Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Lasarius Chronicles ❯ Chapter Five/Six! More warriors around! The party's just started! ( Chapter 5 )

I was sitting at a desk an hour later, writing in my diary. I wrote everything within the little pink book, a picture of a Care Bear on the cover. I have no idea why a Care Bear is on the front. Probably because it was cute. I personally hate the little things, but, eh.

'I seriously hope it never comes to asking a bunch of super-happy cloud-dwelling creatures for help. I will die along with Xelloss if I would ever meet them. Besides the point, what the heck would they DO? Spout sugery sweetness untill our enemies would die of shock overload?'

I chuckled slightly at my own entry. I always try to start a bit humerous. Perhaps whoever reads it someday will think me a better person.

'Hare's dead. We couldn't save him. He wont come back, since he didn't turn into a Lost Disc. I don't know what we're going to do about Genki-tachi. Poor Genki..'

'My sister kept the Hare statue for his memorial. I hadn't seen the thing in years. I only made it when I was younger because Hare was my favorite character. ..Well, okay, not my FAVORITE character. But my favorite Monster Rancher/Farm character. I always seemed to have a thing for either the smart ones, the tricksters, or the ones I wished to be. Hare, Filia, Duo, Sailor Mercury, Lexington, Migh'

That's when it hit me. In the middle of writing his name.

Hare. Filia. Mighty. All three were attacked and hurt SPECIFICALLY.

I had a couple of flashbacks then.

Hare, pounced by a dozen Ex-Eleven's, gone before I could save him, only to see him a day later missing half of his insides.

Filia, pregnant, suffering from a nervous breakdown from her torture.

Mighty, an unwilling father, still a child in many ways, unable to remember but still effected by his own torture.

They were targeted. They were 'favorites'. Lasarius's soldiers were targetting my favorites.

I never finished that particular diary entry. I ran out of there, pen atop my still open book, Mighty's name cut off at the 'h'.

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All who were my `favorites' were banned from the next few missions. Quite a number of people were pissed off.

"What do you mean that I can't go on the next mission?!" Duo Maxwell shrieked.

"Hey, come on! We're only trying to look out for your safety." Jen tried to defend me. "Lasarius's troops seem to be going after Donna-chan's favs. The last thing we need is a repeat of Hare's demise."

Duo grumbled a bit. I do believe I caught a few swear words in there.

I sighed. "At least with some of them it won't matter. Sasami sure wont be going on any missions anytime soon. And I doubt the same with Original Cindy, though I wouldn't be surprised."

Jen chuckled slightly, both of us now walking off to prepare for the mission we were to go on in only an hour. "I still can't believe that Cindy is your favorite."

I sweatdropped. "Hey, just because she has..erm..'questionable preferences'.."

Jen nearly facefaulted, I could tell. "Are you kidding me? For the love of..She's..she's.."

I glared a bit, but not angrily. "Don't even say it, Jay."

She did anyway. "She's GAY!"

I sweatdropped. "Lesbian. The correct term is `lesbian'."

She grumbled something under her breath. "Listen, can we not talk about this now? I'm going to get in battle gear."

I blinked. "We have battle gear?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Recently added. Selenity figured that we actually needed protection in battle. Sometimes, that woman surprises me with what she forgets."

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I really should have seen this coming. Seriously. I should have figured that the queen of the moon would have an obsession with crescent moon designs.

I just didn't figure that she would put them all over our armor. Heck, I never figured that the armor would look like this.

"What the heck is this stuff? Magic Knight rejects?" I couldn't help but ask. It really looked like Magic Knight Rayearth armor; Dressy ceramonial-like armor, mainly one color, with golden or silver crescent moons all over. And this was only for the female fighters!

"..I wonder what the men have to wear." I wondered aloud.

At that moment, Koushiro Izumi walked by, fitted in his own armor, grumbling along the way towards the exit.

I was stunned, and couldn't help but stare. He stared back, for a moment.

"Not. One. Word." Each word was punctuated. I could see why.

After he left, I sweatdropped slightly. "Thank goodness I'm a female.."

Dress armor is defenitally better than chainmail. Indeed.

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Well, Selenity was right. There were neither Orcs nor Ex-Elevens aboard the prison ship holding a pair of Summoners and their guardians captive. The ship, for some weird reason, kept on reminding me of an enlarged 'Delta Flyer' from StarTrek Voyager. I realised then that I watched that show far, far too much.

Er, anyway, the ship was actually rather small and underguarded for a prisoner-carrying transport vessle. Either Lasarius had no idea of the importance of these particular people, or it was a trap.

We all carried newely modified (greater distance, and actually matches the armor) MF-THC's. It wound up being standard. That, and the weird battle gear that we all had to wear. I decided neither to complain or comment. Though, I am thankfull that I don't have to wear a skirt that many of the varients have.

I was one of the first to find the holding cell. Apparently, they were all being held in one huge cell. Upon entering, first thing I noticed was that something was wrong.

Horribly wrong.

Summoner Dona was crying. Full out sobbing. She never cries, and rarely shows any sort of sentimentic emotions (save for making out, but I doubt that even counts). She is a summoner, after all; a fighter destined to die, and knowing it.

Second off, I noticed that three were missing. Dona's guardian, and two of the ones vital to our cause. The two vital ones, I get. Favorites. But Dona's guardian? ..He was just annoying. Odd.

I called into the MF-THC: "People, three aren't in the holding cell. A male Ronso, a black mage woman, and a buff adult man. Keep an eye out for 'em."

Jen called back first, nearly immediently. <"D-Chan, I jus found a dead female Ronso. Not who we're looking for, but thought you should know.">

My call into the MF-THC got the attention of the cell's occupants. Wakka was immediently on defense. He glared at me, despite being chained and defenseless. "Who're you?!"

I held up my hands in what I hoped was a peacefull guesture, signalling a couple who came along with me to work on unchaining them. "Calm down. I'm here to get you guys out of here. I'm from Queen Selenity's Army. Do any of you know where the rest of your allies are?"

I was startled then, when Summoner Dona wailed; "Bartholemeu's dead! Dead! They killed him, they killed him.." Her words trailed into sobs.

Looking at the others from the FFX world, I noticed sad, knowing looks upon their faces.

I feared the worst for a few seconds, before Rikku spoke up. "They took Lulu and Kimahri away a while ago. Said something about 'punishing favorites'."

Well, crap.

<"Kats alive!"> I nearly fell over at the unexpected equivilent of a curse.

"Razor? What's up? Did you find anyone?"

Tidus looked at me, the only one of the group without a confused expression on their faces. "You have a communicator?" I only nodded to him in response, then went back to listening.

<"Holy crud..I, I found a..damn..a disembowled body here. He looks like he was..drawn and quartered.">

I cursed silently, "Fur?"

<"Nope. But he matches the 'buff human' picture. Atleast what's left of him. Crud..">

I looked to my nearest ally, who seemed a little pale in the face. Seemed she heard what was going on over the com, too. "Shampoo, can you get them out of here? I'm going to go search."

She nodded, and proceeded to try and get the prisoners out of the chains.

I left the room, still armed and in contact with everyone else. I figured any extra pair of eyes searching would be for the best.

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I ran down an empty corridor, neither ally nor enemy in sight. I was headed to where Razor said the dead body was (I assumed it was Bartholemeu, Dona's guardian.), running past vacent rooms.

Soft crying filled the air.

I stopped in my tracks at the sound, listening intently for a moment. Yup, was defenitally soft crying.

Walking towards the room where I assumed the crying was coming from (damn echos), I found it to be an unlocked room. Needless to say, I walked in, against better judgement.

I found myself in what seemed to be private quarters for a crew member of the ship. One of Lasarius's soldiers. Seemed whoever decorated this room really liked the color blue. Lots of blue. And not normal blue; Baby blue. Gya. Pastel color.

The crying snapped me out of the pastel-induced thoughts, and I walked over to the side of the bed, a hidden little corner near the wall.

A little girl sat there, chained to the wall by a collar around her neck. She couldn't have been older than five, with golden blonde hair in twin pigtails, and I wondered how she managed to sit up with such a thick heavy collar on. She was wearing, not surprisingly, blue rags. It barely covered her.

"..Hello?"

She practically jumped at my call, backing into the wall, her wailing stopping at once, stareing at me with wide, frightened, cerulean blue eyes.

I held up my hands, "Sssh..Sssh. It's okay. I'm here to help." I bent down, and grasped at the chain. She whimpered, and looked like she was about to wail. I couldn't find a way to open the collar.

I touched the earpiece on my MF-THC and spoke into it. "Hey, i'm in one of the private quarters here. I found a little girl, chained up. I can't get the chains off. Someone get here, please."

Mousse called through a second later. <"I'm on my way, Donna-sama. Oh, and can someone keep a look out for Ryouga? The moron got lost again."> I sweatdropped at that.

Busy with calming the obviously distraught child down, I hardly noticed the 'Master of Hidden Weapons' enter a few minutes later. He simply walked over, took out a pair of giant metal scizzors from his oversized sleeve, clipped the chain, and put it away.

He walked out of the room a minute later with only, "I'm off searching for pig-boy." As an explanation.

I picked up the child, noticing that the collar was heavier than she was, and headed to the door. I asked her name in a whisper. She didn't answer, either from fright or shyness.

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I called into my MF-THC, carrying the suddenly quiet child through a few empty corridors. "I have a little girl here, but she wont tell me her name. Has anyone found any other prisoners?"

<"Nadda, D-Chan. Lulu and Kimahri are still missing, too."> Jen, obviously.

<"I hacked into a console, here. Seems those two prisoners were transferred down to the main labor camp. Doesn't have a reason why, though."> Jim Hawking's voice came through.

<"Holy crud!">

I couldn't help but sweatdrop at the curse's equivilent. "Razor?"

<"Guys, avoid sector ten! Geeze..There's these weird mutated dogs running around!"> Mutated dogs?

..Oh, crap. "Uh, problem. I'm in sector eleven. I haveta go through ten to get to everywhere else." I looked around for a possible exit, noticing something metal on the floor. Bending slightly, but not too much as to bother the child in my arms, I picked up an MF-THC. A human model. "I just found an abandoned MF-THC, too."

<"..Ryouga, that idiot.."> Mousse silently cursed.

<"Donna-sama, stay where you are. We'll try to break through the three fucking mutations on our own."> Tasuki called. Gah, three? Why was that familliar?

"..They aren't those three legendary Pokemon dog things, are they?"

<"What? No!"> I can tell that Razor fell over at my question. Hey, I couldn't help it!

<"..Gah, three? ..Wolf-like? Uh..D-Chan?"> Jen's tone of voice got me worried immediently. She was trying to ask me if I was thinking what SHE was thinking, without alerting anyone else to any danger. Sorta hard to do in this sorta situation, but nonetheless.

"..J-Chan, I have no idea what you're trying to say."

<"..Desertstorm..Granithide..Remember?"> I blinked.

..Oh. Those three mutated wolves that Jen made up when all this was still fantasy. Well..crap.

<"...What are you two talking about, no da?"> Chichiri, unless someone else picked up the 'no da' habit.

<"Nevermind. Lets just try and get everyone out, okay?">

The girl in my arms started to cry. I bounced her a bit, a tip I learned from babysitting. "Maa, maa. Calm down. We'll be okay."

She sniffled, but didn't wail. "I wan' my daddy.."

<"D-Chan! The Three are headed to sector eleven!"> Awww, crap!

I ran to the closest room, another of the private quarters, and huddled behind a wall. The child was now being held in my right arm, and my left hand, almost with a conscious of it's own, went to the 'Crescent Moon Laser Rifle' at my side, hinged on my armor.

I heard footfalls. ..No, pawfalls. Alot of pawfalls. Heck, I could hear them growling.

The little girl stopped sniffling, and started to shiver. I frowned. Atleast she was trying to remain hidden.

I whispered into my MF-THC, "Guys, help would be nice.."

A loud growl nearly caused me to jump in surprise. They were getting a little to close to the room for comfort.

I whispered as low as possible to the girl. "If you need to, you can hold me tight."

She gripped onto my neck. I nearly gagged, but managed to whisper low again. "Gak..Not so tight, honey." She released her grip a bit, but still held. Strong kid.

"Sorry.." She whispered very slowly, and I heard her voice then for the first real time.

The voice sounded familliar. Soft and shy, yet sort of squeaky and high-pitched. I smiled lightly. It sounded alot like my voice did when I was a little girl.

At the time, I didn't think it was anything other than that.

I heard another growl, and then voices.

"She's close. I can smell 'er." I was startled. They can speak.

..Well, aint that nice.

"LEKKA SHINNEN!" Tasuki's voice echoed around, accompanied by some growls and a loud yelp of pain. I jumped up, and the little girl let out a frightened cry from the loud noise. I left the room, holding onto the girl as protectivly as I could. I met chaos.

Tasuki, of the Suzaku Seishi, was fighting all three of them. Alone. His tessen's fire works great against the plant-mutated one (Vinearms, if memory serves correctly), but didn't do much against the stone-mutation and the sand-mutation. Granithide and Desertstorm, respectfully.

Still holding onto the little girl, I used my left hand to take my rifle, and fire where I thought I could.

Hey, laser fire works great on Desertstorm. Cool. Didn't do crap against Granithide, though.

We lucked out, however. Granithide decided to run off, down the sectors. His injured 'brothers' followed behind.

Tasuki breathed hard, a little scratched. "What the hell were those things?"

I frowned, "I'll explain later. Let's just get out of here."

What disturbed me then was that the child I held did not seem all that effected by the violence. On the contrary, she smiled after we won.

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Dr. Mizuno and I ran into the room Remington was being treated in, only to see the brown echidna unconscious, a syringe bring extracted from his arm by a nurse. Seemed we ran in on the tailend of the situation.

Dr. Mizuno's face showed worry, and even a bit of anger, glaring at the nurses. "I thought I told you not to use any more sedatives on him!"

A meek nurse frowned and tried to defend the nurses, "We didn't have a choice, Mizuno-sama. He was getting terribly violent."

Dr. Mizuno frowned, letting out a sigh. "Where's Knuckles-san?"

"Here."

I looked back to the doorway, along with everyone else, to see Knuckles the echidna standing there.

He looked around, a firm expression on his face. "What happened?" He looked to Remington. "Nightmares again?"

I sweatdropped slightly at being left out. "Um..Can someone tell me what exactly is going on, and why I was called in here?"

It became silent for a moment, as Dr. Mizuno and Knuckles both stared at me.

Dr. Mizuno sighed. "Donna-san, I wanted you to see how Remington-san has been acting lately."

I nodded. "I've already seen. And yet, no one has told me exactly what the heck has been going on." I was a bit pissed off. I hate being left out.

Knuckles glared at Dr. Mizuno. "You didn't tell her?"

I looked between the two of them, back and forth. "Tell me what, exactly?"

Amazingly enough, we were all acting very calm. Had it been any of the others, I'm sure that it would have turned into a shouting match from the start.

Dr. Mizuno took a clippad with a report, and handed it to me. "Take a look for yourself, Donna-san."

Blinking twice, I looked down at the medical report. It took me a few minutes to read it, mostly because I read it twice just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

Angrilly, I placed the clippad on a nearby table.

"Excuse me." Was all I said, heading back out the door. No one stopped me.

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I really don't know what came over me after that.

Walking up to the healer of the Suzaku Seishi, Mitsukake, with anger written all over my face, I'm pretty sure I startled just about everyone in the room. Mostly other Suzaku Seishi, but a few others as well.

"Mitsukake-san! Why didn't you heal Remington-san!?" I demanded, rather harshly.

Everyone looked a bit stunned. I'm hardly ever angry. I've been told that I actually am too sympathetic at times.

Mitsukake was no different. "Donna-sama." He was one of the few that treated me like royalty. "Wounds like he had suffered is not the same as normal injuries."

"You couldn't heal internal wounds?!"

"I can only heal once a day, Donna-sama."

"What kind of healer are you?!"

I could tell that he was hurt by that last remark. I really didn't mean to be that way.

I frowned then, and sighed. "Mitsukake-san, i'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to. I'm just very upset."

He nodded, but I could still tell that I had wounded him deeply.

"Yare yare, Donna-san. You care too much."

I swear to any god that exists, I nearly jumped out of my own skin. So did everyone else, I think, since the owner of that voice had not only snuck up behind me, but appeared from thin air.

I turned around after jumping slightly, stareing with wide eyes. "Xelloss?!"

He smiled, his eyes ever closed. "Ah, so you've heard of me as well, Donna-san."

I gaped. "..What the hell are you doing here?!"

He still smiled. I really hate when he smiles. You don't spend years watching Slayers and a year role playing as Filia without learning a few things. "My mistress ordered me to help."

..Waaait. "..Beastmaster Zelas Metallium ordered you, her priest and general, to help us out in a war that barely concerns you."

"Hai."

...Ohh, that wasn't good. The simple implications that the Mazoku were now involved were more than enough to make my head spin.

"Listen, Xell, I can't deal with you right now. Go make yourself known to Selenity-sama, ne? I have stuff to think about."

"Whatever you say, Donna-san." Why the heck was he being so nice to me?

I decided not to think about him at the moment. I walked out. I had too much to do.

That, and I seriously didn't want to see Xelloss. I don't care how nice he is, he's still evil.

..Dear god, I'm starting to sound like Amelia.

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I walked into Neo Queen Selenity's quarters about half an hour later, at the moment that Xelloss poofed away. No smoke, no big bang. Just..vanished. One minute he was there, the next he wasn't. Rather unspectacular, but whatever works.

The Queen sighed immediently after he vanished, sitting back on a chair. For a moment, she looked like a young woman, not like a queen.

"Selenity-sama?"

She blinked at my call, and stood back up, trying to maintain a regal posture again. "Yes, Donna-san?"

I frowned, "It's--"

"If it's about Xelloss, I already know." Wow. She interrupted me, and didn't refer to Xelloss with a respectfull surname. She must really be having a bad day.

I shook my head, "No, Selenity-sama. It's about the Constable Remington. The brown echidna, from Mobius."

She nodded, and sat down on the chair again, streight and regally. Now, she looked like a queen. "I heard that he was hurt rather badly. Leg amputated. Ami-san is already contacting the Floating Island and the Echidna Security Team about his current state."

I looked at her a bit oddly. I could tell that she wasn't even told about Remington's full 'current state'. "Selenity-sama, I don't think Mizuno-sama told you everything that happened to him."

She blinked. "She didn't?"

I frowned, unsure how to say it for a moment.

She caught onto the silence. "Donna-san? What happened to him?"

"Selenity-sama.." I paused. "Selenity-sama, he was sodomized."

She blanched immediently, gaping like a fish out of water for a moment. I couldn't blame her, really. "That's..terrible."

I nodded. "And it concerns me for more than one reason, Selenity-sama. He's scarred psychologically. I've already seen him suffering nightmares." I paused for a moment, noticing how the Queen was unable to say anything for the moment. "..He has a girlfriend, Selenity-sama. I fear that it might cause some instabilities in their relationship."

She nodded, still gaping.

"Selenity-sama, I have to go. I have to do a few other things."

She nodded, still shocked. I frowned, and walked out.

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I headed back to the hospital after that. With the chaos surrounding Xelloss's arrival and the implications on what happened to Remington, I completely forgot about the little girl that I rescued, who's name I still didn't even know.

"Dr. Tofu?" I called into the 'daycare' room, where I assumed he would take a five year old girl.

"Ah, Donna-san. Yes, over here." He came into the room from a playhouse half his size. I prefer to not know how he got in there.

The little girl came out of the playhouse after, smiling brightly, dressed in a little skirt and tanktop. Her hair was, as the same I found her, in twin ponytails.

Dr. Tofu shrugged at my stare on the little girl. "She insisted on wearing blue."

"Hn." I replied. I smiled down at the girl then, kneeling down. "How are you, sweetie? Feeling better?"

She nodded, giggling, "Mr. Fishy played house with me."

Dr. Tofu sweatdropped. "That's 'Tofu'. Not 'Fishy'."

She looked thoughtfull for a moment, before shrugging nonchantly. "Mr. Fishy sounds better."

I laughed lightly, finding the conversation rather humerous.

Looking down to the little girl again, "Sweetheart, with everything that's been going on, I havn't been able to get your name. Can you tell me what your name is?"

She smiled brightly, "Well, my daddy and sisters calls me 'Bubbles', but my name is really Lilly."

I blinked once. Bubbles?

Hopefully, my thoughts on that are wrong. "Bubbles? What's your daddy's name?"

She smiled again. "Daddy's name is Professor Utonium."

Yet more weirdness for my day. "Ah..You're the Bubbles? Powerpuff Girls Bubbles?"

She nodded, not seeing my point. "Uh-huh."

"The same with the powers?"

"Uh-huh."

"..Doesn't your dad have an actual name?"

"..Professor Utonium is his name." She seemed confused by my question.

Huh. How weird. Now, not only do I have everything else to deal with; Now I have a small child with super powers.

I stood back up, and looked to Dr. Tofu. "Take care of her for a little while, okay? I need to think about a few things."

He nodded, obviously slightly confused at my different tone towards the child.

Speaking of which, I looked down to the girl. "Lilly, sweetie, I'll be back later, all right?"

She nodded, still smiling. She then looked to Dr. Tofu, "Mr. Fishy, wanna play house some more?"

He sweatdropped again, but nodded, "All right."

I headed to the door, and, despite the strangeness of the situation, I couldn't help but smile.

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My sister did not seem as concerned as I was about the Constable. It may have had to do with the fact that she barely knows the guy, and what she does know is from me. I still never thought that she would be so unsympathetic as to question the situation this much.

"Remington was raped?" I nodded sadly at my sisters' stunned expression, her disbelief sounding rather thoroughly in the query.

She blinked once, the stunned horror fading into confusion. "..But..He's furry."

I wasn't sure what she ment by that. "You're point being, what?"

"..He's the size of a young teen human. What, four feet tall at the most?"

I nodded, still not quite sure where my sis was going with this.

"..You're telling me that a bunch of grown human soldiers raped a mini furry Jamaican person who's barely four feet tall?"

I stared at my sis, sweatdropping slightly. "Mini furry Jamaican? He has dreadlocks and lives on a Floating Island, but he's not Jamaican." I paused for a moment. "Wait, where the hell are you going with all this, Shar?"

"That's gross, Dee. I mean, who would want to rape someone like that?"

I stared at my sis with my own stunned disbelief now. "Sharon! That's mean!"

"I'm serious! It doesn't make any sense to me."

I frowned at my younger sister's complete lack of sympathy. "The guy was hurt horribly, sis. I'm really surprised at you."

She frowned, and I knew she felt bad. Yet, she didn't appologise.

I frowned at her deeper. "I'll see you later, sis. I have to make sure Mercury-sama informed the right people about this situation."

I walked out, without looking back at my own sister. Sometimes, she can really surprise me.

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I went to speak to Jen after that. I figured I would get to Sailor Mercury/Ami Mizuno after I filled my own best friend in.

She gaped at me after hearing what happened to Remington. "..Geeze..That's rough."

I nodded, silently glad that atleast my best friend cared. "I know. Poor Remy. No one deserves that."

"Why do you suppose they did..that, to him?"

I blinked at my friend. Was she on the same line of thought as my sister? "Say what?"

"I mean, there were countless others there. Everyone else we rescued didn't have anything like that happen to them."

I blinked once. "..You know, I didn't even think of it like that."

"Jen-sama! Donna-sama!"

Both of us looked over at the call. I was only a bit startled to see Miaka Yuki run over. "Miaka-san? What's up?"

She looked a bit troubled. "Selenity-jo'o-sama called another meeting. Seems something important came up!"

Jen and I looked at each other. I don't know about her, but my thoughts were a bit mixed up at that point. What the heck else happened?

Jen looked back to Miaka. "Ah, Miaka-san, why isn't Tamahome going to the meeting instead of you?"

Miaka actually sweatdropped. "..Ah..Tamahome is a bit.." She paused a moment. "..preoccupied at the moment."

I blinked. "Preoccupied?"

Miaka sweatdropped further. "..His pet died."

I blinked several more times. Another difference from what I knew in the anime series, I suppose.

I shrugged it off, and looked to Jen. "Well? Should we go now?"

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About ten minutes after the last few people got in their seats, Selenity took the podium. Usually, she starts as soon as everyone is there. I wondered why she didn't go as normal.

She started with simply, "We have a problem."

Big deal. Gourry could tell everyone the same thing.

"It seems that Lasarius has created a fair of sorts for his soldiers, using captives as the entertainment."

An alarm ringed at the back of my mind.

"Tortures and deaths have become a show for them, right in the labor camp above us." She paused for a moment, allowing the startled and shocked whispers and murmers to run through throughout the various leaders. "He calls it 'Humanity Fair', the celebration of being human."

Jen and I looked to each other in shock. Yes, we recognized this one. It was far too much like it not to have some sort of connection.

I was first to whisper to Jen. "Flesh Fair variation? From the 'A.I.' movie we saw a few years back?"

She nodded, looking grim. "Too much like it."

My mother looked over to us, and I could tell that she heard. She looked rather pale. I guess being a 'new' leader is starting to catch up on her.

I sighed and sat back. "The human mind never ceases to amaze me." I think I said it a bit too loud.

Sonic the Hedgehog looked over to me. "And you're a human." He rather wisely pointed out.

Jen frowned, "Some of you would know about this, but most of you don't. Way back in the medievil times on our world, perhaps even further, the Romans enjoyed similer gruesome stuff. They pitched person against person just to see who would win in a battle to the death. It didn't matter if the two were friends or not; they would be forced to. The people of Rome wanted to see bloodshed. They also brought out starved animals, lions, bears, wolves, and other carnivores, at people that the Romans considered unjust simply because of their religion. Even in other time periods, such as the Salem Witch Trials, where they tortured and killed those that they believed to be witches. Way back then, gore was simply fun and entertaining."

Everyone in the room, along with myself, stared at Jen. I had never heard her be so serious about anything like this before.

"What?! Does everyone like to stare at me today!?" She demanded.

Selenity cleared her throat, "In any case, Jen-san has a very good point. Unfortunitally, it's quite worse than that."

"Enlighten." I said, loudly enough for Selenity to hear.

"A few of our own are being displayed in this."

Another pause, with more murmers and whispers. Cloud Strife was first to ask, "Who?"

Selenity only needed to say two simple names to get an uproar. "Lulu and Kimahri."

Tidus practically jumped out of his seat, "WHAT!?"

Selenity frowned, nodding to Tidus. "I'm sorry." She then looked to Jen and I. "We want to have a rescue mission as soon as possible. For now, I want you, Jen-san, Donna-san, to create the required teams."

Jen blinked. "Us?"

Selenity nodded again. "Bring in the lists by midnight tonight."

I gaped. "By tonight?! That's in..six hours!"

Jen sighed. "All right, Selenity-jo'o-sama. Donna-chan and I will get started right away."

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Author Notes: Well, that's it for chapter six! Next chapter: The Dark Pack and the Brotherhood! Rescue turns to terror! More problems arise, and as the rescue of Lulu and Kimahri gets underway, yet another problem for Knuckles and the Chaotix comes around! Keep reading! ^_^