THANK YOU!!! SOMEBODY ACTUALLY CAUGHT THE SONG THAT I BASED CHAPTERS 7 8 OFF OF!!! "WHY DON' WE DO IT IN THE ROAD!" I THINK IT WAS HECATE.. BUT I APPOLOGIZE IF I'M WRONG.

ANYWAYS, THIS IS CHAPTER 9, SO YAY! IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT I HAVE BEEN SPELLING "ATOMSK" WRONG. OOPS. THAT CHANGED NOW, SO IT'S ALL GOOD. BEAR WITH ME, THE STORY IS COMING TO A CLOSE SOON. OR IS IT?? I DUNNO, YOU TELL ME.



"He'll be here soon." Said Amarao to his suboordinates. "He thinks the kid's still here, so I need you guys stationed on every block around the house for a three mile radius."

The men all nodded and grunted in agreement. One of them spoke.

"Sir, what if he reacts to the presence of Medical Mechanica?"

Amarao looked at him. "I don't think he will. Keep survelance on the facility if you want. If anything happens then order the city to a state of emergency and evacuate."

they all acknowledged again.

"Well, move out!" Amarao ordered. The men scattered in different directions, boarding different vehicles to move to their posts.

Kitsurubami stepped out from near one of the cars, holding a clipboard in her hand.

"Sir," She began, "do you really think that all of these precautions are necissary? I mean, what if he doesn't even come?"

"Oh he'll come. He can't stand the thought of something rivaling his powers." Said Amarao, his left eyebrows twitching in anticipation. Kitsurubami saw this and flinched in annoyance, but fought her urges to speak about it.



Naota was once again clinging to Haruko's midsection, as they were back on the road. He held his eyes shut tightly, since the speed on the moped wasn't what he needed at the time. He thought about the other night, and the BS story Haruko had told him. She was just messing with him. She had to be. There wasn't any possible way that she could have meant any of that stuff. He broke the silence.

"So can you tell me where we're going now?" He said loudly, attempting to make his voice heard over the hiss of the wind. Haruko glanced back at him.

"No." she said plainly. Naota sighed and held her waist a little tighter. She noticed this and began to loosen her hold of the accelerator.

"Listen," She began. "We'll be there soon so just sit tight and relax."

He looked up at her rolled his eyes.

"You'd know where we were going if you'd open your eyes and check out the road signs." she added. He had been closing his eyes for a majority of the trip, and hadn't given enough time to even notice the fact that there were road signs.

"How far are we from Mabase anyway?" He asked, changing the subject.

She chuckled. "Why, you wanna go home to daddy and Kanchi?" She said mockingly.

He glared at her. "No, I just wanted to know how much ground we'd put between me and that place! I hate it there, so don't think I want to go back."

"Ooh, ouch!" She said. "So you didn't come just to be with me?"

"Course' not! I just hate that place, and you gave me an opportunity to get the hell out."

"Well that just ruins my whole fantasy of this trip." She said. "I wanted it to be a sexy, seductive love story of you and me alone together! Not knowing where we're going, a whole lot of smu-"

"Shut up!" Naota cut her off. "That's disgusting!"

She smiled to herself, keeping her eyes on the road. "You know you want me." she said casually.

"You wish." He retorted. She luaghed and playfully elbowed him in the stomach.

"When we stop again, watch out! I'm thinking of getting Furi Kuri with you."

"Well stop thinking!" He shouted. "I don't want anything to do with Furi or Kuri!"

With that, she regained her grip on the accelerator and sped up to their normal speed.



The sky grew ominously red over Mabase. The winds had picked up, and were sending countless amounts of debris hurling though the air. Amarao sat on the hood of his 1971 Volkswagon Rabbit, his eybrows protruding over the tops of the sunglasses that he wore. Kitsurubami stood beside him, grasping onto the side mirror so as not to be moved by the enormous winds.

"Well, I told you he'd come." Said Amarao calmly. Kitsurubami looked at him, not understanding his easy going approach to the situation

"Sir," she said.

"Just call me Amarao. We've been working together for too long to use those articles anymore."

"I think I'll stick with 'Sir'." She said. "What do we do now that he's here?"

He grinned and scratched the side of his head. "Well, that's entirely up to Atomsk." He said.

The wind began to rise until it became a steady roar. Above the hill, where Medical Mechanica was located, a large black spot appeared in the sky.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Kitsurubami screamed, tightening her grip on the car.

"That is a rip in space time." Said Amarao. "Our friend The Pirate King certainly does like to make an entrance, doen't he?"

The spot faded into a dark swirl of purple and red, as what seemed to be a beak protruded out of it. Attatched to the beak was a bolted chainlink that seemed to be pulled in the opposite direction that the winds were pulling. A car pulled up next to the Volkswagon, and a man rolled down the window.

"Sir!"

Amarao looked over at the car.

"The city has been put to a state of emergency! All residents have been ordered to stay indoors!"

He chuckled. "Good, now get back to your post." The car backed up and drove away.

The beak continued to extend from the hole until what seemed to be red eyes were visible. The chainlink began to rattle towards a different angle. South. Amarao saw this and stood up, removing his unneeded sunglasses.

"Damn! He's already found her!"