Awesome Land VI: Dawn of a New Era

[Xelwes]

It had been ten long years of searching, but CowMan was confident he had finally found what he was looking for. He raised his muddy and worn face from the earth contemplating all the trouble he must of left behind. All those poor and thirsty innocents. Surely some dastardly villain had come looking for him. He shook the thoughts and mud from his horns, leaning against the walls of the pit he dug. It was time to focus.

In front of him stood a massive stone door, carved with ancient inscriptions. Large twisting vortexes surrounding depictions of expansive battles spread across the top of the slabs. CowMan quickly glanced over the mural, ignoring the hieroglyphs located roughly where a normal mans eyesight would naturally fall. They meant very little to him as such an imposing and powerful hero such as he was. With a great heave he pushed through the entrance into this long forgotten structure.

"Well, this is a let down." He sighed, "I didn't dig 150 feet just for a single room." His frame forced him to hunch over in the cubicle that he had forced himself into. His horns scraped through the ceiling, sending sparks raining down his back. He glared through the room, spotting little decoration. Moss and insects scurried away from the massive hands and hooves.

At the far wall sat a small and plain altar, with nothing but an urn to break the color of the room. The same swirling vortexes that graced the door lay painted along in crimson red. Three paper seals, pasted to the top seemingly holding the lid on. The paper showed no signs of rot or age. Odd, considering how old this ruin looked to be. A sly grin spread over CowMan's face.

"It couldn't hurt to take a peek, now could it?"

Yes it could. The moment the paper seals tore, a gust of wind roared into the claustrophobic margin the bovine had crawled into.

"W-what?" The Steer's body began to stretch cartoonishly, elongating and swirling towards the pot. "Mrooooo!" And with that the Horned Hero was drawn into the urn, and in his place stood a much smaller and effeminate frame. This new arrival spread her arms, before placing her hand upon her shoulder massaging into stiff muscle. Scarlet spines twisted from a point behind her ears, terminating just below her eyes.

"Oh, my good god. Ten eons will give you such a crick in the neck!" She wheezed, the dust from the ageless room scratched the back of her throat. "Thank the heavens for dumb cows like that guy." The woman stepped forward towards the muggy light of day before her. Coral orange hair dripped from her head light molten rock. Navy leather armor clung to her skin. She stopped for a moment, breathing the fresh air. The moment of bliss she so desperately missed became interrupted by a hardly noticeable sound of a crack. "Huh?" her horned gaze turned back towards her prison. A thin line had spread across its side.

"mmmrrooOOOO!" With a mighty explosion of milk the urn burst. "No shoddy pottery could hold me in!" Once again the Caped Bovine Crusader stepped forth, his horns once again embedded into the ceiling. "But it seems that some strong stone may. Please miss, may I ask for your assistance?" CowMan tugged forcefully forward, with no sign of progress he moo'd in sadness.

A look of shock covered the escapees face. Her emerald eyes wide with wonderment.

"U-uh, sure. I guess?" With a wave of her hand, a vortex of wind and dust materialized in front of the captured beasts face. Within moments the air and stone imploded into itself, freeing the hero's horns.

"Thank you miss. May I bother you for your name?" CowMan inquired.

"Two favors may be a little much just for freeing me, but I guess I you could." She laughed as he pulled himself from the hovel. His full 9 foot frame finally free, she granted his request. "You may call me Iyara."

[Mizagium]

Hrathen eyed Theo, then muttered to Azzi, “I don’t like him. He’s too nice.” But that was it. He really didn’t have any suspicions or weird ninja sense about him. He just didn’t like him as a person. That aside, nothing seemed to be amiss. The kunoichi hadn’t picked up anything suspicious, either. Still, Hrathen kept his gaze moving, if for no other reason than he really didn’t want to stare at royals eating.

Francine and Randolph made their greetings to Theo and began eating. It was all very good and they said as much. The king continued, “I’ll eat just about anything but the Queen is a mite picky.” To demonstrate he shoved something more into his mouth and chuckled.

Francine massaged one temple. “My love,” she said, a note exasperated. “Maybe now isn’t the best time, hm?”

“Oh, of course, of course!” He acted chagrined, but winked at Theo once his wife stopped glaring at him. “So, Prince Theo! Tell us about your Sacred Land, if you don’t mind. I’m afraid we’ve never heard of it.”

“With no offense intended,” Francine cut in quickly, jabbing her husband in the ribs. “Our interaction with the larger world has been – not quite so isolationist, but certainly more….” she struggled for the right word. “Withdrawn, the last decade or so.”

-

“I think I'll go with you for a while, if you don't mind. I've got no idea where any of the people I was with have gone, and even though I'm not from around here I'm still a bit more familiar with the area than you are.”

Vega nodded, but didn’t rise immediately. She was tired. Physically, yes, but emotionally, as well. Worry and concern for Altair consumed her and it took real force of will to focus on anything else. She had always known Arcturus couldn’t be trusted, but she now realized love had blinded her to the truth.

These people weren’t her enemy, which – again – was something she had probably always known. Al had said he would accompany her; that was his choice now. But she couldn’t continue to plague the inhabitants of this world.

“Alright,” she announced finally. “Let’s go. She stood and took his arm, spread a narrow field of anti-gravity around them, and jumped! Canceling air resistance, they flew several stories into the air before Vega halted their rise. Ordinarily she would have wanted to clear the tops of the buildings, but exhaustion and an entire second person would have made that too difficult. Here was fine.

“Let’s fly,” she said to him – and altered the effects. Technically they fell forward, the way a satellite in orbit is in free-fall, but to their and any observer’s viewpoint, Vega and Al flew away from their battlefield, in the direction he had indicated: the direction of the Second Imperial Tower.

…

They didn’t find anything resembling even a primitive spaceport along the way, but then she hadn’t expected to. With the sheer height of the tower, it looked to Vega more like the anchor point of a space elevator and anything else. Except that she hadn’t seen anything like it in orbit, nor had the reports she’d read mentioned it. Granted the reports were threadbare, but a space elevator would have been important enough to mention. Besides, the magical barrier that encircled this nation didn’t seem to have anything protruding from it. Only her belt-mounted magic field scrambler (MFS) had let her through.

Still, the Tower seemed the best place to start.

As they neared, she realized she had been correct. A semi-permanent-looking base had been constructed along one section of the tower. To her eyes, it did appear to be a spaceport – or the beginnings of one, at least. A few workers milled about.

Not wanting to spark another confrontation, Vega set her and Al down a ways out and they walked the rest of the way. Curious eyes turned their way.

“Uh, hello,” she called. “Is this the spaceport?”

[Mizagium]

Somewhere in the commotion of the battle, Ophiuchus had managed to send an untraceable signal out of the FORD Laboratory, where it was picked up via a small, wrist-mounted device built only to receive one signal: a summons. Something like ten minutes passed. The affected floors were evacuated, save for Ophiuchus himself and Starburst who hovered at his side, silently smoldering – quite literally. At last, the automatic doors opened to allow in the man he wanted to see.

“This better be good, Ophiuchus,” Monoceras demanded. When last we saw out Tsuno friend, he had just delivered Alastor and Evangeline to Ophiuchus and promptly fizzed off. He didn’t like being summoned so tersely; it reminded him of being a slave.

“Oh, it is,” Ophichus assured him. “Take a look.”

Monoceras wrinkled his nose – first at Ophiuchus, and then at the bitter stench of melted plastics and molten metal. “What in the galaxy…?”

“Our honored guests, the ones you so nicely delivered to me, have escaped.”

“They what? How?”

“A series of – unfortunate events.” Ophiuchus gestured to the hole in the wall, still red-hot. “As you can see, they burned a hole through the building and escaped to the city.”

“Seems more like your pet project did that, to me.”

“Does it?” There was a note of challenge in the other’s voice. “Well, it hardly matters: a hole was burned in the wall and they escaped. And I need you to recover them for me.”

“No.” Monoceras said it so quickly and with such finality, that Ophiuchus stuttered.

“Excuse me?”

“I said,” the Tsuno repeated. “No. I’m not cleaning up your mess, snake. Find another or do it yourself, but I’m not playing dog-catcher for you.”

“Is that right?”

The two men locked eyes. Neither blinked. Around them, alarms had ceased blaring, and the constant hum of central air had not yet been restored. Silence hung about them like a thick fog. Neither budged, nor blinked for a long moment.

“Let’s consider,” Ophiuchus said.

“Let’s not,” Monoceras cut in, but he was talked over.

“Shogun Arcturus did not order you to take prisoners. That was fabricated by me. The Shogun did not order you to kill Captain Uggo – you took the initiative yourself. Furthermore, those prisoners have now witnessed top-secret Shogunate research, and are the only individuals, besides me, that can identify you as the person who took them prisoner. It is in your best interest to hunt them down.” Ophiuchus grinned a toothy, false grin. “Besides, if the Shogun ever actually finds out what I’m up to, I’m dragging you down with me. I have many, many records of you and I colluding without his knowledge, of you accepting my payments, and every order he gave you that I have ever doctored to suit my needs. All of this I will offer him freely if necessary. Do not make it necessary.”

Monoceras clenched his fists until they turned white and his teeth until he thought he heard them crack. “I. Will. Kill. You.”

“You should have thought of that before you agreed to enter into my service.”

“What choice did I have?”

“There’s always a choice, Monoceras. Now, are you going to choose to assist me?”

“Damn you.”

“Very good.” As if the matter were settled decisively. “Now then, I believe they have been picked up by the Shinobi Clan Loyalists.”

“How do you know that?”

“I don’t, but it’s what I would do if I were a Loyalist: gather any strays that appear to be victims of the new Shogunate regime, and injured foreigners limping away from a known research lab would be prime targets.”

Monoceras folded his arms. “I thought this lab was top-secret.”

“The work is top secret; the building is public record. Now, find out where they have gone and destroy them all. Alastor, Evangeline, and the Loyalists. I hate to lose such wonderful specimens, but alas.”

“Why don’t you just do it yourself?”

“I have to see a man about a cybernetic arm.”

Monoceras frowned. Was he making a joke? Then he remembered. “Orion is back?”

“He prefers Betelgeuse now, but yes, and a little worse for wear. Besides him, I have my erstwhile assistant to track down. I’m terribly busy, you see.”

“Uh huh. Fine. I’ll get started.” He turned to leave the lab, when Ophiuchus interrupted him again.

“No so fast. You’ll be taking Starburst with you.”

“Who? Oh.” Monoceras frowned over his shoulder. “Why?”

“She might be useful.” Ophiuchus turned on the burning woman beside him. “Starburst, you are to accompany Monoceras and see that he has every assistance in completing his task. While you are with him, and until we next meet, you are to obey him as you would me. He speak with my authority, so long as it does not conflict with Directive Aleph. Do you understand?”

“Understood,” the woman – Starburst said.”

“Excellent. Farewell, you two.” Ophiuchus was almost to the exit when he stopped. “Oh and, the fugitives discharged some magic in the lab. You may want to see if there are any lingering traces; that might aid your search.” And then he was gone.

Monoceras barely glanced at Starburst when he stormed past. “Follow,” he commanded. And she followed. He took her to the once-operating room, now a mass of molten metal and ruined walls. “Was this where it happened.”

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

“They escaped.”

“More. Details. How?”

Starburst shot him a sour look, but continued. “Ophiuchus deployed me against the male – Alastor – when it became clear he possessed ice magic. A short battle followed. He utilized his magic against my fire, creating an explosion that allowed him and the female – Evangeline – to escape. Ophiuchus ordered me not to follow.”

“Why?”

“I cannot answer.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Ophiuchus did not explain his reasoning to me.”

“Hmph.” Monoceras stalked about the room twice, not focusing on any one spot for more than a few seconds. “Sounds like he wanted them to escape – maybe knew they would get picked up by the Loyalists?”

“Possibly.” Starburst continued to look at him sourly.

He sighed. “Well, there’s definitely magic here, but I don’t know if it will be enough.” He produced a clear, crystalline cone, about six inches long, but only two wide at the flat base. “Let’s see if this horn can pick it up.” He circled the room again, more slowly, waving the horn this way and that. As he did, the crystal gradually turned a pale shade of blue.

“Huh,” he said, squinting at it. “Just ice magic. None of your fire,” he added.

“My fire is cosmic in origin,” Starburst said, notes of pride ringing throughout. “It is not magical.”

“Interesting. Well, it’s some, but not enough to trace.” He tapped the horn with a fingernail a few time before stashing it in his belt pouches. “Alright, then. Let’s go. Oh, and lose the fire. It’s conspicuous.”

Starburst doused her aura and followed Monoceras on foot. “Where are we going?”

“We’re going shopping.”

-

In another wing of the Megacomplex, one that hadn’t been evacuated due to the explosion (it was a very big building, after all – has Mega right in the name!) Ophiuchus contemplated the unconscious form of Betelgeuse-née-Orion. Labored breathing, elevated heart rate, feverish temperature. With some difficulty, his prosthetic arm had been detached, leaving a stump at the shoulder. Several metallic ends protruded from his flesh where the arm would connect.

Ophiuchus’ favorite feature was that, if the arm detected it was in danger of being detached, either at the joint as it had just been, or due to battle damage, it would automatically disengage the artificial nerve endings.

The technicians and orderlies buzzed about, doing their best to keep the man sedated, per Ophiuchus’ orders. At least this time there was a procedure in place. During the first surgery – the one that gave him the arm – they had all discovered that Orion drew upon the enigmatic Hunter’s Blood unconsciously, and would burn off anesthetics and sedatives at alarming rates. Only by regularly changing compounds and doses could they keep him under.

Ophiuchus took the arm off the table where it had been set. It looked in one piece, although it was inexplicably blazing hot: a side effect of Hunter’s Blood. No one noticed him do so, although if they, they would not have stopped him. Ophiuchus left the ward, left the wing, and returned to the FORD Lab. By then, Monoceras and Starburst had gone. Alone again, Ophiuchus placed the arm on a table very similar to the one he had retrieved it from. He connected a series of cabled to various ports on the prosthetic.

Data filled his monitors, but he wasn’t in an analytical mood, so he allowed the diagnostics to run, to file away the readings in paths he had specified months ago, and disconnected the arm. With one final admiration of his handiwork, Ophiuchus returned to the medical ward in time for Betelgeuse to awaken at last.

-

Arcturus had tried to keep his expectations low, but he was still disappointed. Kensaki, the front line of the war with Polemos was somehow worse than he had ever anticipated. Which was impressive, given that Hantou had claimed that dishonor mere hours ago. Hantou, at least, seemed like a functioning town, if barely. Kensaki, by contrast, was the bombed out shell of a town overrun by vicious gangs of wild dogs. They toured the camp, and as they did so, Arcturus became more and more furious.

Not one structure possessed all four walls; most had no roof. Uniforms were nearly unrecognizable as such. Swords were dull, guns were unreliable. Only officers had full sets of armor. Food was entirely from hunting and gathering. Water was pulled from rivers and frequently caused sickness. One in four soldiers was missing a limb. The battle lines hadn’t shifted in years. The Kensaki garrison hadn’t nhad direct contact with the other armies in nearly as long. Although Aster insisted this was probably the worst, he admitted that it probably wasn’t much better elsewhere.

After seeing the state of the medical tent, Arcturus stormed out. Aster followed in the wake he carved through the Star Samurai. The Shogun could not be stopped. He reached the farthest safe point and kept going. He reached the farthest trench and leapt over, crossing into no-man’s land; Aster hesitated, but ultimately followed, as well.

Shogun and Captain-Commander of the Hantou garrison continued walked across the blasted landscape until they were in sight of the Ceinian forces. At last he stopped and seemed to consider his next action.

“Warrior of Polemos,” he called into the stillness. “Soliders of Ceinia! My name is Arcturus! I am the new Shogun of Space Land! I wish to speak to Queen Alala!”

[Monika]

Theo smiled warmly at the king and queen. "You needn't worry about offending me," he said. "In truth, I would be surprised if you had heard of it. If your foreign policy has been withdrawn, then ours has bordered on antisocial. Mother in particular so dislikes interfering in others' affairs..." He took a sip from the glass in front of him, his motions swift but delicate, before continuing.

"Sacred Land is a remote island that has gone uncharted on any map for centuries now - a fact that we are rather proud of. Mother is sovereign of the nation, presiding as its Queen. The country is rather small - sometimes it feels as if Mother and I are the only ones there. But our small size has allowed us to stay hidden for as long as we have, so we prefer it that way."

Emperor Awesome hummed in agreement. "Indeed, there is something to be said for being able to keep to your own devices." He almost seemed to tense beneath his armor as the words left his mouth, his recollection of Awesome Land's recent history too vivid for comfort.

"Quite," Theo replied. "Though news of Sacred Land does not reach the outside world, news from the outside always reaches us. We have heard many tales over the years of the strife and chaos that take place beyond our borders. War and disaster are all too common occurrences," he said, taking another sip of his drink. "Awesome Land often seemed to be at the center of it." Another, longer sip. "And Leon Veralice often seemed to be at the center of that. I can't say that Mother or I much cared for his antics..."

When he didn't hear an immediate response, Theo glanced over to Emperor Awesome. The emperor appeared to tense even more at the remark. He shifted his gaze to Artemis and thought for a moment that he saw her mood necklace flash red. "Ah, perhaps I've overstepped my boundaries. Who am I to complain about his behavior? He's caused you all a lot more trouble than he has me," he said, nodding toward the king and queen. "He kidnapped your daughter and stole one of your sacred treasures, did he not?"

Artemis, who had thus far been idly twirling the ramen in her bowl with a fork, clenched the utensil more tightly, taking a deep breath as she felt the color well up in her necklace. Theo was right, of course. Leon was guilty of the aforementioned crimes in addition to a slew of others, yet was still allowed to walk free, using his ill-gotten wealth (much of it embezzled from Awesome Land) to fund the expansion of his new empire: Omnistar. Artemis had promised the emperor that she'd go after Leon in exchange for being allowed to use Super Land as the Council headquarters, but here she was having dinner instead. The consummate workaholic, this reminder left her with no small measure of irritation.

Theo glanced at Artemis again and thought he saw her expression shift ever so slightly, reflecting some mild anger. He offered an apologetic look to King Randolph and Queen Francine. "Oh, perhaps I've broached an unpleasant subject. You needn't carry on with this topic, if you do not wish to."

---

"A...A surgeon?" Alastor stared at Kazemura quizzically for a moment as he laid Evangeline gently upon the table. The moment passed quickly enough, however, as Alastor realized the position he was in. The scientist was stranded on another planet with his critically wounded assistant, and this was the only place for miles that had medical staff who weren't trying to kill them. Though Kazemura certainly didn't look the part, Alastor had no choice but to take him at his word and entrust him with Evangeline. The alternative was unthinkable.

"I...I don't know that you'd believe me if I tried to explain," Alastor said, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. "I'm from another country - Awesome Land - on another planet - Earth - and my emperor tasked me with establishing a space program to be better prepared for cosmic disasters. One of our young scientists and I - ", he motioned to the operating table, " - were able to build a partially functional spacecraft with the assistance of a dubious gentleman by the name of Captain Uggo. We flew the ship into space for our first test run, but were quickly apprehended by some kind of horned...elf - Monoceras, I believe it was? - who charged us with treason against some governmental entity I had never heard of - the 'Cosmic Shogunate'! He delivered us into the hands of some snakelike researcher who wanted to make us his new test subjects! The rogue scientist sicced his test tube sun goddess after us and we were just barely able to escape, though not without some serious injuries."

He rubbed his forehead and took a deep breath.

"I don't even think that I believe me anymore..."

---

"Yeah, if you could just escort me right to my office, that'd be great..."

"Uh-huh. Sure. Where's that?"

"Just down this corridor here..."

"Alright."

"...then make a left down this hallway..."

"Okay..."

"...and then just past these three doors, take a right at the third one, and then take the second flight of stairs down one floor."

Clyde blew out his breath in an exasperated sigh. Once Zais had been defeated, Clyde had received orders from a certain angel that he should begin de-evacuating Super Land and returning all the refugees to their homes in the metropolitan Dynasty City area. He couldn't teleport people en masse like Artemis, so he had essentially been taking people back down to the surface one at a time.

But for this particular refugee, the surface wasn't good enough.

Clyde didn't really have a strict order in which he planned to return the refugees, but he figured he should put government employees near the top of the list since they were essential to the functioning of the empire. He had told the people as much when he first began the de-evacuation proceedings.

And boy, had this employee taken the "essential" comment seriously. He had demanded that Clyde escort him not just to the general area of his workplace - or even just to the front door of the building - but to the exact location of his office in Dynasty City's new makeshift spaceport.

And so Clyde did. Because as obnoxious as this assignment was, the one that followed was going to be a lot worse.

He took a quick glance down at one of his coat pockets - he had temporarily abandoned the whole 'shirtless' thing and donned a long coat to evoke an air of professionalism during the evacuation (though it wasn't buttoned and his chest and abs were still very much visible) - and noted the faint gleam emanating from within. In his coat were about a half dozen playing cards, each containing one of the most powerful weapons in existence. And Clyde had been tasked with handing them out to potential wielders. The demon winced as he recalled that the last person to receive such a blade had willingly killed her younger sister in a bout of religious zeal.

So Clyde complied with this worker's - a construction manager, if he had to guess - request, absently taking him down various corridors as those thoughts ran through his mind. If putting up with the employee's demands meant delaying his next assignment for even a second longer, it was worth it.

The two had just made it to their first set of doors when they heard an unfamiliar voice carry down the hallway.

"Uh, hello. Is this the spaceport?"

The construction manager stopped dead in his tracks. "We have an intruder," he said, his voice gruff, his tone pompous.

"Sounds like it," Clyde replied, about to continue navigating the office when the manager grabbed his arm.

"Aren't you going to do something about it?" he demanded.

"Should I?"

"Should you?" The construction manager scoffed. "Of course you should! Aren't you working for Artemis? She's Minister of Homeland Security, right? Well, go secure our homeland!"

"I'm not even from this country," Clyde grumbled. "Besides, Artemis only tasked me with the evacuation of people out of Awesome Land. The guy who told me to bring you back was-"

Clyde paused.

"Actually, I think I will go investigate this 'security threat'," he said. If it helps me delay my next task for even a second longer... "You think you'll be able to make it back to your office without me?"

"Hmph. As if I'd need your help. I'm site manager here. I don't need any escort to take me around my spaceport," the employee replied. "And with my managerial authority, I am naming you our security chief. Now go take care of those intruders."

Clyde rolled his eyes. "Sure thing, boss."

So it was that the demon king found himself running all the way back through the various doors/hallways/stairs that led him to the spaceport's main entrance. Here he encountered their intruders - Al and Vega - who, truthfully, didn't seem all that out of place. The cast of characters who had been allowed free reign throughout Awesome Land over the past few years was so varied and expansive that the mere notion of 'security' seemed laughable.

But he was now in charge of that laughable notion. And he had other work to put off.

"Howdy, partners," Clyde said to the duo. "Can I help you?"

[Bruce Leroy]

“Set sail lads! We got a might beast to cap’ur and I bet there be a mighty booty for it’s cap’ure. Frisk ready the crew. We been needing supplies get this plot moving again. “

The Sky Captain stood there looking out into vast emptiness of space and prepared himself for the journey ahead, determined to find the best way to capture it. The constellation, he knew how to find it, but how to catch it. It would be his finest work; he would finally complete a feat that no sky captain before could complete. He would become even more of a legend then he already was.

“Mates first thing we be finding is a lotta rope.”

---

“That is going to get old fast?” Cod yelled as he dove out of the way.

MGF threw an elastic band to Cod. “Put this on you idiot. This is an elastic band electric of electric invulnerability. Seriously, how were you a real threat to me?”

After tossing the band MGF bolted up to Castor and swept at his leg with his fin. “Get off my damn ship.”

Cod placed that elastic band of his arm. “This is the dumbest…” he shouted as he hurled a craft at Pollux.

[Mizagium]

King Randolph bit into another bite of food rather than his own tongue because he surely would have bitten clean through. He chewed slowly, tensely, not meeting Theo or the Emperor's gaze (although it has tricky to actually meet Emperor Awesome's gaze, what with the armor and all - you just had to guess). He also, pointedly, did not look at his wife, the queen. He didn't have to. He knew what kind of look she was giving Theo, could feel the ice in her veins.

"No," Queen Francine said, although not at any particular statement or individual. "It isn't exactly a secret. Although some of those events are...confused. Leon did, indeed, steal one of our sacred artifacts." She made sure not to mention which one. "Sarah - our daughter - went after him to recover it. Bravely. Leon...was stronger. Or cleverer. Or...I don't know." She clenched her jaw and forced herself to inhale through her nose. Why she kept speaking, she didn't know, but it felt very important to tell this stranger that her daughter was kidnapped like some helpless princess.

"No one quite understood exactly how powerful Leon was then. She was...she got...he didn't kidnap her. Not from our palace. Not from our home!" She glared at Theo, swallowed the lump in her throat.

Randolph's hand found her own and squeezed tightly. She didn't take her eyes from Theo's striking azure eyes, but allowed her husband to drain the tension away. Unfortunately, that spawned tears at the corners of her eyes - tears she was determined to not let fall. Not here, not now.

"But she was held prisoner for a time, yes." She thought she had healed. Until this moment, those events had seemed like so long ago, but in reality it had barely been a year since the theft, six months and some change since the recovery. Time had a way of disguising things. So did her royal station. She'd had to remain stoic during it all, never letting her grief show in public, but oh how she'd wept, alone with Randolph. She had believed it was over. So why did this man, this - Theo - make it all feel so fresh? Damn him.

"Thankfully she's safe now." Was she? Where had she gone with Knox? "And of course, Leon was under Hystoger's corrupting influence so I...can't blame him fully." Ah but that was the diplomatic answer, the rational answer. It made sense that Hystoger was poisoned Leon Veralice's mind. Some magical artifacts could do that, particularly one as powerful as that. That was the nature of the world. But in her heart, in her soul, she still hated him. Still wanted him to suffer somehow for what he'd done to her child. And it infuriated her that he was the one now protecting her home.

"You'll forgive us," Randolph said, not exactly apologizing. "It was...that time...we..." he couldn't find the words either, and so allowed it all to hang. Theo brought it up; let him deal with the consequences.

-

Kazemura remained contemplative throughout Alastor's tale; although when he got to part about Monoceras, Kazemura muttered something about "a race traitor".

Once the story finished, he said, "Earth, huh? Kind of a backwater world. Uh! No offense; what I mean is, there really wasn't a reason for the...well I guess he's the Shogun now...for Arcturus to out any ships or agents there at all. Especially not his inner circle. Uggo is a somewhat notorious pirate but not enough to warrant Monoceras..." He scratched a scar on his cheek. "Looks like the rumors of fleet movement were true but that doesn't - I'm sorry. This isn't your fight. Once your friend is fixed up, we'll do our best to get you on a ship home."

Kazemura surveyed the small room. "Spaceports are being monitored by the Star Samurai. Civilian craft are grounded as of an edict earlier today. And I'm - " he gestured broadly at himself, as if that explained everything. "They see someone like me, it's shoot-on-sight." A chuckle. "Not that they could see me, exactly, but if I tried to smuggle you out, well then we'd all be dead."

He groaned and rubbed his face, clearly exhausted. "You can stay with us. Try to keep out of the way and we'll get you out as soon as we can."

-

Vega did her best not to raise an eyebrow at Clyde's impressive stature. Instead she stuck out a hand and, in her most polite, professional tone, said, "How ya doing? We're looking to charter a ship offworld."

-

Corvus Crater eyed the Sky Captain suspiciously. "Rope? Look man, if you're gonna hang me, just tell me. I'd rather be prepared."

-

Castor and Pollux exchanged a look. "Ship?" Castor asked. "This space station."

"Yeah he's clearly not listening," Pollux said as the other went down with surprisingly nimble leg sweep. Or fin-sweep, he supposed. And then the other fish person threw something at him. "You think lightning is all we can do?" Everything seemed to move like a quick-time-event. Pollux drew his katana and slashed upward, cleaving the craft in two. The halves split around him and each crashed somewhere beyond.

"We are full-fledged Space Samurai, you worthless Gadidaen thugs!"

"You tell 'em," Castor muttered, trying to drawn MGF into a grapple.

Pollux let his brother be and charged Cod Commando, sword first, intending to skewer him for a fish-fry.

[Calefrun]

Cetis shrugged. "Yeah, fair enough. What's the worst that could happen?"

He swaggered his way up to the device, taking a position on the side opposite from GOLDBEZ. Imitating his counterpart's stance with one foot on the device, he placed his hands on his hips and beGAN TO SWIVEL AND GYRATE IN A WAY I CAN'T EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE, BECAUSE THE MERE THOUGHT OF IT MAKES MY HEART START A-RACIN' AND MY HANDS TO START GETTING FAR TOO SWEATY TO TYPE CORREVCTPLY.

AS THE ROOM GOT INCREASINGLY HOT AND STEAMY, CETIS' SHIRT SLOWLY DISSOLVED TO REVEAL HIS GLORIOUS ABDOMIBNAL MUSLCSES

DAMMIT

Cozal turned his head away from the scene, lest he start questioning some things.

Allie took another sip of her drink, keeping her eyes forward and blushing slightly, but appearing otherwise unfazed.

---

"Huh." Cale II watched with mild bemusement as the ship approached. "I guess that's one way to do it."

Once the vessel had come within 100 feet of the shore, he grabbed Heimrall by the collar and tossed her onto the upper decks, then leaped aboard moments after.

As soon as they landed, the air around them suddenly grew frigid and a thick fog rolled in, obscuring the dark sea and the desert beyond it. Aside from the two of them, there didn't seem to be anyone else onboard - only a thick cloud of black smoke lingered around the ship's helm.

"Weird," Cale mused, "where the hell could he-"

"Ahhh, how nice to see you again, boy." A familiar voice reached their ears, seeming as though it originated from within the smoke.

Cale turned to face the helm, and the smoke began to swirl and condense, forming into a humanoid shape. The creature that emerged had the appearance of a tall, muscular man with long, flowing purple hair. The newcomer wore nothing but a loincloth, and examined Cale and Heimrall with a hungry look in his eye, his toothy grin revealing a pair of sharp fangs.

The man continued speaking, "I'll admit - I was beginning to think that the last of your essence had finally faded away. It's a bit disappointing to see you looking so... alive."

Cale outstretched his right arm, and a greatsword appeared in his hand.

"Sorry Sark, but I'm not here for banter." Gripping the hilt with his left, he pointed the weapon towards the enemy. "I'm here to take back my body."

[Myrdraxxis]

Azzi hadn't replied to Hrathen's observation, but it was one that he shared. Something about that Theo guy set him off. The vampire-ninja kept his gaze shifting between Theo and the rest of the room intermittently as the meal wore on and the tension rose. Something was off. If only he'd had Vampire Balloon Ridley with him. THat boy was more in tuned with social situations than his dear old dad was. Maybe he should have asked to bring the lad along, if only to watch old man Veritaz' blood pressure go through cold fusion.

"So uh, are things going well? I can't tell." He muttered to Hrathen.




Roewk and Knox stood in the noodle shop, watching as Noores payed them no attention and ate his meal. Roewk was content to let his friend finish before starting this unpleasant business, but after five minutes of being ignored, he was beginning to get impatient. "Noores." He said finally. The other Immortal ignored him in favor of slurping up another long stretch of noodles. "Noores, we need your help with something." He tried again. Noores yawned and took a long, obnoxious slurp of broth from his bowl. Roewk felt an eyebrow twitch. "There's been an incident-"

Noores ordered another bowl of noodles and Roewk summoned his bo-staff. There was already a nice, Noores-shaped dent in it that had been neglected for far too long. Roewek reared back and was about to demonstrate why he took the Highschool Land baseball team to the nationals when he noticed the earbuds sticking out of Noores head.

"Noores take out your damn music and listen!" He yelled, drawing looks of annoyance from the other customers -all of which were from the Chinese Hell Dimension he noted- and ripped one of Noores earbuds out.

The Lightning Immortal blinked and then grinned as if just noticing that Roewk was there. "Oh! Hey there Roewk, I was wondering where you got to. Noodles?" He offered the bowl. Roewk just sighed and motioned for Knox to explain things, feeling suddenly exhausted.