Urusei Yatsura Fan Fiction ❯ The Senior Year ❯ Great Father Ataru Stage Seven: Re-birth ( Chapter 60 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Ten years ago. Home Base.

"Where is he, Nassur?!" Cinba gasps.

Nassur's eyes glow as he tries to locate Akisur. The attack had hit
them so suddenly. He never believed Gegranko would be that vicious...or was
his operative acting independently of the Yehisrite godfather's commands.
Assaulting homes, harming children; that was not Gegranko's way. Nassur's
eyes narrow. "There!! He's in Tunnel Forty-nine!"

"That's one of the warp-tunnels!" Cinba panics.

"I know!!" Nassur races down a corridor.

Ever since they seized Home Base, the hunters had little time to explore
their asteroid home. Dotting its interior were hundreds of spacial warp nexi,
some which led to other dimensions, some to other planets, some to places
beyond anyone's imagination. Nassur rarely permitted people to explore them;
there was no guarantee of return. Tunnel 49 was one such place.

Reaching the tunnel entrance, Nassur ducks as a fusillade of shot storms
his way. "Akisur, are you okay?!" he calls out.

The sound of a pistol butt hitting someone's head responds, followed by
a determined but panicky voice. "Surrender or your child suffers!!"

"Leave my son alone!!!" Cinba howls as she sends fire down the tunnel,
using her tracking powers to ensure her son is nowhere in range.

An angry cry is heard, followed by a single gunshot, then echoed by the
wail of a young boy. "Aki-chan!!!" Cinba screams.

More gunfire pours at the two hunters. Nassur and Cinba leap clear as
their assailant, an impossibly huge Yehisrite male muscled in the way steroids
developed a man, emerges. "Get me out of here!!" he barks over a
communicator.

A teleport beam seizes him, transporting him to a cloaked ship near the
asteroid. Nassur and Cinba emerge. "Damn!!" the former exclaims.

Cinba's eyes flash. "I can't sense Aki-chan!!" she panics, running down
the tunnel.

"Ci-chan, be careful!!!" Nassur runs after her.

Wailing her son's name, Cinba turns a corner...then stops, eyes wide
with horror on seeing a spacial warp. On the ground, a small pool of blood
glistened. "No..." Cinba's lips tremble as she hesitantly approaches, her
hand reaching down to touch the blood. "No...!!"

Shaking her head, she drops to her knees, then screams, the words
echoing throughout Home Base. "***AKI-CHAN...!!!!!!***"

* * *

Urusei Yatsura - Great Father Ataru: "Stage Seven: Re-birth"

by Fred Herriot
**** **** ****
Edited by E.B. Kushnir
**** **** ****
Forty-sixth of a series of fan-fiction stories based on "Urusei Yatsura"
created by Rumiko Takahashi
**** **** ****

WRITER'S NOTES:

1) And so here is the story the Cyborg was created for. Read on at your
peril...heh-heh-heh!

2) Vosian terms of endearment for relatives and close friends:

Ji-chan - Father
Jo-chan - Mother
Pe-chan - one's *pe'cha*

3) The Sagussan dating system works this way, using the present year 1-
Ataru'cha-001 (Earth year 1984):

1 - First epoch (Epoch = 1000 years)
Ataru'cha - Age of Ataru (Age = 10 epochs or 10,000 years)
001 - Year One

**** **** ****

Tokyo, today.

Komeru Moroboshi relaxes in the passenger seat of his personal Osprey as
the tilt-rotor wings its way toward Toranoseishin Finances' Tomobiki
headquarters. Since Reigi's marriage to Ryooko, Komeru had been downsizing
operations in Tokyo, shifting personnel back to Sendai where his number-two
could keep a direct eye on them. Komeru hoped that the Mendous and the
Mizunokoji would forget the idea of marrying their children; it was no longer
necessary since shareholders would never allow Shutaro Mendou to take control
of the company at this time. However, persuading them of that logic was like
wishing the sun green.

Personally, he was glad most of his relatives had nothing to do with
Tomobiki. His point had long been proven that even with Ataru and Lum in
Oshika, the district seemed to attract more than its share of trouble. If he
could urge his female wards back to Sendai, it would be perfect. However,
their fiances wanted to remain close to their relatives, some who had lived in
Tomobiki all their lives. Komeru could acknowledge that; after all, Kinshou
would never leave the place. The archaeologist/financier sighs, staring at
the passing landscape. He would prefer contacts with this place be kept to a
minimum. "Are we there, yet?" he asks the pilot.

"Soon, sir," the pilot replies, scanning the Tokyo skyline for the
familiar triple towers marking Tomobiki's district centre.

The pilot's eyes scanned left and right, his ears attuned to the radio.
Odd; no Mendou or Mizunokoji paramilitary traffic was transmitting. Were they
doing a special exercise? Looking right, he squints to see the small hill of
the Tarouzakura and the rolling expanse of the Mendou estate, one of the many
landmarks he used to guide his way to the Tomobiki Towers. Blinking, he looks
around. Odd. Where were they? He then glances down...and realizes what the
problem is. "S-s-s-sir!!" he stammers.

"What is it?" Komeru sighs.

"S-sir...T-t-tomobiki...it's g-g-gone!!"

Komeru blinks. "What? What do you mean it's gone?!"

"L-l-l-look f-f-for y-y-yourself!!" the pilot points out and down.

Exhaling, Komeru glances out the window...then pales. In lieu of
several tight blocks of urban sprawl split by small businesses, parks and
schools, lay a three-kilometre wide crater, perfectly circular, dug all the
way down past Tokyo's various subway lines! Already massing around the edges
of the crater gathered crowds of curious onlookers. Shaking his head, then
taking another look to confirm he was not going mad, Komeru looks forward.
"Land this thing in Nerima Park!!"

"Yessir!" the pilot nods.

As the machine banks away, Komeru reaches for the cellular phone.
Pressing a speed-dial control, he waits while the other side thousands of
kilometres away answers. Soon enough, a female voice announces, "Greetings.
This is the Embassy of the Fifth Republic of Sagussa, New York City. We bid
you peace, logic and harmony. How may I help you?"

"This is Komeru Moroboshi!" he responds. "Put me through to your
ambassador!! This is an emergency!"

* * *

"Oh, man...!!" Benten groans, her eyes fluttering open. "Whatta party!"

Shaking her head clear, the hunter haltingly rises. The room around her
...which she remembers to be the living room of the Miyaki home in Tomobiki...
is pitch dark. Feeling her way around, she stumbles over other fallen bodies.
After some hesitant steps, she makes it to a window, drawing open the blinds.
Very dim light shines in from outside. "Wonderful!" she sighs. "Blackout!
Hey, guys!! Get up!!!"

"Eh...?!" Mendou moans, rising to his knees. "What happened...?"

"Dunno!" Benten sighs. "Any emergency lights around here?"

A candle descends from upstairs, revealing Kimiki Miyaki. "Oh, thank
goodness, you're alright!" she breathes out. "What happened?!"

"I don't know, Mrs. Miyaki," Benten looks around, taking a head-count.
Nassur, Koosei, Oyuki, Lan, Ryuunosuke, Nagisa, Mendou, the guards, their
girlfriends. Blinking, she turns to Shinobu's mother. "Where's Shinobu and
Aya?!"

Kimiki's eyes dart left and right. "Shinobu-chan?!! Aya-san?!! Oh,
no, what's happened to them?!!"

"Wait!" Mendou pulls out a cellular. "I'll get the Kuromegane to look."
He hits a control. Static answers. "No signal?" he blinks. "That's odd! We
have two dozen generators powering our communications net! Someone should be
on line!!"

"Worry about that later!" Benten sighs, then jerks as the front door
opens, hesitantly turning to look.

Sakura and Cherry peek in, both carrying lanterns. "Is everyone okay?!"
the Shinto priestess wonders.

"Oh, it's just you guys!!" Benten breathes out. "What's going on?!"

"You best come outside and see for yourself," Cherry advises.

Benten follows them into the front yard. The air is decidedly cool with
a stale, humid texture. All of Tomobiki around them is dark. "Shit, the
whole town's down!" Benten hums...then takes another look.

It is what surrounds Tomobiki that attracts her eye: a dark brown wall,
barely lit by phosphorescence, that stretches in every direction. It seems as
if the district was enclosed inside an impossibly huge sphere. To Tomobiki's
south, high in the distance, a bright point of light shines. "What in
Bensaiten's name is going on here?!!" Benten screams.

"We don't know," Sakura stares at the light. "But we sense the whole
district has undergone a long journey!"

"There you are!!" a relieved voice exhales from behind them.

Benten, Sakura and Cherry turn as Tamiko Seikou runs up. "Tamiko,
what's going on here?!" the hunter inquires.

Mie's younger sister stops, catching her breath. "You're not going to
believe this...but after taking a look around, Mom and Day say that the whole
of Tomobiki's been transported inside another planet!!"

"***WHAT?!?!?!***" the three exclaim.

"Can they be sure about this?!" Nassur wonders as he steps outside.

"They're sure," Tamiko nods. "But don't ask them how this could've
happened! This is way beyond even Sagussan technology!!"

"Agreed," Nassur stares at the light. "Hmm. Something tells me that
thing up there might have something to do with it. Tamiko, 'Renegade' was
parked by Tomobiki High School. Did it survive the transition?"

"Mr. Fujinami saw it there," Tamiko nods. "But if electronic gear
throughout the town're shorted out, you can lay bets your ship's down."

"Wonderful!" Nassur sighs. "Which means that we might not have a way to
get up there and check this out."

"Nassur-san," Mendou steps outside at that moment, waving in the
direction of the Tomobiki Ginza. "Perhaps I can offer a solution."

* * *

Some minutes later, an AV-8B Harrier was at ground level, having been
lifted out of the Mendou Clan Special Emergency Shelter located in the centre
of the Ginza. Extra fuel tanks are fitted to the jump-jet as Mendou completes
pre-flight checks. "Can we be sure there's enough air to get this thing all
the way there?" Benten stares concernedly at Nassur.

"We'll just have to fly up and find out," he sighs, then turns to a
Kuromegane. "Any idea how far from here to that light?"

"Sir, our long-range radar unit makes the range at approximately a
thousand kilometres," the bodyguard reports. "With the extra tanks, the
Harrier should be able to make it...one way, that is. As soon as other
aircraft are checked, we could have a tanker airborne."

"Do so at once," Mendou orders.

"Yes, sir," the Kuromegane salutes, then trots off.

"You sure you know how to fly this thing?!" Benten wonders.

"We'll be fine," Mendou smiles. "It may not have the charm of the
'Renegade's' helm but we'll get there."

"Okay," the hunter sighs as she places herself in the back seat.

Nassur moves to board, but is halted by Cherry. "Nassur, be careful,"
the monk warns. "That light holds dark and painful memories for you. Tread
cautiously. One misstep and hundreds will suffer."

The hunter stares at Cherry, then nods. "Let's go."

He hops into the Harrier. A moment later, it lifts off from Tomobiki,
rocketing toward the distant light. Cherry sighs. "It has begun," he
solemnly intones. "The final battle will soon begin. Ataru has drowned
himself in the phoenix's embrace. Not even Buddha could know the outcome..."

* * *

A metallic-ringed sneeze is heard! "Bless you, Ataru!" Mikan gasps.

Ataru's good eye flutters open as the contours of his bedroom in the
Chamber of Eternity become visible. Where his left eye's realm of vision
would be, a computer screen activates, revealing multiple images. Raising his
hands, he notes the Cyborg's limbs, then sighs. "**It worked. What's
happened to my body?**"

"In Medical One," the leader of his bodyguards runs a scanner over him.
"Regeneration will take another thirty-six hours. All you need do is lay back
and relax."

"**Incredible,**" Ataru winces as a spear of pain punches through his
mind. "**What's wrong with me...?**" he feels his forehead.

"Just your *mei'na* adjusting to the shields protecting it from the
matrix in your cells," Mikan scans the affected areas. "So far, so good."

"**I hope so,**" Ataru muses as he stands, heading over to kneel beside
his sleeping newborn daughter. "**Have someone nearby all the time for Amora-
chan. Who knows what she'll think if she sees me like this.**"

"Yes, sir," Mikan nods, then leaves.

Sighing, Ataru walks to a large cushion seat, reclines and stares at a
picturesque view of the Esanta'cha. High clouds drift over Sagussa's largest
peak, several pierced with flashes of lightning. Biiko and her central
architect team were going to take him to the slopes, let him inspect several
choice sites for his future home. It would have to wait for a while. "**What
do I do for a day and a half?**" Ataru wonders, wincing as pain lances through
his mind.

Suddenly, his enhanced hearing picks up voices from outside his front
door. "...disapprove of this totally!" Lupica hisses. "Subjecting his mind
practically unshielded to cells pumped full of the regeneration matrix is
wrong! At the least, we'll be looking at severe psychological effects. Who
knows what'll happen if the worst case scenario plays out."

"Do you have any better ideas?" Mikan demands.

"The only idea that has worked time and time again; *tre'cha* into
another person's mind, then *satre'cha* when the regeneration was finished!"
the surgeon-general demands. "With a well-trained nurse, it would've caused
no problem whatsoever!"

"Exposing him to strange brain cells?" Mikan muses. "After all he's
been through, he has to remain in familiar territory! What could be more
familiar than his own mind, even if it's cloned?!"

"I wish you would've submitted the Project design for review, Mikan,"
Ryuunosuke cuts in. "Some of us have serious problems with that thing."

"Ataru ordered it constructed in absolute secrecy!" Mikan hisses. "I
wasn't going to embark on a project that had even the slightest hint of
failure! We double, even triple-checked the calculations and they all square
off! Besides, what would you want? Keeping a platoon of bodyguards around
him at all times or else giving him a weapon by which he could intimidate his
enemies into NOT fighting?!"

"I still don't like it," the engineer commander sighs.

"Neither do I," Lupica adds. "When this is over, we're going to take
that thing apart piece by piece and make sure it works as you say!"

Running feet, then Ayesha's voice. "We just got a call from Earth," the
acting executive assistant reports. "Someone has stolen Tomobiki!"

Ataru blinks, then jolts as another pain lances through his head.
"What?!" Sakura gasps. "Who would want to steal a whole city?!!"

"Especially that one!" Ryuunosuke sighs.

"No one knows," Ayesha sighs. "The science team from the embassy is
already there; they're trying to make calculations as to what could've
happened and why. Several rover units reported a space-warp taking Tomobiki
off Earth, but they have no idea where it could've gone. Reports from Triton
confirm that Nassur-san, his wife and Oyuki-san were in Tomobiki when it
disappeared; some sort of party at Shinobu's place. Should I tell Ataru?"

"No," the prime councillor sighs. "He has enough worries without adding
this bit of news. The less he moves around, the better shape he'll be when he
returns to his original body."

"Yes, ma'am," Ayesha nods, then walks off.

"James, ask Benten to come here, please," Sakura orders.

A transporter beam, then Benten's voice. "What's up?"

"What's the sitrep from Uru?"

Ataru twitches as memories of Lum's recent misfortunes storm into his
mind, followed by more lances of pain. "Nothing so far," the defence minister
sighs. "Lum's going to get Lufy and Priss to deal with Vel Pochik very soon.
Ando'll be next; rumour has it he had a thing with Sil Dedron before she
joined the Alliance. Yethis' pretty quiet now."

Lum. His fiancee, on Uru, unable to trust anyone around her. Every
major official wanting a piece of her. Her words could affect the destiny of
her race. One wrong move spelt civil war. And what was Ataru doing? Another
lance of pain runs through his mind as guilt crawls up from his stomach.
Sitting on Sagussa, safe and sound behind the Barrier, while his fiancee was
putting her neck on the line for him!

"Benten, get Carmen to have the rover units increase surveillance around
our list of suspects," Sakura orders. "Encrypted communications would be the
best place to sniff around. Has Rally and her team deciphered that cache of
information Nene found in Yethis's holophone?"

"Not yet, but soon," Benten nods, then heads off.

Guilt gives way to rage. His fiancee had been mind-raped by that slime.
He had allowed her to fly into danger's reach instead of offering her the
Gatherer's protection...and now, neither could look forward to a moment's
peace for the foreseeable future. Lum had yet to be told about Amora.
Ataru's eye shuts for a moment as the most violent lash of pain punches
through his mind's defenses...then opens.

The iris and pupil were now blood-red.

The colour of the regeneration matrix!

Rising, Ataru stretches himself. "**James, contact the child services
officer on duty, inform her I'll be gone for a while. Amora-chan is to have
company at all times, even when Reiko-chan's here.**"

"*Yes, sir,*" the Chamber's computer responds.

Ataru keys controls in his left arm, activating his personal boom-tube.
The low sonic rumble echoes through the bedroom as the *daimon'cha* heads out.
The noise awakens Amora, who sits up, staring confusedly around. "Dada...?"
she hesitantly inquires.

The door flies open, Sakura, Lupica, Ryuunosuke and Mikan looking
around. "Odd!!" the surgeon-general wonders. "Where did he go?"

"Dada!" Amora calls out, then points to the sky...

* * *

At that moment, Ataru walks into the Central Armoury, headquarters for
Sagussa's Armourer-prime and her merry brigade of weaponeers. "Ataru!!" Lan
smiles, walking up to the counter. "What can I do for you?"

"**I need the following weapons,**" Ataru announces, a cyberlink rod
jutting from his hand into the counter's terminal access point.

A list appears before Lan. "Let's see, now..." she runs through the
list, then nods. "No problem. We have that. Ami!"

Aminobishoojo walks up. Lan orders the equipment. A moment later, a
photon shotgun, an Urban Assault Cannon, ten demolition-grade bauximite flash-
bombs, five hundred photon rounds and twenty recharges for the Cannon are
stacked in a dufflebag on the counter. "Is that all?" Lan wonders.

"**That's all,**" Ataru takes the bag, then warps his way out.

Lan and Ami exchange looks. "I wonder where he's going with all that,"
the latter muses. "That's enough to start a fair-sized war."

"Yeah..." the former nods...

* * *

"*Welcome aboard, sir,*" the electronic voice of Courier 227 announces
as Ataru sits in the command chair. Unlike Henry or the other ship CPUs, the
computers mounted in the small ships had nothing in the way of personality or
originality. "*How may I help you?*"

Ataru stares at the controls, then keys several buttons, then cyberlinks
himself to the mainframe. "**I'm engaging RSN special missions protocols.
Authorization Level Five, override code Ataru-Chi-Seven-seven-four. All
shipboard controls are to be subroutined to me now.**"

"*Acknowledged,*" the courier's computer replies.

Ataru concentrates for a moment. Inside his head, a screen activates,
running down the pre-flight checklist. "**Confirmed,**" Ataru nods. "**Set
course for planet Uru. Engage warp engines once clear, flank ahead both.**"

"*Acknowledged.*"

Courier 227 swings out of its parking orbit, slipping into the black of
night as it shakes free from Sagussa's gravity. Once clear of the danger
zone, warp drive activates and the small craft races off for the distant Milky
Way...and the homeworld of the *daimon'cha's* Other...

* * *

Shinobu's eyes flutter open.

She stifles a yawn as she finds herself in a large atrium...somewhere.
First believing this to be the Mendou mansion, she is corrected as the alien
architecture comes to her. The materials in the walls, floors and ceilings
remind her of Nicole McTavish's crystal palace, but unlike the mathematically-
correct geometric designs surrounding Nicole, there is a considerable amount
of artistry in the engineering of the support pillars and buttresses. Looking
down, she finds herself dressed in a pink Vosian hunter's uniform similar to
the model Nassur's first wife wore. "Where am I...?" she wonders aloud as she
stands. Noticing a double set of doors at one end of the atrium, she walks to
them, then taking a deep breath, walks through.

Outside, she finds herself standing on a large landing pad, big enough
to take a ship "Renegade's" size. All around her location is a dark brown
wall, barely discernable in the curious luminescence this place produced.
Also barely discernable is a small black dot floating off and down to the
right. Curious, Shinobu spots a pair of floor-mounted macro-binoculars
nearby. Walking over, she aims the set at the dot, then looks...

...and sees Tomobiki!

"Gods!!!" she staggers back in shock. Look again. No! It was real!
Shinobu shakes her head, remembering a curious dream of a couple years back.
A take-off of an ancient legend similar to the story of Rip Van Winkle, Lum
and her friends floated in an endless dream world, with Tomobiki riding the
back of a great tortoise, reliving the same day again and again. Supposedly
...or so Sakura concluded afterward...the dark master of dreams, Mujaki, had
manipulated this to give Lum a good dream where she could be surrounded by
those she cared for, until Ataru brought it to an end.

And now, there was Tomobiki floating in the middle of somewhere! "All
we need is the tortoise," Shinobu muses, then spots something else through the
binoculars. A Harrier jump jet with Mendou colours, soaring toward her.
Mendou piloting, Nassur and Benten in the back seat. Smiling, Shinobu shivers
as a gusty wind blows past this strange place, then deciding she did not wish
to freeze to death waiting for rescue, heads back inside. Once in the atrium,
she notices another door. She bites her lips, then proceeds through...

...to find herself in a giant room, larger than Ataru's bedroom on
Sagussa. Lining the walls on all sides were advanced computer banks, many of
them Shinobu believed were science stations. Opposite the door she passed
through was a long corridor leading to a antechamber. In the middle of that
was a large glowing spheroid; a power core, perhaps. In a recess in the walls
sat a cloning chamber similar to one used by the Sagussans at the Great Cosmic
Scramble Auction. To Shinobu's surprise, it was active, dark gelatinous fluid
bubbling around a growing body.

Approaching, she stares at the person inside. Now at the development of
a ten year old, her golden skin causes the Terran to smile. "Aya!!!" So her
friend was about to get her humanity back. Cheer fill her soul as she glances
around. If Aya and she had been brought here from Tomobiki, who had brought
them and why? "Hello!!" she calls out. "Is there anyone here?!! Hello!!"

No answer. Shinobu frowns, then carefully inspects the cloning chamber.
One thing you could always credit the Sagussans; they were painstaking in
creating anything, even props for a television show. If they wanted to
include a cloning chamber at the Auction, they made sure the prop was as
accurately detailed as possible. Which meant that this was a Sagussan base,
perhaps abandoned during the furor of the Clone Rights War. So where was it,
why was Tomobiki here and was there anyone in control?

Sighing, Shinobu walks over to the master control station, denoted by
the Sagussan number "1" behind the chair. Sitting at it, she stares at the
incomprehensible controls. Ataru and Lum could figure this out in a minute.
Shinobu sighs, wishing that she had taken Ayesha or someone else up on bond-
mating; that way, she could slip into the Dreamscape and get help interpreting
this. "Guess I'll just have to wait," she hums.

"Wait for what?" a voice inquires.

Shinobu tenses. It was a young voice, Hazel's age, male. Suppressing a
gulp, she looks around her chair...to see a brown-haired Vosian teenager in a
blue hunter's uniform staring at her. His face, at the bridge between
cherubic childhood and well-sculptured manhood, radiates a friendly smile as
he walks up. "You're awake! That's good! I was worried that teleporting you
here might've hurt you!"

Standing, Shinobu stares at him. "Do you...live here?"

"Uh-huh," he nods. "Past ten years or so...although in this place, it's
hard to tell time."

"I see," she muses. "So...why did you bring us here?"

"My friend asked me to bring you here. He didn't say why, though...but
he said he'd tell me soon enough. Don't worry; you won't be hurt."

"Okay," Shinobu nods, then indicates the cloning chamber. "What
happened to my friend?"

"Well," he flushes, twittling his thumbs, "...when you were teleported
from Earth, her circuits couldn't take it. I noticed she was a cyborg, so I
had the palace take her mind out of her body and clone her a new body. She's
okay," his blue eyes glow for a second. "In her mind, she's just asleep."

Shinobu exhales in relief. He seemed friendly enough. "Well, since
we're here, why don't we introduce ourselves."

"Do we have to, Shinobu-chan?"

She blinks. "You know me?!"

<<Shi-chan!!>> a voice echoes from deep inside her mind. <<It's him!>>

"Who?!" Shinobu wonders aloud.

He smiles. "It's me!" he walks up, placing a fingertip on the bridge of
her nose. "Try to remember..."

Shinobu feels her world fade...

* * *

Fourteen years ago. Tomobiki.

Shinobu Miyaki was playing in the town park when someone came up to her.
"Excuse me," a friendly woman's voice calls out.

Shinobu blinks, then looks up to see a very beautiful blonde-haired
woman standing before her, dressed in a rose-red jumpsuit with black and
silver trim. Her flowing hair does not cover elegantly tapered ears. Warm
blue eyes gaze at her. Beside the woman was a young brown-haired boy her age,
dressed in a blue-and-red child's version of the woman's uniform. "Yes?" the
Terran wonders.

"Have you seen this woman?" the stranger pulls out a photo.

Shinobu looks. It is the picture of a green-haired Oni girl her age
dressed in a tiger-striped jumper. "An Oni?!" she blinks. "I've never seen
an Oni before!"

The woman sighs, looking depressed. "Jo-chan, can't we find Lum-chan?"
the boy stares at his mother.

"We'll find her, Ti-chan," she projects a reassuring smile. "Hopefully
before some ill-tempered natives do something hideous to her."

Shinobu watches them, her eyes fixed on the boy. He seemed nice even if
he was an alien. She had never seen aliens before. Standing, she walks up to
him. "What's your name?"

"Akisur," he smiles. "But everyone calls me Aki-chan!"

"Hi," she beams. "I'm Shinobu Miyaki. So...are you really from out
there?"

"Yep!" he nods, then stares quizzically at her. "You don't seem to be
afraid that I'm an alien."

"I've never met an alien before," she admits.

"Oh!" Akisur nods, then smiles.

"C'mon, Aki-chan," his mother smiles. "We have to keep looking."

"Ah, Jo-chan, can't I stay?" Akisur pouts.

"What about Lum-chan?" she counters.

"That is no longer relevant," a strange voice hails.

Shinobu, Akisur and his mother spin around to see a chestnut-haired
woman in a garish black-and-gold uniform carrying the Oni in question
approaching. Beside her is an alien tiger with wings. Shinobu screams as she
leaps behind Akisur, eyes locked on the alien beast. "Who are you?!!" his
mother demands as her hands fly to her pistol.

She is stopped when another stranger, a suntanned blonde-haired woman in
dark blue-and-red, appears with a ninja's stealth to restrain her. "Cease
your aggressive actions, sentient," the second woman announces with a cold,
impersonal tone. "We have merely located the Urusian child. You commenced
your search in the incorrect sector of this nation."

With one shove of her arm, she sends Akisur's mom sprawling. "Noa-sama,
make her stop!!" Lum faces her rescuer.

"Cease your actions, Eiuoiiaoii," Noa orders. "The Vosians, typically,
are a race too dependent on their tracking skills, hence they will always be
taken by surprise when encountering our race."

"Illogical," the yet-unnamed Lufy sighs.

Staring at the star tattoo on the *pirpirsiw'r's* cheek, Akisur's mother
decides to not press the issue. "Aki-chan!!!" Lum flies from Noa's arms to
land before her friend. "Hi!! You came after me, huh?!!"

"Yeah!!" Akisur embraces her. "Who's that...and what's that?!" he
points to Noa, then her winged companion.

"Silly, that's Noa-sama!" Lum indicates the *ashi'cha.* "And that's her
sandpanther, a pet! Noa-sama found me in some other place while you where
down here! Who's this?" she stares quizzically at Shinobu.

"This is Shinobu, my friend," Akisur smiles, indicating the Terran. "We
just met. Shinobu-chan, this is Lum-chan...eh?!"

Shinobu cowers behind the Vosian boy. "Aki-chan, make her go away! I
don't wanna meet an Oni!!"

"What's wrong?!" Lum wonders.

"It appears that native legends surrounding supernatural creatures
sharing features similar to yours is preventing the sentient Shinobu from
accepting your presence," Noa explains.

Lum sighs. "Noa-sama, do you have to always talk like a computer?"

"I was programmed by one," the Sagussan announces.

"Never mind," Akisur's mother sighs, reaching down to pick up the
wayward Oni, then bows to Noa. "Thank you for your assistance, Noa-san."

"Who is Noa?" Lufy wonders.

"That is a designation Lum gave me," Noa stares at the pilot.

"You are both incorrect," Lufy faces Akisur's mother. "The proper
designation for this sentient is *Daishi'cha* #19282...or Aiuoeiioei, if you
wish to be more informal."

"I see," the Vosian hunter twitches. "Thank you anyway. Now, if you'll
excuse me, I have to take these two home," she stares at Akisur and Lum.

Shinobu blinks. "You're leaving, Aki-chan?!"

"Yeah," Akisur sighs. "It's against the rules for me to be here. I'm
sorry, Shinobu-chan."

Shinobu feels tears appear in her eyes. Instead of some alien monster
like the sandpanther accompanying Noa, Akisur was a nice boy, someone she
could come to like a lot if given the chance. Now she just heard that she may
never have the chance to see him again. "I wish you wouldn't go," she admits.

"It's okay," Akisur smiles, then taps her forehead. "There! Now I'll
always know where you are in case I can come back!!"

Shinobu blinks, feeling a strange warmth fill her mind and heart. "You
promise you'll come back?" she claps her hands under her chin.

"Uh-huh!" Akisur nods...

* * *

...then Shinobu finds herself in the strange palace, facing the older
version of that boy she met so long ago. "Are you okay?" Akisur wonders.

Shinobu stares at him, realization dawning. The Oni girl he had come to
find was Lum...which, given Noa's and Lufy's presence at that time, meant that
their meeting was shortly after the *ashi'cha* had bonded Lum and Ataru in
Sendai. And Akisur's mother...Cinba...Nassur's first wife...

"You're Nassur-kun's son, aren't you?" she hoarsely inquires.

He nods, blushing. "Yeah. Dad's almost here," he points at the door
leading outside.

"Then where are we?!" Shinobu leans up to him. "Why did you bring us
here?! What's going on, Aki-chan?!"

Akisur sighs. "My friend wants to see someone. He asked me to bring
Tomobiki here to prompt that person to come. Well...we're in the middle of a
hollow planet. My people call it...Colony Four."

Shinobu blinks, taking that in, then blanches as an ill-feeling surges
from her heart. <<Colony Four?!>> Junba's voice has a warning tone in it.
<<Uh-oh! That's trouble!!>>

"What trouble, Ju-chan?!" Shinobu wonders.

<<Simple,>> the clone hunter grimly sighs. <<Colony Four was the only
place where the Mikado's forces could've retreated after Lecashuto fell. If
we're not careful, we'll be hip deep in the Mikado Marines and hunters who
escaped before the final battle!>>

Shinobu gasps, then stares at Akisur. "Aki-chan...this friend of yours!
Is he someone called the Mikado?!"

"Oh, no!!" Akisur smiles. "He's named Hisur! He's Dad's old school
teacher!! He's okay!"

*Is he?!* Shinobu wonders.

<<Hisur?!>> Junba muses. <<I think our odds just improved, Shi-chan.>>

*By how much?!*

<<You wouldn't want to know.>>

The Terran feels her strength go. "Oh, Ataru-kun, where are you when we
need you...?!"

* * *

Ataru's good eye narrows as Uru loomed before Courier 227. Cloaked, the
Sagussan ship was in geo-synchronous orbit over Onishuto. Sensors detected
the "Kiboo'cha" over Uru's magnetic pole, using the planet's electromagnetic
fields, along with her cloaking device, to maintain secrecy. He wanted so
much to see Lum, but with everything flying out of control, he had no chance
to inform her about Project Four. Still, despite the throbbing pain in the
back of his mind, Mikan and the bodyguards had done a superb job. Dismissing
the thought, he taps into a personal memory bank:

INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE TARGET ASSESSMENT FILE 1-ATARU'CHA-001/728
UNION OF URU - IMPERIAL ROUND

An image appears, revealing Yethis Seq. Target assessment was poor.
The target was under constant security as the president's chief-of-staff.
Eliminating him, according to social-cultural analysis estimates, stood a
99.72% chance of igniting a war between Uru and Sagussa. Ataru deletes him
from current target files. His turn would come soon.

Second image, Des Azu. Terminated.

Third image, Vel Pochik. Hoverchair bound, age 91. Lived in a mansion
in an isolated wood east of Onishuto. Target assessment was very good, rated
92.72% chance of success if surprise guaranteed. Further, Vel, although a
retired admiral, was not in governmental chain-of-command, hence not entitled
to Interior Force protection. Remembering Oogi's words on the subject before
his death, Ataru selects him as Target One.

Fourth image, Cal Tenwan. Governor of Toshitto. Too far away.

Fifth image, Retah Uio. Minister of Defence, commandant of the UDF
marines. Target assessment fair, 61.72% chance of success. Ataru marks him
as Probable Target Two, to be made a target if opportunity presented itself.

Sixth image, Sayan Renning. Commandant of the UDF expeditionary forces.
Target assessment poor, 42.02% chance of success if aboard ship...but that
became fair, with a 66.82% chance, if he was ashore. Probable Target Three.

Seventh image, Jayan Aruka. Minister of the Interior, commandant of the
Urusian Interior Forces. Target assessment fair, 59.42% chance of success.
Probably Target Four, Ataru selects.

The search goes on. Finally, after the thirty listed by Makinoshoo
after the second battle with the Niphentaxians have been analyzed, Ataru picks
ten as targets for this mission, six more as probable targets and fourteen to
be dealt with at a later time. With that, he does one more thing:

UNIT LIFE-TERMINATION PREVENTION PROGRAM DELETE?
YES/NO

Ataru picks the first choice:

UNIT LIFE-TERMINATION PREVENTION PROGRAM DELETED.
COMMENCING MISSION.

That last sentence flashes red...

* * *

"Ah-hah!!!" Vel Pochik cackles as the clone of Sil Dedron twirls around,
now dressed only in a skimpy pair of panties. "Dance, girl!! Dance!!!"

Aroused laughter echoes from his guests as Sil slinks over to Retah Uio,
allowing him to draw the panties off as she twirls around, keeping her
audience spellbound with her gyrations. "She's nicely built, Vel!" Sayan
Renning toasts his host. "How much did you spend on creating her?!"

"Enough, Sayan!" the old admiral smiles. "Sil, dear, give the admiral
your attention!"

"Yes, General," the clone titters with delight as she slinks up to the
admiral, lowering herself to her knees, permitting him a perfect view of her
exquisite features. "Come now, Admiral," she meows. "You can touch me!"

Sayan takes her up on that offer. The others whistle him on as Jayan
Aruka kneels beside Vel. "When is Ando going to make the switch?"

"Soon," the aged warrior smiles. "Sil's gone to Earth to look in on her
mate. Ando hopes to catch her before she returns. Once she's gone, our Sil
steps into her place."

"Good!" the interior minister nods. "Now, you old fox, do you have some
more entertainment?! We can't put wear and tear on our lovely Sil, can we?!"

"Of course not!" Vel claps his hands.

Immediately, a chorus line of scantily-clad women stream into the room,
receiving a thunderous applause from Vel's guests...

* * *

"Disgusting!!" Priss growls as she watches the orgy through binoculars.
"It's bad enough those slime act as if they've won the fight, but to bring in
a *mei'aidoei* of Mendou's fiancee, too?!"

"They're gonna switch her for the real Sil...real soon, I bet!" Lufy
puts away her binoculars, then charges her pistol. "Well, Priss! We have
several inviting targets waiting for us. How d'you want to play this?!"

"Fast but thorough," the Pathfinder sneers. "Kill them, then let one of
Linna's bombs do the rest! Without a clone, the others won't touch the real
Sil. They've lost enough ground already with Yedris and Sugoi-chan 'dead.'"

"Okay by me," the pilot smiles...then blinks. "Priss..."

"What?" Priss stares at her friend...then tenses, a strange feeling
washing over her. "What in Lyna's name...?"

"There!!" Lufy points.

Priss brings up her binoculars. Sure enough, someone was walking to the
front door of Vel's mansion...someone in black with gold trim with lots of
non-reflective grey. "What the...?!" Priss exclaims. "Who's that?!"

Lufy looks. "Oh, shit!!" she gapes. "Mikan's morons actually built
that thing!! I don't believe it!!"

"Built what?!" Priss demands.

The pilot sighs. "It's what you get for being bonded to a doctor who
knows how Lyna was created..."

* * *

"Hold it!!" a guard barks as the Cyborg approaches. "Who are you...?!"

He screams as the machine-man's face becomes visible. Before he or his
friend could sound the alarm, two rounds from Ataru's Urban Assault Cannon
terminally silence them. With the noise emanating from inside the reception
hall, the sharp barks of Ataru's weapon barely seep past the front door.

Striding up, he calmly opens a door, revealing a butler. "May I help
you...?!" his voice catches on seeing what has come.

Ataru's hand yanks him out of the mansion. The crunch of a broken neck
is muffled, then he drops the dead butler on the steps. Stepping inside, he
switches to infra-red scanning mode. Several other servants in the upper
floor. Activating the gravity dispensers in his legs, thus allowing the
wooden floor to support fourteen hundred kilograms of carbo-neutronium, the
Cyborg soundlessly turns right and proceeds upstairs.

The echo of laughter and music barely reaches the upper floor as the
machine-man makes his way from room to room. Waiting in the dark, he remains
in place until a servant comes up, then one broken neck later, moves to the
next target. In five minutes, the upper floor is swept clean. Ataru then
heads into the bedroom right above the reception room below. Looking down, he
notices that the chorus line was dispersed among Vel and his guests. Placing
himself in a position where nothing would trip his fall, he switches the
Cannon to auto-fire mode, then shuts off the gravity dispensers.

On the main floor, everyone is all smiles when the chandelier in the
middle of the room collapses, a large hunk of the ceiling coming down with it!
Eyes snap up as their worst nightmare makes a perfect landing in the midst of
the crowd. "**Alright, everyone!**" Ataru growls. "**Chill!!**"

Screams echo from the chorus girls as the first bolt disintegrates
Sayan's head! Reaction time is swift, but not enough: in rapid succession,
the other guests are eliminated with head and heart shots. Once that is done,
Ataru turns on Vel, attempting to back his hoverchair out of the room.
"**Going someplace, asshole?**" the machine-man's eye twinkles maniacally.
"**Shame on you, General! The party's just started!**"

His right hand hydraulically shoots out, grabbing the aged general by
the neck and physically yanking him out of the hoverchair. Vel screams as the
cyberlinks at the back of his neck are ripped out, his vision now filled with
the Cyborg's nightmarish features. "W-wait...!" he gasps. "I can tell y-you
everything!! Th-there's no need to be nasty...!"

"**There isn't?**" Ataru wonders. "**Too bad!**"

A sickening crunch follows, then he drops Vel's lifeless body to the
floor. Scanning the room, he notices the chorus girls cowering in the foyer.
"**I suggest you leave,**" he pulls up the photon shotgun. "**Now.**"

They immediately accept his invitation. Ataru then draws one of the
bauximite flash-bombs from his right leg storage compartment, then lays it on
Vel's chair. The timer is set for five minutes. With that, he points the
shotgun up, firing both rounds. The upper floor is shattered as the mansion,
deprived of most of its internal supports, drops on the machine-man!!

A minute later, a section of roof is flung aside as the Cyborg climbs
out, absently brushing himself off. A quick scan of the estate revealed that
no roving patrols were alerted to the destruction. Life scans revealed two
Sagussans in the near-distance. Lufy and Priss, sent here by Lum to deal with
Vel. Ataru turns, smartly walking out of the wreckage...when a banshee cry is
heard. "Murderer!!!"

His face is covered by raking fingers as Sil lands on him, her body
sending pulse-blasts into him as she tries to avenge her creator's death.
Calmly, Ataru right hand seizes the clone's neck, then he brings the Urban
Assault Cannon to bear on target. This was a clone of Sil. Fair enough.

Seeing the weapon lock on target, Sil transforms her whole body into
energy, firing herself at the machine-man's mid-section. The blast that
follows staggers Ataru, sending him to his knees! Sil reforms behind him, an
icy smile crossing her face. "Not so tough, aren't you?!"

"**Don't bet on it!**" the Cyborg stares at her, sensor-eye glowing.

Sil is flung back a dozen metres by the stun shot, slamming into a
parked hover-limo. Ataru rises, his foot kicking the Urban Assault Cannon
into his hand as he takes aim. Sil reverts back to energy as she leaps into
the air, dodging the oncoming fire with ease as she sets herself up for a
kamikaze attack...just as the flash-bomb detonates!!

The resultant explosion vapourizes Vel's mansion, the blast wave
encompassing the Cyborg along the way. Sil leaps away, reforming into matter
several hundred metres from the epicentre of the blast. Staring at the spot
where her opponent once stood, she smiles. "That takes care of him!!" she
laughs, then flies off.

Unseen by her, a boom-tube appears at the woodline by Priss and Lufy,
allowing the Cyborg to emerge unscathed. "**Hi, girls!**" he waves.

"Whoa!!!" Priss stares at the level of destruction Ataru unleashed.
"You do this often, Ataru?!"

"**Only with idiots who really piss me off!**" the machine-man shrugs,
then sighs. "**Tell Lum-chan I'll see her real soon.**"

"We will," Lufy nods.

Another boom-tube takes Ataru to Courier 227. Lufy and Priss remain in
place, staring at each other. "You see his good eye?" the former wonders.

"Yeah!" the latter nods. "Better put the word out..."

* * *

"Now, this is unexpected," Angus McTavish sighs.

Komeru glares at the journalist. Of all the people the United Nations
could have sent to Tokyo, why him? However, if what Ambassador Ookako's
science personnel had found was true, Angus would be needed; he was the first
Terran to have dealt with the Vosians face-to-face. Hearing the initial
suspicions about the location where Tomobiki disappeared made Komeru shake his
head. He thought Ataru's friends had finally rid the galaxy of that madman.
Wishful thinking.

"Anything?" Ookako wonders, arms crossed.

Sora, the embassy's chief science officer, steps out of the pit. "I
confirmed it three times, Madame Ambassador," the bespeckled brown-haired
Terran sighs. "It's confirmed. Tomobiki was sent to the Warpworld."

"'Warpworld?'" Angus echoes, having just arrived on scene.

The scientist faces him. "It's our name for a hollow planet. The
Vosians call it Colony Four. It was first settled over two thousand years
ago. Its unique features only recently came to their attention, but we've
known about this place for some time. The Warpworld, simply put, is a natural
interdimensional nexus point, allowing travellers to traverse from this
dimensions to a host of possible destinations."

"Incredible!" Angus whistles. "But...if you people knew of this place,
why didn't you do something about it earlier?"

"Scientists in the Fourth Republic tried to implode the Warpworld, but
in a generation, the planet reformed," Sora sighs. "Finally, they decided to
place a monitor station there to ensure it couldn't be used in a destructive
manner. But...we lost track of the station after the Clone Rights Wars."

"Along with a lot of other things," Ookako sighs. "Chihiro?"

"Boss?!" the brown-haired Fukunokami-born watchmistress stares at the
ambassador.

"Have the courier prepared. Guest quarters for Mister McTavish," Ookako
sighs. "If I know the Prime Councillor, he will order a investigative team to
study what's happened to Tomobiki. We're going to have to be at the point
about this. Sometimes, lessons have to be taught again and again, regardless
of the cost. Sora, you're with us."

"Yes, ma'am!" Sora and Chihiro nod...

* * *

"Wow!!!" Benten exclaims.

Nassur and Mendou mentally echo her statement as the Harrier swoops in
for a landing at the crystalline monitor station in the heart of Colony Four.
With typical Gisan'cha-style architecture, the place is grandiose, a kilometre
wide with multiple sensory arrays and communications beacons lining all sides.
"Who could've built this place?!" the scion of Japan's richest family wonders
as he switches the jet's engines to vertical flight.

"The Sagussans...look!" the Vosian points to an etched phoenix on one
wall. "They must've lost track of this place after the Clone Rights Wars!"

"Bensaiten's Grave, they sure were the messiest race in the galaxy!!"
Benten exclaims. "Ataru's friends're going to be cleaning up after them for a
long time if this keeps up!!"

"They played God with the galaxy, Benten," Nassur sighs. "In their
eyes, they were entitled to do whatever they wanted."

The Harrier slides over the edge of the landing pad, then settles on the
deck as Mendou powers down. The canopy opens, allowing Nassur and Benten to
disembark, drawing weapons. "Anything?" the Fukunokami wonders.

Nassur's eyes glow. "No. Another problem with Sagussan architecture;
it blocks off my powers. Can't sense if Shinobu or Aya are around..."

His words are echoed by the doors opening, revealing Shinobu. "Hi!!"
she waves. "What took you guys so long?!"

"You okay?!" Benten wonders.

"I'm fine!" the Terran smiles. "Why did you come up here on one of
Mendou-san's planes!"

"Well, when we were brought here, wherever here is..." Nassur begins.

"Colony Four," Shinobu supplies.

Nassur jerks. "You're shitting us!!" Benten pales.

"Nope," Shinobu shakes her head. "Oh, by the way..." she looks down,
then waves inside.

Nassur blinks. Thanks to the station's psionic interference, he could
not sense what was going through Shinobu's head. He need not have waited much
longer as someone else walks out the doors. "JI-CHAN!!!!!!" Akisur exclaims
as he races up to embrace his father.

Nassur gapes in shock as his tracking powers confirm that, while older,
the person before him was, "Akisur...?!!"

"'Ji-chan?!!'" Benten exclaims, then pales as the rest comes to her.
"Akisur...?!" she gazes at the younger Vosian. "Is it...really you?!"

"Benten-chan!" Akisur smiles, embracing the startled Fukunokami. "Boy,
you've grown! Just like Shinobu-chan!!"

Nassur spins on Shinobu. "You KNOW each other?!"

"It's...a long story," the Terran flushes.

Breaking away from Benten, Akisur turns to face Nassur. Silence falls
as they gaze on each other, a storm of emotions racing across their faces.
"Mom's gone...isn't she?" Akisur blinks back tears.

"Yes," Nassur nods, then squeezing his eyes shut, reaches forward to
draw his son in. "Oh, I'm so glad you're alright, Ti-chan...!!"

"Ji-chan..." Akisur cries as father and son sink to their knees.

Benten remains respectfully silent. Mendou stares questioningly at
Shinobu. "Shinobu-san...who is he?" he indicates Akisur.

Before she could reply, a strange voice echoes from the direction of the
monitor station. "I hate to interrupt this, Nassur, but there's other
business at hand."

Nassur's head snaps around to gaze at a slim, middle-aged Vosian male
with dark sunglasses covering his eyes, dressed in a plain jumpsuit with a
kill-belt looped around his waist and both shoulders. Blinking to ensure he
was not imagining things, Nassur stands, automatically guiding Akisur behind
him. "What are you doing here, Sensei...or need I ask?"

"Welcome to Colony Four," the man pulls off his glasses, revealing two
tiny slits for eyes. "Sadly, if it was my decision, I would've left you all
safe on Earth...but others've come, insisting on other matters."

Nassur tenses. "He's here, isn't he?"

"They both are," Hisur grimly notes.

"Who?!" Benten stares at her husband.

Nassur sighs, his eyes closing. "The Mikado...and Osur."

Shinobu, Benten and Mendou pale...

* * *

"***WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY TOOK DEAR AWAY?!?!?!***" Sil exclaims at the
top of her lungs. "***WHERE IS HE?!?!?!***"

Ookako sighs as she gazes at the Oni. The ambassador to Earth was about
to depart the solar system for Vos when Sil's private ship arrived. "We
believe they're now on Vos Colony Four," Ookako explains. "As to who took
them there, no one has any idea. We're heading for Vos now to discuss this
with the Provisional Government. After all, we can't just barge into Vosian
space without telling them we're there and what we want!"

"Then I'm coming with you!!" Sil crosses her arms.

"You are returning to Uru, young lady!" Ookako's eyes narrow. "May I
remind you that your first duty is to the Democratic Alliance and to the
Urusian people! You can't expect people to take you seriously if you're off
gallivanting across the galaxy looking for your husband!! Now, go home, Sil!
We'll handle this matter!"

The screen goes dark, denying Sil a chance to reply. "Chihiro, get us
to Vos, quick!!" Ookako sinks into her chair.

"No problem, Boss," Chihiro sympathetically smiles, then barks orders.

The courier pulls away from Sil's scout, then rockets into hyperspace...

* * *

On the bridge on her ship, Sil trembles with fury. "So, I can't come,
eh?!" she growls. "I'll just go to Colony Four and handle this myself!"

Her hands dart over the controls. In a second, her scout races off into
the night. Once her course had been set in, Sil relaxes, flicking on the
Intergalactic News Network. "Wonder what's on tonight?!"

A generic news broadcaster appears, an icon of Vel Pochik behind her.
"This just in from Uru!" he reports. "An unknown assassin just murdered one
of Uru's top businessmen, retired General Vel Pochik. Details are sketchy at
present, but according to witnesses, the assailant was a cyborg whose origins
remain a mystery. We now switch to Milan Domo on the scene. Milan?"

The image switches to Milan, now standing in front of Vel's shattered
home. "This is Milan Domo, now outside Onishuto. Once again, the home of a
major figure in Urusian politics was targeted by unknown terrorists. This
time, retired General Vel Pochik was the victim. It is unknown at this time,
but it is believed that Uru's Defence Minister and Interior Minister were
guests of the retired general at a party when the assassin struck..."

Sil's eyes widen as she gazes at the images of death and destruction.
She knew the Sagussans were brutal to their enemies, but this was unreal. She
then blinks as a lithe figure directing the rescue efforts becomes visible
behind Milan. "Computer, freeze image!" she orders. "Magnify Square Twelve,
enhance and augment!!"

The image freezes, then the sector in question is blown up. The image
becomes fuzzy, but in a second clears...and Sil sees herself! "Gods!!!"

After a moment, the computer reverts to the broadcast. Milan was now
interviewing...her! "Sil-san, what were you doing here?!" the reporter
inquires. "Given General Vel's known political views, doesn't it seem odd
that a spokesperson for the Democratic Alliance would be at the scene!"

"Just because Vel and I possessed opposite views of how Urusian society
should evolve doesn't mean that we couldn't work together to press the Union
to its goals," the woman calmly responds. "Before I became a part of the
Alliance, I was proud of my Imperial past. I still am...the good parts, that
is," she smiles. "Still, the debate raging on Uru now doesn't need to be
fuelled by outrageous acts of murder like this!" she indicates the wrecked
mansion. "The Alliance advocates peaceful change, peaceful evolution, not
revolution...and we will help the authorities track down these bandits
wherever they may lie...!"

Sil shuts off the monitor. "Sister, you are slick!" she smiles. "A
clone!! I should've known! Vel, you old jerk, you really did it this time!"

Relaxing, Sil stares at the deckhead. A clone meant only one thing:
she was next to be targeted by the Imperials. Once she was gone, the clone
would take Sil's place and proceed to destroy the Alliance from within.
Chances were good that someone was after her now. A touch of fear causes her
to quake, but Sil fights that down. The clone was right about one thing: Sil
was proud of her Imperial past...and Imperials would not back down when
challenged. But it did not mean that she could not take some precautions.

Rising, she gets to work...

* * *

"Sil, my dear, you always were too impetuous for your own good!" Ando
Pochik sneers as he watches Sil's scout rocket toward Vosian space. "That is
about to cost you dearly! Helm, set pursuit course!!"

"Aye-aye, General!" the helmsman nods, her hands flying over the board.

The cloaked Urusian frigate races off in pursuit. "Sir, a communique
from Uru," the communications officer reports. "It's Agent Sil."

"On screen!!" Ando barks.

The image of Sil's clone appears before him, haggard and crying,
sporting nasty bruises thanks to Ataru. "Oh, Ando-kun, there you are!" she
wails. "It's horrible!!"

"What, Sil, what?!" he demands.

The clone sniffs back tears. "Your father was murdered!!!"

The bridge goes silent as Ando gazes at her. "M-murdered...?" he
hoarsely stammers.

"Yes!!" she wails. "This...this monster appeared out of nowhere...he
killed your father...and Sayan and Retah and Jayan...they were at a party at
your father's place...it's so horrible!!"

"What monster?!!" he demands, bolting to his feet.

Sil shudders, still trying to comprehend what she faced. "It...it
looked like Lum's Darling...but he...he was half-machine...I...!!"

Colour drains from his face as Ando sinks into his chair. He thought
Ataru had lost the ability to transform into the Cyborg shortly before the
Vosians retook Lecashuto. "Impossible...!"

"I...I thought I killed him...!!" Sil looks sympathetic. "He...he blew
up your father's house...and I thought he was caught in the blast...but after,
I heard some of the others in the Round...in their homes, in their offices, it
didn't matter...they're dead!! Over twenty of them are dead, not to mention
so many...!!"

Her voice breaks as the clone covers her face. Ando stares helplessly
into space as the staggering toll Ataru extracted from the Imperial Round hits
him again and again. The Cyborg was the one truly unpredictable element in
Ataru Moroboshi's psyche. Since its first appearance a year ago, the Imperial
Round had tried to study it, analyze its movements and strategies in hopes of
forging something which could counter it. That became unnecessary when it was
revealed that Ataru's psyche had been repaired, his soul made whole, in the
wake of the Planet of Shadows mission. Everyone hoped the Cyborg was out of
his hair once and for all. Its return revealed that Ataru was an even greater
master of deception that people first believed.

"Sil?" he gazes at the clone.

"Y-yes, Ando-kun?" she blinks.

"Go to your sister's house," he grits his teeth. "We're going to do the
switch now."

"I understand," she nods.

He smiles. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she blows him a kiss. "Be careful!"

The screen goes dark...

* * *

"Why is the Mikado after you now?!" Shinobu demands. "Doesn't he care
that almost every Vosian'll be after him once they learn he's here?!"

Nassur, Akisur, Benten, Mendou and Hisur sit around a table in the
monitor station. Joining them is Hisur's wife, Sianba, a beautiful platinum-
haired middle-aged woman dressed like her husband. "The Mikado, especially
these days, just can't let go, Shinobu-san," Sianba sighs. "As Minister of
the Interior before Colony Four was wrecked by Varanko, I know well his mood-
swings; they were apparent even then. He can't live unless all his enemies
are either dead or enslaved...and he'll do anything to achieve those ends."

The others shake their heads. "Ju-chan told me about how the Mikado
came to power and all that...but...why?!" Shinobu hisses. "Why can't he
understand that people just want to be left alone?!"

"He doesn't care, Shinobu," Nassur muses. "He told me himself when we
were forced on the Planet of Shadows mission; there is NO innocent in the war
between us. You saw Colony Seventy-one. He's willing to do that again and
again until either he dies or I do."

"It's not you he's after," Hisur announces.

Nassur blinks, then stares at his former teacher. "Sensei...?"

"We've been...out of touch since we came here," Hisur admits. "Sianba,
as you know, fell out of favour when she spoke out against the Mikado's
expansionist policies. After Osur was 'killed,' I was asked to take over the
Special Hunter Corps...but after seeing what the Mikado did to Colony Seventy-
one, I had no heart in fighting. We've been here ever since."

"Are you alone?" Benten wonders.

"No," Hisur smiles. "Sianba and I are of the opinion that the Mikado
did Vos a great amount of good. He eliminated the corruption which caused
society to stagnate before and after the Ipraedies War. We needed a strong
hand to guide us...and for a long time, we both believed the Mikado was that
hand."

"But now?" Shinobu asks.

"Now, we're not so sure," Sianba admits. "The Rebel Alliance Army
seemed more interested in bringing divergent groups together against the
Mikado rather than enforcing law and order, helping people get something to
eat. There's been widespread famine over dozens of colonies over the last
three decades, Shinobu-san. Where was their policies on that? We didn't see
any, so we decided to remain neutral, wait until the smoke cleared, then
pressed our own agenda."

"Well, keep us out of it, if you don't mind!" Shinobu growls. "I've had
more than enough of your war; I lost my lover because of it!!"

"Our condolences," Hisur sighs. "Anyhow, while we were here, a small
band of like-minded individuals approached us, asking for help. Most of them
were street kids from Lecashuto and the other major cities. They were hunted
by every side: the Hunters Corps, the rebels, even ordinary citizens who
didn't like the idea of unsupervised kids running loose. So, we offered to
train them, teach them how to use their abilities...and we hoped, if the
chance came, to head forth and press our agenda."

"That didn't happen," Nassur realizes.

"Unfortunately," Hisur shakes his head. "First, Osur appears out of
nowhere! The kids don't take to him well; after all, his and Furusur's
hunters killed a lot of their friends. Further, my wife..." he smiles at
Sianba, "...was able to make him calm down, if that was ever possible!"

"How?!" Benten blinks.

"You're Osur's sister?" Nassur wonders.

"Ah, you noticed the resemblance," Sianba feels her cheeks redden.
"Well, Osur may be a lunatic, but as a warrior, he is really unparalleled and
...given direction, he can do a lot of good. I'm sorry if you don't agree
with this, Nassur. He is my brother, after all. But...before we knew it,
thousands of Mikado soldiers arrive from the Homeworld, set up camp,
determined to press on the war. And with them..."

"Came the Mikado," Nassur sighs, then stares at his son. "How did you
get involved?"

"Well...I knew they were up there all the time," Akisur shrugs. "After
I met Hisur-san and Sianba-san, I showed them the station here. They're
really nice, you know. And...I know a lot of the kids. They're just like
Lum-chan and the others. But, now..." he falters.

Nassur blinks, then stares at Hisur. "They're holding them hostage?"

"Exactly," the elder warrior sighs. "I have a thousand kids, many of
them younger than Akisur. An estimated hundred thousand Marines and others
are now on the surface. They have gathered a fair-sized fleet...which also
includes a Kamahanite Ultimate Weapon."

The visitors pale. "How'd they get hold of that?!!" Benten gasps.

"They stole it, what else?!" Hisur sneers. "Eventually, they want to go
back, force the Provisional Government to disband and allow the Mikado to
return to power. But, first, they have someone to get rid of...which is why
your friends from Earth are here, Nassur."

Nassur and Benten gaze at each other. "Ataru," the former sighs.

"The Mikado might as well commit suicide and spare Ataru the trouble!!"
the latter sneers. "The instant people on Earth learn this, they'll get
Sagussa to send everything they've got here..."

"And if your friend doesn't back the Mikado, all the people in Tomobiki
die," Hisur cuts in.

Everyone jolts. "And...if we attempt to send Tomobiki back to Earth,"
Sianba adds, "...all our kids will be executed."

Shinobu shakes her head. Mendou tenses, hands gripping his katana.
Akisur looks ashamed. Benten and Nassur gaze at each other. "We better tell
everyone," he rises. "They deserve to know."

"Right," Benten nods. "Damn, doesn't it ever end...?!"

* * *

A blaze in a downtown apartment in Onishuto burns as Ataru observes from
an alley nearby. He remains quiet as the fire brigade tries to drench the
flames, far too late for the two men inside. Leaders of minor families in the
Imperial Round, they were respectively the mayor of Onishuto and the former
governor of Shingetsu, a survivor of the Lannarkite attack. Ataru had learned
that the mayor's popularity had plummeted in the last few months, his
administration riddled with scandal. As for Shingetsu's governor, he was
being scorned because he escaped while millions had been murdered. Neither
would be missed...and at present, only a dozen of the Imperial Round remained
alive. A more than successful mission, the machine-man concludes as he turns
to leave.

"Admiring your handiwork, Darling?"

He stops, focused on someone dressed very much like him. "**Lum!**"

Lum steps out of the shadow, a gabardine covering her jumpsuit. "What
are you trying to do?!!" she exclaims. "Why didn't you tell me Mikan had
proposed...proposed creating THIS?!?!" her eyes run over something she hoped
never to see again.

"**What did you expect?**" he demands. "**You were brainwashed into
attacking me, everyone and his dog was thinking Earth was ripe for the
plucking and that I was too weak to stop it?! What was I supposed to do?! Go
into the corner and suckle my thumb?! Hell, I'm tired of taking hits from
other people, Lum-chan! I'm tired of seeing you suffer because of my
shortcomings! I'M tired...ALL of me! I'm not going to take it anymore!!**"

Lum stares at him, noting the deep red good eye. "You have to get out
of this thing, Darling!" she grips his arms. "Don't you see?! The matrix
inside you's destroying your mind!! You're killing yourself being in here!
Please..." her hand rises to his face.

He stares, a lost look appearing in his eye. "**Lum-chan, help me...**"

"That's it!!" she beams. "That's it! Now, we'll go to the courier and
we'll get you out of there...and we'll forget this happened..."

Ataru jolts as his communicator deploys from his right arm. "*Ataru-
sama, a message from the Prime Councillor,*" the computer of Courier 227
signals. "*Tomobiki-cho has been teleported off Earth to the Warpworld,
indigenous name Vos Colony Four. Intelligence reports a massing of Mikado
troops on the planet at this time.*"

Lum pales. "The Mikado...?!"

"*Ambassador Ookako is proceeding to speak with Vosian officials to
permit our forces to proceed to Colony Four and attempt a rescue,*" the
courier's computer continues. "*The Prime Councillor wishes to know what you
would desire to have done.*"

Ataru tenses, emotion draining from his eye. "**Tell Benten to mobilize
everything we have!**" he intones. "**Even if the Provisional Government is
hesitant on allowing us to come in, they acknowledge our rights to defend
Terran citizens at times like this!! Prepare to head to Colony Four; I'll be
with you shortly!**"

"*At once, sir!*"

The communicator returns to its housing. "Darling, don't go!!!" Lum
grabs his arms. "If you go, you'll kill yourself!!!"

Ataru fixes his fiancee with a stare. "**Lum...I have finally gotten
rid of Oogi and Elle. We're in the process of ridding ourselves of Yethis and
his gang! We might be facing Sheko in the near future, but that depends a lot
on how things go on Yehisril. The Mikado is the last thing that's standing in
our way of a peaceful life, Lum-chan! I'm not going to stand by and leave
things to Fate! If he wants a fight, he's getting one!!**"

Lum trembles, realizing that despite the regeneration matrix's effects,
Ataru's determination to see them both at peace still ruled his actions. She
leans up, placing a loving kiss on his face. "You come back to me!!" she
hisses. "Swear to me you'll come back!!"

"**I will!**" he embraces her, then keys his arm controls.

A boom-tube appears. Lum steps back as Ataru disappears. "Please..."
she claps her hands in prayer, "...please bring him back..."

* * *

"Did you see that mess out there?" Angus wonders as the delegation
arrives at the pyramid-like structure presently housing the Provisional
Government of the Confederation of Vos. "It looked like Berlin after the
Russians took it in 'forty-five!"

"Well, we wanted to ensure the maximum amount of Alliance troops could
safely enter the town," Ookako admits as they proceed into the foyer. "Ah,
here we are!"

"Ambassador Ookako, Mister McTavish," an aide approaches. "Minister
Hessur is waiting to see you. This way."

The delegation enters a spacious office next to Vos' House of Commons
chamber. Hessur rises, hand extended. "Welcome to Vos," he shakes Ookako's
hand, then Angus'. "I trust your flight from Earth was uneventful."

"It was alright," Ookako smiles as they sit before him. "However, the
news we bring today may cause your government considerable embarrassment,
especially so soon after you've taken Lecashuto."

"What has happened exactly?" Hessur wonders.

Ookako indicates Sora, who briefs the minister on events surrounding
Tomobiki's teleportation to Colony Four, followed by a brief history of Colony
Four from a Sagussan perspective. Once that is done, Ookako faces Hunba's
former deputy. "Minister Hessur, under the Earth-Sagussa Treaty, we are
obliged to render whatever assistance we can to all elements of Terran society
threatened by other parties. An element of Vosian society has committed an
act of aggression against Earth. It is our intention to locate Tomobiki and
return it to Earth, as well as pursue and punish the criminals responsible.
At present, a rover unit is on its way to Colony Four to analyze the
situation. It will report to me directly once the mission is done."

Hessur sighs. "This is the reason we originally were hesitant on
allowing your people involvement in the retaking of Lecashuto," he clasps his
hands under his chin. "The Mikado's supporters are trying to make people
believe our government is illegitimate because it relied on alien support for
taking the capital city. Now, granted he has committed an act of aggression
against a neutral state under your Republic's protection, but he could easily
manipulate the facts so that it seems Sagussa is the aggressor. That could
lead to interesting developments in the future."

"Understandable," Ookako nods. "However, a hundred thousand people will
disagree with you."

"A hundred thousand...?" the Vosian wonders.

"The population of the district taken," Angus cuts in. "Minister, we're
not here to demand anything of you. We realize your government must first and
foremost be concerned with restoring a sense of peace among your own people,
forging a new constitution, legitimizing your rebellion against the Mikado.
We're not here to interfere with that; after all you have suffered, we
wouldn't think of such a crass thing. Our presence here is to ensure our
people can safely return to Earth. Is there something wrong with that?"

"Of course not," Hessur shakes his head. "We'd be more than happy to
assist in the repatriation of your citizens, Mister McTavish. However, we are
at present spread thin across the Confederation. There are still flashpoints
on various colonies, pockets of Mikado soldiers trying to make a last stand."

"Then our assistance comes in time," Ookako smiles.

Everyone blinks as Chihiro's communicator goes off. "Chihiro," the
watchmistress responds.

"*Watchmistress, this is Rover Victor-Oh-six-one,*" a neutral voice
responds. "*Begging to report to Ambassador Ookako about the situation on
Colony Four.*"

"Proceed," Ookako orders.

"*Situation is dangerous, ma'am. Over one hundred thousand Vosian
Mikado troops are encamped on the planet's surface. Further, a small attack
fleet numbering one planet destroyer-class weapon, seven battleships and
fifty-two minor vessels are in orbit over the planet...*"

"Wait!" Hessur tenses. "What type of planet destroyer?"

"*Model is a Kamahanite Ultimate Weapon,*" the rover unit reports. "*It
is currently manned by Vosians.*"

Hessur pales. "Status of readiness?" Ookako inquires.

"*Readiness status is in transition, Ambassador. Many of the troops
appear to be resting after redeploying from Lecashuto. Others appear to be in
fighting trim, preparing to embark for other destinations. Analysis of secure
communications traffic indicate that reinforcement of Mikado troops on various
colonies is the first objective. It is believed the Ultimate Weapon may be
used in a bid against Vos itself.*"

"Oh, no!" Hessur exclaims. "We have nothing compatible against that
type of weapon! I can't believe he would go that far."

"He has nothing to lose," Angus muses.

"Stand by, Rover Oh-six-one," Ookako sighs. "Minister?"

Hessur grinds his teeth. "I must admit...it is very hard for us to
consider asking anyone's assistance in dealing with a situation like this.
For a long time, we've never had the need; we have never encountered a force
technologically stronger than we. None the less, the threat is clear. Madame
Ambassador, fifty years ago, the Gatherer destroyed the prototype Ultimate
Weapon to prevent its use against the Mikado. I request on behalf of the
Confederation of Vos that the Fifth Republic of Sagussa once again assist us
in the suppression of the Mikado's forces. The mere presence of an Ultimate
Weapon in the hands of that madman is a threat not only to Vos but to every
race in the galaxy."

"Of course," Ookako smiles, then looks back. "Rover Oh-six-one."

"*Ma'am?*" the rover unit responds.

"Signal the Defence Minister and the Shipmistress-prime. My compliments
and inform them the *legitimate* government of Vos has requested the Fifth
Republic's assistance in suppressing the Mikado's forces on Colony Four as we
attempt to return Tomobiki to Earth."

"*At once, ma'am. Military forces are preparing as we speak. ETA
Colony Four, three hours twelve minutes.*"

"Very well, then," Ookako nods. "Inform the other rover units in your
area to commence communications blockade."

"*Yes, ma'am.*"

* * *

"Why the hell are we putting up to this?!" an angry businessman demands.
"If the Mikado wants Moroboshi, let him have him!! Why are we involved?!!"

"Yeah!!" another citizen barks. "Moroboshi's been nothing but trouble
since before Lum's arrival!! If the Mikado can knock him down a peg or two,
all the better!!! Let's get Tomobiki back to Earth!!"

Shouts of approval echo his words, which are quelled when Nassur bolts
to his feet. "YOU IDIOTS!!!!" he screams. "I can't believe you people would
say things like that!!!"

Many shrink from the hunter's withering gaze. An emergency district
meeting was being held in the gymnasium of Tomobiki High School. On the
stage, Nassur, Benten, Shinobu, Hisur, Sianba, Mendou, the guards, Lan and
Sakura form a review panel. "Don't you understand what the real danger is?!"
Nassur demands. "This whole town is being held hostage by a madman who would
destroy you in the blink of an eye!! I've seen it done, believe me! The
lives of a hundred thousand people don't matter to him! Best estimates state
that TEN MILLION people died during the last thirty-five years thanks to the
Mikado!! He doesn't care about what you think of Ataru!! You're just lambs
for the slaughter, the bait necessary to bring Ataru here!!"

"That's what we mean!!" the businessman growls. "The fight is between
the Mikado and Moroboshi!! Let it be settled between them!"

"It's Ataru's fault that we're here anyway!!" a student snaps.

"Is it really?!" Shinobu wonders.

The crowd grows silent. "The instant something strange happens, you
immediately blame him," a wry smile crosses her face. "You people like
blaming Ataru-kun for everything that happens to you...because you idiots
don't want to use your brains for something other than keeping your ears
apart! Let me tell you something!! Ataru-kun can just call the Mikado and
say, 'Oh, by the way, why don't you destroy Tomobiki and we'll call it even?!'
In Ataru-kun's mind, getting rid of Tomobiki would spare Earth all the trouble
*Tomobiki* has unleashed on him, on Lum, on Lum's friends and everyone else
whose lives had been destroyed because of *Tomobiki!*"

People quake. "I guess you people don't appreciate what Ataru's done
for you!" Nassur sighs. "Let me tell you how most people out there see him.
They don't care too much about his girl-chasing; Sagussa's taken care of that.
They don't care about the amount of trouble Ataru seems to attract; hey,
that's tame compared to what happens out there!" he points up.

"What they do see is a man who's willing to hunt down a pack of child-
slavers to save his daughter," Nassur continues. "A man who was ready to
stand up for Earth every time someone was bit by the invasion bug. A man who
rid the galaxy of the most moronic religion that ever existed, a religion
based on how YOU people venerated his fiancee! A man who rid the galaxy of a
water planetoid whose natives murdered people since before recorded history.
A man who stopped a pack of energy-vampires preying on innocent people for two
hundred years; he got Zeiwan's highest decoration for that! And a man who
just prevented an intergalactic war over a derelict Sagussan fleet floating
within the grasp of every rogue state in the cluster!! THAT'S how people see
Ataru Moroboshi! And when they learn how the people of Tomobiki look at
Ataru, they say 'boy, are those idiots stupid!!'"

Silence. "Right now, Ataru's people are probably negotiating with the
Provisional Government about how they'll get you back to Earth," Nassur adds.
"Now, in the best of all worlds, the Provisional Government will just say 'go
to town' and allow the Sagussans to finish the job they started in Lecashuto
two months ago. But, I know my people well. They don't like it when others
interfere in Vosian affairs. They'll probably say 'We'll hand this. This is
our space and we'll bring the criminals to justice.'"

He pauses, fixing them with an icy stare. "And if that happens, some of
you will never see Earth again."

Gasps respond to the dire pronouncement. "So if I were you," Nassur
sighs, "I'd be praying Ataru was in a good enough mood so that he'd come
anyway to get you home safe and sound."

With that, Nassur walks off the stage, followed by the others. "I've
tried again and again to put out a distress call," Lan muses. "But something
about this planet's blocking all the transmissions."

"Are you sure it isn't the Mikado's people jamming us?" Megane wonders.

"They don't need to!" Lan sneers. "The space warps filling this place
do a good enough job on their own!"

"Could we try to talk your son into taking us back?" Sakura stares at
Nassur. "Surely he realizes how mad the Mikado really is!"

"Sakura, he's more concerned about his friends in that regiment of
hunters Sensei organized," Nassur looks sympathetic. "He's been living here
for ten years. He hasn't had the chance to grow and experience things like
most children. All he sees is one thing: his friends are in danger. He'll
do anything to save them. Most of you are strangers, people that, as far as
Akisur's concerned, may have done bad things to make the Mikado angry enough
to take his friends hostage. That's the problem here."

"So what can we do?!" Paama wonders.

"I'd start praying for a miracle," Nassur sighs.

"That's not good enough," Lan warns.

By then, the crowd has reached the empty lot where Cherry is currently
cooking dinner. "Ah!" the monk sighs. "So, how was the town meeting?"

"Not good," Shinobu collapses beside him. "Everyone blames everything
on Ataru, as usual. Get us home and let the Mikado duke it out with Ataru on
their own. They just don't get it."

"They don't want to," Cherry grimaces, adding spices to his pot. "It's
hard for them, even after all we've been through, to conceive of the dangers
encountering other races produces. In the meantime, I've begun to discern
what will happen in the coming battle."

"Looks like you're cooking dinner," Sianba hums.

"That, too," Cherry smiles.

The former minister pales. Everyone else looks sympathetic. "You have
to get used to Cherry to understand how he works," Mendou explains.

Taking beads and incense, Cherry begins his petitions. More ingredients
are added to the stew. An image appears in the broth. Staring at it, Cherry
shakes his head, turning away. "Sakurambou..." Megane gulps.

"What is it?" Shinobu blinks.

Cherry sighs. "It is as I've feared," he hoarsely intones. "Ataru has
permitted himself to be taken in by the phoenix's power. Right now, he
teeters on the brink of madness. Already, people have died because of it.
More death is coming...much more. That..." he points at the pot, "...is the
sign of the end of innocence. If your beliefs about yourself, your place in
this universe and your fate have not been shattered before now...they will be
before this day is done."

Everyone tenses...

* * *

Sometime later, Shinobu beams to the monitor station. There, Akisur
watches several screens showing images on the surface of Colony Four. A
desolate world even before the Yehisrites destroyed the Mikado's "perfect
colony," it holds no advanced form of life. Most of the images show a small
encampment near the site of the colony's capital city. The people inside are
young, the oldest Hazel's age, the youngest too young for primary school.
Staring at the images, Shinobu sighs. "Those're your friends, aren't they?"

"Yeah," Akisur sighs, stretching himself. "I just wish I didn't meet
you again under these circumstances."

"It's okay," Shinobu hugs him from behind. "I'm glad to see you again."

Akisur stares at her. "Shinobu-chan...is it true? Did Dad...marry
Benten-chan?"

The Terran twitches. "Yeah. It...came as quite a shock to me. I...was
in love with your father, too."

"Really?" the Vosian smiles. "Why?"

"Because's he's brave, stalwart, kind, accepting...all the things anyone
would desire in a mate," Shinobu beams. "Your father is a wonderful man, Aki-
chan. Even if...I didn't marry him, I am so proud to consider him my Pe-chan
...just like I'm proud to consider you my Pe-chan."

Akisur blushes. "Thank you. I'm glad to get to know you finally. You
...were just a dream to me for a long time. We can be friends, can't we?"

"We're *pe'cha,* Aki-chan," she gently grasps his hands. "We're more
than friends." *Much more,* she mentally adds. *I hope.*

<<Don't be so quick to hope, Shi-chan,>> Junba warns.

Shinobu feels herself quake. Akisur blinks, then looks down, pulling
himself away. "Shinobu-chan...s-something's happened."

"What?" she wonders.

Her answer comes as a door opens, revealing a Zeiwanite woman her age
draped in a towel, drying her short-cut brown hair. "Oh, it's so wonderful to
have a real shower!" she smiles, then stops. "Shinobu!! There you are!"

Shinobu spins around, jaw dropping in shock. "A-a-aya...?!"

"Uh-huh!!" Aya smiles as she embraces her friend, then twirls around
like a ballerina. "Well, how do I look?!"

Shinobu blinks. Aya is, although slim and pretty, not the stunning
bombshell she was when a cyborg. Her green eyes twinkle with mischievous
delight, projecting a demeanor akin to Lan in her "cute girl" stage...although
Shinobu knows Aya enough to realize it is no act. "You look beautiful!" she
sighs. "Anyone would delight in having you as a mate."

Aya frowns. "Well...someone will have that chance."

Her eyes fall on Akisur. Shinobu glances at the Vosian, then sees a
faint sparkle in his blue eyes. <<I warned you...>> Junba's voice soothingly
echoes in her mind.

"You recognized her, didn't you?" Shinobu wonders.

"Yeah," Akisur nods.

Shinobu looks down, tears brimming her eyelids. "I'm...I'm really happy
for you...for you both..."

"Shinobu," Aya cups her chin, lifting her face to gaze in her eyes.
"Just because Aki-kun and I're bonded...doesn't mean that we're no longer
friends. I warned you this sometime ago. You have to learn what is the
difference between dream and reality. Just because the one you've sought for
so long didn't pan out doesn't mean it's the end of the world. You are my
friend, Shinobu. I love you very much and I will always wish the best for
you. And someone is out there for you, Shinobu. Don't for an instant believe
otherwise. You just have to find that person. And I know you will."

Shinobu blinks, then embraces her. "Oh, Aya, I'm so happy for you
both," she sighs. "But...with all my failures in trying to bond with others
...I'm about to give up hope!"

"Shinobu, you have to rededicate yourself, redirect yourself," Aya
smiles. "And you can do it. Just refocus your passions to other things.
Maybe now's not the time to seek a mate. There's nothing wrong with waiting.
Establish yourself first, then worry about a mate. Many people rush into
things, then realize they made an awful mistake. Don't be one of them."

Shinobu sniffs. "So many people...in so many ways...have said that to
me. Every time, I listened...then something happens to make me go back. Oh,
gods, I'm so afraid for you two. Dark kamis follow me like they follow Ataru-
kun. Please, please," she shudders, tears flowing down her cheeks, "...please
make sure something doesn't happen to you."

Aya sighs, then stares at Akisur. "We've already made plans. We'll be
fine. He'll be here soon."

Shinobu tenses. Ataru was coming. "Okay," she nods. "I'll...leave you
two be for a while."

Aya kisses her, then lets her go. Shinobu walks out of the room.
Sighing, the Zeiwanite turns to her boyfriend. "Let's get ready."

"Yeah," Akisur nods.

Outside, Shinobu passes through the atrium to the landing deck.
Mendou's Harrier remains parked, out of fuel and unable to return to base.
Staring at the nearly featureless walls of the planet surrounding them,
Shinobu feels herself shudder. By all rights, she should be happy for her
friends. Even now, in the midst of terrible danger, love had made its way
into Aya's and Akisur's hearts. But...once again, she felt isolated. Alone.

<<I'll never leave you, love,>> a voice echoes from inside.

Shinobu hugs herself. "I hope not," she muses. "If you did, I'd really
be in a world of hurt, wouldn't I?"

<<Afraid so,>> Junba muses.

Suddenly, a bubbly laugh is heard. "Oh, the scalding pains and harsh
trials recognition unleashes on us! It's is enough to make one laugh!!"

Shinobu jolts, then spins around to see someone sitting on the wing of
Mendou's jet. How did he get there? "Who are you?!!"

The man slides down, leaping gracefully to his feet. He is dressed in a
dark uniform, a Vosian dragon stitched on his chest. His hair is a shocking
crystalline platinum although his moustache is dark. Middle aged, he is still
in excellent shape, a well-balanced mix between bodybuilder and track runner.
He reminds Shinobu of Jamie McTavish...especially the flashing sparkle of
insanity and vicious cunning projecting from his eyes.

"Colonel Osur, I presume," she tenses.

"At your service," he gracefully bows. "So, another one Nassur baited
into his web, eh? Such a pity. You are quite a delight to behold."

A barking laugh escapes his lips. Shinobu realizes that the appellation
given this man..."the Mad"...was accurate. Feeling Junba's warmth firm her
spine, she crosses her arms. "Well, I wouldn't know. Even now, I don't seem
to understand Vosian beauty standards."

Osur blinks. "Nicely said," he grins. "I honestly didn't expect that.
Perhaps after so long, I've finally found someone who gets the joke!"

"What joke?" Shinobu wonders.

"That life is irrelevant!" he drums his fingers on the Harrier's wings.
"That everything which concerns us really doesn't matter in the end. Rules
have no application. We've been lied to all these years and we don't realize
it. And in the end...madness is the only way to confront it all." He sighs.
"I just wish others could see that."

Shinobu suppresses her trembling. If those words truthfully depicted
what the colonel believed about life, everyone was in mortal danger. Osur was
a homicidal opportunist, subordinating himself to no one. Junba had told her
that even the Mikado kept Osur at arm's length. At the same time, psychotics
were classified as super intelligent. Times could come when insanity was the
only defense against life's harsher blows. "Perhaps you're right," she sighs,
looking nowhere in particular. "There are times when nothins made sense. I
thought I could rise above it all."

"And every time, you were proven wrong," Osur muses. "There's no need
to be ashamed, my dear. You just haven't seen things the way I do. I
realized the truth of it all a long time ago. So I decided I was going to
rise above it. Live life by my rules...and kill anyone who things otherwise!"

"Even the Mikado?"

Osur snorts. "That one has no imagination. Any fool could've thought
up the manoeuvre at Reiner's Five, taking the most sensitive psi-hunters and
using them as an early-warning system to detect the Ipraedies ahead of time.
That's all he really wanted when he took over; recognition for figuring out
something any idiot could've done! All he wants is to re-capture past
glories. What is glory, anyway?! A fleeting moment in front of the cameras,
then they spell your name wrong in the newspapers the following day! Big
deal!!"

"So why are you here?"

"Me?" Osur's demeanor turns to ice. "Let's just say there's someone
else out there who gets the joke better than you could. I could've liked him
...but I soured on him when he turned that psi-bolt on my shadow. You're
lucky you're psi-null, Shinobu. Experiencing that was not a treat, especially
for me! Shadows are a part of us; our psyches make them. Having them
destroyed...it hurts just as much as having your arm amputated!!"

"I'll bet," Shinobu sighs. "But try living your life with a sentient
ninja database who wouldn't want anything more than to destroy you."

Osur blinks. "That would ruin someone's day," he muses. "Maybe deep
down, he really does get the joke. I'll still have to kill him."

"You can try," Shinobu smiles.

"You have great confidence in him," the colonel hums.

"I've seen him in action..."

The distant echo of an explosion reaches them. Shinobu and Osur blink,
looking around confusedly...then her eyes detect a distant flash of light
punching through Colony Four's crust. "What's that?!" she gasps.

"It seems he's here after all," Osur sighs. "I wish he would announce
himself before coming! Ta-ta!"

The colonel disappears in a transporter beam. Shinobu looks at where he
was, then runs inside. "Aki-chan!! Aya!! The Sagussans're here!!! The
Sagussans're...ahhh!!!"

Shinobu stops, horrified to see Akisur and Aya on the floor, blood
flowing from chest wounds. Standing over them is another familiar figure,
although he is dressed in his normal uniform. "I am quite aware of that!" the
Mikado sneers, bringing his pistol to bear on her...

* * *

Parts of the surface of Colony Four seems to boil as incoming fire from
dozens of Sagussan warships pummel the Mikado's hastily-erected bases. Taking
the dictator's fleet completely by surprise, the Gatherer's and "Lyna'cha's"
proton cannons destroyed the stolen Ultimate Weapon before its crew could
reach battle stations. The other ships were eliminated within two minutes by
elements of the First Fleet, now at last with ships to command. Once space
was clear of the enemy, the Fourth Fleet's Gladiators and the ground forces
launched from their motherships as the First and Second Fleets began shore
bombardment duty.

With the Mikado's forces digging in for a siege, the Warsuit Brigade and
Hovercycle Brigade land unopposed. Overhead, Gladiators roved like prowling
tigers for targets of opportunity. Elsewhere, the Pathfinder Brigade beams to
an encampment in the northern hemisphere, isolated from the other camps. Now
in a grove near the perimeter, Rayna gazes at the small barracks through
binoculars. "Strange," she muses. "What would this camp be doing here?"

Emerging from the bush is a scout team led by Mink. "Ma'am, begging to
report," the sergeant salutes with her rifle. "Just minimal guards around the
place. However, most of the entrances are booby-trapped."

"Typical," Rayna sighs.

"Not so, ma'am," Mink shakes her head. "The booby-traps are designed to
detonate INTO the barracks, not out!"

Rayna blinks. "It's a prison?"

"Possible. A more likely explanation is that this might be a hunters
school similar to the one Nassur-san attended."

The Pathfinder Brigade's commander bites her lips as she scans the
target once more. "Have a ship scan inside this place. I need to know
exactly what we're up against."

"Yes, ma'am," Mink nods, then pulls out her communicator.

Rayna sighs, then stares at her team commanders. "Maki, take your team
and approach from the west. Keep an eye out for mines. Mai, come in from the
east. I'll call Miranda and get a troop of hovercycles here to support us."

Mai and Maki salute. "Yes, ma'am."

Mink looks at her commander. "According to scans from the 'Lyna'cha,'
this place has a thousand or so people inside the barracks, about fifty
outside. The people inside are young, most younger than us!"

Rayna grimaces. "A hunter's school, then. Maki, Mai, take your people
in. Take out the guards, do NOT harm anyone inside."

The team commanders salute, then head off...

* * *

"I want to go home!" Krinba sighs.

The two hundred or so former street kids sharing her dorm nod. When the
Mikado's forces arrived, they had been forced into their barracks, separated
from Hisur and Sianba, then told to behave or face summary execution. It was
bad enough when Osur had come sometime before. Despite his skill as a warrior
and teacher, the memories Krinba and her friends had of Osur's hunters were
too dark, too vivid to permit them to accept the colonel's presence among
them. Now they had the Mikado and who knew what else to contend with.

Life was so unfair!

Krinba knew it was wishful thinking to see Vos again. Almost EVERYONE
on the Homeworld was glad the street gangs were gone. The Kyonba Tigers, the
Nightwings and dozens of other gangs preyed on ordinary folk to survive. Most
were emotionally orphaned, with parents drafted into the Mikado Marines or the
civil defence corps. Some had siblings dragged off to the hunters schools.
All they wanted was turf to call their own and for everyone else to leave them
alone. Coming to Colony Four, they met two who were sympathetic to their
needs: Hisur and Sianba.

Unlike other hunters schools in the past, Hisur had prided himself on
running a clean, disciplined training camp. Krinba heard all the stories
about Osur's schools, some even more horrid than what Nassur experienced.
Hisur changed that in his brief time with the Hunters Corps...and continued
that process when he established his school on Colony Four. Discipline was
strict but fair. Seniors could not harm juniors, period. Everyone's loyalty
was aimed at a greater goal: bringing peace and justice to Vos. It actually
made Krinba proud to be Vosian, eager to get out there and rebuild the
shattered Confederation.

"Do you think we'll be let go soon?" Farosur wonders.

Krinba tingles as her boyfriend embraces her. They had recognized the
other right after Stop Time. With him around, she felt nothing could go
wrong. Unfortunately, their present situation did not add credence to that
belief. "I hope so," she kisses him.

Everyone's eyes glow as the door to their dorm explodes!! Everyone
bolts up as two Mikado Marines stagger in through the smoke, both having taken
wounds in the arms. "Get away, you demon!!!" one fires out the door.

Coming in after them was a tall Fukunokami woman dressed in a black
form-fitting bodysuit with web-gear, the shots from the Marine's weapon
bouncing off a forceshield protecting her from injury. Suddenly, she draws a
long serrated-edged knife from her belt, then charges her attackers. They
scream as the woman guts one, then hacks off the other's head without pause.
Seeing this, a young girl gushes, "Cool!!!"

Relaxing, Rayna straightens herself, wiping her knife clean before
sheathing it. Staring at the children, she smiles. "How'd you kids like to
leave this place?!"

Silence grips the room, then screaming with delight, they bolt to their
feet and run to the door...

* * *

Hundreds of kilometres to the south, the Warsuit Brigade's commander was
enjoying her favourite pastime: eating lunch on the carapace of her mount
watching Minako's squadron incinerate a Marine encampment. Leona howls with
merriment as she finishes the last of her meal, then tosses the empty box
aside. "Another one bites the dust!!" she cackles as the camp's ammunition
dump goes up with a satisfying bang.

Another Warsuit clomps up. Mokoto emerges from her cockpit. "Signal
from the other squadrons," the operations officer salutes. "The other camps
are in flames. Approximately a ninety percent fatality rate has been
inflicted. Minor damage, no casualties on our side. We're transporting
prisoners to the brig right now for repatriation to Vos."

"Figures!" Leona snorts. "We have this down to a science, Mokoto! What
do those geniuses upstairs want us to do now?!"

"The Strategic Defence Director wants us to blow part of the crust open
so ships can be sent inside the planet to get at Tomobiki and the monitor
station!" Mokoto reports. "There's no natural access point from the outside;
we'll have to tunnel our way in! We don't want to use shipboard proton
cannons on the surface. They're afraid the spacial warps inside the planet
will be affected...and we've no idea what's Tomobiki's present status."

"Preferably destroyed as far as I'm concerned!!" Leona sighs, pulling up
her mike. "Yohko, get your butt over here!"

"On my way!!" the support squadron commander replies.

Mokoto tenses as another message comes over her headset, then she faces
her commander. "Leona, another thing!! Rayna's brigade found a bunch of kids
at a hunters school north of here! Miranda's brigade and Henra's squadrons
have to physically transport them from the surface due to the transporter
interference!"

"Whoopee!!" Leona twirls her finger. "Big deal! Any sign of the Mikado
or his pal?! They're the ones we want!!"

"No sign of either of them!" Mokoto shakes her head. "Annapuma reports
stumbling onto some intact computer files. They're being transferred to the
Gatherer right now!"

Yohko lands her machine. "Yo, boss, what's up?!"

"Yohko, tell me you brought annihilation warheads with you!"

"Boss, I'd feel naked without them!!" Yohko laughs.

"Make them useful!" Leona snorts. "Pick a valley somewhere on this rock
and drill a hole!! We've got to go rescue that lunacy asylum that brought us
here in the first place!"

"Awww...do we have to?!" Yohko groans.

"Scat, Yohko!"

"Yes, boss."

The support squadron commander flies off. "It would've been a nice day
if we hadn't've worried about that dump!" Leona sneers...

* * *

Several minutes later, the twenty Warsuits composing Yohko's Heavy
Missile Troop form up in the atmosphere over a deep trench in a desert near
the site of Hisur's encampment. "Are people sure this place is the best
location to go in?!" Yohko stares at her viewscreen.

"It looks good!" Janny replies from the "Lyna'cha," then blinks as
another detail comes up on her tactical screen. "Odd! What's that courier
doing here?!"

"Okay," Yohko sighs. "We're blasting in!"

"Go ahead, Yohko!" Janny nods, then proceeds to signal the arriving
courier.

Yohko cuts off communications, then barks. "Troop, arm weapons, lock on
target!!"

Forty rack launchers come into position on the Warsuits' shoulders.
"FIRE!!!!" Yohko barks.

Their apocalyptic loads are discharged, racing at the valley. It soon
disappears in a series of titanic explosions, a mixture of anti-matter and
bauximite flash-bomb warheads shattering the ground underneath!! Minutes
later, the smoke clears, revealing a jagged hole several kilometres wide
leading into near-darkness, a small pinpoint of light shining from somewhere
deep in the hollow planet's core. "We're in!!" Yohko yips. "Okay, everyone!
Sensors on full-power!! Let's go inside..."

Her words are interrupted as someone riding a hovercycle races past her
Warsuit, flying unshielded into the smoking hole. "Who was that?!" the
support squadron commander wonders aloud...

* * *

Tomobiki is unnaturally quiet, her citizens inside their homes, doors
barred shut as a small company of hunters wanders their way through the empty
streets. Osur was leading one team in a sector near Tomobiki High School in
hopes of locating Nassur and Benten. Other teams were spread out to the
Mendou mansion, the Ginza and the area around the Moroboshi home. This final
team was closing in on the Seikou home. "According to intelligence, the
family who adopted that Sagussan pilot who lived here for sometime is nearby,"
their leader reports. "If we capture them, we might be able to use them."

Suddenly, the roar of a hovercycle is heard, followed by the crash of
something heavy landing on the street behind them. The hunters tense,
spinning around to see something dark emerge from an alley, his left eye
glowing bright red. "What's that?!" one gasps.

The Cyborg emerges, photon shotgun and Urban Assault Cannon bearing on
them. "**Now,**" the machine-man icily intones. "**Please resist!**"

His weapons fire...

* * *

As explosions rock that section of town, Osur, watching from the spire
of Tomobiki High School, blinks on seeing the Cyborg tear apart one of his
combat teams. "Now, there's something you don't see every day..." the colonel
muses, then heads off...

* * *

Shinobu slips deeper into the storage closet, shutting the door before
her. As soon as the Mikado moved to kill her, she decided not to pit her
strength against his skills and beat a hasty retreat. Fortunately, she had an
advantage; the walls hazed the deposed dictator's tracking powers enough to
keep Shinobu "cloaked." There was a disadvantage: she could not use her
*pe'cha* bond to get Nassur. With things on the surface ending, she did not
doubt that Osur's hunters were making things hell. Nassur and Benten were
busy stalling until the cavalry arrived. Now, would luck shine her way?

She summons a controlled breathing technique Akane Tendou taught her to
quell noise as footfalls are heard. Glancing through the slits in the door,
she sees a dark shape make his way in. Shinobu holds her breath as the Mikado
scans the room, then departs. The Terran allows herself to exhale. *That was
too close!* After an eternity, Shinobu nudges the door open. Sensing nothing
about her, she slips out...then jolts as a pistol touches her temple.

Shinobu winces as a mocking voice hums, "Nice try. I've rarely seen
talent like yours before. A pity I couldn't've made use of it."

She turns, seeing the Mikado there, the pistol unwavering. "Did you
really think you could get away? Let's find out," he notions with his weapon.

Resignedly, Shinobu returns to the control room. Akisur and Aya remain
on the floor, blood coagulating around them, their bodies still. "Don't worry
about them," the Mikado announces. "They won't concern anyone. Sit there."

He indicates a chair beside the primary monitoring station. Shinobu
lowers herself as the Mikado keys controls, his weapon never wavering from
her. "Naive little boy, I must confess," he muses. "Only very recently did I
realize the connection between him and Nassur. Hisur was very good in keeping
that a secret and Osur...well, didn't care."

Shinobu wanted to scream...yet, something was wrong. Would she have
felt it if Akisur had died? Junba warned her she would. Yet...nothing had
happened. Gritting her teeth, she shows no reaction. "Osur doesn't care too
much about you," she muses. "Or anyone other than himself, for that matter."

"True," the Mikado frowns, calling up an image of Tomobiki. "He always
had that problem. It was easy keeping him loyal; just feed him whatever that
warped psyche wanted. Eventually, when I found a decent replacement, the time
had come to go. Nassur's father helped at that end."

Shinobu blinks in surprise. "Oh, yes," he nods. "I gave Ninsur orders
to arrange Osur's death after Nassur was captured. If he obeyed, kept down
his rebellious urges, I would've made him the new leader of the Hunters Corps.
That mistake was his downfall; he paid for it eventually. So will Nassur."

"Don't be too sure about that," the Terran sneers. "You have no fleet
to speak of. The Sagussan are very proficient in dealing with their foes."

"Maybe," the Vosian hums, clearly undisturbed. "That's why you're here.
With Akisur desperate to see his father, it was simplicity itself to goad him
into scanning your hometown. Once found, I dragged him here and received a
bonus. I'm aware of the Earth-Sagussa Treaty. Although your former boyfriend
prefers Tomobiki fed to the sharks, he was obliged to intervene."

"So what're you going to do?" Shinobu wonders. "Force him to surrender?
Threaten to kill all of us if he doesn't go along?"

"Exactly," he smiles. "He has one great weakness; his soft heart. In a
strong position, it doesn't interfere. The Masters of Noukiios learned that.
When he doesn't have that, he collapses like a house of cards. Although he
doesn't like you, he won't stomach a massacre. Right now, I've two hundred
hunters dispersed throughout Tomobiki. I don't believe his *pirpirsiw'r* are
all here today. What's to help him clean Tomobiki of my forces?"

Shinobu could conceive of several things Ataru's friends could do. But
would he risk sailing his ships into the planet itself, running across the
many spacial warps which filled Colony Four? Or did the warps really matter?
Time to call the Mikado's bluff. "What's to stop Ataru-kun from using the
Gatherer's proton cannons from blowing a nice-sized hole in the side of the
planet, then beaming Tomobiki itself to their water-tanker? It's big enough."

"Oh, really?" the Mikado snorts. "Then they've forgotten more about
their predecessors! The Sagussans then were admirably intelligent. When they
constructed this place, they found a way to control the warp fields. A flick
of a switch and they can be anywhere in Existence...and all of them are right
here," he points to the console. "So if they're smart, they'll stay out!"

Shinobu pales. The Sagussans were not only fighting the Mikado's
troops, they were fighting the Fourth Republic's technology, something they
fortunately did not have to concern themselves with over Den'sha Two. This
battle was more complex than she wanted. "Now," he turns to the screen,
adjusting a zoom lens. "Let's see what's going on in Tomobiki itself..."

Shinobu tenses herself. With the Mikado distracted, and if she was fast
enough, she could smash a chair over him, then blast the control panel. She
knew there were backup controls which would automatically kick in; Sagussan
systems were insanely redundant. Ataru was fighting at a disadvantage, a
position which he long ago proved he was not going to tolerate. In a corner,
Ataru was at his most dangerous. Now, would the Mikado cooperate.

The image fixes to a block of houses. Shinobu shudders, seeing a team
of hunters on the street leading to Mie's family. If they were after the one
Sagussan with firm ties to Earth, taking her family hostage was the perfect
way to coopt Mie; she would do anything to keep them safe. Shinobu then
blinks on seeing flashes of weapons fire. Had someone come to stop them?

"What's going on...?" the Mikado wonders, then enhances the view.

The image zooms up to a clear picture of a squad of hunters dogpiling
someone. Others surround their target, weapons ready. To Shinobu's surprise,
a dozen hunters lay dead on the street. It would not be Lufy or Priss; both
were on Uru. Makoto? Suddenly, the pile explodes, revealing the Cyborg!

A lump leaps into her throat on seeing the machine-man. Ataru was
covered in blood, wounds on his arm and chest clearing up. Once clear of
obstructions, the hunters fire. Perfect shots, but against the Cyborg, they
were useless. Ataru kicks up an Urban Assault Cannon, then at full automatic,
mercilessly cuts down his opponents! No reaction emanates from the machine-
man even thought no noise transmitted from the battle. Odd. Even when he
transformed into the Cyborg, Ataru always said something, even if it was a
snappy jibe to relieve tension. This Cyborg was frightening in his silence.

Her eyes widen as a young hunter sneaks up behind him, a knife in her
hand. She was no older than Pamanba. With deftness, she slams it into
Ataru's kidney, a textbook-perfect thrust. The Cyborg's good eye blinks, then
he spins on his leg, left fist flying. The hapless Vosian catches the blow
square on the jaw, crushing half of her face and sending her flying against a
wall! No movement comes from her as the Cyborg calmly draws out the knife,
allowing the regeneration matrix to go to work.

Shinobu feels a chill as Ataru picks up a photon shotgun, loads two
rounds, aims and fires. The camera follows the shot as it smashes into the
pavement near another squad. Exploding fragments slice down the Mikado's
warriors. The camera returns to Ataru as he approaches this group, slinging
the shotgun as his Urban Assault Cannon appears. Levelling the pump-action
weapon at the still-moving hunters, Ataru fires. Shots fly into heads and
hearts as their actions are terminally stilled. She gasps, turning away from
the bloody scene. The Mikado's hopes of holding Tomobiki hostage were about
to be dashed. But at what price to Ataru's soul?

Shinobu hesitantly looks again. The Mikado is spellbound by the
massacre. The Terran senses a touch of admiration from the Vosian dictator.
The camera focuses on Ataru's face. The machine-man stares at the distant
monitor station. Gazing at that unfeeling face, Shinobu sees the blood-red
good eye. Remembering Cherry's earlier warning, she knows what is happening.

The regeneration matrix was clawing into Ataru's very mind...

* * *

"God!" Nassur exhales as the scene near the Seikou home becomes clear.

He hears gasps of revulsion from behind him as the renegade hunter wends
his way through the shattered bodies. After evading Osur's team at Tomobiki
High School, Nassur and his wife gathered friends to help whoever it was that
was blasting his way into the town. By the looks of this, whoever or whatever
it was needed no help. If anyone had survived, it was a miracle. He glances
back, noting Benten, Oyuki and Koosei trying to brace themselves. Sakura and
Cherry were holding up, the latter performing final prayers for the slain
hunters. Mendou, Ryuunosuke and the guards were wretching. "What in Koori's
name happened to them?" the crown princess wonders, voice quaking.

"I don't know," Nassur kneels beside one. He had a good idea what it
was, given the footprints in the asphalt, leading toward downtown. He had
seen that foot shape before. "Let's go!" he stands.

Nassur jolts as gunfire is heard. Spinning toward downtown Tomobiki, he
notices a second noise: shrieks of hundreds of innocents watching something
they could never be prepared for.

"C'mon!!!" he barks, running down the street...

* * *

The Mikado shudders as the Cyborg slaughters another group of hunters.
The considerable arsenal Osur's people held might as well be sticks and stones
to Ataru. Wounds instantly cleared up while the armour deflected everything.
Staring at the warp controls, he feels the first tinge of panic. Somehow, he
had to keep Ataru away from this place. Micro-warping the Cyborg to another
dimension would do it. His fingers begin to descend on the controls.

Realizing what the Mikado might have in mind, Shinobu scoops up a chair,
slamming it down on the dictator's back with all her strength, sending the
Mikado sprawling. She grabs his dropped pistol, aims and fires. The console
explodes in a shower of sparks. "Did it!!!" she backs away.

The Mikado moans, rising slowly to his knees. Seeing him move, Shinobu
places herself in a chair, keeping the pistol aimed at the dictator. He
shakes his head, then stares at her. "You...!" he growls, slowly rising.

"Stay put!!" she barks. "I'll kill you right here and now!"

Rising, the Mikado smiles. "Let's see which one is the real me, then!"

Shinobu's eyes widen as the dictator's image became...dimmed. He was
making a shadow of himself! However, before she squeeze the trigger, the
fuzziness fades, leaving one Mikado. The dictator gasps as he staggers back
against another console. "Wh-what...what happened...?!" he hoarsely demands.

Shinobu sighs. The monitor station's construction again played a
factor, although she had no idea exactly how. Feeling her strength and
Junba's warmth firm her spine, she slows her breathing. "Don't you know it
was the Sagussans who gave your people their tracking powers?" she asks. "It
only stands to reason that they'd know how to prevent you from misbehaving!"

The Mikado fixes her with a stare. Something about this slip of a girl
was off. He had once detected her brainwave pattern, while she was outside
conversing with Osur. He felt her pattern unusual. It was as if there were
actually two minds in her, deeply connected in ways he could not understand.
Realizing he would have to wear her guard down before he could make a grab for
the pistol, he gazes at the slaughter being carried out in Tomobiki.

Shinobu notices, then smiles. "I'll tell you what's going on. You see,
this Cyborg's organic parts were grown from one of Ataru-kun's cells inside a
regeneration matrix once used to restore the *daishi'cha* to life. The matrix
has many abilities. One is the ability to wipe a person's mind clean. Near
as I can figure, the shields protecting Ataru-kun's mind from the matrix
inside the Cyborg's brain are breaking down. Not enough to kill Ataru-kun...
but enough to affect the compassionate parts of Ataru-kun's heart. You
gambled on using Ataru-kun's compassion to force him to do your bidding. You
lost that gamble...and your troops are now paying for it!"

The Mikado shudders, turning to gaze at the images of Tomobiki. Ataru
was finished with the last of the group of hunters downtown, jogging off to
intercept another. Around him, Tomobiki natives emerging from shelter back
away in horror, many wondering if they had just traded one devil for another.
"Now," Shinobu's tone becomes mocking. "We'll just wait here until Ataru-kun
is finished in Tomobiki. I'm sure he'll want to talk to you."

* * *

An hour passes. Clearing out two hundred hunters was becoming a bore,
though Ataru had more than enough ammunition for the job. Further, his cycle
was keeping watch on the monitor station, gauging if the warp controls were
being manned. If they were not, Ataru could call in reinforcements. He knew
what had to happen. If the Mikado could make use of this place, what was to
stop the next leader of Vos from doing the same? The sheer temptation of this
place was too much a risk. But before he could activate the monitor station's
destruct system, he had to clear out Tomobiki of its unwanted guests.

Turning, he finds himself on the street passing the Miyaki home. His
on-board sensors detect one team left. The skill of the enemy troopers was
fair. Many had barely entered puberty. It was irrelevant. Earth citizens
had been attacked. The attackers had to be terminated. Simple, logical.

Still, part of Ataru cringed at the bloodshed the Cyborg had unleashed.
Given the machine-man's qualities, he could not have been hurt. Then again,
could it have been helped? He once heard from Lum that Mikado-trained hunters
like Nassur possessed a hidden surprise; a special mental program similar to
the *saikoo jinseijitsu.* When severely wounded, this program would take
over, seizing control of the hunter's body, force him to eliminate everything
which could possibly endanger him, then retreat to safety. If such was so
with the group now in Tomobiki, Ataru could not afford to take chances.

He would mourn later.

Ataru stops as the door to Shinobu's home opens, revealing her parents.
"**Stay inside, you two!**" he barks.

They gasp in horror on seeing the machine-man. "Ataru?!!" Kimiki cries.
"What have you done to yourself?!"

Ataru hisses. "**Shut that door and keep down! This isn't a game!!**"

He tenses as peripheral sensors sound the alarm. Combat programs take
over as the Urban Assault Cannon arcs skyward, thundering. Shinobu's parents
scream in horror as hunters literally drop from the sky, missing considerable
parts of their heads. Others break through the storm, trying to close in to
force Ataru to go hand-to-hand. Unfortunately, it was not to be; the Cyborg's
strength and invulnerability is too much. In a minute, a pile of hunters lies
dead and dying at the machine-man's feet. "**Amateurs!!**" Ataru snorts.

Kimiki and Toshoba Miyaki thought they had seen it all from Ataru. But
they never expected cold-blooded murder! The former exclaims, staring
horrorstruck at the machine-man. "How...how could you...?!"

Ataru fixes her with a stare. "**When they're wounded, they're ten
times as dangerous!**" he evenly intones. "**I'm acting on something Lum once
told me about their kind. Ask Nassur...if we survive this.**" He pauses, his
scanners not picking up someone who should be there. "**Where's Shinobu?**"

Surprised by his concern, Toshoba points to the monitor station. "Up
there...she's there...I think Aya's there, too..."

Ataru gazes at the station, then calmly keys a control in his hand. A
second later, a hovercycle races up beside him. Ataru mounts it, then without
a word, blasts off for the distant factory satellite.

Shinobu's parents watch as he leaves, then their eyes return to the
shredded bodies on the street. "Oh, gods!!" Kimiki exclaims, turning to sink
into her husband's embrace. "What's happened to him?!"

Before Shinobu's father could respond, running feet are heard. "Miyaki-
san!! Mrs. Miyaki!!!" Nassur's voice calls out. "Are you two okay?!"

They turn to see Nassur and his team approach. Many stop, turning pale
on seeing the carnage. Some wretch, now on empty stomachs after seeing too
many other scenes like this. Nassur walks up. "Where did he go?"

Kimiki points to the monitor station. "He...he asked about Shinobu...
then after we told him, just left...he...he...oh, gods, look what he did!!"
she points to where the others had fallen. "He shot them...shot all in cold
blood...then he said..." she looks at the hunter, "...th-that he had to do
it...that you'd know...gods, what type of monsters are you people, anyway?!!"

Nassur stares at the slain hunters, then sighs. "He was right," he
calmly intones. "Each of us, even me, have a safeguard program built into our
subconscious. It's not so different from the *saikoo jinseijitsu*...but it
only kicks in when we're badly wounded, forces us to maim anyone that's
nearby, then takes us to safety so we can recuperate."

Kimiki backs away. "Oh, gods...!!" she covers her mouth. "How...how
could you be so calm about this...?!"

"I'm not," Nassur admits. "But I...know it."

"Who?!!" Benten demands. "Shit, what the hell's going on here?!! The
way these jokers were shredded, you'd think a whole army had wrecked them!!"

"It's Ataru!!" Kimiki hisses.

Eyes lock on Shinobu's mother. "He...he..." she looks down. "He's
become...that thing again...!!"

Confusion crosses everyone's faces, then Cherry intones, "The Cyborg."

* * *

The Mikado shudders as the Cyborg races to the monitor station. Ataru
just slaughtered two hundred hunters, waded through them like a knife through
tissue paper! Now, he was coming here. He backs away from the screen,
knowing that without the warp controls, nothing stood between the *daimon'cha*
and the Vosian dictator. He stares at Shinobu, who seems unnaturally calm.

"If I were you," the Terran sweetly smiles, "...I'd run."

The Mikado races deep into the monitor station. Once gone, Shinobu
gasping with relief, races to the fallen bodies of Akisur and Aya. One touch
to the neck confirmed the worst. Yet...she had felt nothing through her
*pe'cha* bond with Akisur, unless the station's structure had spared her that
awful pain. "Aki-chan...!" she shudders, tears finally flowing from her eyes.
"Aya-chan...!! It's not fair..."

A door behind her opens. Shinobu blinks, then spins around to see Aya's
cyborg body haltingly walk out of a closet. "Shinobu," she neutrally intones.

"Aya!!" Shinobu bolts to her feet, then stops. "Wh-what's going on...?"

"This is a recording you're hearing," Aya's old body announces. "The
Mikado didn't kill either Akisur or I. Those bodies," she indicates them,
"...are clones. We created them as living targets to deceive the Mikado and
Osur. We have escaped."

Shinobu blinks in relief. "Oh, thank the gods!!!" she exclaims, racing
up to embrace the cyborg. "You're alright!!! But...where did you go...?!"

"Using the warp controls, Aki-kun and I travelled to a dimension which
can hold our form of life. It presently holds other humanoid races so we will
not be alone. We wanted a place where we could live in peace, develop our
relationship away from the threats being Nassur's son and daughter-in-law
would impose. For ten years, Aki-kun lived in peace in this station. He
wants that back. At the same time...he doesn't want to impose himself on his
father. Nassur has a new marriage, a new family to care for. Aki-kun...felt
it was time that his father had the chance to put his past to rest."

"No..." Shinobu shakes her head. "No, you can't...Stay with me!!"

Aya shakes her head. "No. The dimension to where we have travelled can
only be accessed through the warps located here. When Ataru destroys this
station and Colony Four, he will ensure that no one will be able to use this
place to harm others. In my former body, Akisur and I have slaved the master
controls to the space-warps, plus the self-destruct system the old Sagussans
built into this planet. The Mikado can do nothing against Ataru or Tomobiki."

Shinobu blinks. "I'll never see you again..."

"True," Aya nods. "But...Shinobu...you will always have a place in our
hearts. If the Fates are kind, we will meet again." A pause, then, "When
you're ready to return Tomobiki, tell me."

With that, the cyborg goes silent. Shinobu backs away, then looks down.
Suddenly, an idea hits her. She could go with them! If Aya and Akisur could
travel there, why couldn't she? Feeling a sense of urgency, she prepares to
ask Aya's cyborg body if she could travel to this place.

She pauses.

Ataru would destroy this place. After what happened to Tomobiki, he
would have no choice. With this place gone, she would have no chance to
return home. She turns away...just as the *crash!* of something blasting his
way through the outer doors echoes through the walls. Shinobu spins around as
the inner door explodes, revealing the Cyborg!! "**Shinobu-chan!!!**"

"Ataru-kun!!!" she embraces him. "You okay?! What's going on?!"

She gazes into his face. Despite the blood-red eye, his features are
warm, friendly. "**I received a dose of radiation over Den'sha Two when that
bolt hit my body in the CT machine,**" he explains, approaching the master
controls. "**They had no choice but to place my *mei'na* in this tin can
while my real body was regenerated; my immune system's still unstable.**"

"Then your mind's shields are breaking down!" Shinobu shudders. "Oh,
gods, you have to get out of there, Ataru-kun!!"

"**In due time,**" Ataru waves her down. "**First things first! What's
happened here?!**" he indicates the shattered control station.

"I destroyed it to prevent the Mikado from using the space-warps against
you," Shinobu points to Aya's old body. "But Aya slaved the controls to her
cyborg body before she and Akisur teleported themselves from this dimension."

Ataru stops, noticing the fallen bodies. Noting the slain Zeiwanite, he
realizes this was a clone body of Aya meant to deceive the Mikado. Seeing the
male Vosian, he stares questioningly at Shinobu. "**Who's this?!**"

"Akisur..." Shinobu looks down. "Nassur's and Cinba's son."

Ataru blinks, then stares at the young man. He was Lum's age. Turning
to Shinobu, he feels rage swell up from his heart. "**Who shot them?!**"

Shinobu blinks as the warmth disappears from his eye, replaced by rage.
"Ataru-kun, no!!" she grabs his arms. "You've done enough!! Stop this!!!
Let the killing end!!!"

Ataru quivers. "***WHO...SHOT...THEM?!?!?!***"

"Th-the M-mikado...!" she stammers, acknowledging what will now happen.

Ataru blinks, then stares at Akisur's dead clone. Nassur's and Cinba's
son. The last remnants of his old marriage. A young man who had probably
been on Colony Four all this time. Another innocent slain by the madman
trying to drag Ataru and Sagussa into his private war. Feeling boiling rage
bubbling up from his soul, his scream echoes throughout Colony Four.

"***MI-...KA-...DO!!!!!!!!***"

* * *

In Tomobiki at that moment, everyone jerks as Ataru's inhuman roar
reverbrates off buildings, reaching them at many times the speed of sound
thanks to the space-warps dotting Colony Four's interior. Nassur's eyes spin
on the monitor station, barely able to perceive weapons discharges bursting
from it. "He's there!" the hunter shivers, fear crawling up his spine. "Oh,
no!! Something must've happened to Shinobu or Akisur!"

Benten spins on him, paling. "Akisur?" Megane blinks. "Who's that?"

"C'mon!!" Benten grabs her husband's arms. "We're going up there!!!"

The two race off. Everyone watches, then stare at each other. "Do you
know this Akisur, Oyuki?" Sakura stares at the crown princess.

"I barely remember him," Oyuki hums. "This was over a decade ago. He
used to play with Lum-chan and Benten all the time...but he disappeared when
we were eight or so. Always came with Nassur and Cinba-san...!"

Everyone's face turns white. "Then he must be...!!" Chibi stammers.

"Gods!" Ryuunosuke covers her mouth. "What do we do?!"

"We go after them, of course!!" Mendou snaps. "A friend needs us!!
C'mon...to the 'Renegade!'"

Everyone scrambles for Nassur's ship. Shinobu's parents watch them
depart, weary after the most hellish day in their lives, wondering when it
will end. At that moment, Abraham Shapiro runs up. "Have either of you seen
Nassur or his friends?" the observer wonders.

"They left," Kimiki sighs. "Something's happening up there," she then
gazes at the monitor station.

Shapiro sighs. "Well, they better be careful! I've examined all the
bodies Ataru laid out...and Osur wasn't among them!"

"You mean Nassur-san's old teacher?!" Toshoba gulps. "That whacko
Shinobu once told us about...?!"

Shapiro grimly nods. Footfalls are heard. They turn to see Ataru's
parents walk up. "What's going on here?!" Kinshou demands. "We were staying
inside our home when we heard all this shooting... who caused all this?!"

Kimiki feels her throat dry. "Oh, gods, Kinshou, you don't know...?!"

Toshoba and Shapiro exchange looks. "You two...better come inside," the
former intones. "This...won't be easy."

Kinshou and Muchi stare...

* * *

The monitor station echoes with gunfire and screams as Shinobu patiently
waits in the control room. Somewhere, her former boyfriend hunts Nassur's
worst enemy, the man who came close to killing the last surviving element of
the hunter's first marriage. In essence, Akisur was dead, forever lost. Aya
was gone too. Shinobu felt so helpless. She wanted things to be peaceful, to
go smoothly. Again and again, it blew up in her face. It was so unfair!

<<You couldn't change this, Shinobu,>> Junba gently intones.

"Shut up!!" Shinobu cries out, then buries her face in her hands.

Junba falls silent, allowing her lover the chance to mourn. Shinobu
quakes, jolting every time a shot was heard. What would she tell Nassur?
"Your son's alive but you'll never see him again," perhaps? Or, "You'll never
guess who I just ran into. Sorry, he couldn't stick around!" How could her
life had plunged into this nightmare?! Who was to blame?!

She then looks up at Tomobiki. Ataru, perhaps? That was the easy thing
to do; the Mikado stated he had brought Tomobiki here to bait the *daimon'cha*
into coming. This was Den'sha Two again, this time playing out to its worst
scenario. No one with ANY relation to Ataru was safe now! Placing himself on
Sagussa made Tomobiki all the more inviting a target. Even with the Mikado
gone, they had to face Yethis and the Urusian Imperialists. And after that,
who knew what would happen!

Fear craws up from Shinobu's stomach. Running away would never help.
Those determined to face Ataru would hound them all, even if they went into
hiding, then drag them up, put a gun to them, then challenge the *daimon'cha*
to a fight. It would continue as long as races inside the Barrier could not
penetrate through to fight Sagussa head-on. The normal life Shinobu had
yearned for would forever elude her, elude them all.

<<You can't blame Ataru, Shi-chan!!>> Junba's voice cuts in. <<Just
because people in this galaxy are so short-sighted doesn't give you the right
to heap it all on him!! You want a repeat of the Spirit War?!>>

"N-no...!" Shinobu shakes her head. "B-but...wh-what do I do, Ju-chan?!
I just want it to stop, to make it go away...!!"

Wailing, she covers her head with her hands. Aya's old body twitches.
Her eyes blink. "Why are you crying, Shinobu?"

"I...I just want people to leave us alone...to leave Ataru-kun alone..."
Shinobu rambles. "Please, make it all stop...please, please..."

The cyborg analyzes the wish, then states, "There is a possibility."

Shinobu stops. Aya walks over to the ninth console. The Terran watches
the cyborg key several controls. "There," Aya announces. "Emergency visual
communications engaged. Destination?"

"Wh-what's that?!" Shinobu stands, walking over.

"The builders created a special visual communications system by which
people manning this station could summon assistance," Aya explains. "The
station, given its location, could not use normal subspace transmissions; the
space-warps would scramble the calls. Therefore, they decided to use the
space-warps as a carrying system for transmissions. It can only reach planets
inside the Barrier. I assume this was meant to reach Sagussan colony worlds."

"Like Zephyrus or Elle," Shinobu realizes. "Wait!! How does this
system work?! You called it visual..."

"It is a holographic projection system," Aya explains. "The warps are
manipulated to project a hologram into a planet's atmosphere. At the same
time, a standard visual communications transmission would be sent..."

Shinobu stills. "Transmission would have to come from here, right?"

"Yes," Aya nods.

"Set it up!" Shinobu orders. "Transmit...hell, transmit everywhere!!"

"At once!"

Shinobu breathes out as Aya makes the preparations. She turns to see
Tomobiki floating peacefully in space. Nassur and Benten were rocketing to
the station, "Renegade" behind them. Well, nothing could happen there now;
Ataru had seen to that. "Aya...send Tomobiki back to Earth."

"Acknowledged," the cyborg stops, concentrating.

* * *

"Any news from Colony Four about what's going on?!" Komeru wonders as
Ookako and her delegation beam in from their courier.

The crater where Tomobiki once was is now surrounded by the curious.
None ventured in, the crater cordoned off by police riot squads, the Moroboshi
Clan's infantry and JGSDF units. Noting the protection, Ookako nods, then
faces Komeru. "We've destroyed their fleet, killed almost all the Mikado's
soldiers and captured a regiment's worth of trainee hunters," she smiles. "I
think we should be getting somewhere on Tomobiki..."

Light fills the crater. Everyone screams, looking away. The brilliance
then fades, revealing Tomobiki restored. "...right now," Ookako completes.

Seeing that everything seemed back to normal for this most abnormal of
districts, everyone surges in. Komeru boards his Osprey, which takes off for
Tomobiki High. Landing, he notices a crowd waiting for them: his brother,
sister-in-law, Shinobu's parents and Shapiro. Disembarking, Komeru runs up.
"Are you people okay?!" he demands. "What happened?! Is anyone hurt...?"

His voice catches as he sees Mendou Clan forces bring up body after body
on stretchers, blood-soaked blankets covering them. "Buddha have mercy...!"
Komeru's face pales, then he turns to Kinshou. "What happened?!"

Kinshou looks down, then stares at the Cyborg's victims. "Those were
the Mikado's hunters..." she hoarsely intones. "Ataru killed them..."

Komeru gapes. Suddenly, the Principal and Kotatsuneko walk up. The
cat-ghost taps Shapiro on the shoulder, then points up. "What...?" the Vosian
wonders, then looks up, eyes wide. "Lecasur's Eternal Soul!!!"

Everyone turns up, shocked to see a hologram of Shinobu Miyaki inside
some advanced control centre, her android friend beside her. "What's going
on?!" Kimiki wonders. "Where's my baby?!!"

"Transmission is clear," Aya announces, her voice echoing all over
Tokyo. "Tomobiki has been restored."

* * *

From Nerima park, Ookako turns to Sora. "Locate the source of that
transmission!!" the ambassador barks.

"I think it's the emergency visual transmission system in the monitor
station located in the Warpworld," the scientist muses...

* * *

By Tomobiki High School, everyone watches as Shinobu breathes out in
relief from Aya's words. "Thank the gods!" she sinks into a chair, covering
her face with her hands.

Nassur and Benten storm into the control room. "Shinobu!!" the latter
cries out. "You okay?!"

Gunfire is heard. "I'm fine!" Shinobu weakly smiles, then stops.

Nassur stares at the unmoving bodies of his son and the reborn Aya.
"Akisur..." he gasps, falling to his knees. "Oh, no...NO!!!!"

Everyone in Tomobiki is solemnly silent watching Nassur lift the body of
a younger Vosian man, shuddering sobs wracking through him. "Who's that?"
Kimiki wonders.

"Oh, no!" Shapiro shakes his head. "That has to be his son."

"What?!" Kinshou exclaims.

"Then that woman there, on the floor..." Toshoba pales. "That's Aya..."

"But Aya's over there!!" Kimiki points to the cyborg.

More gunfire. "Where's all that shooting coming from?!" Komeru hums.

By that time, Ookako and Sora have joined them. "That sounds like an
Urban Assault Cannon," the latter reports. "At Level Ten setting, I believe."

"Can you be sure?" the Principal calmly inquires, sipping tea.

"I believe with a degree of accuracy," Sora hums, accepting her own cup
from Kotatsuneko. "Thank you, Kotatsuneko-kun. As to who is firing the
weapon, I cannot speculate without additional information."

At that time, the "Renegade's" crew burst into the control room.
"Nassur!!" Koosei barks, then stops. "Oh, no...!"

Nassur blearily stares at his friend. Cherry administers the prayers
for the dead. More gunshots are heard, along with shouting. "Who's this?"
Sakura points at Aya's clone.

"That's Aya," Shinobu answers. "She...had a chance to become human.
That..." she indicate's the departed Zeiwanite's cyborg body, "...is just an
empty shell..."

Hearing this, Kimiki wails as she sinks into her husband's embrace.
Suddenly, gunfire echoes, closer. A side door explodes, revealing a badly
wounded man in a dark uniform!! "That's the Mikado!!!" Shapiro exclaims.

Everyone from Tomobiki backs away from the Vosian dictator as he
staggers against a wall, feeling the strength of his legs go. Ten-chan flies
up on his hoverscooter. "Hey, did you hear?!" the young Oni gasps.
"Everyone's seeing this?!"

"All over Tokyo?" Komeru wonders.

"Not just that!!" Ten-chan shakes his head. "Everywhere!! On Uru, Vos,
Zephyrus, Elle, Yehisril...the whole local cluster!!!"

Shapiro stares heavenward, realizing something. "My God," he shudders.
"Then whoever's out to kill the Mikado...will kill him in front of the whole
galaxy! Imagine the reaction!!"

"But who's hunting him?" Komeru scratches the back of his head. "If
anyone, Nassur deserves the first crack!"

Suddenly, the ominous sound of cybernetic gears rumble in. Kinshou
pales. Everyone in the monitor station turns to the door from which the
Mikado exited. "That's who..."

The Cyborg appears, a smoking Urban Assault Cannon coming to bear on the
Mikado. "**Run out of places to hide?!**" the machine-man growls...

* * *

"Ataru-kun, no!!!" Shinobu leaps up, placing herself into his path.
"Stop, please!!! You've done enough!!! Let it end!!!"

Ataru glares at her. "***GET...OUT...OF...MY...WAY!!!!!!***"

Shinobu is hurled back by the sonic boom. Ataru's eye glows at the
wounded dictator, his hands cocking the Cannon's action. "**Now, where can
you run to?**" Ataru sneers, stepping forward.

The Mikado summons his failing strength, pulls up his pistol in hopes of
wounding the Cyborg and effecting an escape. Before he could come close,
Ataru fires, blowing off the Mikado's hand! "**That was for all the people
you killed during the Civil War!**" Ataru growls, cocking his weapon.

A shot wrecks his left knee! "**That's for Nassur's parents!**"

Another wrecks the other knee! "**That's for trying to hurt Dake-chan's
kids!!**"

A fourth wrecks his left elbow! "**That's for trying to hurt everyone
in Tomobiki!!**"

A fifth wrecks his right elbow! "**That's for Akisur and Aya!!**"

A sixth shot rips open the Mikado's abdomen! "**That's for Junba!!**"

Ataru cocks, aims and squeezes the trigger. The weapon clicks! Empty.
He hurls the Cannon aside, reaching for the photon shotgun. Everyone freezes
as he ejects the spent rounds, reloads, then takes careful aim. The Mikado
fixes him with a defiant gaze. "I'll...see you...in...Purgatory..."

If Ataru could smile, he would.

"**You first.**"

The two balls of energy shred what is left of the deposed dictator,
blasting a giant hole through the wall of the control room!! People turn away
from the scene, unable to believe it could go this far. Ataru lowers the
weapon, then sighs. "**Now, it's over.**"

Nassur approaches him. "Are you sure you got him this time?"

"**Very funny!**" Ataru intones, then reloads the shotgun. "**In the
meantime,**" he aims at the power core in the middle of the station, "**I
suggest you get out of here...now!**"

He fires! The twin balls of energy shatter the power core, activating
the self-destruct sequence. "Self-destruct of Colony Four in five minutes,"
Aya's cyborg body dutifully announces.

"Show's over, everybody!!" Koosei gasps. "Move!!!"

Everyone sprints outside for the waiting "Renegade." Shinobu and Ataru
lift Akisur's and Aya's bodies to his waiting hovercycle, securely strapping
them onto the side skirts, then the two mount. "I'm going to make sure you go
back to where you belong!" Shinobu sighs.

"**Why didn't you tell him?**" Ataru asks.

"How would you tell him?!"

"**Good point!**"

Everyone else scrambles aboard the "Renegade." Nassur stops, looking
back. "Aren't you coming with us?!!" he exclaims.

Suddenly, the Gatherer sails into view. "**Our ride's already here!**"
Ataru thumbs the superdreadnought.

The monitor station begins to crumble as chunks of Colony Four's crust
explode. Nassur scrambles aboard his ship as Ataru guides his cycle to the
Gatherer. The "Renegade" lifts off from the monitor station as it follows the
superdreadnought out a gaping hole in the side of the dying hollow planet.

Appearing from a hiding spot near the landing pad, Osur looks around.
"Where'd everyone go?!" the colonel demands, then walks inside. As control
panels explode, he blinks on seeing Aya standing there, non-chalantly awaiting
the station's destruction. "Why'd everyone leave?! I just got here!"

"Too bad for you," Aya smiles...

* * *

Everyone on the Gatherer and the "Renegade" race to the aft observation
lounges as Colony Four collapses on itself, then explodes, space-warps sucking
the debris into billions of possible locations!! In the superdreadnought's
aft lounge, Shinobu looks away, covering her tearing eyes. "Good-bye, Aya-
chan...good-bye, Aki-chan...I'll never forget you..."

*** To Be Continued ***