Who is the arsonist? You get to find out today. Read on fellow reader. Read on.

-Randall Flagg2

(1)

It was nighttime at the new home of the bebop. Ed was sitting on the porch with Spike and Serenity. Haruko was lying inside the open door.

"Anyway, I'm glad I followed him." Ed said, rather quietly.

Spike glared a little at her. "Jeez, what if somebody saw it walking around?" he asked.

Haruko looked up. "I saw him at seven eleven in Mabase. He was reading Hustler."

Spike's eyes widened. "Huh? When?"

Haruko sat up. "Ed, come on inside, its cold!"

Ed smiled. "Ed doesn't mind the cold! Ed will stay here." she replied.

Suddenly there was a series of bright flashes of light in the sky. Something began to descend from above. Ed looked up, looking excited.

"He's back! Lord Canti!" she said aloud.

"Canti?" Spike asked.

Ed clapped her hands together as if in worship. "Halo god of dark flames, Canti." she whispered. The robot descended from the sky and landed in front of them. Before anybody could say anything, Haruko snatched the shopping bag in his hands away.

"You are late!" she said irritably.

"Why the hell are you using him to run errands?" Spike asked bitterly. "Your gonna attract attention!"

Serenity shrugged. "I don't know why you get so worked up over this Spike. We could use some attention right about now."

"Ick!" Haruko said, holding up a soda can. "I told you to get the kind with the pulp!" Canti seemed not to mind her scolding. The group noticed there was another bag in his other hand. "What's up with that one?" Haruko asked suspiciously.

Just as Canti walked up the front steps to the front door, Inuyasha came down the stairs. He took the bag and looked inside it. Then after a moment, he threw the bag and it's contents into the robot's TV screen head.

"This isn't the one I wanted! Can't you get anything right!" Inuyasha snarled.

Serenity sighed. "My brother as well?" she muttered. "Honestly, Hustler magazines."

"That robot's useless." Haruko remarked.

"Faye's the one who broke it, when she threw water on the thing and rusted it."

"Did somebody call me?" Faye asked, rounding a corner.

Ed glared menacingly at the purple haired woman. "Faye Faye, you shouldn't do this! Don't you know that Canti's a god?" she yelled.

Faye looked at Spike and asked "What's she on about?"

Spike shrugged. "Some video game called Firestarter."

Ed pouted. "It's not just a game Spike person! The black wings prove it's him!" Again Ed clapped her hands together in front of her face as if worshipping the robot.

Spike turned to Canti. "Don't go out anymore, or I'm going to chain you down!"

"Hey TV boy!" Jet called from a window above them. "Did you record the Thursday night special?"

Spike yawned. He was getting bored. "I'm hitting the sack. See you guys later." He went upstairs and into his room and shut the door. Man, things just got weirder and weirder around here. He didn't know how much more of this he could take.

"I'd better get some sleep. I'm gonna start fixing the ship tomorrow." he said to nobody in particular. Before that however, he decided to see what was on the news. Might as well keep up with what was going on in the world. He went towards the TV that was on a table across from him and turned it on.

What he saw woke him up in an instant.

"This just in." said a female reporter. "According to this, another building in Mabase city was burned down earlier this morning today. This is the third in a string of fires. Police suspect it's arson but they can't be-"

Spike shut the TV off before the woman could finish. Early this morning… Hadn't Ed been out of the house at that same time? She had been going in and out of the house at random times lately. Did that mean…

No. He wouldn't believe that. Ed was as loopy as they came, but she wasn't a bad kid, let alone an arsonist. Surely somebody else had to be behind this.

Spike lied down on the bed and went to sleep. All this was giving him a headache.

(2)

The next day, Spike, Serenity and Faye were walking down near the river in Mabase city. Faye had been intrigued by the mentioning of the city and had decided to check it out. At Jet's request, Spike had gone with her, not that Faye needed protection or anything. She was fully capable of defending herself. As for Serenity, she had just wanted to see if anything had changed in the city at all. Not much else.

"Over here!" Serenity called, motioning towards a small wreckage site.

"This used to be a boat house?" Faye asked. "This thing?"

"Kinda smells." Spike remarked, sniffing the air.

Faye looked at the police tape which bordered the wreckage. "It says do not enter."

"Then don't follow us Faye." Serenity huffed. "But don't worry about it, the police have already been here."

"I heard it was arson." Spike said, looking around at the scenery.

"Again? Probably some stressed out housewife." Faye sighed. "Just too many dirty dishes."

"Maybe it was foreign agents." Serenity said.

Faye laughed slightly. "If it was something like that, they'd burn something big, like a school."

"Serenity," Spike began, "there was a school that burned down here, at least according to what I read in the paper awhile back."

"Yeah Spike, but that was years ago. You must've only just become an adult back then." Faye remarked.

"Someone burned it down?" Serenity asked.

"Yeah you can still see it, it's all ashes."

"Hey is that Ed?" Serenity asked, pointing ahead. The trio looked ahead. It was indeed Ed. She was washing her shirt in the water. She didn't seem to notice them.

"What's she doing?"

"I dunno." Serenity said. "I was in town yesterday and I saw some local girls bullying her."

Ed looked up and back at them. And when Spike looked in her eyes, he saw something in them, something that looked like desperation or pain.

Realization began to dawn on him.

"It can't be." Spike thought. "It just can't be."

And as it all happened, steam began to pump out of the Medical Mechanica factory.

(3)

That night, Spike was following Ed along the Mabase bridge with Jet. They were being careful not to let themselves be known to her. Ed seemed depressed.

"Spike I'm praying that what you said is not true. I refuse to believe Ed is behind all these fires." Jet whispered. "I just don't think Ed is capable of that."

As Ed walked along the bridge, something fell out of her hand. When Spike was sure she did not know they were behind her, he went forward and picked up the object on the ground. It was the game Firestarter.

"Firestarter?" Jet asked. "I think I've heard of that game."

"Firestarter." Spike whispered. "It's a handheld videogame. Nobody knows how Endsville, the city of devils, was created. But as soon as it appeared, it started to grow and slowly eat up the world. You play the role of an agent of Canti, the god of the black flame, and you must stop Endsville from destroying the world. Your only weapon is flame, matches, lighters, cigarettes. Get the weapons, outsmart the firefighters, hide from the police, and torch the city to purge it of its devils. You must be careful. You cannot burn everything. If the entire city burns down, there will be no place to live. Thus, the battle is endless. There is no final level. The only thing you can do is burn, and burn, and burn. Your highest goal is to receive the personal blessing of Canti, the god of the black flame."

Jet nodded. "I understand. You think this had-"

Suddenly there was an explosion, followed by a wall of fire further ahead. Spike and Jet looked at it for only a second, then they sprinted in the direction of the flame.

"The river bank! It's coming from there!" Jet yelled.

"I remember now." Spike said. "The fire at the elementary school six years ago. There were rumors that it was arson, but they never found out for sure. I read about it in the paper."

"Your point being?" Jet asked.

"Come in Jet! Let's solve this mystery once and for all!" Spike yelled back.

(4)

They finally reached the ruined elementary school. Ed was sitting in the center of a circle of lit candles. Canti was digging around in the ruins of the building. Ed looked up at Spike and Jet.

"Why did Spike person and Jet person come down here? It's late." she said dully.

"You dropped something." Spike said quietly, holding out Ed's game.

"I don't need it anymore."

"This is… I mean, you went to school here when you were still on earth right? Before you became a hacker and got a bounty on your head I mean." Jet remarked.

Ed looked at the wreckage sullenly. "I hated this place." she whispered. "And so, I wished that it would go away. But it's useless. Even if it burns down, the wreckage and ash are still here." She pointed away towards where the fire was going on. "Look. Endsville is burning." she said.

Spike and Jet were finally forced to accept the terrible truth.

"Ed…" Spike whispered. "Why?"

Dazed, Ed began to walk towards Canti who had come out of the rubble. "Now," she said "lord Canti. Bless me with your kiss! Your absolution! Kiss me!"

Ed planted a kiss on Canti's TV screen.

(5)

Spike's horror turned to anger. How could he have missed this? The truth had stuck out all along. Ed had been the alleged arsonist the whole time. Her obsession with the game Firestarter, her absence from the house, and the pleading desperate look in her eyes, all of it. It had been obvious the whole time. It had been easy all along, and he had just let is slide out from under his nose.

Spike staggered forward two steps, then regained his senses and marched towards Ed. He grabbed the red headed girl by her shoulders and whirled her around to face him.

"DO YOU FIND THIS FUNNY, GOD DAMN IT!" Spike roared into her face.

Ed sighed. "Ed couldn't help it! Ed is sorry!" she whimpered.

"THAT IS NO EXCUSE! ARSON IS DANGEROUS! HOW DO YOU LIVE WITH YOURSELF!" With each word, Spike shook Ed violently. He was pissed off, both at the girl and at himself.

Ed lowered her head and began to sob. "Ed is sorry Spike person. It was just-"

"SHUT UP!" Spike raged. He walked over to Canti and grabbed hold of the fake wings on the robot's back. "HONESTLY! YOU ACTUALLY THINK HE'S A GOD! WELL CHECK THIS OUT!" Spike ripped off the wings and the fake halo above Canti's head and threw them on the ground. "WELL HERE'S YOUR FUCKING GOD!"

Ed's eyes widened in shock at this revelation. So Canti wasn't really a god after all.

Perhaps what happened next was inevitable.

(6)

The Medical Mechanica plant began to hum loudly. It could be heard all over the city. Haruko knew she had to hurry. Only she was capable of dealing with the monstrosities that came from that dreaded place. Even more, the MM plant was her goal as well.

"Just wait Atomsk." she thought. "Just a little bit longer and I'll come for you."

(7)

The horns which had sank back into Spike's head emerged again. Spike screamed in pain and clutched at his head.

"What is this? It's bigger then before!" he shouted.

"Oh no! There's something coming out of Spike person!" Ed whispered.

Suddenly the horns retracted back into Spike's head and emerged out of Ed! Ed screamed and clutched at her head. It felt as if it were being split open. Spike noticed something was beginning to come out of her head.

"What's… happening?" Ed groaned. She stumbled into the ruins of the school and screamed as loudly as she could. Suddenly two four long, mechanical legs sprouted out of Ed's head and into the ceiling. Then from out of the ceiling crashed a gigantic spider shaped pod. It simply hung suspended from the ceiling with Ed dangling from it.

"Not this again!" Jet roared, taking out his gun. "Spike, help me get rid of that thing!"

Spike hesitated. "But maybe if we destroy that thing, we kill Ed as well!" he yelled back. The part of the pod that held darted down at Spike. Ed kicked her legs out and wrapped them around Spike's neck. Spike screamed and struggled to break free, but the girl had a death grip on him.

The machine or whatever it was broke through the ceiling and came down into view. It did indeed look like a spider, aside from Ed hanging from the bottom of the pod. It leaned over and Jet noticed on the top of the spider pod was an open eye. Instinctively he drew his gun and fired at it. The eye closed just before the bullet connected, deflecting the shot. Jet fired again, but this time he flat out missed.

"Quit it Jet! You might hit me or Ed!" Spike called.

And thenhelp arrived, in the form of Haruko.

(8)

"Canti!" Haruko called. "Help me out here!" Canti dashed into the remains of the school and the machine holding Ed and Spike chased after him. Haruko jumped to the top of the ruins and waited. After a second or two, the machine burst through the top.

"Just where I want you!" Haruko exclaimed. She jumped into the air and raised her guitar up. As she did, the pod rotated upside down so Ed's feet were sticking up. Spike was still stuck in between them. She raised her guitar up.

"Haruko no! It's got Ed-AAHH!" Before he could finish, Ed kneed him in the face. Haruko swung her guitar multiple times at the pod, but Ed kicked the guitar away each time she attacked. Haruko jumped back down to the ground and reached into the pocket of her jacket. It was a box of some sort.

"I know what to do." she whispered. She jumped up towards the spider and opened the box and dumped its contents into the machine just as the pod blossomed open like a flower.

It was curry rice.

The machine closed around the curry and charged at Haruko. Haruko only smiled. This was too easy.

Just as it reached her, the pod part of the machine spat out Ed and Spike, a trail of slimy curry colored liquid following. The pod began contracted and more liquid began to drain out of it.

"Restroom over there." Haruko said, pointing away. The machine dashed away, leaving Ed and Spike on the ground. Haruko grabbed Spike up, tossed him into the air, and swung her guitar like a baseball bat. Spike went flying ahead of the machine and towards Canti. Canti swallowed Spike up and turned red. He morphed into a cannon, aimed quickly, and fired.

The machine never knew what hit it.

(9)

When Spike awoke, he was in his bed. Jet and Serenity was standing over him. The green haired bounty hunter blinked a few times, and then sat up.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Haruko took care of things… again." Jet sighed, rolling his eyes.

Spike dug his fist into his head in frustration. "Damn it, why does she have to bail us out all the time! We're bounty hunters for Christ's sake! We shouldn't be depending on her! Why does this happen all the time!"

"Because you're incompetent?" Serenity asked.

Spike's sprang out of bed and lunged at Serenity, but she ran away. Spike gave chase and pursued Serenity down the hallway.

"Get back here and take your lumps you little brat!" Spike roared. Serenity only giggled.

Oh what a day it had been. Oh what a day.

To be continued…

WARNING! WARNING! YOU MUST READ THIS! It should be known this Thursday I am going away to California until next Wednesday, so don't expect an update until then. Until then, adieu!

-Randall Flagg2