Zelos woke sluggishly, his eyes groggily opening and closing. Zelos yawned and stretched, twisting his face as his tired muscles moved after hours of rest in somewhat uncomfortable conditions and positions. Zelos rolled over to go back to sleep and was poked in the face by a shard of rock. Zelos, alarmed, sprang to his feet and looked around, dazed and in wonder.

Zelos could only see a hazy yellow blur in the top half of his vision and a hazy gray blur in the bottom. He felt and heard something crack and break as he shifted his weight. Zelos, confused, rubbed his eyes and blinked. The world came into focus. The yellow haze was the air around him, smelling of ammonia and other foul gases. The gray blur was the ground, which vented the yellowish gases from a thousand orifices. Zelos frowned. The ground...was all rock. As far as he could see, stone surrounded him on all sides. Nearby there was a blackened corpse. Zelos cringed at the sight. Next to it there lay a cylinder, about the size and shape of a fairly long flashlight. He picked it up and examined it before slipping into his belt. There appeared to be a switch on it, but not knowing what it was, he decided to be safe and leave it off. Taking another look around, he assessed his situation.

He was standing in a field of shale with no way of telling where he was nor which way he should head; the fog made sure of that. Zelos raised an eyebrow, wondering how he'd get out of this one. A greenish glow made him turn. About ten feet away on his left there was a portal, similar to the one on the aircraft. What was it doing here and why, Zelos pondered to himself. He looked back at the rocky field. He noted that the plumes of steam hissing out of the ground seemed to have grown in size and quantity. A rumbling beneath his feet, accompanied by a growing heat and shaking underground alerted him that something was not quite right. Sixty yards away he could see an ominous red glow emerge beneath the rocky crust of the ground and grow in intensity. The glow began to spread quickly.

Zelos looked at the portal again. It just sat there, invitingly, as if to say "You're seriously not planning on staying, right?" Zelos nodded to it. "I see your point," he said aloud. "Well, I doubt whatever's behind you is worse than this place." The portal shifted ever so slightly as he said this. Zelos knew it was saying "Duh!" and he laughed. "What did I do last night?" asked Zelos, shaking his head. He stepped through, and the portal disappeared, taking him with it.

Martel sighed and slumped to the ground. "It's no use," she said miserably, her eyes closed. "I can't detect any trace of him. I'm not quite in tune with this world yet, but still..." She shook her head and stood up. She opened her eyes and smiled. "Well, let's not give up hope yet," she said brightly. "I must admit that my own powers of perception are too weak to abandon all hope." Yuan placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks for trying anyways, though," he said, managing a smile.

It had been over twenty-four hours since the incident at the mansion, during which Zelos was disturbing lost. Colette had not become quiet, as some of her friends thought, but rather become stronger and more determined than ever, if that was possible. They took heart from her courage, and were currently attempting to locate Zelos.

Not having much better of a place to set up, they returned to their home, which was surprisingly untouched by the invaders, whom the Arbiter had identified as the Combine. It seemed, however, that the attack would probably be the only one; Gordon was making great strides in his own home. The Arbiter was apparently released from whatever debt he had felt he owed, and had promised that he would try as hard as he could to stay where he was wanted most.

Despite the fact the threat of the Combine was greatly diminished and was dwindling faster, the family of Symphonians wasn't going to take any chances. The Shinsengumi and their friends and Ranma and his friends volunteered to help guard the house. The government and its superhero assets expressed their concerns but were unable to aid them, as they were needed in their own place. Satisfied with the report Raine had given them, they were to return to America for debriefing and return to their lives and jobs.

Stuck at a veritable impasse, the friends milled about the house, pensive and worried looks on most faces, intense and thoughtful ones on others. Presea and the Arbiter sat at a table, bouncing ideas off each other while the Arbiter watched Presea practice using the Holy Force, something she had only recently begun developing any skill at. The Arbiter had been away so often that she hadn't been getting the lessons he had promised her. Now that he was back, the Arbiter was pleased to see she was making good progress.

Presea stuck out her tongue in concentration as she focused on a glass of water. Her hand wavered tensely between the glass and her. The cup shakily rose an inch, two inches, three, then four, before Presea carefully set it back down and let out the breath she had been holding. "Good," said the Arbiter. "Do it again." Presea sighed and wiped the sweat from her brow. "Well, what about that spaceship?" she asked. She raised her arm and did the exercise again. The Arbiter, after watching her for a moment, said, "No, the range on my scanner is not that large. It would take a long time to..."

He stopped in midsentence. His mouth kept working for a second without any sound, and then he shut it. "That might work," he whispered. Presea grunted as she let the glass down again. "What might work?" she asked. He rose from his seat. "Get Genis and come with me," he told her. "I will inform the others. We're going to try something. It may not work, but, well, then again, it may. Go. Get your partner. Let's get going."

Zelos sat quietly in his corner of the restaurant, his mouth open slightly as he stared off into space. Racking his brain, he kept trying to figure out what was going on, but no memories, nor anything else, gave him any clue as to what was going on. Nothing, except maybe for that portal. The friendly glowing green orb cheerfully buzzed to itself outside in the parking lot. Every time he went through it, it always stayed close to him. Infuriatingly, it never moved, but rather stayed where it was, as if it knew Zelos would have no choice but to travel with it again.

Zelos sighed, blinked, and looked down again at his plate. He was not getting any answers here. The place was suave and full of beautiful, artistic women and cool, entrepreneur-type men in casual attire that somehow seemed formal. Zelos was all for swanky parties, but most of this stuff was way over his head. He sighed again, got up, dropped a piece of gold on the table, and left the building.

Zelos walked out into the parking lot and looked up. "Wonder where I am," he whispered softly. Suspended in a deep red sky were seven moons of various hues of green and blue. Some appeared larger, some smaller, probably due to distance. Behind five of those moons loomed a vast planet, wreathed in eternal blue clouds. He could see flashes of light illuminate tiny sections of the sphere, and knew those storms had to be larger and more intense than any he had ever seen before. Pinpricks of light shone brightly behind the darkened, bloody sky.

Zelos shivered, a sense of awe and fright surging up his spine. He hastily looked away, the feeling of foreignism too great. He walked quickly to the portal, which seemed happy to see him. "Whatever, whatever," said Zelos. "Just get me closer to home this time, okay?" With that, he entered the orb, and vanished.

"So, where are we going again?" asked Presea. The Arbiter did not look up from the ship's controls. "A place called New York," he said while continuing his routines. "We need the use of the equipment of some...friends." He said the last word and smiled oddly. "Oookaaay," said Genis. "What equipment is that and whose is it?" The Arbiter looked up into the viewport in front of him for a moment, paused thoughtfully, then returned to the console.

"Do you remember our trip to Jamaica?" he asked finally. They nodded and, when he didn't speak, remembered that he couldn't see behind himself, and said that they did. "Do you remember those two men in the black suits?" he asked. Again they replied that they did. "We're going to their headquarters," the Arbiter said. "They have extensive satellite networks, and I believe it might be possible to locate him using those. We'll just have to see."

He pressed a switch, and the ship powered up its engines. "We'll be there in no time," the Arbiter said. The ship rose in the air and flew away.

Zelos landed with a soft thump on a spongy surface. He looked down and saw grass beneath his feet. He sighed, hoping he was back to somewhere he could recognize. He looked up and saw blue sky, white clouds, and a single, golden sun. Taking a look around him, he noted to his surprise that the portal was nowhere to be seen. Maybe it was finished with what it purposed to do, he thought. Or maybe it finally phased out of existence. Or... He shook his head, clearing his mind. It didn't matter that much at this point, anyhow.

Surveying his surroundings, he found he was nearly entirely surrounded by trees. From where he stood, upon a hill, he could see forests stretching as far as his eyes could see, with intermittent patches of lighter green--grass--taking up the remaining area. Just at the edge of his vision, he thought he could just descry a faint blue line, possibly a lake, an ocean, or a river. Turning around, he saw that he stood on only one of a chain of hills that bent into the distance. Eventually they rose higher and higher, until they turned into mountains. Far away, above the highest peak he could see, storm clouds gathered and slowly began to darken the sky.

Zelos sighed, contemplating what to do. Suddenly, his eyes began to waver, and his knees began to buckle. A tremendous exhaustion hit his shoulders like a giant weight. Zelos staggered tiredly, unable to resist the temptation of rest. The last thing he thought before the darkness took him was an idle wondering of long it had been since he had had a good night's sleep. He could not remember, and could not think of a reason not to take this very opportunity. His body landed on the soft turf, and Zelos fell instantly into a deep, pleasant slumber.

Voices spoke high above him. Deep, throaty growls arose and the voices calmed them. Zelos opened his eyes, his blurry vision registering only the black night sky above. He blinked away the fog, and stars came into focus. The voices and growls suddenly stopped. Zelos furrowed his brow and looked from side to side. It was too dark, but he thought he saw shapes like humans. Some help at last! thought Zelos happily. Before he could say or do anything, something pricked his arm, and he instantly went back to sleep. Above him, the voices continued.

"There." The Arbiter pointed to a section of the map where a large group of lights glowed. "He's got to be there," the Arbiter repeated. "What makes you so certain?" asked J. The Arbiter tapped a few keys. A chart appeared, comparing the spectral analysis of a few different beings. He pointed to one of them. "This is Genis' signal, that of a half-elf," he said. Then he pointed to another. "And that is one of those signals in that sector." K shook his head. "But it doesn't match," he said, "and besides, I thought you said your friend was a human, right?" "True," said Presea, "but through genetic testing, he has some half-elf blood in him."

"Look," said the Arbiter. He overlaid the spectral trail of a human on top of that of a half-elf. "Now watch this," he said. He dragged the signal of the previous chart, which was presumed to be Zelos, over the two mixed ones. The line of Zelos never deviated from either of the two spectral trails. "Meaning that that being is mixed between half-elf and human," said J, nodding. "Okay. And these other ones?" The Arbiter held up a hand and turned back to the screen. He put his own signature over one of the others. It matched. "They are my people," he said, looking back at J. "I will go retrieve them, and bring them back here." J opened his mouth to say something, but K put his hand on J's arm and shook his head. J shut his mouth and nodded. "Okay, then," he said. "See you when you get back."

Akane Tendo lifted her head suddenly, and rolled to the right. Lloyd charged past her and smashed into the far wall. Ranma fell over and laughed hysterically. "Ow..." said Lloyd, rubbing his face. He sighed, popped his neck, and closed his eyes. He opened them again, and raised his swords again. Akane raised hers. "Your move," she said. Lloyd grinned, and lunged forward. Akane ducked to the left and swung her kendo stick at Lloyd's back. But he was expecting it, and had moved out of the way to the right. Too off balance from her swing, she could not turn to face Lloyd, and took the full brunt of his shove in her ribs. She grunted in surprise as Lloyd rammed her and sent her tumbling to the ground. He walked over and presented the tip of his wooden blade to her face.

She smiled crookedly, catching her breath while sweat ran down her face. Akane let her head lean against the wall with a thump. "Switch," she said. Ranma gave a battle cry and charged. Lloyd immediately bent over backwards and crossed his wooden swords over his chest. His back was nearly touching the floor when Ranma struck down at him. Lloyd caught Ranma's blade with his two, and fell back onto the floor. Lifting his legs up, he bent his knees and tucked his legs under Ranma's stomach. Then, rocking backward, he kicked out with such force that Ranma was thrown against the wall. Akane groaned as his body landed on her. Lloyd got up and lashed out at Ranma. Ranma blocked his strike and nimbly got back into fighting position.

Lloyd attacked with both swords, swinging furiously, but accurately. Ranma could scarcely keep track of both blades, let alone block them. With a two-handed stroke, Ranma swung as Lloyd did. Ranma's stick snapped Lloyd's thinner blade. Lloyd hardly changed pace. Keeping his right arm in front of him, he attacked with swift, small strokes, fighting in a fencing style. He turned and spun around as Ranma lunged past. Lloyd brought his sword down at Ranma's back, which was exactly what he expected. However, he was not expecting Lloyd to change hands. Protecting the wrong area, Ranma was dealt a surprisingly powerful blow on the back. He was forced to the ground. As he struggled to flip over and get to his feet, a sharp jab in the neck made him freeze. He rolled his eyes. "Switch," he said. Lloyd kept his sword digging into Ranma's flesh. "I said switch," Ranma reminded him. "No one's coming," said Lloyd. Ranma got to his feet. He looked at Akane. She shook her head and proceeded to fall on the floor, still panting. Ranma looked at his father and Soun. They shook their heads and put ice packs on their necks. He looked at Nabiki and Kasumi. Nabiki rubbed two fingers and a thumb together; Kasumi paled and pointed to a pot. Ranma sighed. "You win," he grumbled.

"That wasn't so bad, now, was it?" Lloyd said cheerfully. Ranma stormed off to his room. Akane came up behind Lloyd and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't listen to him, you were great!" she said. "That boy was due for a comedown anyway." Akane let her hand drop and limped away to the shower. Lloyd sighed, and began to unravel the bindings on his hands. Now that the sparring was over, a fresh flood of worries washed over him. He stared down at the floor, terrible fantasies playing in his mind. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and it wasn't until then that he realized he was crying. He lost all control and sank to the floor, sobbing. Sheena took him in her arms and rocked him back and forth. "He'll be all right," she said soothingly. "He'll be all right." But to herself her words sounded hollow, and she knew they were as much to comfort Lloyd as they were to comfort herself.

Zelos dreamt he was on a boat. The ocean rocked the ship, and salty spray erupted from ahead of the bow, washing over the hull and blowing into his face. Zelos inhaled deeply, and exhaled with a smile. He heard a constant clanking beat, and wondered what kind of power the boat ran on. Suddenly there was a scraping sound in his ear, and a swarm of gulls scratched at his face. He tried to shoo them away, but they felt unusually hard and prickly. The dream began to fade, and Zelos found his eyes creaking open tiredly, like wooden doors that have been left shut for far too long.

Darkness was all around him. He jolted up and down, and something hard supported him under his back. Stars were above him, as was a dark, looming shape that bounced as he did. It dawned on him that it was carrying him. It looked down, and then to the side. It rumbled deep in its throat, and was answered by a short, soft command, spoken in a pleasant voice but an alien language. Zelos fought down panic as he realized he could not move, save to blink his eyes and breathe. He tried to voluntarily move his arm, his leg, his finger, anything, but nothing responded.

Someone cleared their throat. "Don't worry, human," said the deep, resonant voice. "We have specific orders from our leader to keep you alive. Even if we did not, we also have orders to not kill unnecessarily. You were armed, but asleep, and therefore not a threat. Still, we have given you a paralytic injection, just to be safe. You may blink, breathe, and speak, and that is all. You are fortunate we are not as ruthless as our more numerous associates." Zelos tried his mouth. It moved, slowly at first, and then more normally as it got reaccustomed to forming words. "Where are we?" he asked. There was a silence, and then the voice spoke again. "We do not know exactly," it said. "We are, however, on the planet Earth. That is all we know so far." Zelos breathed a sigh of relief. At least that much!

"Who are you?" asked Zelos, the obvious question arising later than expected. The voice grunted. "Collectively, all of our species and their alliance are called The Covenant," it said. "We, specifically, are the followers of the Arbiter. We have a more...noble...moral code." Zelos was surprised. "I thought your voice sounded familiar," Zelos said. "What do you mean?" asked the voice. "Well, like the Arbiter's," he explained. "Your voice sounds like his. Kind of." "Do you know him well?" asked the voice. Zelos automatically tried to shrug, and was disturbed by the fact that he couldn't. "Sort of," he said. "He was living with us, and then he had to leave on some secret business, but he still comes around pretty often. I haven't really gotten to know him personally, but... I guess you could say I know him pretty well. I know a lot about him, at least." "Indeed," said the voice quietly.

Nothing was said for a long while. Finally, they stopped. "We're here," it said.

"Whoa, hey, okay, okay!" Zelos fell back onto the chair, laughing. Presea had leapt into his arms and was doing her best to squeeze the life out of Zelos. "Zelos!" she said. "We were so worried about you!" He stroked her hair a couple of times, and rubbed her reassuringly on the back. "I'm okay, really," he said. "I'm fine. I'm here now, right?" Presea released him and wiped her eyes on her sleeves. "Yeah," she said. Genis walked over and smiled warmly. He embraced Zelos, and found to his surprise that there was a thick lump in his throat. "Glad to have you back," he said. Zelos laughed to himself softly as Genis let him go. "What?" asked Presea. Zelos shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "It's just that I can remember a time when no one would have missed me... well, not like this. No." He sighed, a distant look in his eyes. "Not like this."

They were aboard the Arbiter's ship; he had picked up his company, who had found Zelos, in the forests of northern Japan. Now, they headed back to MIB headquarters, to request a ship to take the Arbiter's soldiers to...wherever it was that they were going. They were very secretive about that, and none of the Arbiter's human or half-elven friends were able to figure out where they went. All he would ever say was, "They went where they were needed," and that was all they could ever hope to get out of him.

On arriving home, Zelos was greeted with great enthusiasm by his friends, and even more enthusiasm by Colette. They even managed to get Ranma and Shizuma to hug another guy, which everyone agreed was a first, as was Sheena's unheard of concern when she cried and gave Zelos a kiss on the cheek.

By the time everyone had greeted him and they had celebrated a bit, it was getting quite late. As everyone present had been at the house for a while already, they decided to stay one more night. Everyone changed quickly into pajamas, and met downstairs in the living room. "Okay, spill it," said Ryoko to Zelos as soon as they had all settled. "Well, what do you want to know?" he asked in return. She shrugged. "Everything that happened from the time the plane blew up until now," she suggested. Zelos wrinkled his brow. "Since what?" he asked incredulously. The others looked at each other. "You know," said Colette gently. "You were kidnapped by some bad guys in a plane, and then you took control of the plane..." Zelos looked blank. "...which caused a self-destruct to activate and you had to abandon ship using the teleporter," she finished. "You don't remember that?" asked Raine. Zelos shook his head. "Hmm," mused Raine. "You may have acute amnesia from that event. It was rather trying, I'd imagine. So, then, what do you remember?"

Zelos furrowed his brow in thought. "I was in the government plane that picked us up," he said, half to himself. "I was looking at a...a shotgun. Yes. And then...I woke up." "What happened then?" asked Megumi. Zelos smiled roguishly, and everyone leaned in. "Well," he said, "that's where it got interesting."

So he told them what happened after he woke up until he arrived back in his home, and everyone paid close attention, fascinated, prodding for details when he failed to describe something fully. "Are you sure you didn't dream all that?" asked Raine. "You might have been in a coma, or asleep. "Oh, really?" he said. He withdrew an elongated tube from his belt. It was elegantly simplistic, being of silver and black, and it was roughly the size of a flashlight. "Some dream," he said softly, staring at the tube in thought.

"Cool lightsaber," someone said. Zelos snapped out of it and looked up. "What did you call it?" he asked. "It is lightsaber, yes?" said Xiaoxing. "Look exactly like out of Star Wars." Zelos looked at it in a new light. "It does look something like a laser blade," he mused thoughtfully. He stared at it a moment longer, and then looked around at all the people gazing intently at him. "Well, let's try it out, shall we?" He stood up, found the slide-box activator, and before anyone could say anything, switched it on.

Nothing happened. He sighed, disappointed. Ryoko got up and moved towards him. "Can I see?" she asked. Zelos shrugged. "Well, I did find it in a volcanic field," he said. "Maybe..." "What?" asked Lloyd. Ryoko turned her head to the side to look at Lloyd, just as Zelos gave the tube a good smack. There was a loud hissing sound, and the next thing they knew, Ryoko's ponytail was lying on the ground, sizzling. Zelos stared dumbfounded at what he had just done. An electric blue bar of light hummed a few inches from Ryoko's head, and now her hair was on the ground, severed from her head. Zelos just then realized what it could do to her flesh, and immediately slid the box back down, causing the blade to retract back into the handle. "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm...whoops," said Zelos.

Ryoko tentatively touched her hair. Her face twisted, and she looked as though she was about to scream. Then she relaxed, and breathed out a sigh. "Well," she said, "that could have been a LOT worse! Don't worry about it, though; you didn't know that was going to happen." "Should've expected it, though," Zelos mused, "what with me having my luck. I thought it was a laser blade, and I just... didn't think about what would happen if it did turn on. I'm really sorry, Ryoko." She waved her hand dismissively. "It's okay," she said with a smile. "I said don't worry about it. I'm alive, so that's all that matters, okay?" Zelos shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose so," he conceded.

"So who gets it?" Zelos asked aloud. Everyone looked at him oddly. "What do you mean?" asked Yuan. "You found it," said Botta. "It's yours by right." "Well, I know that," Zelos said matter-of-factly. "But you haven't felt this thing. It doesn't...feel right. I only felt it for a second, but I'm pretty sure this thing would be a distinct challenge to handle." Xiaoxing suddenly raised her hand. "Ooh, ooh!" she said. "I know who, I know!" "Okay," Zelos said. "Who?" Xiaoxing pointed at Presea. "Her, Presea," she said. Zelos was taken aback. "Why?" he asked. "She has the Force, remember?" she said. "The Arbiter teaches her, he does. Star Wars weapon, Star Wars powers, they go together. Right?" Zelos chuckled. "You may have a point there," he said, still laughing. "Alright, then, everyone in favor of giving the saber to Presea, say aye!"

"AYE!"

Zelos shrugged. "It's unanimous, then," he said. "Presea, this is yours now." He presented the metal cylinder to her, pommel first. "But I already have an energy sword," she protested. The Arbiter shook his head. "No, this is good," he said. "The energy sword is not hard to master. This one may take some time. You can also give your energy sword to someone else in times of need, since it is not difficult to use. Besides, with two different types of energy blades mastered and at your disposal, you will make a fearsome warrior." "With what war to fight?" she asked. The Arbiter smiled. "We'll work on that," he replied.