Chapte 12: Arietta Attack!

"You killed mommy!", the shrill voice of a girl who had just now climbed out of the mouth of the gigantic water snake, holding a teddy in her hands, screamed. "Now you die!"

"Grrr! A replica of Gloomietta, too!", Anise grumbled, kicked Florian into the cabin and jumped onto the water snake which, of course, tried to to shake her of its body immediately. The little boy with the red hair hid behind the pole.

"Go get Ion! I saw her kicking him into the cabin!", Arietta the Wild ordered a liger which had now jumped out of the see monster´s mouth.

"Stop it, Gloomietta! That´s not Ion!", Anise snarled while running up the long body of the snake.

"Shut up, Anise!", Arietta nagged while the liger jumped down to the cutter.

"You shut up, you stupid brat!", Anise snapped back, reached Arietta and wanted to hit her with her staff. But Arietta just jumped down and was caught by one of snake´s flippers.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!", Luke yelled and slashed with his sword at the liger´s stone-like body. The monster looked just too much like the liger queen of the Cheagle Woods they had once killed.

"Leave mommy´s replica alone!", Arietta screamed and aimed with her ugly teddy at Luke. "Negative Gate!!!" Luke jumped to the side, dodging the ball of First Fonons - the Fonon of Darkness -, und shot Seventh Fonons at Arietta. The water snake turned around so that the Fonons hit its body instead, its body shaking because of the impact.

"Ah! Watch where you´re aiming!", Anise who was still on board the snake screamed at Luke.

"Sorry!", the red head apologized and jumped to the side when the liger queen´s replica tried to eat him alive. "Did Dist replica everyone and everything?!" His eyes widened suddenly when a terrible thought occured to him. "No... He wouldn´t dare to repicate Maste--"

"Luke, look out!!!", Anise yelled and yanked him out of his thoughts with that. Another ball of dark Fonons and the liger queen were shooting towards him. He dodged to the side, and the ball hit the liger queen instead.

"Grrr!", Arietta snarled and dodged another one of Anise´s attacks by letting herself fall down. Another one of the snake´s flippers caught her and put her down on the beast´s head again.

"Sit still, you coward!!!", Anise yelled in anger and started to climb up the monster´s body again.

In the meantime Florian who had crashed into a cup-board which had buried him underneath it had managed to break free, and was now outside again. The liger queen jumped at him immediately, planning to grab him and bring him to its master.

"No, Florian!", Luke shouted. Florian raised his tuning fork-like staff, and a protecting shield was erected immediately from which the liger queen bounced away. Seconds later the shield vanished, Florian, wheezing, beginning to glow, and the liger queen jumped at him again. "Stop!", Luke yelled and ran towards the monster. Florian raised a shaking hand which was now glowing in brillant lights, and then punched the ground with it. A gigantic force field appeared and catched the liger queen whose stone-like body was torched brutally. "Thunder Blade!!!", Luke screamed, and a sword of thunder eliminated the monster.

"Mommy!", Arietta shouted in horror while Florian, now totally exhausted, fainted. "Sink the cutter and get Ion and the research project!", she ordered the water snake. The snake shot, head-first, towards the cutter.

"You wish!", Luke yelled and fired Seventh Fonons at the snake. The monster was thrown back by the attack, and Anise fell down from the snake and could barely manage to cling to the cutter´s bow.

"Didn´t I tell you a few minutes ago: WATCH WHERE YOU´RE AIMING!!!", she yelled and hit Luke´s head.

"Should I rather let her destroy the cutter!?", Luke snapped back. The snake´s vertical fin shot towards the cutter next.

"I´ve had enough of this thing! Make it go away, Luke!", Anise whined.

"Thunder Blade!!!", Luke screamed, and the blade of thunder destroyed the water monster with one strike while Arietta was falling into the sea, screaching, only to reappear seconds later, riding a dolphin.

"You´re going to pay!", Arietta screached while the dolphin escaped with her, doding another thunder blade.

"Phew...", Anise sighed and sank to the ground. "I´d already guessed that they´d created a replica of Gloomietta - the griffin that Natalia´s replica had ridden at Baticul had been proof of it -, but to have to face her... Man..." She looked at Luke who was now wrapping the unconscious Ion into a blanket. "How is he?"

"Only unconscious.", Luke answered and then looked at the little boy hiding behind the pole. "You don´t have to be scared.", he told him. "I won´t bite." The boy didn´t look convinced at all.

"What´s your name, litte one?", Anise asked and kneeled before the boy. "Maybe `Link´, like it´s written on the name plate?" The boy named Link nodded slightly. "Link. That means `The Connection´ in Ancient Ispanian. That´s a nice name." She smiled at him. "I´m Anise."

"I bet that name means `The one who grabs the money´. Would be fitting, at least.", Luke said.

"SILENCE!!! I´LL KILL YOU!!!", Anise yelled at him to which Link fell down in horror. "Oh, I´m sorry, not you! The damn idiot there who fathered you!", she apologized to him.

"I told you before, I´m not his--!", Luke started, enraged.

"He´s not my father.", Link interrupted him.

"See!?", Luke snarled.

"Luke is far too young for a child of that age.", Florian who had regained consciousnsess said. "The little one is at least ten years old. Luke would have been far too young for that, I think."

"I´m not small!", Link grumbled and stood up, making himself as tall as possible. "I´m the research project, damnit! Show me some respect!" Anise and Florian stared at him for a while, having the picture of a younger Luke shouting `I´m the ambassador, damnit!´ in their minds, then looking at Luke.

"What?!", said red head snarled.

"Are you sure that´s not your son?", Anise asked.

"Yes, I´m damn sure!", Luke yelled at her.

Several hours passed in which the cutter floated through the sea, destination Engeve. During these hours the three friends hat managed to convince Link that they wouldn´t harm him, and so they all sat inside the cabin around a fire, their stomachs growling from time to time.

"Is that edible?", Link asked and pointed at the blanket next to him.

"No.", Luke only answered.

"And that?", Link resumed asking and pointed at the bedpost near him.

"No...", Luke grumbled.

"And tha--?"

"NO, DAMNIT!!!", Anise snapped at him. Link´s eyes went huge and he hid behind Luke.

"You don´t have to yell at him. He´s only a child.", Florian gently scolded her while Luke soothingly combed through the little one´s hair.

"Somehow I can understand now what Guy had to suffer through when he had to look after me.", he sighed.

"Good. Then make sure to thank him once he´s safe again.", Anise snarled, the hunger making her grumpy.

Luke only sighed and said: "Good, let´s sum up today: We found this cave in which had been nothing but this replication facility in which we´ve found Link."

"Yah. And if I hadn´t followed you idiots, Legretta would have easily killed you.", Anise grouched.

"Thanks, Anise.", both Luke and Florian thanked her - a futile effort to lighten her mood.

"What actually happened, Luke? You´d already cornered Legretta, and then you suddenly fainted.", Florian said.

"I dunno.", Luke answered. "I suddenly had a headache, and--"

"A headache? Don´t tell me Lorelei contacted you?!", Anise interrupted him.

"No, it didn´t. It...", Luke started, but then stopped. This event with the man and Yulia at the beach had been just too strange. "I just fainted. Probably because of hunger and lack of sleep."

"Men are sooo useless these days!", Anise said and shook her head, having three glares pointed at her which she contered with an even angrier glare, making the other three give up.

"But I´m surprised that I didn´t get hurt because of the fall from the tower.", Luke said.

"I managed to catch you and slow you down with a fonic arte.", Florian explained.

"Thanks."

"Legretta was just about to attack me when Anise reached us and attacked her.", Florian resumed explaining.

"Und then I ordered him to wake you up.", Anise added.

"How did you manage to drive Legretta away?", Florian asked.

"Well, she´s a replica. And replicas consist of Seventh Fonons.", Luke explained. "I just absorbed her body´s Seventh Fonons. She had to run away if she didn´t want to die. Unfortunately, Arietta was to far away for me to attack her the same way."

"Okay, I think I understand everything so far. There´s just one thing left...", Anise said and looked at Link who still hid behind Luke. "Link, how did you end up in this replication facility."

"I dunno.", the little one answered, hesitantly. "I... have always been there."

"What do you mean?", Luke asked.

"I´m there since... since... I dunno know... I´ve always been there."

"Do you mean you´ve been born inside the facility?", Florian asked, confused. Luke nodded, and Anise´s gaze darkened suddenly.

"Why did they lock you up in the cell?", she asked him.

"I dunno.", the little boy answered. "They only told me that I´m the research project, and that I will save the world one day."

"I see.", Anise said, and her fears seemed to be confirmed. She looked at Luke and said: "Luke, could you please help me outside? I think something´s wrong with the fon navigator."

"What? But I already set it t--", Luke started.

"C´mon!", Anise snarled, grabbed one of his ears and dragged him with her. Having reached the fon navigator, she let go of the ear.

"See? Everything´s alright.", Luke said after examining the navigator.

"You´re really dense.", Anise sighed.

"Huh?"

"I just wanted to get you out of the cabin to talk with you without Link listening.", Anise said. "I´m going to inform Florian as well somehow without the little one listening."

"Oh... I see... And what do you want to talk about?", Luke asked.

"He´s a replica.", Anise said straight-out.

"Who?", Luke asked.

"Link. He´s a replica.", Anise answered. "He´s you."

"What?!"

"He´s a replica of Asch, I´m sure of it. He´s about ten years old, and Asch had been replicated when he´d been ten years old. Dist surely still had the replication data. Link is another replica of him. He and you are one and the same person."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out!", Luke stopped her. "Why should he create another replica of Asch?"

"Because of his hyperresonance.", Anise explained. "They want to it. And this talk about Link saving the world some day... Let me tell you one thing: I´m 100 % sure that Dist wants to continue commandant Van´s old plan of a replica world!"

"Master Van´s plan...", Luke repeated and stared at the ground.

"Luke! Stop calling him `Master´ already, damnit!", Anise snapped at him.

"I...", Luke still stared at the ground, then looked up. "If they want to use hyperresonance, why not use a replica of the adult Asch?"

"Because Dist doesn´t have the data of an adult Asch!", Anise snarled. "And don´t try to change the subject!"

"I´m not--"

"Yeah, sure.", Anise interrupted him, rolled her eyes and went back inside the cabin.

Luke stood outside for a while until he, too, finally sighed and went back to the cabin.

`Master Van... are you alive as well thanks to one of Dist´s replication machines...?´, was his last thought before he sat next to Link who looked so much like him.

Was Anise right? Had the fight against a replica world started anew? The future will show the answer...