Legacies
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths

By MMM/AJ

A/N: I bet you're expecting my to apologize for taking so long again. Well I'm not! I think you guys have come to expect my slowness at this point, so there's no need to keep repeating myself. At any rate, this chunk did take long, but there's an explanation for that: this chunk is a record shattering 27 pages! Hope you guys have plenty of coffee with you, 'cause this is going to be a long read!

Part II - Resurrection

Chapter XI – T13

Tanis crossed his arms impatiently and frowned. The humans who lived in this colony certainly hadn't been very polite in the short time he had known them so far. He, Shakara and Ashley had been escorted down into some sort of military complex on the underground city's outskirts, and now he and Shakara were being forced to wait while the leader of these humans met with Ashley in private. He and Shakara stood in the dimly lit hallway amidst a horde of armed guards, doing their best not to show how uncomfortable they were feeling.

The concrete of the wall was rough against Tanis' back and the smell of sterility filled the air. He heard the human guards shift in place as they stood and watched them, and a great feeling of awkwardness gripped Tanis firmly. He smiled as best as he could and carried on.

Shakara began twitching her tail across the floor, and as the blade scraped across the concrete it made a very irritating grinding noise. She did it painfully slowly as well, taking time enough for each stroke and only giving a slight moment of silence before moving it across the stone again. Tanis couldn't help but gnash his teeth and hold in his emotions lest he embarrass himself in front of the humans. He tried to concentrate on other sounds, like the soft and deep humming that was emanating the narrow corridors of the building. He tried to imagine what kind of unknown, forbidden machine was making it, and his imagination painted dark pictures of rumbling furnaces and unknown drilling mechanisms. He was still unwilling to use a drop of his powers lest the Acolytes detect him, but boredom affected him just as much as it did his father. As the grinding of Shakara's tail blade began to move in time with the pulses of the humming in the building, the solitude was broken by the creaking of rusty metal hinges. Tanis turned to see Ashley re-emerging from the room where she had met with the other humans.

"They're ready to talk to you now." She said calmly.

Tanis tried to read any emotions on Ashley's face. She obviously wasn't worried or otherwise rattled, so the men hadn't treated her badly. He wondered if the same would be true for him as he squeezed past her in the narrow hall to get to the door. Before he turned to look inside, Tanis caught a glimpse of her winking at him, and he felt a smile touch his face, something that hadn't happened in an uncounted number of years. He winked back at her and turned while taking a deep breath of anticipation.

The room Tanis saw was also bare concrete with no ornamentation, just like the hallways he had came from. In the center of the room stood a plain steel table with three important looking humans sitting facing Tanis. The man on the left was the same brown-eyed man who had first taken his helmet off when they had encountered each other. Sitting in the center was a man of many years whose mouth was adorned with an unlit, half burned cigar. On the right sat a younger man with an equally militaristic crew cut, this time with blonde hair, and what appeared to be an electronic visor over his left eye. They all looked up at Tanis' tall form with uncomfortable expressions, and then the center man gestured for Tanis to sit down in the chair facing them. The heavy steel door creaked on its rusted out hinges as it shut behind him.

"So, you say that you're part of a resistance eh?" The older man in the center asked, the cigar in his mouth causing him to slur his words a bit. His voice sounded craggy and aged.

"Yes." Tanis replied curtly. "I was captured and forced into a stasis tube over forty years ago, and now I am seeking a way to strike back at Ares and his minions."

"I see. And what of your friend who bears his symbol on her head?" The elder man asked.

"We found her in a ruined and abandoned laboratory, she is undoubtedly his creation. But, she was not brainwashed like so many of his servants were, and she most definitely feels a tangible hatred towards him." Tanis said.

The older man rubbed his chin with his wrinkled, stony hands and thought to himself. Tanis dared not try reading his thoughts, these humans obviously had technology for countering psychic abilities.

"Your human friend told me quite a lot about you. She said that you were an honest, respectable, polite, and noble person. She had fewer kind things to say about the other in your party. Tell me, what is your name?" the man asked, sitting up straighter and removing the cigar from his mouth.

"Tanis."

"I am General Roger R. Wells, the leader of this band of rebels." The man said, and extended his cracked hand to Tanis.

Tanis took the general's hand in his own, the calluses were rough and rigid, but the warmth of life flowed beneath them The five fingers gripped Tanis' own three firmly but respectfully, hinting at inner strength but not brutishness. Tanis applied a bit of his own pressure as well, wanting to give the same impression.

"You've already met my top Major, John Morrison." The General said, gesturing toward the brown eyed man to his left. John nodded tersely. "This is Marcos Randall, one of our techies down from the bottom sectors who also does some agent work for us up on the surface. He wanted to meet you in person."

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you." Tanis said politely. Marcos grinned widely.

"Let me get down to business." The General said, putting the cigar back in his mouth. "You and your three friends managed to bypass our security systems, elude most of our patrols, and then use your psychic abilities inside our city despite the psionic blockers we have in place. I want to know how."

"Shakara, Ashley and I were fleeing from the Acolytes. We had just crashed and destroyed one of Ares' small ships, and we had needed cover, so we fled to a human town that was nearby. When Ares' ships began coming in to investigate, we picked a random building which turned out to be an industrial facility of some sort complete with a mine shaft. We went down into the mines and hid there for a short amount of time before the shaft began to collapse. We were caught in an avalanche of rocks and found ourselves inside one of your storage rooms. When we explored, we ran into one of your people and then you know the rest of the events as they followed."

"Alright, that makes sense I suppose." Marcos suddenly said. "If the people up above have been drilling, they definitely could have came close enough for a collapse like that to happen. But what you didn't answer is how you could still use your powers when the blockers were active?"

"I…don't know." Tanis said frankly. Marcos looked puzzled and the General looked extremely worried.

"Well, we know the sense fields were still working properly. If the Acolytes were chasing you, they would have sensed your using your abilities against us if the sense fields hadn't been functioning." Marcos continued.

"So that's why they didn't find us!" Tanis said, understanding suddenly.

"Marcos, the real issue is this though. This could mean a fluctuation or even a momentary failure occurred within the psionic blocking system. In the event that we are discovered and attacked, that could mean that the Acolytes could storm in and burn our entire city to the ground with a few simple psychic attacks." The General said.

"I realize that, and you can be assured that I will personally analyze the blockers immediately." Marcos said determinedly.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have a few questions as well." Tanis said softly.

"Go ahead." The General said calmly. "As far as I see, there is no more reason to distrust you. Though Ares loves playing his games, he would have sprung his trap long ago if you were one of his spies. He's too brutally impatient and unsubtle to play a game out this long."

"I appreciate your trust. Does this mean that my friends and I can stay here for a few days to get our plans and preparations in order?" Tanis said as graciously as he could.

"Certainly. However, you will have to stay out of the public eye. Your appearances would frighten anyone here who does not know you or know of you. I hope you understand." The General replied.

"Of course, that is very reasonable. I cannot understate how grateful I am for you letting us stay." Tanis said as the General stood.

"Major Morrison, you haven't said much, why don't you show our friends to a suitable lodging?" The General asked of the nervous looking man to his left.

"Yes Sir." John said, his voice sounding a bit shaky.

"I'm going to go to a meeting with the rest of my officers Tanis, so you won't be able to contact me unless it is something seriously urgent. If you have any problems or questions, ask the Major here. I have utmost faith in his abilities to accommodate you." The General finished, and all four of them filed out of the cramped room together.

"How did it go?" Ashley asked with both anxiety and eagerness on her face.

"They're going to give us a place to stay and food for a few days until we have a plan." Tanis said, smiling as stress began to filter out of his system.

"Ah, food sounds great!" Ashley said in a louder voice. "I hadn't realized it earlier, but my stomach is roaring for something to chew on!"

"I'll bring you all some food after I show you to your rooms." John said, coming up behind Tanis.

Tanis smiled and nodded. When he thought about it, he realized that he was famished as well, but his mind had been distracted by all the harrowing experiences he had gone through since being freed from the pod. His stomach too began to emit rumbling sounds as he followed John through more nondescript concrete halls.

Passing out of the bunker-like military complex where they had been, Tanis got a good look at the human city around them. The grungy grey buildings rose from the cave floors like cubic stalagmites, and greasy yellow lights glowed in their curtained windows. The streets were empty save for men in military uniforms, Tanis theorized that perhaps it was night for the people who lived here and that things had settled down after the alarms. A few steel poles jutted sparsely amongst the drab skyline, lights and silent alarm horns hanging off of their tops. A few vehicles sat empty in a similar pattern of a sporadic nature.

The pathway that John led them on trailed away from the main part of the city and close to one of the cave walls. Not too far ahead was a squat cluster of buildings not unlike the others without any lights on inside. The cave wall sloped upward behind it and more steel stairs and catwalks climbed the face of the wall. The dim overhead light from the fixture on the cave's ceiling cast eerily slanted shadows everywhere.

John showed them inside the closest of the darkened buildings, where they were met with a pitch black hallway. He flipped on the lights and Tanis saw rows of about four doors each on both sides of the hallway, each with numbers posted on them. The hall ended after about 30 feet.

"You can stay in any of these rooms." John said, gesturing forward.

Tanis stepped forward and laid his hands on the door nearest on the left side, marked with the number one. "I'll take this one." He said simply.

Ashley immediately took the room across from Tanis', and Shakara walked all the way down to the end of the hallway to get a room as far away from them as possible. Tanis could only shake his head and sigh as John tossed her a key and she promptly disappeared behind the door. He smiled at John when he brought him the key, but John could only smile weakly back. He still looked nervous, quite opposite of how bold he had acted when they had first met eye to eye.

"There is a holo-tv in your room as well as a computer, so feel free to use them. What kind of food can I bring you?" John asked.

"I don't care, as long as it's in bite-sized pieces!" Tanis said eagerly.

"I'll have some steak if you've got any!" Ashley said, taking her room key.

"Alright, I'll try to be back within half an hour with your food." John said, and shakily turned to leave. Tanis couldn't help but wonder where all of his confidence had gone.

The room Tanis had been given was obviously designed to accommodate humans, but he was getting used to sitting in human shaped chairs and laying in human shaped beds now. He settled into his new surroundings quickly, not bothering with the holo-tv whatsoever. What he was more interested in was the computer, which had access to a complete history of the humans who had built this colony. It seemed like he had only scratched the surface of the written history when John returned with the food.

Apparently Shakara had wanted to remain solitary even during mealtime, so Tanis sat with Ashley at a table in his room. John had gone to another room to stay so that they could find him if they needed anything.

"So what's your impression on this place?" Ashley asked in between bites of her steak.

Tanis finished chewing on the bit of fruit he was eating before speaking. "These humans have honest hearts, but they are also hardened warriors. I feel as if we can trust them, but we shouldn't do anything suspicious in their midst. If we abuse their trust, we could be banished or even openly attacked."

Ashley nodded. "When I was in talking to them, they offered me a tour of some of their facilities. They told me that they've been developing technology to counter the psychic abilities of Ares and his Acolytes, and that they had just recently sent out an attack force to challenge him."

Tanis felt his stomach turn in sudden worry. "I hope they know what they're doing, if anything Ares will be much more powerful than he was when we knew him those many years ago."

"They're confident that they can put a good dent in his empire at the very least." Ashley said, taking a drink of soda that had been provided.

"Do you think they're responsible for the devastation of that lab where we found Shakara?" Tanis asked.

"I'm certain of it, who else could do it at this point? According to that General, Ares has complete control of the human population, not many people are left to resist. It's not good for survival."

Tanis could only nod. "Are you going to go on the tour?"

"Yes, but only if I can convince them to let you go with us!" Ashley said, her stubbornness showing through.

Tanis smiled a bit. "You know, there's a reason they don't want someone of my species walking around their city, even with my different colored skin and symbols, they're used to seeing Acolytes, and having an enemy that deadly ingrains some instinctive fear."

"Still, you're an ally and a guest! There should be accommodations made!" Ashley said stoically.

"Whatever you say, I just don't want to abuse our hosts' hospitality." Tanis said, still smiling about how headstrong Ashley could be.

Chapter XII – A13

Ashley awoke from her nightmare with a choked yelp. She panted like a dog and felt sweat drip off of her brow. The image of Tanis's demise still splayed violently in her mind, and as she faded back into reality, the cool air conditioning soothed her overheated body.

Ashley threw the covers off of her and sat up. The little room that the rebels had given her was still dark, but since they were living underground, that was expected. A dull orange light seeped through the blinds hanging over the single window, and that same low, mechanical hum filled her ears. She reached down and felt for her backpack and sighed when she found it right where she had put it. Once she had a firm grasp on reality and had swept the dream away, Ashley stood and flipped on the light switch. As the lights flooded on with a clean white hue, she sighed and picked up her backpack.

The bathroom in Ashley's room was totally clean and sterile; it appeared as though no-one had ever used it since its construction. She set her backpack down and opened it to look through her things. Everything was where she had left it; she pulled out her toothbrush and toothpaste and proceeded to brush her teeth. She stared at her reflection in the glass as she let the cleansing foam clean the inner corners of her mouth. She noticed how greasy her hair had become, and there were even more knots in it than before. She hated having to brush it, and rarely did so, but she knew that she would have to soon. All the other people she had seen in this colony were shabby looking, but she felt that they weren't worse off than her.

Spitting out the toothpaste, Ashley found herself contemplating the other items in her backpack. Apparently the stasis field in her pod had perfectly preserved all her provisions, fruits she had picked not long before meeting Tanis were still juicy and ripe, not a sign of age marked their skin. A thought then struck her like a train, what if the field hadn't affected her Pokemon team? Ashley scrambled to open the trainer's pouch and pulled out the Master Ball that contained her Charizard named Ifrit. She ran out into the main room and tossed it to the ground. Ifrit emerged from the red glow perfectly unharmed and unchanged, it laid snoozing on the rug contently, a little grin on its face. Ashley took a deep sigh of relief and felt her pounding heart begin to calm again. It would take a few minutes to let all the adrenaline play its course after that thought, she grinned and smiled at Ifrit. It was classic Charizard behavior.

Ashley returned Ifrit to its ball, knowing that it would probably want food later. She returned to the bathroom and finished cleaning herself up before picking up the dreaded hairbrush. She took it back to her bed and sat down to start working the knots out. She noticed that the clock sitting on the night side stand read 8:34 AM, and wondered whether Tanis and Shakara were up yet. She frowned when she thought of Shakara, looking down at the hole that she had cut in her jeans. That would need a new patch soon.

Every follicle in Ashley's scalp cried in protest as she slowly and painfully ripped the brush through her two feet of unkempt black hair. The knots were putting up quite a fight, and every hair that was pulled out made Ashley cringe and mumble curse words under her breath. She sat on her still unmade bed and battled with her hair in this manner for nearly fifteen minutes before something caught her attention.

A deep, resonant thumping echoed through the building coming from across the entrance hallway in Tanis' room. It soon was joined by an electronic humming and other multiple indistinct tones. Ashley set her brush down, walked over to her room's front door and opened it. The sound was even stronger out in the main hallway, and the thumping gave a distinct feeling of a musical beat as it pounded from behind the door to Tanis' room. Ashley knocked on his door, but he didn't answer. She sighed and opened the door, hoping Tanis wouldn't mind her barging in.

The music blasted Ashley with full force as she entered Tanis' room. A richly multilayered techno song pulsed through the air, its melodic pattern jagged and monotonous, yet strangely exciting and electric. It made Ashley's blood pump faster, as if she were feeling the adrenaline surge caused by a battle, but it also gave her a distinctly digital feel.

Tanis was sitting over in the corner of the room in front of a glowing holo computer screen. His eyes were closed and he was bobbing his head to the rhythm with a grin that was mixed with a look of concentration. His right paw was touching the console and glowing slightly orange. As Ashley approached behind him, the music shifted. The beat quieted down for a moment, leaving pure electronic tones, making Ashley feel as if she were standing in the heart of a computer. By the time she was standing directly behind Tanis the tones had multilayered themselves enough to make Ashley imagine hundreds of motes of multicolored light flowing through circuits around her. The holo screen in front of Tanis' closed eyes was playing a visualization program that swam with complex fractals with a tab along the top that read "Decoding…Playing…Recording" in a scrolling marquee. Ashley didn't pay much attention to the 3D fractal program however; her own visualizations of the song were much more fascinating to her.

When Ashley laid a hand on Tanis' shoulder the song quieted for a moment, and his grin turned into a subtler, wry smile. Ashley could feel the energy pulsing to the beat in him, it was a sensation she found beyond description. The song sprang to life anew and suddenly Ashley felt energy all around her. Tanis' sight became hers, his emotions hers, and his energy hers. She saw Tanis' thoughts flowing into the machine, words and images becoming ones and zeroes. The images were that of the past, their encounters with Ares and his Acolytes, the chase through the human city, and others that passed too quickly for her to comprehend. They all entered the machine, becoming data and then sound. The excitement of battle was pouring into the song that was currently playing. Ashley understood what Tanis was doing now, but she still held onto his shoulder, unwilling to give up the experience she was sharing with him. The sensation of Tanis' thoughts beating in harmony with the music electrified her mind and soul, and she couldn't help but imagine the brilliant patterns of circuitry around her and inside her. As she did, her thoughts passed through Tanis and into the machine, and the music's melody changed to a different tone and rhythm. Ashley could now truly see the pulses of electricity all around her as Tanis' energy brought her imagination to life, the music pulsed around her like a warm blanket as her consciousness seemed to digitize, and Ashley no longer could sense or care about the real world around her. The original melody that had played when Tanis was in control suddenly returned again, but it did not push Ashley's unique melody out, rather seemed to synchronize with it perfectly. The two melodies seemed to dance together and interlock perfectly, and Tanis' glowing form appeared in Ashley's vision. They held each other's hands and the glowing electric pulses swirled around them as the music harmonized. Together they tumbled into electric oblivion, spiraling through unreality and yet at the same time, not moving from the spots they had occupied in the first place. The world had completely vanished for them, they were one with each other's imaginations.

Reality broke through startlingly when Ashley felt a clawed, three fingered paw on her shoulder. Suddenly the energies around her shifted, the vision she was having faded, and thoughts filled with anger, violence and despair flooded through her, then through Tanis, and down into the computer. The song completely transformed, a woman's voice sang woefully in a language Ashley didn't understand, and the sad keystrokes of a piano and orchestration accompanied. Images of Shakara slaying humans with the blades on her tail amongst the smoking ruin of a city passed through Ashley's mind. She felt fear and anger, and in the background Shakara's voice whispered "Why?"

Suddenly all of these thoughts and feelings, the energy, and the song, all halted all at once. Ashley's vision returned to normal, and she saw that Tanis had removed his hand from the computer, the fractal program had frozen in place, and "signal input lost" was scrolling across the marquee. Ashley turned around and looked at Shakara, whose normally hard expression seemed softer now.

"He made me do terrible things, he trained me to kill even when my opponent was on his knees and begging for mercy, and the only reason he gave me was that it was for the protection of our happiness. I didn't want to do what I did, but he told me that it was either kill or be killed, so I killed." Shakara said, her voice quiet but unbreaking, despite her expression.

Tanis stood, but before he could say anything, Shakara continued. "I realize that I've been unfriendly and distant, and I wanted to show you why without using words. Even now I am ashamed of the crest I bear upon my head, and the mark engrained upon my back."

"I know how you feel." Tanis began, but Shakara cut him off before he could talk further.

"How is that? You've lived a comfortable life without ever facing up to a problem until now." Shakara said sharply.

"How would you know that?" Tanis said, his feelings obviously hurt. "I had to sacrifice an entire city of people in an attempt to stop your father's conquest, and it all turned out to be in vain anyway!"

Shakara suddenly looked down at her feet like a scolded child. "I'm sorry, my father always told me you were a coward who ran away from your problems. I should have known that was a lie after finding out he had not killed you either."

"Well, listen up. I understand and forgive you, but I think it's Ashley you really owe the apology to. You treated her a lot worse than me." Tanis said, gesturing toward Ashley.

Shakara turned to Ashley, first showing mixed emotions, then smiling. "Let my actions speak louder than words." She said, and then reached down to touch the hole in Ashley's jeans. Her paw glowed a soft red for a moment, and when Shakara pulled it back, the hole was gone.

Ashley returned the smile. "You know, these jeans have been in my family for years. Look here"

Ashley pointed down at a patch on her jeans located near her right hip. It was green colored, worn, and had a picture of a blade. "This one's from a when a wild Scyther attacked my dad."

Ashley pointed at another patch, this one blue with a picture of a fishing rod on it. "This one's from when my mom hooked him with her fishing rod after he told her he still couldn't afford to buy her a new bike." She said, grinning at the memory.

"Quite an odd thing to have as an heirloom, a pair of pants." Tanis said, chuckling.

All three of them turned their heads in unison to look when the sound of the outer door opening echoed into the room. John poked his head around the corner.

"I've got breakfast ready for you guys." He said, showing a tray with four full paper bags.

They all gathered around the table in Tanis' room and John slid them each a bagful of food. He then began inching toward the door, but Ashley caught him.

"Where are you going? Why don't you eat with us?"

"Well…you see…umm…" John mumbled.

"It's alright, you don't need to feel uncomfortable around us." Shakara said suddenly, gesturing to herself and Tanis. "We're a lot more amicable than my father and his cronies."

Ashley reached into her bag and pulled out a tray of freshly fried bacon. A wide grin spread across her face as she smelled the hickory smoked flavor coming off them. Reaching in further she found a sliced banana and a stack of pre-prepared pancakes all in their own containers. As she opened it all and ate it, she found that it tasted better than anything her dad had made for her in the past.

"John, this is fabulous! How did you cook it?" Ashley asked.

"Just the old fashioned method, electric griddle and spatula." John replied, sipping a cup of coffee.

John had brought enough coffee for everyone, but Ashley found hers too strong, so she passed it to Tanis, wondering what he would think of it. Tanis looked at it curiously at first, and then took a drink. His reaction could be described as anything but enjoyment.

"Ugh, what is this bitter drink?" he asked, his face twisting in disgust.

"It's called coffee, and it's not a very good batch either." Ashley replied, giggling slightly.

"Sorry 'bout that, I'm usually pretty good at making the stuff since I drink it so much." John said apologetically.

Suddenly Shakara reached forward and grabbed the cup. She brought it up to her mouth and chugged the whole thing in two gulps, then set the cup down with a satisfied look on her face.

"Not bad. Could use some sugar though." she said , smiling wryly.

This was the first time Shakara had ever done something Ashley found to be funny, and she laughed outwardly as John smiled weakly.

As they all finished up their meals and threw away the disposable containers, John's face suddenly lit up in remembrance.

"Oh, Ashley, do you want to go on that tour that I mentioned now?" he asked.

"Not unless Tanis and Shakara can come with me!" Ashley replied firmly.

"But…" John said, stumbling on his words.

"No worries, we'll cloak ourselves." Tanis said, and then suddenly vanished.

John blinked once or twice, and then nodded. "I still don't know how you can do that inside our inhibitor field, but I guess that'll work."

"Before I go however…" Tanis said, reappearing, and then walked back over to the holo-computer, which was still on pause.

Ashley expected the music to start up again when Tanis put his hand on the console, but instead the marquee simply displayed "Decoding…Rewriting" for a moment. After a few seconds, it changed to read "Song Completed".

"I don't mean to insult the music you created Shakara, but it doesn't really fit well with my song, so I removed it." Tanis said.

Shakara simply shrugged.

"Hey Tanis, look at that." Ashley said, pointing at the screen.

An option was blinking there on the main menu, reading "Share song on Underground Music Network".

"Do you think I should?" Tanis asked.

"Sure! Who knows, you might become popular!" Ashley said, smiling.

"Alright. Now it says I need a song name and artist name…" Tanis said, looking at the input values on the screen.

"Why don't we call the song 'Electronic Warfare'?" Ashley proposed.

"That's perfect!" Tanis exclaimed with an excited look on his face. "Now what should I call myself?"

"It's not like your name would carry any meaning for anyone besides us, why not just stick with your regular name?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, but it feels like I need to spice it up a bit. How about… DJ Tanis?"

"Heheh, I can just see you at a rave wearing sunglasses!" Ashley said, giggling again.

"Alright, let's send!" Tanis said, and tapped the button.

The screen simply blinked "Song Sent" for a moment, and then reverted back to the main music screen.

"Alright, let's go now! I want to see some technology!" Shakara said impatiently.

After everyone had locked up their rooms and Tanis and Shakara had successfully cloaked themselves, John lead them back down into the city streets. The light from the fixture on the cave ceiling had intensified significantly, signifying day. Now the streets were alive with people of all sorts, each wearing differently designed yet equally worn clothing. Ashley felt a bit unnerved for having Tanis and Shakara right behind her, even though she knew that all these people could see were John leading her through the streets. At one point a couple brushed behind Ashley, and she jumped, expecting them to bump into Tanis and Shakara's invisible forms. They passed right on by without any trouble however, and Ashley let out a deep sigh.

Passing out of the crowded streets, Ashley saw a large, brightly lit glass building filled with trees and other greenery. The light inside was a clean shade of white, unlike the dirty yellow light that flowed unevenly from the fixture on the cave's ceiling.

"What's that place?" Ashley asked, pointing at the building.

"That's our Pokemon sanctuary, where we keep and breed what few Pokemon we have down here." John replied.

"Can we see it?" Ashley asked.

"It's not really a planned stop on the tour, why are you interested?" John said, a bit puzzled.

Ashley pointed down at the six Master Balls now pinned back at her waist. "I train Pokemon."

John's face was suddenly blasted by a look of dumbfounded disbelief. "You're kidding!" he whispered.

"What's surprising about it?" Ashley asked.

"You must have been held in stasis for a very long time. Nobody in our society trains Pokemon anymore, we just breed them." John said as they approached the door to the greenhouse building.

"Why is that?" Ashley asked, now looking confused and worried.

"Because there are very few Pokemon left down here besides the native Zubat." John said, opening the door.

Ashley saw that John was right, there weren't very many Pokemon inside the comparatively large sanctuary. What did occupy the lush greenery consisted of a sparse distribution of common bug, grass, and flying types. There was the sound of flowing water in the background amidst the cooing of nesting Pidgeys.

"When this colony was first built after Ares' conquest, we welcomed both people and Pokemon alike. But the underground habitat proved woefully inadequate for the needs of the more exotic types of Pokemon, and they slowly died off despite our best efforts. What you see here are the survivors who have adapted to what little we could provide for them. Nobody trains anymore simply because there aren't enough left, and we don't need to put the strain of battle on those we still have." John finished.

Ashley nodded. "I see, it's quite a shame. What do you feed them?"

"Most of them live off of the environment we've built here, but those that do require special foods are fed by the breeders, who make the food themselves." John said.

"It looks really peaceful in here." Ashley said, and then a thought struck her. "My Pokemon have been cramped up for a long time now, do you suppose I could let them stay here to rest for awhile?"

"Certainly! I'm not sure if we'll be able to provide specialized foods for them, but there's plenty of room. Besides, I'm kinda curious to see what a professionally trained team looks like." John said.

Ashley slowly released her entire team, starting with Ifrit and followed by Midnight, her Gengar, Mach 5, her Pidgeot, Megawatt, her Jolteon, Shiannah, her Vaporeon, and Moonbeam, her Butterfree. As expected, Ifrit was still napping, but the others eagerly got up and stretched. Shiannah trotted up to Ashley and pawed on her jeans.

"Aww, I'm sorry Shi, I know I haven't let you guys out in a long time, but a lot's been going on." Ashley said, patting the silent Vaporeon on the head.

Shiannah's tail slumped and her ears drooped in response.

"Oh, I know you're probably hungry and upset, but I've found a place for you guys to stay for awhile, courtesy of my friend John over there…" Ashley gestured to where John had last been standing, then looked around confusedly to find him.

"Look at that muscular build!" John exclaimed, bending over Ifrit's napping form and scrutinizing.

"You might not want to wake Ifrit, she gets grumpy when her naps are interrupted." Ashley said.

John blinked and then slowly backed away from Ifrit. Ashley saw a sly grin play across Ifrit's face and wondered whether she should stop the ensuing prank. Ifrit swished her tail and tripped a startled John, who fell face first into the grass. Ashley smiled, Ifrit's personality hadn't changed a wink. She suddenly felt gentle paws land on her shoulder and her hair stood on end.

"Couldn't resist, could you, Megawatt?" She asked, smiling at the smaller than average Jolteon sitting on her shoulder.

"Jolt!" The diminuative Pokemon said, grinning cheerfully.

"Why don't you go play with your sister for awhile?" Ashley asked.

Megawatt tilted his head towards the sanctuary's pond, where Shiannah was now happily swimming.

"I see. Well, why don't you go find something else to do?" Ashley protested.

Megawatt shook his head, and when Ashley tried to grab him to remove him from her shoulder, she felt an electric sting on her hands.

"Oh alright! You can come with me, but I'd better not hear one complaint out of you for being bored!" Ashley said in resignation.

Megawatt replied with a grin that seemed to say "Would I do that?"

"Hey, that tickles!" Tanis' voice said from behind Ashley.

Ashley turned to see Midnight poking at empty air. Tanis reappeared, looking down at the comparatively shorter Pokemon that was poking his tail.

"That one's got quite sharp senses doesn't it?" Shakara asked, rematerializing next to Tanis.

"Always did!" Ashley said proudly.

Shakara stared at Midnight, who simply stuck his tongue out in response before fading out in a teleport.

"Can we get going? I want to see the humans' technology." Shakara said, settling on the grass and tapping her bladed tail against it.

"Why are you so eager? We've got time." John said, now patting Mach 5 on the head and obviously enjoying himself.

"If Tanis and I are going to form a plan for fighting Ares anytime soon, we're going to need to know the scope and power of the technology available to us." Shakara said, her voice hinting at irritation.

Shakara's eyes shifted over to where Midnight had rematerialized outside the shelter and was now pressing his face against the glass.

"Come on, stay in the shelter Midnight!" Ashley said sternly, wagging her finger at him.

Midnight disappeared and reappeared behind Ashley, then poked her in the back, making her jump.

"Come on Midnight, you know I don't like it when you do that! Now listen, I'm going to be gone for a few hours, and I want you to stay inside the sanctuary and don't get into any trouble with the other Pokemon living in here, got it?" Ashley said.

Midnight frowned and walked over to sit next to Mach 5. Ashley followed him over.

"Make sure everyone stays out of trouble, especially those two!" Ashley whispered to Mach 5, pointing toward Midnight and Ifrit. Mach 5 nodded tersely and continued pruning his feathers.

"It's about time we left!" Shakara said as John opened the door. She and Tanis then disappeared behind their cloaks.

They left the sanctuary and John led them towards a passageway in the main cave wall.

"So do they really understand everything you say to them?" John asked.

"Of course! A close understanding is necessary between a trainer and her Pokemon in order for them to be effective in battle, and for them to be good companions for the rest of the time." Ashley replied.

"They seem disobedient though." John said, indicating Megawatt, who was still sitting on Ashley's shoulder.

"Oh yeah, they're all quite the characters, but they know not to behave like that during battle. It's just the rest of the time that they're so incorrigible." Ashley said, and Megawatt grinned again.

Passing into the next cave passage, the light from the fixture in the main cave dropped away. The deep humming sound intensified in the closed space, and Ashley felt a tinge of claustrophobia. They turned a corner and came face-to-face with a pair of armed guards standing by a steel door. John rifled through his pocket and produced his ID for them.

"What about the civilian sir?" One of the guards asked.

"General's permission, if you need confirmation, then ask him yourself. As far as you're concerned however, there is no civilian here with me." John said with sudden authority in his voice.

"Yessir" The guard said, straightening up and pressing the code to open the door, which swished open.

The room beyond that John lead Ashley into was massive and rectangular in shape with three of the four walls consisting of cave stone. The fourth and farthest wall was constructed entirely from steel, and there were long steel tunnels opening up all along its length. The tunnels differed in size, but they all had glowing lights built in to trace paths up into the darkness. There were three or four smaller ships docked in clamps in the middle of the room, and there were various pieces of machinery strewn about. A few scattered personnel in uniforms were milling about performing assorted duties, including wheeling a cartful of supplies to one of the docked ships.

"This, as you can probably guess, this is the hangar in which we keep all of our ships. We don't have many left anymore though, we sent almost all of them out to attack recently and they've not returned." John said.

"This place is amazing!" Ashley exclaimed.

Suddenly Shakara's voice echoed into Ashley's mind. "Ask him how they launch their ships without being detected."

Almost robotically, Ashley posed the question, wondering if she had even done it voluntarily.

"It's a combination of factors," John began, "These launch tunnels open up several miles away inside a forest. Since we know Ares can survey any area with his ships from orbit, we use low harmonic hologram projectors to conceal the tunnel openings. At the same time, we need to launch our ships at a high enough speed to fool the cameras watching from orbit. Since the tunnel isn't long enough for the ships to gain sufficient speed on their own, we use linear electromagnetic induction fields to shoot them out into air like slugs from a rail gun. It may use a lot of energy, but it's helped us to stay hidden while at the same time keeping in contact with the outside world and occasionally launching attacks."

"How do they return undetected?" Shakara's voice asked, and Ashley repeated out loud.

"Most of them don't return at all, but we use an abandoned landing pad on the outskirts of the town on the surface above us. When a ship lands it doesn't look suspicious, and we can cover its entry into the recovery tunnel with more holograms." John said.

"Incredible." Ashley remarked on her own.

"Ares never paid enough attention to notice the ships coming out of nowhere and disappearing, and we have his carelessness to thank for our success thus far.

"Looks like you won't be launching many ships anymore though." Ashley commented, gesturing towards all the empty space in the hangar.

"Given about two or three more years, we'll have mined enough raw materials to build more though. We have no delusions about being able to bring a total end to Ares' rule, but we're hell-bent on taking as big of a chunk out of it as we can!" John said determinedly.

A glint of red caught in the corner of Ashley's eye, and her pulse jumped dramatically when she turned to see one of Ares' gunships docked on the farthest left docking station.

"Look! Quick, sound the alarm!" She shouted.

"No! Don't! False alarm!" John shouted, covering Ashley's mouth with his hand.

Ashley shoved John's hand away violently and asked "What the hell are you doing?"

"We're not being attacked you idiot! That's the gunship we captured!" John said angrily.

"Hey, don't call me an idiot!" Ashley shouted.

"Do you know what kind of trouble we both could get into had someone pulled the alarm? False alarms are serious! Whenever the alarm goes off, it makes people think they're about to die! I could be demoted and you imprisoned!" John said harshly.

"Listen, I didn't know! It was a reflex! If I see one of Ares' ships, I'm going to react with alarm!" Ashley said in a violently defensive tone.

"Ok…I'm sorry for calling you an idiot." John said, his voice returning to its normal tone.

"I'm sorry for making an idiot out of both of us." Ashley said.

"You said you had no delusions about being able to defeat my father, correct?" Shakara's voice suddenly whispered right next to them, "Well I have a plan, and the key to it is that little gunship that you two were just arguing about."

Chapter XIII – S3

"And just why should I give you the gunship that we went to so much trouble to capture?" General Wells asked stubbornly.

Shakara retained her rock-faced determination and spoke, "Because I know I can put an end to my father's reign with it."

The General stared into Shakara's eyes with an unblinking and powerful gaze.She could feel his steely willpower behind those aging eyes, here was the sharpened and dangerous mind of both a warrior and a leader. Yet buried within she could sense compassion and a true caring for his people within the General's soul. She knew that even though he was merely human, he was still not one to be trifled with, as he would do everything in his power for what he believed was right.

They were all back inside the grey military building from before, but this time in a much roomier and better decorated conference room. Shakara was sitting facing the General with Ashley and Tanis sitting on either side of her. John and Marcos covered both of the General's flanks, just like before. All of their reflections glowed gently on the polished, solid oak desk.

"So, you say that Ares is your father eh?" the General asked softly.

Shakara paused for a moment, then replied, "I understand your concern that I might still be harboring feelings for him, so if you wish, I can give you some visions of what he put me through."

Shakara raised her paw towards the General, retracting her claws.

"That will not be necessary. I can sense how you feel about him. But my point is that even the strongest willed person can hesitate to kill someone of their own flesh and blood." The General said.

Shakara was too struck by the second half of what the General said to really notice the first half. A thought crossed her mind that she would probably not be able to finish her father if it came down to it, and she realized that there was probably still a part of her left that had feelings for him.

"I see the hesitation in your eyes even now." The General said calmly, his expression still not changing.

"Even if she does hesitate, I won't." Tanis said, putting his paw down on the table.

"So let's assume that nobody hesitates, what is the plan you developed?" John asked Shakara.

"It's a bit risky, but there is no such thing as a totally safe plan when my father is involved." Shakara began. "Tanis and I will take the gunship and-"

"I'm coming too!" Ashley interrupted.

Shakara sighed and forged on, "Ashley, Tanis and I will take the gunship and use it to gain access to the Black River Dimensional Highway and ride it to the dimension where my father keeps his headquarters."

"You mean his HQ isn't here on Earth anymore?" Tanis suddenly asked.

"He moves it to wherever the most military conflict is taking place so that he can be closer to where the action is." Shakara explained.

"Shouldn't that be here though, since my people have just destroyed one of his facilities not a day and a half ago?" the General asked.

"I was quite up to do date on my father's attitude back when I was still in my tube a few days ago. Not only does he regard what few attacks you've made as not a threat, but he also thinks he may have found a lead to where the final piece of the Triforce is located now." Shakara said.

Shakara's senses were overwhelmed with waves of fear and anxiety coming from both Tanis and Ashley.

"Triforce?" the General and Marcos both inquired at once.

"It's an ancient artifact of enormous power, and if Ares gets his paws on it, it'll make him not only more unstoppable than he is now, but immortal as well." Tanis answered quickly.

"It would seem that it would be in all our best interests to stop Ares before he finds it then." The General said. "Continue with the explanation."

"Once we find Ares' headquarters, we'll land there and Tanis and Ashley will find a place to hide. I'll go to my father and tell him how I had been buried under the rubble of the lab and had found a gunship intact, and that I used to it to come to him and join him. After I've gained his trust, I'll use my full access to the facility to find and sabotage the main electro-psionic hub that holds his empire together. This will completely paralyze his entire empire, causing all the Acolytes to pass out and all the humans under his control to regain their free will. Then, when Ares has nobody to defend him but himself, Tanis and I will regroup and attack him together. Hopefully we'll be able to defeat him and put an end to his reign." Shakara said, finishing.

"That plan assumes a lot, mainly that Ares will be at his headquarters when you arrive, and that you'll be able to successfully hide Tanis and Ashley when you do." The General pointed out.

"And that I'll miss out on the battle and just stay in the hiding place!" Ashley chimed in.

"Firstly, I know my father will be there because I will have already contacted him when I request access to the Black River. I'll tell him I want to spend at least a few hours with him, and that we should meet at his HQ. Secondly, Tanis is perfectly capable of hiding his and Ashley's energy signatures, so they'll be able to do something simple, like duck under a floor panel or hide in a maintenance closet. And thirdly Ashley, you being present at that battle would be dangerous. Ares could easily kill you or control your mind, making you a liability." Shakara said.

"Jolt!" the small Jolteon on Ashley's shoulder said in an angry voice.

"Shush Megawatt!" Ashley chided, then spoke to Shakara, "What if I just hide and watch? You can put one of your psychic cloaks over me if need be!"

"And use precious energy needed to fight Ares? I think not!" Shakara said firmly.

"It's a two-on-one battle though, for crying out loud! You should have more than enough energy to defeat him together!" Ashley protested.

"You're forgetting that Ares has two of the three pieces of the Triforce already. This makes our chances of winning very slim as it is." Shakara said,

Ashley frowned and stopped protesting.

"So it would seem that you've found the best way of getting to Ares, but do you really need our gunship to do it?" the General asked calmly.

"Yes, we can't be sure that any of the ships that you've built can handle the forces exerted by travel in the Black River, and my father builds his ships specifically strong enough to do so. Besides, at this point so early after your attack on his forces, my father is bound to shoot down any human ship behaving suspiciously. We need one of his ships to get close enough to contact him." Shakara said.

"I see." The General said, rubbing his stubbly chin.

"Wait, we don't have to leave right away, do we?" Ashley asked.

"Think of it this way, the longer we wait, the closer Ares gets to finding the Triforce." Shakara said.

There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room let Shakara's words sink in.

"Just what kind of artifact is this Triforce anyway?" Marcos suddenly asked.

Shakara looked over at Tanis, who exchanged a glance with Ashley.

"It's a massive concentration of ambient energy in the form of three golden triangles. Its shape and composition aren't important to us at this point however, what is important is that it is powerful enough to shape landscapes and grant, or take, life. I don't know how it was created, but I do know that if Ares completes it, he will be invincible." Tanis said.

"I didn't think that the nature of the artifact was really that important when you mentioned it, I just need some time to think about this issue with the gunship." The General said thoughtfully. "Marcos, did you figure out why our inhibition field failed?"

"Yes, I think I had just solved it before you called me to this meeting. You see, our psionic inhibitors are fine-tuned to block energy wave frequencies from Ares and his Acolytes, and it seems that our guests' abilities use completely different wavelengths. Tanis' wavelength is much lower, and Shakara's is a bit higher." Marcos said.

"What does this mean for us?" The General asked.

"Well, there's no problem with Tanis since it's to be expected that his wavelength differ drastically from Ares'. But the fact that Ares' daughter has a different wavelength than him could mean one of two things; either he created her significantly different from him, or her has found a way to change his and all his Acolytes' brainwave patterns." Marcos said.

"The first option seems far more likely, but we can't afford to take the remotest risk. Major, I want you to configure the inhibitors to block Shakara's wavelength as well, and do it with all speed." The General said.

"Yes sir, it should take about an hour." Marcos said, and then stood and left the room.

"I'm going to need at least a day to propose your plan to the council and for them to make a decision. Despite what you may think, I don't hold absolute power over the people down here." The General said, turning to face Shakara. "You can stay on in the room John provided for you until the council decides. If your plan is rejected, you can stay long enough to develop a new one and propose it again."

Shakara felt enraged inside that she was going to let a group of humans control her like that, but she didn't let it show in front of anyone. A part of her wanted to steal the gunship and go by herself, but she still had scruples left that would not allow such an action, especially on that particular day.

"Alright, thank you General." She said, deftly hiding her feelings.

After the meeting ended, Tanis and Ashley went back to the Pokemon Sanctuary while Shakara spent her last hour with her abilities wandering the civilian sector of the city. She found that behind the ugly façade of the grimy city laid an even uglier way of life. The living conditions she observed were horrifying. She wandered into people's homes and saw them drinking murky, polluted water and eating small bits of rationed, moldy food. Hobos laid starving in the back alleys while the only two hospitals were overcrowded with the sick and malnourished. The sheer human suffering Shakara saw was in sharp contrast to how well she and her companions had been living. She felt a new mixture of anger form in her stomach; partly at her father for causing this suffering, and partly for the human leaders here for doing nothing to solve it. The rich and delicious breakfast Shakara had consumed that morning now made her feel sick to her stomach as she watched a mother on the street feed her baby spoiled milk, being all she had.

Shakara returned to her room a few minutes before the inhibitors were scheduled to start blocking her abilities. Tanis, Ashley and John had not returned yet, and the light from the fixture on the cave's ceiling started to dim, signifying night. They had been out longer than Shakara realized, and now she was stuck up in her room with nobody but her own dismal thoughts to keep her company. Her stomach continued to churn as her mind turned over and over again the images of the suffering she had seen that day. When she couldn't stand to wait alone for the others anymore, she decided to go to bed. After all the events of the day, time had indeed flown amazingly fast, and it was already half past 9PM.

"No! I don't want to relive this!" Shakara's mind shouted as the dream played out.

A badly injured and bleeding human mother laid on the smoking debris of her home that Shakara had just destroyed. Her child cried desperately in her arms as she knelt before Shakara, begging for her life.

"Please find it in your heart to show us mercy! I beg of you!" the woman sobbed.

Shakara held the points of her tail blades poised directly under the woman's chin, ready to slice her neck open. She stood that way, her insides boiling with self-loathing and remorse. Then, she lowered the blades and turned away, refusing to commit the foul, bloody deed. It was at that moment Ares' voice spoke to her.

"Do not hesitate to kill your enemies, for they will not hesitate to kill you."

"How can she be my enemy?" Shakara shouted in response.

A loud bang echoed through the air as if replying to Shakara's question, and a fiery bolt of pain ripped through her abdomen. She looked down to see her own blood trickling down through a hole in her stomach where the bullet had passed through her body. She turned to see the human mother shakily holding the smoking pistol.

"Kill her." Ares' voice echoed.

"No!" Shakara yelled.

Another bang pierced the air, and the flesh of Shakara's knee was shredded by the bullet. Shakara fell forward onto her good knee, scratching at the collar around her neck that blocked her powers.. Her claws had no effect on it.

"I will not obey!" Shakara screamed as the control collar hummed to life.

A third bullet tore through Shakara's left shoulder, breaking apart her shoulder bone and subsequently knocking loose the blade protruding from it, causing it to painfully hang backwards. Blood left Shakara's body quickly now, and she felt herself starting to grow cold.

"The next bullet is aimed at your heart Shakara. Your next action is up to you, but choose quickly." Ares' voice echoed coldly.

Shakara looked at the woman and saw that her once terrified expression had been replaced with one of rage and violence. The woman began to squeeze the trigger.

In an instant Shakara appeared behind the woman, standing with her tail arced upwards and the blades covered with a thin coat of blood. The woman's expression changed from anger to shock and horror, and after a few seconds her head slid cleanly off of her shoulders.

"May your death be short and merciful." Shakara panted, gripping her wounds, and then turned away.

"Yours won't be if you make these same mistakes again!" Ares' voice echoed angrily. "You forgot to kill the child."

The final bullet tore right through Shakara's still beating heart.

Shakara bolted upright in bed, covered with sweat. She felt her stomach continue to boil and ache, as if she had eaten a bowl of fresh magma. She felt herself about to vomit and ran to her bathroom to spew her stomach contents out. Acidic pain arced through her esophagus as she heaved up everything she had eaten over the previous day. Even after Shakara's stomach had completely emptied itself, her body still kept convulsing and she spent five minutes enduring excruciating dry-heaves.

After finishing her ordeal, Shakara turned to the sink to wash her face off. She instinctively tried to use her recover ability, but felt the energy arc backwards into her skull. The excess energy stung and burned, and her senses completely fogged out, temporarily blinding and deafening her. It was like a glowing cloud of silvery pain that collected around her conscious mind. It cleared before long, and when Shakara regained control over herself she lit up the air around her with various swear words she had heard her father use on numerous occasions.

"Thanks a lot Marcos." She muttered bitterly after finishing her fit of profanity.

Sitting back on her bed, Shakara found that sleep refused to return to her. She was still recovering from her memories of that horrific training exercise her father had put her through, and a part of her knew more of them would resurface the moment sleep did return. She tried to return to the artificial world her imagination had created, but another session of blinding pain clouds and cursing told her that she could not recede into her fantasy world without use of her power. Out of options, Shakara walked over and turned on her room's holo-computer, then began reading up on human history.

Shakara soon came across the historical records of her father and his conquests. She knew it would probably be biased against him, but she had no idea of the images it would contain. Apparently Ares had slanted things even more to her than she had thought, for in the database laid images of sheer horror that defied the imagination. There were images of massive piles of charred human corpses unceremoniously tossed in mass graves, entire cities reduced to cratered rubble, and inglorious ship graveyards where humanity's greatest military and technological achievements met their gruesome ends. Her father had told her the death and destruction were as minimal as he had been able to manage, but these images spoke strongly otherwise. The silent testimonies of wholesale slaughter made Shakara's stomach turn and ache even worse, and her hatred for her father grew. She was now ready to discount everything her had told her as lies.

"Can't sleep either eh?" Tanis said, having suddenly appeared behind her.

Shakara felt thoroughly flustered that she had not been able to sense Tanis' approach without her abilities. It was a shocking reminder about how dependent she was becoming on them already.

"Especially with people randomly appearing in my room without permission." She replied bitingly.

"Sorry." Tanis said, his voice sullen and soaked in shame.

"Wait!" Shakara said suddenly, feeling guilty about having hurt Tanis' feelings.

"What is it?" Tanis asked.

Shakara searched for words for a moment and spoke, "What's new?"

Tanis' hurt expression was replaced by an excited grin. "My song got very popular very quickly!" he said happily.

"Oh? Tell me about it." Shakara said, happy that she could connect with Tanis, even though she was relatively uninterested with the topic.

"It's great! Several people commented saying that they added my song to their play lists!" Tanis said, grinning widely.

"That's wonderful. Say…do you think that you could help me make a full song like that?" Shakara asked.

If the grin on Tanis' face could have gotten any wider, it would have. "I would be honored to!" he said in an utterly flattered voice.

"Is that why you haven't sleep, you've been making more music?" Shakara asked.

Tanis' grin vanished and he sat down in a chair next to Shakara. He winced in pain after sitting on his tail and then brushed it to the side.

"To tell you the truth, I'm too worried that our plan will fail, that we'll be killed, and all will fall before your father's might. It's eating me alive, this worry, and I can't rest for all the 'what ifs' bouncing around my mind." Tanis said.

"Listen, I know all of my father's strategies, how he fights, how he moves. I can show you how to defeat him. We can train together." Shakara said.

"How? The inhibitors will keep you from using your abilities!" Tanis said.

"I'm sure we can work something out. The point is, it'll only take me a day to teach you all my father's fighting techniques and how to counter them. That will leave the Triforce as the final unknown factor." Shakara said.

"Ay, there's the rub." Tanis said.

Shakara squinted, not sure of what Tanis had meant.

"It's Shakespeare; I've been reading human literature." Tanis said.

"Do you find that reading helps you with nightmares?" Shakara asked.

"It certainly helps keep my mind off of what's troubling me." Tanis replied, "I just wish there was some way to know if we're going to be able to stop your father in time."

Shakara paused for a moment. "Can recommend a good book for me to look up on the computer?"

"Fahrenheit 451" Tanis said, nodding solemnly.

A/N: Happy Halloween everybody! I don't have any stereotypical Halloween puns for you, here though. At any rate, things are about to start deteriorating for all of our friends here in the story, and several carefully laid plans are going to go wrong. Expect some twists and turns to come in the next chunk, 'cause I'm pretty much done setting the stage for it now!

Again, thanks for all the reviews, keep up the good work, yadda yadda you've heard this review footnote hundreds of times before.