A/N: Of course I don't own anything of the characters and stuff, otherwise I'll be a spoiled little rich brat. And I doubt that any of you really owns any of them either. I don't even own Zika, she's Hikura_'s. I only own the words, so there! And the characters that I made up, like the Guardians and the Bounty Hunters, the Zika Trinity, and Wait! I also own the comic book 'The k'Night', but since I'm rewriting and drawing, and basically nobody knows that it exists, you can't really steal it, can you? This fanfic was brought to you from the results of two hyper and bored girls walking home from school. **grins** ENJOY!!



WARNING: Scenes of violence, some explicit language and topics that might disturb some readers. Mature Audiences only (like 16). This is Zika we're talking about, so there will most definitely be violence. And since it's me, there's going to be blood. And characters are probably going to be OOC, since I'm a deprived little manic.

Chapter Three: Visions of The Dark Angel.

(EscaFlowne meets Zika)

The Guardian Danier le Anon-Re looked very annoyed as he observed his universe. "Why do we have to put up with that, that PLAGUE?" He muttered, looking for the way to repair the Dark Angel's damage. "Bad enough I have to deal with one world trying to destroy the other."

He was only a bit startled as a magic mirror opened up. Then he saw whom it was from and relaxed just a tiny bit. "Delilah Gundam, what gives me the pleasure?" He greeted politely. He really didn't need any more problems right now.

"Danier, I believe that you have had the same un-invited guest that I did." Delilah said briskly. "And are dealing with the same problems."

Danier crocked an eyebrow. "The Dark Angel that Aamina is so fond of?"

"Yes, and I believe that something should be done about her. We can't have that Insane manic running around any time that she likes."

Danier leaned back into his plush chair. "Have you talked to Aamina yet?"

"Yes," Delilah grimaced. "As she wasn't very sympathetic. I have a feeling that she is allowing Zika to run loose."

"She never was one to be completely serious with her work. As long as the damage could be fixed, Aamina is fond of letting loose these kind of annoyances." Danier rubbed his eyes. "However, she usually has reasons to risk the more dangerous of them."

"You think that there's more about this than it seems." Delilah pondered for a moment. "Now that you mention it, something does feel un-balanced in Aamina's area."

"I've always had a sort of unease about the creation of Zika, do many balancing factors. But Aamina did seem to be very careful with her work." Danier pointed out. "For all appearances, Aamina is very clever. Maybe Zika is fulfilling her plans."

"Zika is more of an annoyance than a real danger to us, I admit." Delilah mused.

"This is the sort of thing that Aamina would pull off. She probably sent Zika to do something."

Delilah frowned. "When I spoke to her, she mentioned that Zika would know what to do, she just need a push in the right direction." Danier smirked.

"You did something, didn't you? Don't try lying to me, I can read it in your expression." He said.

Delilah looked a little smug.



~*~

(On Gaea)

There was a column of bright light, and then it was gone. Darkness fell again.

Zika groaned. "There has to be a better way to travel. And why am I faced down on the ground?"

"Don't look at me." Jova said. "I can't really see. It's nighttime here. But I suppose you realize that?"

"Shut up." 'At least I have my regular clothes on.'

Zika sat up and looked around her. There was absolutely no sign of life anywhere. Picking randomly, she began walking.

"Do you have any idea of where you are going?"

"None at all." Zika replied cheerfully. "Now, shut up."

Zika was getting tired by the time they saw a bit of civilization. She stopped at a well-placed spot to get a look of it.

"Great, it's the age of chivalry. All overrated morals and swords. Wonderful." Zika was feeling grumpy. "Ah, but they see to be under attacked. That's funny, the attackers see to be using a kind of stealth device, and I can hardly see them! Nice looking ancient suits could go into a museum somewhere, though."

As she watched, the town was evacuating. With good reason, because it was being burned to the ground.

"Hmm, I wonder what jerk is doing that." She could swear that she heard manic laughter. She frowned; she was usually the one laughing. She brought up a handy list of the people who were insane in this dimension. "Ahh that must be who it is, Dilandau." She pulled out his profile. "Likes to burns things, manic killer, wow!" She stared at the part about his past. "He's a girl!"

Zika giggled. "This should be FUN!"

She ran down the hill and into the city. "WHHEEEEEEEEE!!!!"

Nimbly, she darted through the fighting. She came across a fight between two of the guymelef. One of them she was sure was Dilandau. She stared at the other, older model. It was an ivory white. As their fighting resulted in sparks, Zika remarked. "Pretty."

Running around nearby was a honey-blond girl and a catgirl. Zika strolled up to them. They were yelling something about a king and a 'van' whoever that was.

"So," Zika began casually. "Who's fighting whom?"

Both the girls stopped yelling and stared at her. Zika dimly realized that they were staring at her clothes.

"I think I know who started the fires." Zika pointed to the darker guymelef. "But who's the other?"

"King Van." The catgirl said.

"And over there?" Zika pointed to another fight that was getting closer to where they were.

"Allen."

"Ah." Zika said. "By the way, I'm Zika. You are?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm Hitomi." The honey-haired girl said. She had very large green eyes.

"I'm Merle." The catgirl said. Zika nodded.

"Nice to meet you." She glanced at the fight. "I'm guessing that I'm not on Earth, am I?"

Hitomi gasped with recognition, while Merle frowned with confusion.

"Thought so." Zika said darkly. She turned back to the fight. It looked like Van was going to make a break and run. Hopefully taking the girls with him. Out of the corner of her eye, Zika observed the two girls. They were hardly strong enough to defend themselves.

"I hate chivalry." Zika muttered under her breath. Silently, she slipped away. The two girls hardly noticed that she was gone. Which is what Zika wanted. When Van ran, Dilandau would burn more things. Zika wanted to meet him, soon.

Allen was working his way over to Van, Zika guessed to help them retreat. The two managed to pull off their escape and retreated using a rather ugly (in Zika's opinion) floating ship. She noticed the stones tied onto it that gave it the power to lift off the ground.

"Well, things are most definitely not what they appear to be here." Zika said out loud to herself. She was glad that no one noticed a lone girl, let alone a strange girl, in the middle of burning battle.

Then she watched as Van took off to lead what Zika now knew as Dragonslayers away from the reteating ship. "A bit of a fool, a noble fool, that Van." She said, and followed closely on the ground. She had regained her strength, and could run very fast when she wanted. But not without a price. She stood panting and watched Van's rather short stand.

Shaking her head, she watched him fall rather gracelessly to the ground. "Noble fool." Then she reconsidered. "Noble cute fool."

Zika had most excellent timing; she slipped into the Viole easily and not noticed. She had no thought about rescuing Van, and made no attempt to. ' His fault. No one told him to sacrifice himself.'

No, Zika was after something else. ' Being able to make myself invisible would be handy.' She thought as she clung to the shadows. 'I wouldn't have so much trouble doing things like this.' She grinned. 'Even if I get caught, I could blow this flying fortress up, no prob! This should be most fun!'

So she snuck around the halls, laughing to herself. She found herself outside a door, where she thought she heard Van's voice. He was yelling and someone, who calmly and quietly responded. In spite of herself, Zika was intrigued and tried to hear more.

Then their voices broke off. Getting a weird tingle at the base of her neck, Zika stepped back from the door and into the shadows. Just as the door opened and a great deal of black came out. Folken. Zika recalled the name. Her hearing was getting better. The door closed behind him, but he stood in the hall. Zika tried not to breath.

"Is someone there?" Folken softly said. Zika did not respond. She was trying to slip away from the tall guy. Guys that solemn gave her the chills. She liked more wild people, more crazy people. Like Dilandau. She still hadn't bumped into him and she dimly wondered where he was.

Zika didn't feel like bothering to go look for him. So she explored the fortress instead. ' I'll look at that cloaking device on my way out.' She decided. Trying not to laugh out loud, Zika snuck away. Behind her, Folken frowned and then left, in the opposite direction.

Zika was fooling around with some circuitry when there was a big explosion in the guymlef hanger. After wacking her head against the panelling, she rubbed it. 'Ouch, I didn't do that. What happened? I should be the only sabotage on board.' Figuring that she'd done enough damage already, Zika closed up the section (heating, it was way too cold in there.) that she had been working on. Then she made her cautious way down to the hanger, which was not easy. The place was now crawling with soldiers, and the look in their eyes meant that they were ready for trouble. Zika started to put two and two together (in her opinion, hardly made four) and figured out that Van's friend Allen was invading. 'Chivalry is WAY too overrated, and predictable. Being predictable gets you killed.'

Zika decided to take the opportunity to grab the invisibility device. She was in the border of the fighting (if there was one) and almost to the hanger when she caught sight of Hitomi. The blond girl didn't notice her, cause she was rather obviously walking through a smoky hall. Actually, Zika almost ran into her, but she'd never admit to it.

Since Hitomi was making her way back towards the hanger, Zika had no choice but follow the girl. Zika gritted her teeth at how slow Hitomi was, but then realized that the young blond had no training that enabled her to move more confidently in low visibility.

She saw Hitomi gasp and fall. Zika stood over her, confused. 'What's wrong with her?' Then a chill went down her back.

'Damn! I got a ForeSighter here. Great, she's having a vision too.' She sighed silently to herself as the girl struggled to her feet and tried to continue. 'She won't be getting far that way.' Feeling only slightly bothered, Zika cautiously feed Hitomi some of her power, just enough to get the girl's normal energy up. Then Zika slipped around her and continued on her way.

There was a lot of smoke in this area, but Zika could hear Hitomi running behind her. Suddenly she came to the guymlef hanger, the Dragonslayer hanger, to be exact. Rubbing her hands eagerly, Zika set to work on the nearest one. She noted Dilandau slipping out of the hanger area, but she didn't think that he had seen her.

Zika found the device quite easily. 'I guess they didn't think that anyone would be crazy enough to come and steal it.' She chuckled to herself and began to work. It was very fast. Zika figured that it didn't even take two minutes for her to completely modify and save the cloaking device to her wrist-computer.

As Zika left the guymelef hanger, she almost felt like whistling. She decided to check out how the fighting was doing. It would be the perfect time to test the cloaking device. So she activated it, and went for a stroll. She knew that she was nearing (or was already in) the battle when she came across a fallen soldier. On a whim, she took his sword.

Soon she came to an open area. She turned as she heard the sound of running footsteps. A man with really long blond hair and puffed sleeves came running through the room. 'A damn chivalry knight!' Zika glared at him as he ran by. He, of course, didn't see her.

Zika grinned. Van came after the knight, but stopped as Folken called his name. Van stopped very near Zika. She followed his line of sight to here Folken was standing. Zika liked being an un-seen observer. 'Ah, Van and Folken are brothers.'

Folken disappeared.

Something in the shadows and smoke attracted Zika's eye. There was Dilandau, closing in on Van. Zika stepped out in front of him and was just going to deactivate the cloaking device when Hitomi came out from another hall ('There are a lot of halls connecting to here.' Zika thought absently) and yelled Van a warning. Cursing, Zika quickly cancelled the cloaking device and blocked Dilandau as he rushed at Van. Blade crashed into blade.

'Red eyes meet blue eyes. Hello.' Zika smiled at the thought. She was locked blades with him, and he had no idea who she was. Dimly, she heard Van yelling at Hitomi to run. 'Get out of here, you too fools.' She stared into Dilandau's ruby eyes. She absently noticed Hitomi and Van running past her and Dilandau.

"Hello." She said pleasantly. "Nice to meet you." Then she giggled. She pushed Dilandau away from her with the sword, and took a swipe at him. He seemed not to be responding properly, because he allowed her to cut his right cheek. 'He's in shock!' Zika realized.

"Well, I would have expected better from you, Dilandau." She said, projecting disappointment as he fell to his knees, a hand to his face. She sighed. "Vain one, get up. You're going to just let me scratch you like that and get away? WIMP!"

Dilandau's face shot up. "How dare you!" He growled.

"I do dare." She responded.

"Don't you know who I am?"

"Yes, and I don't care."

"I am the most deadliest soldier to exist!"

"Prove it." Zika replied calmly. She held the sword loosedly in her hand, as if bored.

He jumped to his feet and lunged at her. She dodged his attack and knocked his sword from his hand. He stumbled past her, and she gave him a well- placed kick. Dilandau fell to the ground.

"Not having a few good day, are we Dilandau?" Zika said gently. "Well, I don't want to tear at your pride too much, so I'm going to leave now." She slipped away from the fallen Dilandau.

Something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Folken was still in the shadows, watching her. Zika briefly grinned, waved to the tall dark guy, and then ran off in the direction that Van and Hitomi had gone. Her laughter echoed through the halls.

'This is a lot of fun! I love messing with people's heads.' She giggled.

***********Random Acts of Insanity (RAOI) *********************************

Four girls sit at a table in the noisy cafeteria.

"I'm going to jump off a cliff." Says one girl. All of the girls stop and look at her, she continues.

"With a parachute."

Zika gives Neko a very dirty look. "I am going to kill you if this keeps up."

Neko ignores her.

************************************************This has been a Random Act of Insanity*** Back to the story*****

Zika ran swiftly through the ship. Up ahead she could see Hitomi and Van starting up EscaFlowne.

"Hey! Wait for me!" She called. "I'm coming with you!"

Allen and his ship was somewhere close, Zika could feel it. With luck, she could get away with them, then sneak off. Hopefully in someplace that could be considered a town. Zika dimly wondered whether there were any gods of luck in this dimension, and whether they would bother with her.

Zika caught up with the two. "I'm coming with you."

"Who are you?" Van asked.

"Zika, Zika Silver." Zika replied. "I just left Dilandau in the dust. I'm coming with you. Don't say no, because I'll follow you anyways."

"Van, they're coming." Hitomi pleaded.

"Alright."

Zika laughed to herself at how easy it was to get away it was. 'Surprise attacks are supposed to give the attackers the upper hand.' They had rendezvous with Allen. Now Zika and Hitomi were climbing off EscaFlowne, with the help of Allen's men. Well, Hitomi was climbing down with the help of the men, Zika simply jumped down. 'I've done crazier things before. But never jump of EscaFlowne when you haven't slept and eaten for a little over a week's time. Well, that's how long it feels like.' Zika didn't want to bother asking Jova how long it had been since she left her own dimension, she had also taken the liberty to put Jova on mute.

Zika had landed a little less than graceful, and had only let the men help her to her feet. That was how she knew that she didn't quite have the same power as before. ' I wonder whether my strength changes in each dimension. It certainly makes things more interesting.' After that, she shrugged off the men. She had some pride.

She waited for Hitomi to get down. Allen used this chance to make her acquaintance. It went something like this:

Allen: Hello, my name is…

Zika: **interrupting** I know who you are. I'm Zika Silver1.

Allen: Pleasure to meet you.

Zika: **flatly** I'm sure.

By the time all that had happened, Hitomi was down. They were led to a crowded place that looked like the bridge. Zika stayed in the back and in the shadows. Right now all she wanted was some food and a place to sleep. Finally, she got both. With she stomach full, she sighed content fully as she lay down in her bunk. Unfortunately, she had to share a room with Hitomi, but Zika wasn't going to let that ruin her sleep.

Hitomi was very quiet while they were getting ready for bed. She was borrowing a few clothes from the crew, and looked awful in them. Zika supposed that it was better than sleeping in a school uniform. Zika was simply going to bed with her clothes on. She could, in theory, conjure a few small items, but it would be too troublesome to explain that she wasn't the usual run-of-the-mill mage. She lay down on her bunk, waiting for the other girl to get settled.

Hitomi cleared her throat. Zika looked at the girl, expectantly. "Yes?"

"I've been getting some funny feelings about you, ever since we left."

"Hardly surprising, you are a Foreseer. And a powerful one at that."

Hitomi looked a little surprised. "How did you...?"

"I come from Earth too, you know. And I have a knack for knowing these sorts of things. So, tell me what's wrong, if it's bothering you so much." She was only a little annoyed.

"Well, a while before I met you, before the attack, I got this strange visions. It wasn't the usual vision, it was a prophecy, in words that spoke inside my mind."

"Oh?" Zika cocked an eyebrow, the most that she would show her sudden curiosity.

"And I can't help how it seems to apply to you."

Zika swung her legs over the bunk's side, sitting up. "Do you remember what it said?"

"I will always remember it, it seems to be burned into my mind!"

"Repeat it."

Hitomi did.

"Three times three

Eyes of warmth and eyes of cold

Eyes of youth and eyes of old

Three times three the circle spins

Destiny grows.

Three times three

1 Eyes of love, eyes of hate

Bound forever in the cycle of Fate

Balance of all

Mortals and immortal both

Heed this call

1.1.1.1 Eyes of gay and eyes of grief

Three times three

1.1.1.1.1 The Trinity"

Hitomi finished. Zika was silent. Then she lay back down.

"Thank you." She said softly. "It gives me something to think about. You need not worry about this anymore."

"There's something else. I want to show you something." Hitomi pulled out her tarot cards. "I found three cards that don't belong to me."

Zika took the three cards and stared at them. She frowned. "Well, this is interesting. It seems that the Powers That Be have been at work."

"The Powers That Be?" Hitomi was confused.

"It's what I call whatever gods, or spiritually forces. Rather self explanatory, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess." Hitomi was silent, thinking. Then, "Good night Zika."

Zika grunted a reply, tucked the cards in her pocket, and rolled over to her other side. "Just one more thing, Hitomi."

"Yes?"

"I don't think that I'll be around this group much longer. So don't be surprised if you turn around and can't find me." Zika said quietly. "And don't you dare tell another soul."

"Okay." Hitomi whispered. But Zika had fallen asleep.

Zika was having a nightmare. She always had nightmares. It came with being a heartless bitch. But this one was different. Two shadows were chasing her. That in itself wasn't different, she had tonnes of dreams of former enemies chasing her. But she was afraid of these two. Her fear disgusted her. She was Zika, the Dark Angel of Insanity, she feared no one! She was afraid because they were strong enough to make her run, to make her be on the defensive. All her attempts to get on the offensive failed. All she could do was run and defend her self. And they were wearing her down…

Zika woke in sweat, and breathing heavily. She sneered at her fear of a dream, but underneath, it had felt too real. Zika shook off her sweat, and got up. She needed little sleep, and little food when she was travelling. Very glad that she slept in her clothes, she pulled on her boots and wandered around the ship.

She found herself in the bridge-place. And she wasn't the only restless one. Allen was up as well. She went and stood slightly opposite to him, staring out at a different view.

"Soon, we'll reach Palace." Allen said softly.

"Oh, really? How lovely." Zika replied dryly. "How big is the place?"

"Large enough for someone to slip away without someone noticing."

Zika gave a little smile. "Oh? That's very nice. So many opportunities to get lost."

"Can you take care of yourself? I'd be happy to offer my services."

"I consider chivalry overrated, Allen. I can take care of myself." Zika nearly snapped.

Allen said nothing. Zika tended to have that effect on people.

"Your accent reminds me of Hitomi." He said at last.

"Hardly surprising, we come from almost the same place."

He turned to look at her. "From the Mystic Moon?"

Zika looked at him from over her shoulder. "You might say that." She grinned.

"Your looks remind me of another two people."

"Really?" She turned back to the view. Dawn was coming soon; she could see the sky getting a little lighter.

"Yes, one I hate, and one whom I loved very much." Allen said.

She was now a little curious. "Who?"

"Dilandau and my sister Celena."

Zika was caught a little off guard. "What?!" 'There's no way that he could know that Celena and Dilandau are really the same person, and certainly none that he could know that I'm the Dark Angel!' "How?"

"You have silver hair, like Dilandau, and you seem to have his attitude as well. But you have Celena's blue eyes, and figure." Allen responded, slightly amused. 'Maybe he likes the fact that he surprised me! Jerk!'

"Also, her gender." Zika chuckled at a private joke. She sighed. "I must be going." The sun was peeking over the horizon. She made her way to the exit.

"Fare ye well, Lady Silver." His words stopped her cold and made her face him.

"Do not call me a lady!" She snarled at him. "And do not be deceived by appearances, I am more than what I appear to be. Much more deadlier as well! I would have no regret to kill worlds at a whim!" She turned smartly on her heels, and stormed away. Those who were awake stayed clear of her. With the way that Zika was feeling, she wouldn't be surprised if electricity shot out of her eyes.

She decided that it was no longer amusing to stay. She found a very unused area, and activated the cloaking device. 'Worth all the trouble I went through for it.' She thought, satisfied. For once she was patient, and waited for the ship to land.

While everyone was more or less occupied with unloading, Zika slipped away and found her way into town. She had to admit, it was the closest thing to a city that she had seen on the planet. There was some pleasure in being able to move freely though large crowds.

Zika spent most of the day simply exploring the city. It reminded her of when she was a little girl… 'Later, I won't remember now, but later.' She could spend a few days wandering. She came to part of the market, and dawdled there. She caught sight of Hitomi, in a dress that didn't look like it came from Earth. Van wasn't around, although Merle was and what had to be the Millerna that Zika heard about from Allen's men.

Zika went in a different direction. She didn't notice Hitomi having another vision, and was quite caught off guard when she came running past her. Zika yelled and followed. 'Well, I might as well; we're going in the same direction.'

She saw a bridge ahead, with Van on it, talking to someone on the other side. 'Folken! Again!' She nearly groaned out loud. A flash of metal attracted her eye. 'Is that what I think it is? Shit! Dilandau's going to shoot Van! Tsk, tsk!' Zika guessed that Hitomi had had another vision, and was going to knock Van out of the way. While Hitomi did that, Zika got in the way of the blast. And caught it.

She allowed everyone to see that she had caught it, and then hurled it back at Dilandau. 'But not exactly, I want to give him the scare of his life. His own blast coming deadly back at him should do.' As the blast made an awful mess of the hanger, Zika wiped her hands as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Hitomi and Van were gone down the street, and Zika didn't care to blame them. Instead, she kept her attention to Folken.

"I think that I might have scared Dilandau." She said calmly. Folken seemed to be stunned. 'I don't suppose there are a lot of people around here who can catch one of those things and then throw it back.' "Now, what are we going to do?" She looked at him as if considering him. "I believe that you people are looking for something, something that you think is very powerful." She smiled. "Am I right?"

Folken seemed to have gotten his wits back, because he began a join-us-and- you-shall-be-great crap speech. Zika caught him off.

"I have no need for your promises. I have more power than you can imagine. The little stunts that I've been working lately are simply amusing. And no, I will not join you. I serve no one. There is nothing that you can offer me. Would you like a demonstration of my power?" She grinned darkly.

He disappointed her. If possible, he might have turned paler. Zika pretended to think for a moment.

"Wait, you will get to see my power, but not right now. I have more important things to do. Besides, you are not of my own. I have no need to prove my authority. However, there is another that I have business with. Someone who is one of mine, and needs to realize that." She glanced up to the side, in Dilandau's direction.

Folken followed her gaze, but when he turned back to her, she was gone.

Zika giggled to herself as she watched Folken drive away from the concealment of a shadowed rooftop. The cloaking device also helped. It had been fun for her to make Folken startled. She suddenly had an idea. Working it over, she began to fiddle with her computers. "Oh joy!"

Grinning, she activated it. A light circled around her, and her skin melted as if she was going into her Digital Form. But when the light disappeared, she was in Chibi Zika form. 'A cute little girl is always overlooked.' She thought as she shook her silver pigtails. 'Maybe I should change my hair colour to platinum blond. But not right now…'

Hours later, Chibi Zika sat on a different rooftop, watching the sunset. She sighed, as everything seemed peaceful. 'When is Dilandau going to get here? I hope soon.' Zika couldn't wait to show him a thing or two. Well, actually, she could wait quite a long time. In the meanwhile, she let herself doze off for a bit.

She was awakened by a lot of screaming and shouting. There was some smoke in the air, and the sounds of mass destruction. Zika blinked sleepily, wondering in a little secret joy whether her dreams had come true. Then she snapped totally awake at some stronger smoke blowing into her face. 'Smoke, where's there's smoke, there's fire. Where's there's fire, there's Dilandau.' With absolute glee, Zika checked to she whether she was still in character. Satisfied that she was still Chibi Zika, dressed in an Earth school uniform (that looked like a variation on Hitomi's), she climbed down to sweet level. Luckily for her (and anyone else) the streets were clearing up of people who actually still lived. The thick heavy smoke was driving anyone who wasn't suicidal away from the city.

Zika did a quick life-scan and saw that the only ones left were the ones who were fighting. Then she calmly walked towards the source of the fire. 'My! Can Dilandau make a mess!' She slipped through the massive guymelefs and strolled up to Dilandau's.

"Hello!" She said loudly enough. "Do you remember me?"

She could feel their confusion. Standing in front of them was a little girl that looked remarkably like the teen that had scarred Dilandau's face. She giggled, which made up his mind. "I'm afraid, Dilandau. That I cannot allow you to burn this city." She let herself melt back into her normal Physical form, a form that Dilandau recognized. Zika heard his demands, and refused to answer them directly. Instead, she looked at him piercingly in the eye. "I hear that you like fire a lot. Well, do remember that too much of a good thing can be very bad."

She made a gesture, and there was suddenly the amount of a large lake in water floating above their heads. As she let her hands drop, so did the water and it fell like a giant waterfall over the city, flooding the streets. The dragonslayers managed to get out of the danger, and they floated above the flood. There was no sign of Zika.

"Heello! Up here!" Zika waved her arms to get their attention as she floated above them. Now she was in full Digital Form, complete with electricity running around her body. She couldn't see their reaction, but she was sure that they were mighty impressed, or something close to it. Grinning, she powered up a blast.

"Zika!" A strange voice cried out. "Leave them alone and fight us!"

Huh? Zika looked behind her. Floating a little ways away were two beings. To her, they Felt like something not of this world. Zika grinned. "Then perhaps we should take this somewhere else?" She shouted at them. They nodded, and followed her blaze of light across the sky.

They landed in an opening in a forest. Zika stood to one side while the other two were on the opposite side. One was a female, the other male. The female had shiny black hair and turquoise eyes, was tall and thin. The male had red hair and green eyes, was shorter but sturdy. Both were muscular, and seemed to be a decade older than Zika.

"Now, what's this all about?" Zika said promptly, arms crossed. She watched them warily.

"You've made some bitter enemies, Zika Silver1. Guardian Delilah Gundam sent us. She's the Guardian/god of that last dimension you were in." the male said.

"You are galaxy bounty hunters. No wonder you can blend into any crowd, but still you don't feel right." Zika raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. You know me, but I shall like to know you."

"I am Pewter Kummer, and my partner Ikeda Vogelsang." The male said.

"And want will you do now? I'd be damned if I let you get me so soon."

"You are the Queen of the Damned." Ikeda said. "And we will not refuse the blessing of a god, no matter who it is. We cannot let you get away from us."

"Well," Zika said softly. "Letting is a different game." She lifted a hand, a ball of electricity crackled above it. "And I never lose." With a slight smile, she threw the blast straight at the two. She didn't bother to check whether it had hit any of them, but launched herself into the air. With powerful (and painful) thrusts of her wings, she quickly gained altitude. A sudden alarm in her mind made her look up.

'What! He's above me!' She yelped as they sent an energy attack at her. She instantly pulled up a shield. 'Too close! Too close! It's going to…' The attack hit the shield and exploded. Zika desperately tried to stay up, but the shock waves from the blast knocked her out of the sky. Like a flaming arrow, she fell to the ground.

There was another explosion when she hit the ground, and it left a small crater. Shaking her head, Zika got up. She muttered a few curses. 'They've updated those galaxy bounty hunters. Damn them all! Wait! Where's the other one?' She quickly looked around, her head tingling with alarms. Zika found Ikeda just as the bounty hunter let loose a spear of energy.

Zika sidestepped it, but not fast enough. The spear hit her left shoulder. She gasped at the sudden pain and dropped to her knees with the impact. 'How rude!' She grinned. She didn't mind the pain at all. There was a swish nearby and Zika knew that Pewter had landed next to Ikeda. 'Fool! You've just made this a lot easier for me!'

Chuckling, she stood up, gathering up a great deal of power, and condensed it into electricity. She gathered a bit more, and the electricity danced around her being. Above her, storm clouds gathered in the sky, rumbling. The bounty hunters looked a little surprised at this display. 'Well, if you hunt the tiger, expect to be bit!' Zika giggled…

…And called down blinding lightening. It landed in between Zika and the bounty hunters. While they were momentarily blinded, Zika quick-started the dimension hopper. Rings of bright, but less blinding, light surrounded her and as the hunters regained their sight, Zika disappeared.



Ikeda looked blankly at the spot where Zika had disappeared. She shook her head. "So that is the Dark Angel. Amazing."

"Yes. Did you feel that hopper?" Pewter said.

"No, there's hardly any energy signature. It's going to be hard to track her."

Pewter sighed. "Well, we'd better get started. We sort of attracted the attention of the natives." He pointed to the dragonslayers that were heading their way. Ikeda nodded.

Two pillars of light surrounded them, and they disappeared as if into space.