Continued from Part 1

He snuck back to the Silver Cycle that night to retrieve his Digimorpher and a couple other useful tools, and placed a call to D.E.C.S.T.E.R.

"Doesn't it bother you in the least that you just HAPPENED to run into the young lady who made the distress transmission? Krulos has a population of two billion. The odds against that are... astronomical."

"Not really, it's a hero thing. You get used to it." Zhane scratched a zit on the back of his neck, smiling despite himself at how good it felt to be properly clean. "Hey DECSTER, you think it'd be possible to pull the UDS and put in a shower instead? And maybe a hammock?"

D.E.C.S.T.E.R.'s response was dry. "Perhaps Zhane, I'd rather dislike to be without the UDS when we needed to dock. Or land. Or enter a stable orbit. I suppose you COULD just teleport everywhere..."

Zhane rolled his eyes. "Look into it anyway. So I hooked up with a local guerilla group, strictly amateur hour. I stand to have a bead on the situation in a few days."

"The Pineoctopus doesn't worry you?"

"Posers. They're good for terrorizing a populace, nothing more."

"Perhaps. This may be of interest to you. I ran a search on this Sorceress Etheria your Taya mentioned. The only hit I got was an old infoblurb from Triforia a few years ago. A priestess of Lokar called Etheria working with Aradon briefly."

"Interesting. Give Trey any trouble?"

"Doesn't say. Lord Trey is currently offworld, and I cannot contact him for more information."

"Keep trying, I'll call you tomorrow." He closed his Digimorpher and pocketed it.

"Elvis? That you?" a voice called from behind him.

Zhane turned, trying to act casual. It was Taya. He smiled disarmingly and moved a few steps to the left. The tactic worked, she stepped towards him and narrowly missed tripping over his camouflaged Silver Cycle. "Hey Taya."

Taya rubbed her yes. "Whatchu doing up?"

"I'm, uh, 'm all shook up, couldn't sleep." Zhane drawled. Unbidden, his lip twitched. "You?"

"I was just-"

Any further conversation was cut off by a scream from the camp.

-

Zhane and Taya returned to see the Kurlos Guerillas being chained in rows by a goat-monster he didn't recognize, and some helpers he did.

"Putties." Zhane whispered. There was no mistaking that's what they were, their craggy half-formed faces and eerily jointless movements gave them away. But what kind? Zhane had fought grey and white clay Putties in the past- the golems were common enough soldiers throughout the Universe, even one crumbling dry slate-blue Wraith Putty on the moons of Manta that nearly took his head off before he discovered it was vulnerable to psychic attacks, but he didn't recognize this variety. A light tan clay to be sure, bad material for holding a spell... but in places their bodies seemed to glitter in the moonlight. He tried to place this any of the dozens of variations on the Putty form he knew- and failed. Still, there were only four of them... "Wait here," he whispered.

Taya tries to stop him. "Elvis-!" but he was already gone, moving with the stealth a fallen Ninjetti master had taught him long ago.

"Tighten up reality gangster," he whispered to himself, feeling the first tingle of power at his fingertips. Four, and a monster. Not too bad. He didn't want to morph if he could help it, the bounties Dark Specter had on all their heads were too great, he wanted to keep his little side trip here quiet.

"Stigma through idiot hearing!" Zhane struck from cover, sending the first of the putties staggering, and followed up with an uppercut to the next closest. It took a few steps back, startled, and sang a few warbling notes to him.

Sang? Oh no

There was a type of Putty, a R-type, Resonance Putty that sang when struck. The memory flashed at him now as he dodged the nearest's fist. The R-Putty missed, plowing through a tree-trunk instead, splintering it like a buzzsaw. R-Putties were heavily devolved clay sprinkled generously with quartzite phenocrysts- which resonated when struck, the 'singing.' They stored the energy of any blow directed towards them as internal vibration. Resonance Putties were aptly nicknamed Razor Putties, since once you hit them, their imperceptibly vibrating crystals shredded anything they touched, it was like trying to hit razorblades. Zhane dodged again as the first R-Putty he'd hit came towards him.

Then the second was on top of him again. Zhane had no choice, he kicked it, a glancing blow to put it off balance that shredded the soles of his new Guerilla-provided boots through to his feet. "Aarugh! Keep frustration clear." But it bought him the time he needed as he flopped onto his back in an entirely exposed position, smiling. "Patience open head." The R-Putty lunged for him. Unfortunately, its companion had the same idea.

Zhane closed his eyes as they touched. For a moment there was just stunned silence as their mutual song stopped, then their clay sloughed uselessly into limp piles around him, their body strata turning liquid under the dissonant vibrations the accidental contact brought to their bodies. A sloppy disgusting mess, sprinkled here and there with chunks of flawed yellow quartzite, but he was alive, even after underestimating the opposition.

A shadow stepped above him and Zhane looked up. At least- he was alive for the moment.

The large grey goat monster pulled him to his feet- and then into the air so they were face to face. Zhane could smell his breath. He waggled his fingers sheepishly. "Uh, hi! Remember the 80's?"

The goat grunted gruffly, looked at the mess that remained of the two R-Putties, then back at Zhane. It sighed. "Darnit, Etheria is gonna be so pissed. You know how much work those things are?"

Zhane didn't, but filed the information for later use. "Yeah, well... sorry?"

The goat monster put him down, sighed again. "You realize I'm going to have to destroy you now, right?" It sounded depressed.

"You sound less than thrilled." Zhane observed.

The goat shrugged. "I'm a pacifist, what can I say? I need therapy maybe."

Zhane nodded understandably. "Maybe you'd be happier in another line of work."

The goat shrugged again. "Maybe, and yet- I love my work. I'm quite conflicted." He smiled.

When he struck, the goat-monster was fast, but Zhane was faster, the tapped energy of his half-completed chant still in the air, boosting his muscles beyond the human limit, speeding him by the fraction of a second he needed to avoid the fist the size of a human torso that crashed through where he'd been standing. "Getting away with it lead!" he shouted.

The goat spun around, its ornate horizontally protruding horns almost gutting Zhane as he rolled away. Zhane responded with a kick to the jaw, and continued, "Some distant memory drove."

His senses expanded as the aura of the Ninjetti Battle Koan formed around him. He felt the goat-monster's muscles tensing under its fur in anticipation of a movement; it was child's play to avoid it. He dodged within the goat's reach and whispered in its ear. "Get the message?"

With a roar, the goat sought to crush him, but he wasn't there. Moving low on the ground like an animal Zhane scrambled up the trunk of the nearest tree, his fingers gripping impossibly in the bark. "Indiscipline all remains!" he shouted.

Zhane closed his eyes, seeing the goat with senses other than sight. The music of the Ninjetti Battle Koan roared in his ears and he tried to focus. The Battle Koans were a hidden form for a reason; few who learned them could resist their lure for long. He could hear it now, the whisper of evolution in his ears, tempting to let go of his focus and let the energies of the spell he was weaving shape his flesh like wax, freely transforming from man to animal, any animal, any form...

The goat struck the tree Zhane was in, but Zhane flew, momentarily calling upon the shadow of the avian the Koan lent him, swooping around in an impossible arc, knocking into both of the remaining R-Putties as he came. He bared his teeth in a feral gesture and landed with the grace of reverse-articulated knees. No, draw himself back to the NOW-

"Wish double editorials cover!" he hissed, back in control. The R-Putties came at him, singing, and he blocked their blows, effortlessly, vibrating his hands to match their bodies. He sang, two chords at once, in counterpoint to their harmonies, and reached out with his mind and undid the spells that held them together. They tumbled, dead heaps of clay, at his feet.

The goat looked at him, eyes red, howling, though Zhane could no longer hear. The Battle Koan filled him now. In this moment- when he could be all things- he chose himself, and spoke the final, secret line. A line the goat-monster heard, then promptly forgot. And Zhane's form solidified as his own, shining in shadows, and he struck.

A few seconds, no longer, but within the arc of the completed Ninjetti Battle Koan, that was enough. Zhane was himself at his maximal potential, his hands like razors, he moved through air like molasses, thinking slow thoughts. The air crackled behind his fingertips, his movement leaving trails of vacuum, fingers entering flesh in clean wounds that were blown open by the crashing air behind them. Mind and body struck as one, telekinetic blows broke bones and warped spacetime-

And Zhane fell out of the Koan, stumbling, nose bleeding, watching in horror as space rippled in the place where he'd been. His flesh sagged and he was merely human again, his eyes nose and ears were bleeding.

Of the goat monster, there was nothing. No rag nor bone nor hunk of hair remained. He had simply been... excised.

Zhane fell to his knees, shaking, and all was in silence.

-

"...s he alright?"

"...no change in..."

Zhane was aware of hands. Hands, touching him...

Taya cried out as Elvis suddenly sat bolt upright and grabbed her hand. His eyes were wide, confused. She smiled reassuringly and pulled her hand away. "Rise and shine hero."

Zhane wavered, slumped. "Who... Taya? How long have I been...?"

"Unconscious? All night. Big brother here tried to wake you, but I convinced him to let you sleep in a bit after doing... whatever you did."

Zhane was suddenly aware of an imposingly large figure standing protectively behind Taya, and the shine of sunlight through tentflaps. "Me? Aw, that t'weren't nuthing special... you'd have done the same in my place... just luck..." he was babbling. His foot ached where the R-Putty had shredded it, but he'd been bandaged.

Taya looked up at her big brother and cocked her head at him, the universal signal for 'git.' He looked for a moment like he might press the issue, but relented, leaving the tent with a nonverbal warning glance at Zhane. Don't touch her.

Were all big brothers that protective? Well, okay, but Andros wasn't a normal case. Zhane held his head, he had a massive headache and he felt like shit. "Thanks."

Taya sat down on the end of Zhane's cot, smiling and clearly intending to continue the conversation. "So, now that we're alone, you care to tell me just what it was you did to Scrapegoat last night?"

Zhane held his head, sighed. "Not if I could possibly avoid it." He needed a medical scan, that was a phenomenally stupid stunt to pull. He patted his pocket to see if his Amscanner was still there, nothing. Searching further, his Digimorpher was also gone. He looked up, "hey Taya, have you seen-"

Taya held up a black and silver stylized device shaped like a cellphone. "This?"

"...my, uh..." did they have cell phones on Krulos? "Thing?" he finished lamely.

Taya smiled. "I saw you using it last night. Now you tell ME what it was you did to Scrapegoat, and I let YOU call your friend and tell him you're alright. Deal 'Elvis?'"

Zhane scowled, but he really had no choice. Well, he could probably take it from her, but he felt like his head was going to fall off if he tried to get up, and her brother would kill him if he laid a hand on her. "Deal, hand it over first."

She did do, and Zhane pocketed it.

"What about the other thing?"

Taya held up the Amscanner, a skeptical look on her face. "After."

Zhane sighed. "It's called-" he groaned as he leaned forward to a more comfortable sitting position, "a Ninjetti Battle Koan. It's a Working, a, uh, spell sorta, in the form of a meditative koan."

"What's it do?"

"That..." he drawled, "depends on how far you get into it. It can make you faster, stronger, more aware on many levels. Towards the end it does... other stuff."

"Like the stuff you did last night. You flew."

"I glided." He buried his face in his hands. He didn't want to have this conversation. "And it was a remarkably silly, stupid thing to do."

"It saved your life."

There was water! Zhane took a long drink from the glass next to the table and lay back down. "No, it didn't... it almost ended it. A Battle Koan is EXTREMELY powerful on the higher levels. I shouldn't have edged it up that high. It's... the upper levels let you change... things, yourself. It's very dangerous. If you lose focus... you're not the same person after the spell you were before."

She cocked her head. "Then why go that far?"

Zhane took deep, cleansing breaths. "It's not that simple. You get caught up in it. The working... talks to you. Urges you on. It's..." he grimaced, "really, I shouldn't use it at all. It was written for beings that exist on a higher level of being. When a human works it, it's not... safe."

She nodded. "Then why use it at all?"

"Because its controllable in the first few lines, and the power it gives is..." he trailed off, not wanting to finish. The power was what, seductive? She was right, he shouldn't be using the Koan at all if he could avoid it, but lately... he'd been running it at its lower levels every time he went into battle. He shivered, suddenly cold. Zordon wouldn't have approved, of his use of the Koan, of the fact he'd even learned it. But with Zordon gone, he'd been using it more frequently. 'Getting away with it.' That was one of the Koan's lines. He spoke quietly. "The master that taught be the technique... it was a forbidden form, I wanted to learn it... he was fallen Ninjetti, he fought for evil."

Taya looked at him impassively.

Zhane shrugged. What else could he say. That without the final verse, the one only a master could teach, it was more wild still? That'd go over well... "I wanted knowledge. The form itself isn't evil, inherently... I don't think. But it's... temptation. It requires supreme control, or it can destroy you."

She nodded. "Cutting butter with a hammer, my father called it, trying to use power without corruption. It's possible, but..." her voice was, at least, nonjudgmental. "Who are you?"

Zhane smiled weakly. "I heard your message."

-

"What does the Amscanner say?" D.E.C.S.T.E.R. pressed through the hyperlink in the Digimorpher.

"Hold on... it's collating..." Zhane squinted at the display. ".00032 genetic drift." He grinned triumphantly.

"Oh, lovely. You're happy because that stupid drinking song only scrambled your DNA a little instead of a lot." snapped D.E.C.S.T.E.R. "I want you to stop using it."

"That a tactical decision?"

"It's a medical order," the computer said, "I am programmed as a physician you know, and it's not healthy. You don't need it either, you're quite skilled enough without some ancient hoodoo stuck in your head. If you insist on rattling off poetry while going into battle, I'd suggest Beowulf, it even contains some unmorphed combat techniques."

"I'll take it under advisement." Zhane changed the subject. "News on Trey?"

"Aradon's communications interdictors are buried throughout UAE subspace. I'm sorry, there's been no contact, it may be weeks. And you, will you be weeks? I remind you the rebels are expecting me to arrive with you onboard, Kinwon will not be amused."

"Just a few more days. We're heading into the capital. Apparently Taya's brother's convinced I'm here to fulfill some kind of prophecy..."

"Oh lord, here it comes..."

Zhane grinned, "...about the singing warrior king who leads his people to freedom, plucked from the raging river..."

"It was a bloody stream!"

"...naked as if from divine birth, striking the rallying blow for the people..."

D.E.C.S.T.E.R. groaned. "You'll be the death of me Zhane, I know it."

Zhane shrugged. "Taya knows I'm not, that I just answered her message... though I'm not sure what she thinks of the whole situation." He grinned into the Digimorpher. "Relax DECSTER, it's a cakewalk! We go in, we blow up a few buildings, we go out! What could go wrong?"

-

"HEAR YE, HEAR YE! KNOW YE ASSEMBLED CITIZENS THAT YOU ARE CALLED TO BEAR WITNESS IN THE EXECUTION OF THE CRIMINAL ELVIS PRESLEY ON THE VERY SERIOUS CHARGE OF TERRORISM!"

The crowd roared.

Zhane sighed. 'What could go wrong?' He'd just HAD to say it, hasn't he?

to be continued...