(A/N: Might I add that I'm very glad that nobody made any "Tentacle Monster/Japanese Schoolgirl" jokes about the last chapter. Now behold the healing power of the fishies!)
"You're having… second thoughts?" the Senior Man asked in exasperation. "Why now of all times?"
He and the Junior Man sat in his spacious office. Between them there was a mighty teak desk, its surface clear except for two dreadfully important sheets of paper. Beside them, the wall was entirely Plexiglas, affording a breathtaking view of Aomori at sunset. Dreadful papers and nature's glory alike were completely ignored, however.
"Well, for starters…"
The intercom buzzed. "Yeah?" the Senior Man snapped.
"Your nine o'clock is here to see you, Mr. Ogawa." The Senior Man cleared his throat expressively. "I'm sorry… Lord Ogawa." The Junior Man could tell by the voice's timbre that its owner was rolling her eyes.
"Get him a drink and show him to the waiting room. There's something I need to sort out, first."
"Yes, s… um, my lord."
Ogawa turned back to the Junior Man and spread his hands on the table. "Now, then, about these second thoughts…"
"Oh- uh, yes. I… I've started to wonder. What, exactly, is our cause?"
"Cause?" Ogawa stood, showing off the fact that, in addition to his smart business suit, he had donned a purple cape. It seemed he was trying to find himself as a diabolical mastermind. "What do you think?"
"Erm… I, uh, I think the pointy shoulders are a little much."
"I thought so to. Now, then… you want to know what the cause of SSS9 is, hm?" With a self-conscious swish of his cape, Lord Ogawa moved to the window and looked out over the crimson cityscape. "We had a cause, once, back when Yasuhiro and I were in it together… ah, but times change. I suppose now our cause is… um… well, we're out to… damn, that's a toughie. Do we really need one?"
"Well, uh, if we're hurting and killing people, it'd be good if we had a reason…"
"World domination. I was trying to think of a more poetic way to frame it, but there it is. World domination."
The Junior Man stared. "Are you joking? I… you know I can't tell with you."
"We're getting off-topic here. Why are you having second thoughts, specifically?"
"Well, it's the… um, you know how when I made my escape, that kid was burned pretty badly because I threw my vial at him?"
"You're second-guessing years of work based on one stupid burnt kid? Good God, man! What kind of terrorist overlord are you?"
"The hastily recruited High School science teacher kind. I'm just not cut out for this sort of thing, big brother! This is insane! It was all very good when we were planning in abstract, but now people are really… but… and what about Chiyo, huh? What did she ever do?"
"We've been over this. It's not what she did, brother; it's what she is, and what her death can do for us. It's unfortunate, but she's one of the eggs that have to be broken to make our World Domination Omelet." He made a vague dramatic gesture, apparently unaware of how stupid he sounded.
The younger was subdued in the face of his brother's indifference. "But she… well, I liked her."
"We've got to break you of this. Let's see, who was that girl, your favorite student in the Micro-Ox lab?"
"Huh? Oh, Yomi Mi-" the Junior Man stopped himself. "Wait a second! Why do you want to know?"
"Aren't I allowed to show a wholesome interest in your work?"
"Brother, your interest is never wholesome."
Oh, nice work, Sandra. Awesome. You planned this re-e-e-eal well, the Illegal Alien thought grouchily, bowing her head against a faint, pattering rain. This mystical Aquarium had closed an hour before, which was about the only part of her plan that had gone right. The sliding doors opened for their motley party after Sanada waved into a security camera hidden above their heads, admitting them to the shadowy linoleum-and-brick cavern that was the lobby.
The Fellowship of the Fish had fallen into deep silence, and it wasn't the good kind. Sakaki might have been some kind of golem for all the energy and emotion she showed, the wall behind her eyes even darker and more impenetrable than before. Kaori hovered agonizingly between clinging to her and fleeing her, shooting waves of hostility towards Sanada the whole while, who'd somehow devised a psychic shield against them since their last meeting.
The bluff, affable athlete had at first tried to cheer them up, but the attempt had been predictably disastrous and ruined his mood as well. And so the four of them had set out on a miserable quest through the dark and rain to find… this. Ugh.
"I'll be right back," Sanada said, and was swallowed by shadows on his way to the front desk. The three girls were left hovering in his wake, resting on a dim ledge over a chasm of shadow. "Well… sorry guys," Sandra sighed. "Guess I missed the mark on this one."
"Don't give up yet," Kaori found it in herself to say. "We haven't gotten to the mystical part, right?" Using her astounding mental powers (or perhaps just momentarily expressive eyes), Sakaki gave her the same impression.
In truth, Sakaki wasn't expecting much; Sandra was easily impressed by strange Earth creatures after all, and still deathly afraid of Mr. Tadakichi to boot. Still, she was warmed by the gesture at least, and perhaps being there with Sandra would help her to see it with new eyes.
Meanwhile, Sanada leaned on the front desk. "Hey, pops. Those're the girls I told you about. Can I show 'em the tropical fish?"
"They look like they're here for a funeral."
"They've had a rough week."
"So, which one's the one you wanna nail? I'll bet it's the big American, right?"
Sanada covered his face. "She's not an American and it's not like that at all! Why can't anybody see that?"
"I'm just kidding, boy! Man, you're twice as gullible as your mom, and that's saying something. Listen, I've just got the set the cameras up here and I'll take you guys on my rounds, okay? The tropical tank lights won't go out for another hour, so we'll be fine."
"Thanks. And keep the jokes to a minimum, okay? Like I said, they've been through a hard time, and…"
"Don't worry 'bout it. We'll give your lady a show she'll never forget." For some odd reason, Mr. Sanada felt compelled to knock on his wooden desk at that, but neither of them gave it any thought.
Okay… no reason to panic… Chiyo stared at her other self apprehensively. You're just about to be eaten by the astral projection of a monster plant version of yourself. You've seen worse…
Chiyollante seemed to decide that the slight crumpling of her nose was irrelevant and fixed Chiyo again with that striking amber gaze. The plant girl walked gracefully towards her, wide leaves whisking with the motion. Chiyo held her ground, not so much out of defiance as because the cliff was right behind her.
The red torrent from her wrist finally petered out, leaving her even weaker than before. Darkness clawed at the edges of her vision, and some corner of her mind contemplated how nice it would be to just lie down for a little while. In the waking world, this would have signified sliding into unconsciousness, but she knew that this time the darkness would be final.
Chiyo edged sideways to get more room, head spinning. There had to be something she could do, some way to protect herself. Unfortunately, her thoughts were just chasing each other in circles and the only tactic that came to mind was more from the Takino school than anything she'd actually do. C'mon, brain… c'mon… you're a child prodigy! You can think of a better plan than-
"YAHHHH!" It was a spectacular exhibition of the ninja arts that Tomo would have been proud of, though a real ninja probably would have committed seppuku just for being associated with it. Chiyo rushed forth with as near to a sprint as her battered form could manage, one small fist rushing in an arc towards her counterpart's cheek.
Without any apparent effort, Chiyollante caught her wrist. The plant girl placed one hand gently on the side of her head, pulled her arm out, and sank weirdly pearly teeth into her neck. Chiyo gave the closest she could manage to a scream, a tired little squeak, as a mortal plume billowed up from the wound and shefell to her knees. The world was spinning into oblivion but her mind was shockingly clear. "Well," she sighed, "It was worth a try."
"Goodness!" Chiyollante cried, "You can talk?"
"Of course I… ohh…" Chiyo started to fall forward, but the other caught her and knelt by her side. A soft green hand pressed to her neck, staunching the flow of life. By the time her wound had finally closed, Chiyo's light brown eyes couldn't even focus on her counterpart's, but there was still a spark behind them.
"I'm so sorry! Oh my God, you, you're… here." With a pained grunt, Chiyollante pulled the frond growing from her right collarbone off and pressed it into Chiyo's limp hands. "Eat this. It will make you feel better."
"Thank you," Chiyo replied out of reflex, but when she took the fist bite and life flooded back through her 'body,' she said it again with feeling. "Thank you!"
Chiyollante backed away a few paces and sat down, watching her other self with mingled horror and interest. "I didn't think you'd be able to talk…"
"But why not, if you can?" Chiyo asked, wiping the light green plant juice from her chin. The leaf had been good. Ridiculously good. Impossibly freaking delicious. Tasty enough that she found herself eyeing Chiyollante in a way that made both of them a little uncomfortable.
"I don't see why it's obvious. From my point of view, you're just some bizarre meat monster that came crawling up my side… er, please excuse my rudeness."
"That's okay," Chiyo said. "I guess I should have figured you were aware, even though, from my point of view, you're a huge rose that tried to eat me."
"Yeah, sorry about that. Uh…" Chiyollante scratched her collarbone.
"Will that grow back?" Chiyo asked interestedly.
"I don't know. I've never tried pulling one before. Are you feeling better?"
"Yes, thank you."
"So… since you're a thinking being after all, I assume you had a reason to come up here and visit me?"
"I was told I had to kill you, but to be honest I don't really want to."
"That's good. I don't want you to kill me either. Hmm… I had the feeling that becoming whole wouldn't be as simple as I imagined. But since you're self-aware… then I guess I shouldn't eat you… or the others?"
"Yes… I'm, I'm not sure on this point, but I think that by doing so you were going to destroy the world's only protector."
"Really? Protector from what?"
"I thought of asking, but the guy didn't exist." Chiyollante opened her mouth, but Chiyo held out a hand. "I tried. He wasn't keen on answering questions."
"Wow… so all this time I've been…" Chiyollante rested her forehead on her knee. "This is horrible! I'd… I'd stop all of this right now, but I'm not in charge right now."
"You aren't? Then who…?"
He stood about twice as tall as Chiyo, a muscular, bear-like form draped in a layer of mossy growth, flexing great claws of wood and gnashing the same jarringly white teeth as Chiyollante. He was a miniature Godzilla of the vegetable persuasion, the petals of a rose sprouting from his head like some kind of lamentable fez above narrow, savage eyes that were nothing to laugh at. "RAARRGH!" he said.
"WAAUGH!" Chiyo replied.
In the end, the Aquarium was every bit as mystical as Sandra had hoped. Without the lights of the walkway to counteract it, the tanks' glow was positively unreal, forming a gauzy turquoise corona that leaked into the shadows around them and made it look like they were underwater themselves.
Our heroes moved through an awesome array of colorful fish, from swarms of glittering tetra to mighty angelfish that hovered placidly and seemed to wink to them as they passed. Sakaki had forgotten how fun the fishies could be, but seeing Sandra's glee and amazement at this alien wonderland reminded her.
"Jeez, kid. They got fish where you come from, right?" Sanada's father asked laughingly.
"No, actually," Sandra answered before she could stop herself. Fortunately, the light was dim enough that he couldn't see the erk! look that came over her. Speaking for almost the first time since they'd gotten together, Sakaki came to the rescue. "Rural Arizona."
"Um, yeah! Arizona! I've never seen anything like this in person."
Kaori blinked. "But wasn't she fr-?" Sakaki glanced at her flatly and she subsided.
For Kaori's part, she didn't see what was so great about the fish, but she was very happy to see Sakaki's mood lighten, and a little of Sandra's enthusiasm was even infecting her despite her best efforts. She even forgot to dislike Sanada for a few minutes.
Ah, Sanada, the one member of their party who wasn't having fun. He was on pins and needles the whole while, waiting, just waiting for his father to humiliate him somehow, though it wasn't so much a genuine expectation as your average adolescent angst.
"Oh, what are these guys called?" Sandra asked.
"Um, Sailfins… I hear they don't usually get this big. There's a little card next to the tank, there."
"Mm," Sandra nodded, though she seemed disinclined to turn away from the twisting, shining school. Enjoying her enjoyment, Sakaki moved next to her and leaned on the high rail, the faintest, tiniest, most imperceptible hint of a ghost of a half-smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. The invisible weight that had rested on her since she'd found the injured Chiyo-chan seemed to shift a little to let her breathe.
"H-hey, Ms. Sakaki?" Kaori called.
Sakaki turned, but her one-girl fan club was absolutely transfixed by something in the next tank. "What is it?"
"Something… something's happening…"
Sakaki rushed to her side, hardly noticing as the smaller girl grabbed her hand in something very close to panic. There was a strange, light gray cloud growing in the domain of an unsuspecting tiger shark. Watching it grow and bubble, Sakaki was struck by the same feeling as before Biollante's appearance, when she'd seen the rain sweeping towards her across the ocean.
"What is it?" Kaori asked.
"We should go," Sakaki said. She wasn't sure if she was actually developing psychic powers or just knew a bad situation when she saw one, but this was definitely one of those. "Hey, what's wrong?" Mr. Sanada asked coming back to them. "Is it eating a--? Huh."
By then, the fierce, bubbling cloud had almost filled the tank, engulfing its tiger shark before the poor beast even knew what was happening. The Fellowship had gathered beneath it, curiosity outweighing dread, but only just.
"That isn't normal, is it?" Sandra asked. Kaori swatted her.
"Hey, don't—!" Sanada started upon seeing his father's hand on his gun, but it was too late. Before he finished his sentence, the tiger shark beat against the Plexiglas in an advanced stage of dissolving. The landlubbers' reactions were really something to see, but none were more extreme than Mr. Sanada's.
"AUGHH!" Bang, bang, bang!
After his outburst, a trio of craters was punched into the clear wall, but it held. Everybody stared at Sanada's father in mute surprise as he bashfully reholstered his gun and scratched the back of his head. Before any of them had truly recovered, though, an ominous hiss made their eyes snap back to the craters. Steam was rising from between them…
"Oh, good one!" Sandra said acidly.
They parted just before the leak sprung and set an arc of dangerous water to splash down where they'd been standing and start chewing its way through the linoleum. A thin spiderweb of cracks was forming in the Plexiglas above them, growing faster and faster even as they noticed it.
Sakaki took off at a run for the stairs, towing Kaori by her hand. Behind them, the hissing, cracking and splashing grew horrifically. When the apocalyptic gush finally came, they were still four paces from the stairway and Kaori was lagging badly. Sakaki's rescue attempt turned into a sort of flying tackle, and the two of them ended up sprawled painfully across the stairs, a deadly gray sea lapping mere centimeters below their feet.
"Oww…" Kaori rubbed her hip, which had dashed against the edges of two stairs.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry? Don't be ridiculous!" the smaller girl sat up with sudden energy. "You… you saved my life! You're incredible, Ms. Sakaki!"
"It was nothing."
"Nothing? Oh, come on, that was worthy of Jet Li! Don't sell yourself short!"
Sakaki drew herself to a crouch and surveyed the low corridor they'd just escaped. It was like the generic "bad water" of an old video game, not even a foot deep but impassable all the same. And, she realized with a sinking feeling, the exit was on the other side.
"Are you okay?" Sanada's voice bellowed from the distance. "Ms. Sakaki!"
"We're fine, we both made it!" Kaori yelled back, "Thanks to…" the dedication ended when she realized that she was embarrassing her idol.
"We'll call the cops or something! Just stay put!"
"Sorry!" his father added.
After their companions had left for help, Sakaki and Kaori sat on the water's edge, silently watching the ripples in its cloudy surface. After a few moments, without really thinking about it, Sakaki put an arm around Kaori, who leaned into her gratefully. "Thanks," she said softly.
"Yeah."
Being dragged along with your family to visit relatives during vacation generally sucks, but Kazuki didn't mind, especially since the relatives in question lived in sunny Okinawa and he needed a break from "the guys" in any case. The following morning he rose with the sun, intending to enjoy those few hours of sunlight before it became too hot to think straight.
He moved through his uncle's house, careful not to disturb his sleeping parents in the living room. As he passed the kitchen table, he paused over a postcard on the table and looked it over in vexation for the fifth time. It was from Osaka (his friend, not the city), and bore a picture of a green octopus. She said on the back that he'd get the joke, but he surely didn't.
They often tried to bounce jokes and ideas off of each other, but in spite of the front they put up for their respective circles, the two space cases were definitely on different wavelengths. Sometimes it seemed to him like their friendship was a contest to see who could be more inscrutable, and he, being of the male specie, was beaten out cold every time.
And yet people assumed they understood each other. This annoyed him to no end; it was like assuming a French guy and a German guy would automatically be able to speak to each other because they're both foreigners!
The postcard crumpled in his hand. "I'll get you yet, Ayumu!" Kazuki growled. "One of these days, you'll be so baffled that… uh…"
Before he could stew any more on this subject, however, he noticed that it was unnaturally dark outside. Either the weather service had been wrong about clear skies and there were clouds covering the sun… or it was the apocalypse and the sun had gone out!
Kazuki wasn't sure which was more likely, so he decided to investigate. He was already in a cold sweat and his heart was pounding away as he stepped outside, so he could be forgiven for fainting when he saw the hellish, crocodilian grin that seemed to have replaced the rising sun.
There, throwing the whole seaside town intoher shadow, was Biollante reborn!