Bikon and Beta

Chapter 2- of Changes and Stupid Ideas

Korunue awakens. She yawns, streaching, for the moment forgetting where she was and panicking. Had she been possesed again? She then remembered and calmed down. She ventured forth, looking for people.Korunue pokes her head into the main room. spying them. She smiles to see them. "hi!" she says, happily. Tamaly seemed to have frown wings since she last saw her. She meeps, losing balance, falling on the floor, "owww...."

Gamma looks over to Korunue. The mark on his head is no longer black. He has a black tail behind him and has two horns poking out of his blue hair. "Hello. Did you sleep well?" Gamma then looks over to Tamaly. He holds out a hand to her. "You ok?"

Korunue looks oddly at the new appendages but says nothing about them. She shrugs. "Well as can be expected.. I was pretty tired last night..." an odd emphasis on "last night"... perhaps to remind Gamma of his promise?

"Fine..." Tamaly goes to grab his hand, and a multicolored spark comes from it, shocking her, making her pull back.

Gamma draws his hand back. "Owww. What was that?"

Tamaly gets to her feet slowly, still working on her balance "I dunno...I'm going to go work on my balance...I'll be back soon." She leaves.

Gamma nods. He looks over to Korunue after Tamaly leaves. "Don't worry. I'll keep my promise."

Korunue nods. "thank you." she says, her ear following Tamaly

"Well it seems like I get weirder and weirder don't I?"

Korunue nods, smiling a little. "seems like!"

His tail moves back and forth behind him. "I guess the only thing i'm missing is wings huh."

Korunue smiles. "I guess. You'd look funny with wings, though." she sounds MUCH happier than before.

Gamma smiles. "I guess you do have a point. I guess that you are feeling better after your rest."

Korunue nods. "yeah... it's worst late at night when I'm alone..." her smile wavers, but stays in place.

Gamma grins. "I think your going to have a problem being alone around here."

Korunue smiles. "good. Then I won't do anything stupid." She shifts, a little, searching for a new topic...

"So what do you think of the new look?"

Korunue shrugs. "It's alright... rather demonic, if you ask me."

Gamma shrugs. "It could be worse."

Korunue shrugs once more. "I've met some rather nasty demons in my day... one insisted on calling me Ronin's whore." ((A/n- Rhys features more in Rhys and Ronin. Love to hate him? Go there.))

"Well, you don't have to worry about me doing that. I'm only a demon in apperance. Although I con't think blue is a good color for a demon."

Korunue giggles a little. "Maybe not... but you're a nice demon, so I'll let it slide."

Gamma chuckles. "Well these horns are going to make it impossible to comb my hair. I'll have to stop sleeping on my back too."

Korunue giggles harder. "I bet."

"Well I guess i'll have to just get use to it."

a loud thumping is heard, like someone pounding on the rock.

Korunue smiles at him. "I'm sure that won't matter..." she then hears the thumping. "What the..."

Gamma looks around. "What is it now? I know it's not a portal."

More thumping. "rrrrrrrfm!"

Gamma walks over to where the sound is coming from, hoping that its not something else to attack.

Korunue looks REALLY confused. "How... who... what?"

Gamma finds himself looking at a blank wall. He looks puzzled, "Wow, I didn't know that walls could talk."

Korunue just gives up having it make any sense at all. "um.. hi?"

"mmmmrrrrrrph!"

Gamma looks over to Korunue. "I think theres someone in the wall."

Korunue shrugs. "Punch it. Break the wall. Then they'd come out."

Gamma shrugs. "Well lets see if theres a plus side to these 'ungrades' I have." He reatches back with his right hand and punches the wall hard.

The wall crumbles and Ali Cia tumbles out, coughing up dust.

Korunue jumps, a little, then beams at her. "um.. hi! How... wait... er, how did you... oh, never mind. How'd the fight go?"

Gamma gives her an odd look. "How did you get there?"

Ali_Cia hacks up some more dust. "I, I don't know! There was this high ringing, then I was trapped in rock!"

"Well I guess it's a good thing that i'm strong now huh?" mentions Gamma, smiling.

Korunue smiles. "heh... I guess!" she looks rather cheery today, though if you knew what to say or leave her alone for long, all that could change...

Ali Cia weakly gets to her feet and dusts herself off. "Uugh, that was a real shock.."

"Well we were wondering what happened to you." mentions Gamma.

"Shock.. both times" Ali says, hacking.

Gamma gives her an odd look, which looks pretty funny with the small horns poking out of his blue hair. "This has happened before?"

Korunue frowns. "er... that's not good?" she is mystified

"no, I meant when I went in and when you got me out.. yikes.." Ali murmers.

"Oh Sorry. I guess its a good thing that I didn't use the Z saber to get you out huh." mentions Gamma.

"Yeah or I wouldn't be in one piece right now" comes Ali's reply.

Korunue chuckles.

Ali_Cia shakes her head. "I don't remember whether you said you would like some phoenix energy." Then she yawns and shakes her head. "Tell me in the morning." She heads off to bed.

Gamma nods. "OK" He turns to Korunue. "It seems that a lot of odd things happen here"

Korunue nods, eyes wide. "yes...."

"Well I guess you'll just have to get use to it."

Korunue smiles, a little. " I guess... I wish I could use my powers, though..."

Gamma shrugs. "Don't worry. Ali wil figure out how to let you use them"

Korunue nods. "If only I was sure I wouldn't be possesed... I'd experiment... I know I probably won't, but... I can't be sure and I don't want to hurt anyone, or end up dead."

"I wonder if spirits are made up of energy?"

Korunue shrugs. "Maybe..."

"Well if Ali comes up with something and the spirit gets out anyway maybe i cam drain it to the point where it falls apart and dissapears."

Korunue thinks. "hmmm... I'm relitively sure it won't show up... but... if it does... it might try and kill me. She... well, she hates me. She was stopped before... she'll be weak... but..."

Gamma nods. "I think that it would have a hard time doing that if I got a hold of it."

Korunue nods. She looks thoughtful. "Maybe.... if she did show up, and you drained part of my energy, she'll be scared, and leave..."

Gamma nods. "I'll see if we can find a way to get her out before I try that. It's really dangerous.

Korunue nods. "well...chances are... that she won't show up... maybe we don't need Ali after all..."

"What do you mean?"

Korunue smiles. "Maybe we can try it and see... maybe we can figure something out on our own!"

Gamma shrugs. "I don't know. It could work."

Korunue leans against the wall. "Wanna try?"

Gamma shrugs. "Ok. But if it looks like its going bad I want you to stop ok?"

Korunue nods. "so.... I suppose... last time, I was really mad..."

"So your going to try to think about you getting mad again."

Korunue nods. "hmm.... um... great. I havn't been mad in ages... " she closes her eyes and imagines Demona, insulting her mother...

Gamma walks over to her. He hopes that nothing goes wrong.

Korunue seethes. She imagines all the people who hurt her on purpose... who tried to kill her... she opens her eyes, and her anger is immense. It rolls off of her in waves as her fists clench tightly, her claw-like nails drawing blood from her palms.

Gamma starts to back up, a little worried about what her powers are.

Korunue begins to glow purple, around the edges. It matches her purple eyes perfectly. The glow surrounds her. She looks at Gamma, seething. "what now?" she asks, though all her timidity is gone now.

"Well try to concentrate on the energy and get a feel for it so you won't have to be angry to call on it again."

Korunue shuts her eyes, focusing, but all she can see is Demona's face, mocking her, laughing at her torment, and all she can hear is her gentle voice, telling her there was another way: death, her escape. She growled, snarled more like, and spun around, punching the wall with a glowing fist. A dent forms in the stone where her fist hits. Her knuckles begin to bleed, but she doesn't seem to notice. She stares at it in shock and runs from the room, to the room she slept in, shutting the door.

Gamma runs after her and stops at the closed door. He knocks. "Are you ok?"

Korunue calls out "yes! But don't come in... I might hurt you!"

Gamma shakes his head. "I dout you really could. The only thing that really hurts metroids is cold remember."

Korunue calls back "But still... you saw that wall! Look, I'll stay in here until I calm down!" With that she focuses on meditating...

Gamma sighs. HE goes back to his room and lays back in the chair thinking."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Korunue tentitivly steps out of her room a few days later and into the main room. She has both her backpack and her quiver on once more, and she carries her bow. Her ears flick to catch any sound, and she looks about

Ali Cia is asleep in the main room, looking tired. Korunue glances at Ali, then heads to a certain spot on the wall... a small dent. She runs her fingers over it, her ears drooping. She looks down, a tear forming in her eye. Ali Cia stirs and mumbles something under her breath.

Korunue starts, a little, glancing guiltily over her shoulder at Ali. She sighs, looking down once more, then starts towards the exit to outside, miserable.

The violet haze burns through the sky. Dusk is illuminated by the bright purple light. The mountains shine with the eerie light and now the haze seems to snap and sparkle with hidden dangerous energy.The ground shines with the deadly spell's light.

Korunue jumps, crouching, eyes widening in panic. She doesn't scream, though... the worst it can do is kill her, after all... Ali Cia stirs uneasily, her wings rustling, mumbling in another language as if she were having a nightmare.

Gamma slowly wakes up and looks over to his bed. He sees that Tamaly is still resting in his bed. HE smiels at her, his tail moving slowly back and forth. HE stands up and stretches. He walks out of his room and into the main room. He sits down and waits, wondering who will show up first.

Korunue spies Gamma, and bites her lower lip. She remembers her task and turns to leave, out the door to the outside...

Ali Cia stirs again, snuffing and kicking her rear feet slightly. Gran and Weianne come into the main room.

Korunue stops, as many people enter the room. She wondered if she would be stopped... she should say goodbye, at least... she pauses, by the door, ears drooping, looking perfectly miserable, then goes back to examining the dent in the wall.

Ali Cia suddenly thrashes, sitting up, her eyes open wide. She pants, swallowing back nightmareish fear.

Gamma looks over to Korunue. "You sholdn't worry about it. I made a bigger one getting Ali out of the wall."

Korunue smiles, ever so faintly, barely apperent. She nods and looks down, not saying a word.

The mark on Gamma's head flashes red. "It's close"

Ali Cia swallows again, closing her eyes. "The walls are closing in on me," she whispers, shivering. "My time is close.. there's no stopping it."

Korunue can hold back the tears no longer. They burst from her eyes as she runs out of the room, into the open, and then into the forest, collapsing sobbing against a tree.

Weianne looks up at Gran. "What are they talking about?"

Gamma looks over to Gran, his eyes very serious. "See if you can wake Ali." He walks out of the cave and after Korunue.

Ali_Cia is already awake.

"It's not anything to be concerned about, Weianne...everything will be alright" murmers Gran.

"Are you sure?" she replies, uncertain. Korunue turns her ears away, not listening to them anymore.

Gamma walks over to where Korunue is crying. He slowly walks over to her and places a hand on her sholder. "It will be alright."

Korunue continues to sob. She jumps at his touch, and leaps up. "I... I..." she murmers, pulling an arrow from her quiver, though she has dropped her bow.

"Don't worry it's only me." he says, soothingly.

Korunue looks up at him through the tears. "I know." she whispers, softly, placing the arrowhead flat against her wrist. A little more pressure... or turning it a little... the edge was dangerously close to her veins.

Gamma looks at the arrow and back to her. "You know I can't let you do that."

Ali Cia scrambles through the grass, slipping, falling, screaming and writhing under the violet light.

Korunue closes her eyes, her breath ragged with sobs. She says nothing, nor does she move.

Gamma hears Ali moving but his attention is on Korunue. "This isn't the way to do this. As much as it may seem like the only way, you shouldn't do this."

Korunue continues to keep her eyes shut, and her arrow in place. She wimpers a little, but does not move otherwise.

Ali Cia whimpers, curling up into a ball. She seems to wince every time the violet haze pulses. "The end! I thought I'd never see it, but I am! The end of all life! We're gone! Gone!"

"Please Korunue. put down the arrow. There is no need for you to do this."

Korunue sniffs, tears flowing from her closed eyes. "yes there is..." she whispers softly.

Ali Cia whimpers, shivering, her face covered with her hands. "The end... no stopping it."

Gamma shakes his head. "What could that possibly be?"

Korunue sniffs. "oh god, I... i'm useless, worthless, I failed everyone, I let everyone down, I hurt Ronin, I can't control my power... it'll hurt him someday, I'll get possesed or I'll get mad and turn on him, like everyone else... I'll never be able to control it..." she whispers, her voice scarecly audible.

Ronin is crouching in a tree near Kor. He has no idea who this man is near Korunue, and he doesnt like him nearby. He stands up, still in the tree. Looking down he draws his swords and drops to the ground right next to Kor, growling at Gamma.

Gamma slowly backs away from Ronin. "Hello sir. Would you happen to be Ronin?"

Korunue jumps, a little, hearing Ronin,and her eyes snap open. "Ronin!" she whispers, then looks down at her wrist. The jump had caused her hand to shake, a little, and the arrowhead had just broken the skin.. she was bleeding a little, but she had not severed the vein, 'twas merely a scratch... one more shock, though...

Ronin glares at Gamma and nods before deftly putting his swords back in their sheaths and turning to Kor. He looks at her, studying her for a moment. His eyes run over her figure and finally focus on her wrist. "Kor" he says looking back to her eyes. "Not again...."

Ali Cia cries out as if in pain, shuddering, her wings beating against the ground like a dying swan.

Gamma walks over to Ali since Kor seems to be taken care of. "Ali? Whats wrong?"

Korunue says nothing, closing her eyes once more. Tears continue to slide down her cheeks. She does not move, staying very still, on the border of life and death...

Ali Cia continues to thrash and cry out. "It has me! It has me!"

"What has you? I don't see anything?"

Ali Cia suddenly gasps, clutching her throat. She squeezes her eyes shut and beats franticly at.. something.

Ronin takes Kor's hands in his and turns her to him. "Why Kor? Why again?" he says, studying her face closely. "We're supposed to get married soon Kor? You trying to stop that now?"

Korunue does not answer. How... who... when... he wasn't supposed to be here! She was supposed to sneak off and die, while everyone was preoccupied.

Gamma tries to think of what is effecting Ali like this.

Ronin squeezes Korunue's hands. "Answer me Kor!" he says firmly. "You want me to kill myself again? I've got my daggers...."

Korunue sobs harder, wimpering. "no, no!" she whispers, tormented. "please..." but what is she pleading for? What does she want?

Ali Cia suddenly shudders and collapses, her mouth open in a silent gasp as her eyes slip shut.

Ronin makes Kor drop the arrow head and then pulls her close in a hug. "It'll be alright Kor, I'm not going to kill myself. And neither are you."Aldrea comes out of the portal and into the woods, Kit gliding ahead of her. She notes the haze and curses. She does not have a backpack (since Kor is wearing it now lol) but she carries some scrolls. Kit chirps, and she avoids Kor and Ronin as she makes her way out to find Ali.

Gamma senses Aldrea's portal and calls out. "We're over here!"

Ali_Cia doesn't move, every muscle in her body relaxed. Not even her chest stirs with a breath.

Korunue allows herself to be hugged, though she says nothing. She knows better than to try and grab the arrow, but she stares at it longingly. If only... she sobs on his shoulder.

Ronin squeezes Kor tightly. He reaches up and places a hand on the back of her head. "It'll be alright Kor, but we need to get through that portal and out of here."

Aldrea nods and heads over to Gramma, looking at Ali. "What's happening?" she asks, trying to sound calm.

"I don't know. She just started saying something like the end is here and then she was like this." Gamma replies

"What'ss happening is the end of the galaxy!" a hissing voice slashes through the air out of nowhere.

Gamma looks around at what could have said that. HE didn't sense any portals.

Aldrea looks about. "Right then.. I take it the haze is near? Perhaps it has a mind-altering effect..."

Korunue sniffs, not wanting to go... She pulls away and looks down, ears drooping sadly

"It iss near, but it doess not alter the mind..." A white fog suddenly appears over Ali's body.

Gamma starts to back up. He dosn't know what this thing is or what it's trying to do to Ali.

Ronin tugs on Kor. "We need to go Kor, Im serious."

Korunue swallows hard. "Why? Why bother running? Why escape? Why not stay here and die, like everything else? That purple stuff kills, Ronin. And I can't do a thing to stop it..."

Aldrea frowns at it, and readies a sheild spell, sending it to Kit, who flees to a treetop.

Ronin pulls on here some more. "Kor, I don't wnat to die. I want to get married to you."

Korunue closes her eyes, sobbing quietly. She does not answer.

The mist slips forward toward Gamma. "Have you ever wondered what oblivion feels like?"

Ronin tugs harder. "Kor, lets go now. If you don't come, Im going to make you.

Aldrea scowls. "Don't. We have a world to save." she says, sternly, as if repremanding a small child.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that"

Aldrea scowls, grabbing her sword. "You're not Ali." she says, calmly, narrowing her eyes. "Who the hell are you?"

Gamma slowly backs away towards Aldrea. "I'm afraid I can't let oblivion happen either."

Korunue sobs. She does not say anything. She does not do anything. She just... sobs.

The Myst materializes into a young man with grey hair and a grey cloak. "I am Myst," he bows mockingly, his red eyes glinting in the violet light.

Aldrea scowls. "you set off that spell, didn't you?" She wets her lips and whistles a draconic command: "go! go away and do your thing! Hurry!" It would sound like an ordinary whistle to all non-dragons.

"You mean my wonder of wonders? The spell that took me years to plan and gather, waiting for the right time?"

Gamma looks over to Aldrea for a second and back to Myst. His eyes stay on him.

Ronin pulls on Korunue, dragging her towards the portal.

The_Myst glances down at the dragon's body, a flame appearing on her flank. "It appears your /friend/ has met the end of this life.."

Aldrea whistles "Go!", and then scowls. "That's nice. Good for her." She makes sure Kit is well hidden in the forest, to be on the safe side.

Gamma gives Myst a shocked look and then looks at the flame.

"I suppose you are wondering what that is... I suppose you didn't know that Ali Cia happens to be part phoenix..."

Korunue tugs, a little, away from the portal, then gives in, submitting meekly, ears drooping insanely low. She looks at her feet.

Ronin drags her on through the portal and into wherever.

Aldrea sneers at Myst, then shoves the scrolls containing formulas and such for their.. operation... at Gamma and draws her sword. It glows blue in response to her magic.

Korunue is dragged, though not without a final, heart-wrenching sob.

The_Myst laughs aloud. "You want to play? Just let me take care of something." He turns toward the body again, which is now mostly burned. In one quick movement, he reaches inside the charred remains and pulls out a large egg, silver in color, but glinting with fiery colors. His fingers glow red, the light seeping into the shell.

Aldrea has Kit activate the magical sheild, and charges at him. She knew lore... she knew most likely that egg would hatch into a new Ali, and most likely whatever he was doing wasn't good...

The_Myst steps out of the way with strange, quick grace. "Mnn mnn mnnnn... you wouldn't want her to fall to the ground and /crack,/ would you?"

"NO!" Gamma holds out his hands and starts draining the magic from Myst's hand.

The Myst suddenly hisses, grabbing his arm which immediately seems to melt into the air. The egg drops toward the ground...

Aldrea scowls. "I don't want you to kill her before she hatches, either." she says, then dives to catch the egg. After her charge, she was right there...

Myst growls, chanting something as his only other hand begins glowing bright red.

"No you don't" Gamma starts draining the other hand like he did the first.

Myst howls in pain, collapsing to his knees as the energy he was gathering is drained away. "Curse you!" he hisses, his teeth bared in a snarl.

Aldrea snatches the egg and holds it to her chest, then whistles. She darts towards the forest, passing the egg off to Kit, who emerges, grabs the egg tightly, and tries to fly into the treetops. She's not that good a flyer, but she manages to get into a low tree. Aldrea turns back to the battle.

"YOU SHOULDNT HURT MY FRIENDS!!" Gamma yells. He starts draining Myst directly.

Aldrea looks up, then back at Gamma. "Gamma! The haze! Deal with the... thing... later! Or hurry and get to the haze... "

Myst cries out in pain as he disappears, drained away. Aldrea blinks. "Right then. That works too."

"Ok. Now to end this." He holds his hands up and starts draining energy from the haze above them.

Above, the violet light seems to stop its advancement. Its power is tremendous, and if Gamma continues too long, it might be too much. Gamma starts shuddering from the power he's draining. "ALDREA! TELL ME HOW TO FORM THE SPELL!"

Aldrea closes her eyes, trying to remember.... "We need to find a hole! Feel about for something sucking up power like you do, only all the time!"

Gamma tries to sense such a thing and gasps, his mark flashing purple. "I found it!"

Aldrea nods. "Good. You have enough power? You want to envision it moving to where you want it... talk to it, almost, tell it it'd be better off eating the spell, but make sure it's resonating through your power!" that said, she begins to murmur the words of the actual spell, and Kit began to sing once more.

Gamma nods and closes his eyes. HE starts trying to coax it into eating the energy of the spell, trying to make it sound like the best thing that it could do. He starts to feel it giving off the same feel that he does. "I think it's working."

Aldrea continues. Kit's song grows more urgant, insistant, and Aldrea suddanly breaks into a harmony with her, singing words in some strange language, singing of space, and an unending hungar, and food enough for ever and ever if it goes here... her voice was high and sweet.

The spell above suddenly seems to shudder as the black hole enters it. It pauses, then begins to draw away, being sucked into the depths of the hole.

Gamma continues to draw energy from the spell. "Now what?"

Aldrea smiles. "that's it!" she whistles in tune with the song so as not to stop the spell. "Find another! Do it again and again until it's gone!" Then she returns to singing.

Gamma nods and finds more black holes, coaxing them as he did the first one to eat the spell.

as the second black hole approaches, the spell seems to rip itself in half, the violet light spinning off into the darkness. A moment later, there is a bright flash of light as the black holes crash into each other. Aldrea sends mental instructions to Kit and the song soars to a new, higher key. Aldrea can scarecly manage, but Kit does beautifully. They sing of deep space, describing a location, and switch to whistling in dragon language, saying "the one with power shall make the darkness recede to the depths of eaten space, the space the hungry one has eaten" since it's still a spell and all. the light dies away and a sudden sense of warmth can be felt by those who can sense magic.

Gamma feels the warmth but is concentrating on controling all of this energy that he's draining and using. Aldrea feels it and continues to sing until she is sure the black holes are gone. Then she finishes her song on a high note, suspended for a long while, then turns pale and collapeses. Kit looks to the egg, looking a paler pink but alright.

Gamma finally gets control ofer the leftover energy that he drained and falls backward, looking up at the now clear sky. Aldrea is out of it, for the moment, but Kit secures the egg and flies down, dancing a flight of pure joy, trilling joy and happiness for both her and her "momma"

That's a nice high note to end on. Since the story's really about Korunue, I won't go into all the other things that happen when she's not there; you'll have to learn about them like she did.