Dawn found the two slowly, though only Dizzy was awake enough to enjoy the brilliant spectacle. I-No had fallen asleep about three hours earlier, looking like someone much more powerful had soundly pounded her into the ground. Snacking on a few of the raisins, Dizzy watched the sun, though she turned around and looked at I-No when Undine alerted her. "Good morning!"

I-No's response was a long, drawn-out moan of untold suffering. Either that, or she really wasn't a morning person. After a not-too gentle poke from Undine, the witch slowly sat up, using her fingers to comb dead pine needles out of her hair before she readjusted her hat. Looking at Dizzy, who seemed to be in nearly pristine condition, I-No just smiled and shook her head. "How'd you get all squeaky clean out in the middle of nowhere?"

Dizzy just pointed at Undine, who summoned a ball of water out of the air. I-No nodded, turning towards the direction that the smoke trail had been leading them towards. "Nice. We'll need that to survive soon enough. After all, we can only go so far without food or water."

"Umm... we have some food. About half a pound of raisins, which taste like they're a few hundred years old." I-No grimaced, then stood up, using her guitar as a brace. Dizzy was instantly at her other side, helping I-No stand.

"Hey, be careful. You don't want to tear open your back, especially after all the effort you put into healing it last night."

I-No stared at Dizzy for a few seconds, equal amounts of surprise and pain crossing her face. "You saw?" After Dizzy nodded, I-No sighed and let the smaller hybrid help her stand up. The two slowly walked out of their tiny campsite, Dizzy letting I-No lead them through the tiny corridor of non-irradiated land and air that should get them closer to wherever the Mayship had landed.

It took almost half an hour for the corridor to open up into a clear area, allowing Dizzy the opportunity to flex her wings and tail, which were all quite stiff. The clear zone was easily apparent to both women; it actually had things living in it; though the things the two found were quite... odd, to say the least.

Dizzy had promptly been freaked out when a centipede scurried past. And past. And past. The insectoid was a good fifteen feet long, and greenish ichor oozed from its easily apparent mouth, much to the disgust of both. I-No summed up the entire scene with sarcastic humour, sprinkled with a feeling of awe at how large some things were. "Well, I'd hate to get kissed by that thing. Shall we go before its parents come by?"

Nothing of note passed by for several hours, though I-No refused food, which made Dizzy more than slightly concerned. During a short break around two in the afternoon, they came across another patch of severe irradiation, which they were forced to go around. Before choosing a direction, the two sat down to rest for a short while, as both were bone-weary and feeling it.

Dizzy's hair had fallen free of her ribbons, cascading down her back in a tangled mass. I-No's few remaining wounds had reopened, and she was beginning to suffer from the more adverse effects of blood loss, including light-headedness, nausea, and disorientation. "So, now what? If I guess right, you've exhausted your magical reserves just trying to keep from letting your injuries slow you down, and I'm not much better. I never was much of a camper."

I-No smiled at that. "Uh huh. You and the rest of the world who came after you before you were adopted by Johnny. After all, didn't you live in a forest for just under a year?"

Dizzy nodded, happier times etching a smile across her face. "Yeah. It was nice there, too. Until everyone tried to hunt me down. Still, there's a large difference between the two forests."

I-No nodded. "Yeah. First, there's no Testament to help bail your butt out if you get in trouble. Second, there's a whole lot less fuzzy creatures, and a whole lot more big, nasty things that could turn us into appetizers if they were so inclined."

Dizzy walked over to where I-No was sitting, then slumped down beside the witch. "Yeah. So, do you want me to bandage your back before we continue? You'll be of no help to anyone if you're unconscious from blood loss by this time tomorrow."

I-No nodded again, saving energy by not talking. Ten minutes later, Dizzy had wrapped I-No's upper torso and back, covering the gouges and hopefully preventing the witch from bleeding out from sheer exertion. Finishing by tucking the last strip underneath several others, Dizzy then helped I-No stand up, much to the older woman's chagrin. "I never thought I'd feel my age, but here I am, being helped around by someone at least one twelfth my age."

Dizzy blushed, then jerked her head upright at the oblique mention to her age. "Hey, why do you know so much about me?"

I-No smiled, looking at Dizzy for a few seconds. "Let's just say that I had more than the basic sources available to the average bounty hunter."

Dizzy looked genuinely worried as she stated the name of the organization that actually had been behind the attacks on her. "Post-War Administration Bureau?"

I-No shuddered. "Gawd no! Even if I had worked there, they'd have strapped me down, dosed me with something, and dissected me to try to find out why I can use what I use. They'd probably do the same to you if they manage to get their claws into you. I bet that organization would be very interested in your two friends."

Dizzy frowned, thinking of something. "Hey, do you think that they were the ones who fired those missiles at us?"

"Dunno. We were flying pretty close to some old blacktech bases. For all we know, an automatic system decided to knock the Mayship out of the sky."

Dizzy just frowned, confused. "Well, if that's the case, why is there so much blacktech just lying around for someone to grab and use? I thought that the only nation in the world that still uses blacktech is Zepp, and that's under extreme sanctions from the UN."

I-No nodded, then stood up. "You're right. Looks like you know more about geopolitics than most people. However, there are some old stockpiles left over before most of the old nations collapsed during the first years of the Gear Wars. A lot of blacktech from a nation called the Soviet Union still survives. You can say what you want about the past, but they knew how to build something to last the years."

Dizzy also stood, then turned and looked back at the way they had come. "Oh no."

I-No started walking, using her remaining magical reserves to find a clear spot in the field of radiation ahead of the two. "I know that tone of voice. Let me guess; that troll you took a chunk out of has our trail and is about three klicks back."

"Yeah, that's about right. So, do we fight, or do we run?"

"Run. I can't fight with my back like this, and you don't know what those things do when angry."

"I thought it was mad enough when we left it."

"It was just irritated. It will get pissed if you rip its entire face off, but that's a different story."

Dizzy nodded, then turned to follow I-No, who was already two hundred yards away and slowly increasing the distance. For some odd reason, I-No seemed to be examining the trees for some sign or object, then stopped suddenly between four trees that were evenly spaced from each other, creating sort of a natural square. Kneeling, the witch scraped off a layer of debris, revealing a metal doorway set into the ground.

Dizzy looked at the ancient door, which looked much like something that had been installed a few centuries ago, then at I-No, her confusion and frustration boiling over. "And what are we going to do with this? Yank it out of the ground and use it as a shield?"

"Hardly. Though, if I had some help here, I'd be able to open this thing..." Dizzy sighed, then walked over to the door. Using her enhanced strength, she easily opened the door, allowing I-No to climb into the abandoned bunker. Dizzy followed a few moments afterwards, closing the door behind her as I-No summoned a small ball of energy to light the area around them.

The first room was huge, though it was also stacked, floor to ceiling, with every possible array of blacktech weapons Dizzy thought existed. And then some. The ball of energy floating just above her head, I-No had easily opened up one crate that was close by, then smiled. "Hey, lookie what I found. Clean clothes."

She held up a pair of black coveralls, still sealed in a clear bag, then tossed another pair at Dizzy. "You might want to wear them. It gets pretty cold underground, and your fighting clothes don't look like they allow you to retain any sort of body heat."

Dizzy nodded, then watched, dumbfounded, as I-No went through each crate in turn, muttering to herself before she found what she was looking for, in a long crate near one wall of the room. Hefting the long tube onto one shoulder, I-No grinned wickedly. "Now the fun begins."

"But... What is this place? I've never seen anything like it. Also, how do you know so much about this place?"

"This is an abandoned weapons bunker from oh, about the mid-twentieth century. And these little brutes," I-No paused long enough to pull a handgun out of another box, "Are blacktech weapons, which we will use to turn our not-too nice friend upstairs into squishy jelly."

Dizzy just stared at the crates, completely and utterly out of her depth. "But... How?"

"That's the million world-dollar question, and one that I'm not answering. Let's just say that I've seen things that you never will, and for good reason."

Dizzy just nodded, then followed I-No deeper into the bunker.