

'I copied someone… But there isn't anyone in the world to copy!' He was knocked out of his mediation by a loud crash in the forest. His head whipped around, but Igadosu laid a hand on his arm. "No," commanded the old priest. "It fell. We were unable to end the end before it began. Do not go see the damage. You may be killed by the energy. It's… very strong."

Rumiko nodded slowly, but couldn't help but wonder. 'Who spoke to me? Who did I copy?'

~*~

Everyone was on the floor when the Nadesico had been still for five full minutes. It was Yurika who raised her head first. "Um, is everyone alive?" Affirmatives rang across the bridge, and across the communication lines. She pulled herself up, but her jaw dropped again when she saw Inez floating in midair, an unconscious Yukina in her arms.

Inez floated back down, setting Yukina onto the cold metallic floor. Then she looked up at the captain. "It has begun."

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Yeah, I'm very aware that that sucked. Anyway. Well here goes our plot and there go the readers. Yep. We'll be seeing just a bit more of Izumi, but not too much in the next chapter. Lots of Megumi stuff, and Rumiko stuff, and Inez stuff, and all in general STUFF. So, um, yeah. Read and Review…