Chapter II: Propositions

The man looked at himself in the mirror and admired his figure. He wore a pink one-sleeved coat with a large white star-like shape in the center, and shoulder pads adorned each shoulder. Around his head was a headband with a Z in the center; the man's wild pink hair fell around his headband. "Oh yeah, lookin' sharp!" he said to himself while striking multiple poses. His posing was interrupted when a man wearing a tuxedo walked in and spoke.

"Master Zelos, Master Yuan and Lord Yggdrasil have arrived."

Zelos turned around and looked at the other man, "Thanks, Sebastian. Send 'em up, will ya."

"Of course, Master Zelos," said Sebastian, bowing and taking his leave.

Zelos went back to admiring himself in the mirror, "These new threads aren't so bad. Of course, I make anything look good. Booyah!"

"Are you still in here being a narcissistic twit?"

Zelos turned around and looked at the two Seraphim who stood in the doorway to his bedroom. "Who wouldn't be narcissistic when you're as hot as I am? Sizzlin'!"

Mithos, now in his adult form once more, simply laughed. Yuan walked over to Zelos and smacked him in the head. "Zelos," he Yuan began, "as the Chosen One of Cruxis, you have to be more serious about this."

"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. 'The Chosen One of Cruxis is supposed to discover the way to stop the evils of the world, i.e. the Demon Falcon' yadda yadda yadda, some such and some which," Zelos said, making mocking gestures with his hands. He preened his hair and folded his arms before continuing, "Pfft, can't a totally sexy guy admire himself for a few minutes in his own mansion?"

"If you're the hope of humans, half-elves, and elves, I weep for our poor souls."

Lloyd sat in his throne, drinking his blood red wine and grinning. Next to him, in a throne identical to his, sat Sheena, who was flipping through a deck of cards, also grinning. The two sat there, sharing a moment together in their throne room before Colette came running in, tripping multiple times in the process. Once she had righted herself and bowed to each of the two tyrants individually and then at the same time, she spoke, "I finished cleaning the corridor, Lady Sheena."

"Good girl," she replied.

"I have also brought Professor Raine and Professor Kate from the dungeon, as you commanded," she said, gesturing toward the door. Two women walked in, one with silver hair, the other with teal hair and glasses. Both wore white lab coats.

"Oh, she's such a good maid, isn't she Lloyd?" Sheena asked, turning toward the evil nobleman.

"Yes, I don't believe we could get anyone better," at this, Colette's eyes lit up, but Lloyd wasn't done, "-Except maybe a drunken rat." Lloyd laughed. Small tears formed in the maid's eyes as the shine in her eyes rapidly diminished. She lowered her head, attempting to hide them.

"Or perhaps a tipsy hobo," Sheena remarked, joining Lloyd in laughing at the maid. Colette could not hide her tears and ran out of the throne room sobbing. The scientists watched her go. Then the silver-haired one changed her attention to the two nobles sitting upon the thrones while the teal-haired one continued looking in the direction of the distraught maid.

"Poor dear…" said the teal-haired scientist.

"Was that necessary? That girl tries so hard to serve you well, and you repay her by insulting her," said the silver-haired woman calmly.

Lloyd swirled his wine and took a sip before answering, "Raine, Raine, Raine. Why should I care about such a useless buffoon such as that klutzy maid?"

"Because she was your friend."

"Your point, dear professor?" Lloyd waited for a reply, but Raine simply, tightened her hands into a fist and looked away. "As I thought, just mouthing off as usual. Such resistance," he said, closing his eyes and shaking his head while grinning. "Well, my lovely scientists, I've summoned you two here because I have a proposition for you."

"And what would that be?" asked Raine, folding her arms.

"I want you two to discover how the Mana Cannon works."

Raine suddenly glowered at Lloyd, her eyes full of hate, and shouted "Why should I help you! You killed my brother!"

Kate turned around and looked at her companion, "Wait, you mean to tell me-"

"Yes," Lloyd began, "I killed Genis!" He laughed maniacally once more, and then stopped, noticing the distinct lack of dramatic music. "Darn it, are we going to go through this every time I laugh evilly!" he said, pointing at the court musicians sleeping in a corner, "When I laugh, you play!" The musicians continued sleeping, and Lloyd, in a fit of rage, yelled, "If you idiots don't start playing my evil music right this second, I'll have you skewered upon the ends of my swords!" The musicians woke up at their liege's outburst and hurriedly rushed into music to set the mood of a dark revelation of some sort. "Much better, though, because of you, the moment was completely ruined-"

Suddenly, Raine's face lit up and she yelled, "Ruin! Where? Where! I must study it!"

"Your not helping the situation, Raine…" Raine came back to her senses and glared coldly at the dark tyrant, though it was obvious that she was becoming more furious by the moment. "Ahem… I've summoned you two here because I have a proposition-" Lloyd stopped as he dodged a punch throne at him from a very angry Raine, so angry, that she was crying. "Temper, temper, Raine dear."

"You!" she yelled, "I hate you! I hate you so profusely that if my hate could be materialized into a solid form its mass would crush everything upon this planet!" Kate rushed to her side as Raine fell into a heap on the ground. She sobbed uncontrollably, "What happened to the Lloyd that I taught as a child! What happened to the Sheena who only wanted to help her people!"

Lloyd and Sheena both laughed, and Sheena spoke, "They died long ago. Besides, screw Mizuho!"

Kate looked at the two nobles, and said, "You monsters! We'll never help you!"

"Oh really," said Sheena, pulling a card from her deck, "Can you see what's on this card?"

Kate gazed at the card, a look of terror flashed across her face, "That's my-"

"Your father! You see I, call these my voodoo cards. Anything I do to them, happens to the victim." Sheena held the card between her hands, as if to rip it.

Though originally fearful, Kate grew a new steely resolve and pushed up her glasses. "I'm a scientist," she began, "You can't expect me to believe that you can control someone else's body without being anywhere near them. I'm positive that that's beyond the limits of most anything—even magitechnology."

"Perhaps, but it's not beyond the bounds of ninjitsu."

"Hah!"

"I see a demonstration is in order." Sheena searched her deck for a certain card and held it up for Kate to see.

"That's Raine, your point?"

Sheena took the card in one hand and shouted, "Control Seal!" With that, the card began to glow a faint blue. She began to slowly bend the card while Kate just watched, somewhat confused as to what the fuss was all about. Suddenly, Raine let out a shriek as her back began to bend unnaturally.

"Stop! Stop before you paralyze her!" Kate yelled.

Sheena stopped, taking the card between two fingertips; the blue coloring around it had turned a pale green. Raine's voodo card began to straighten itself, and so did Raine. "So, what do you think about my ninjutsu now?" Kate only stared back in fear. "I thought so."

"I assume I can finish my proposition now," Lloyd said before taking another sip of his wine. He adjusted his position on the throne before continuing, "You see, I would like you and Professor Raine to find a way to activate Thor's Hammer."

Raine pushed herself up off the ground, Kate helping her up, an appalled look adorning her face, "You can't be serious…"

"Oh, I'm quite serious, my dear Raine. Quite serious."

Raine looked indignant, "No! We will not-"

"We'll do it…"

"Kate!"

Lloyd laughed, "Excellent! Excellent! Kratos shall show you too the lab." With that, the brown-haired knight stepped out of the shadows and led the two scientists out of the throne room. Lloyd turned his attention to Sheena, "Well, that went mostly as expected," he said, while Sheena simply smiled maliciously. He then pointed at musicians, "Though I'm beginning to think that we need to hire a new court orchestra, these simpletons seem to be inept at everything we demand." The music makers shuddered and hid behind their instruments.

"I think you might be right, Lloyd," Sheena began, "these sniveling cowards can't possibly be the best we can afford with all the money we have." The two tyrants shared a laugh when Sheena realized something, "… Our dinner party is tomorrow, isn't it?"

Lloyd took a sip of his wine and thought momentarily, "I believe you're right… excellent."

"So what's the plan, boss man?" Zelos asked the blonde angel, having finally taken himself away from his mirror.

Mithos lifted his hand to speak, but Yuan cut him off, "Lloyd's planning to uses the-"

"Ahem!" the Seraphim began, "I believe he asked me."

Yuan rolled his eyes before continuing, "He's going to fix-"

"Darn it, Yuan, I'm the leader, let me say it!" Mithos yelled while stamping his foot childishly.

"Fine, fine. Say it... You're such a baby."

Mithos smiled like an idiot, "Thank you! Lloyd's gonna force Raine and Kate to fix the Mana Cannon, so we've gotta go rescue them."

A sudden look of horror flashed upon Zelos's face, "No, no! Say it ain't so Mithos! Say it ain't so!"

Mithos, though an incredibly powerful half-elf and an angel, was also very easily confused, and replied, "It ain't so?"

"Good."

"Don't listen to him, that is exactly what they're doing."

"Nooooo!" Zelos yelled at the top of his lungs. He pulled out his laser blade and blue shield and struck a dramatic, not to mention heroic pose, before continuing, "Those lovely lasses cannot be used like that! We must rescue them!"

"We will, but first, we have to go to the Lezareno Company Headquarters," Yuan said, walking towards a window, extending his wings, and jumping out of it.

"Lezareno?" Zelos began, following Yuan, "Why?"

Mithos, too, leapt out the window, "You'll find out when we get there." And the three were off.

Moments later, Sebastian entered the room, "Master Zelos, the 'Confirm the Chosen's Superiority Squad' has-" he stopped as he noticed that there was no one there. He looked around the room to make sure, and then poked his head out into hall. As a final precaution, he said, "Master Zelos, if you are able to hear me, please confirm that you are more attractive than I am." He waited a moment for a reply, but none came. Suddenly, the butler seemed to become overjoyed, "Wohoo! I've got the mansion to myself! Woot! No more stuffy language! Yeah!" he yelled as he stripped off his tuxedo and began to run around in his underwear. He began to sing, "Three little girls from school are we! Filled to the brim with girlish glee!" The "Confirm the Chosen's Superiority Squad", who were waiting in the foyer and had seen the butler's outburst, ran out of the mansion, screaming in horror.