al709382@campus.ccm.itesm.mx

		The Caller's Plight, by Jorge Pratt

			Part III, section D


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Destination: the Other Side

	"Damn it!" Locke Cole slammed his fist on the council's 
table.
	"Calm down, Locke. Cursing won't help us," Celes soothed him.
	"But what else is left for us to do?" Edgar said, "We know 
Kefka is alive, and we even had to endure his Light of Judgement 
once more. But we still don't have a clue of his location."
	"It shall be in our best interest to discover him," Shadow 
said. "We may need to establish contact with Esper World once 
more."
	"I'm not very sure we can do that," Terra said, "Since 
Phoenix and Seraphim left, there hasn't been much contact 
between World of Ruin and Esper World."
	"There has to be a way," Strago said, "Maybe we could 
finally use our world's relations to the Lunarians, and use their 
spaceships to send a scout."
	"I'll go," Sabin said, "I feel responsible for all this, even 
if Kefka has barely tried to attack us."
	"Maybe you shouldn't," Celes said, "If the scout is to 
travel to Esper World, he must be able to remain undetected by 
Kefka's forces. A human would probably stand out like a sore 
thumb."
	"Then who do you suggest? Gogo? We don't even know 
whether he or she is even a human. And since he, she, whatever, 
hardly speaks..."
	"..." Gogo replied.
	"No. I was thinking of someone who could pass as an Esper."
	"Namely?"
	"A Moogle."

			*	*	*

	"Listen up, men," the battle commander briefed the Lunarian 
fighters stationed in Mysei. "The humans reached Cat's Eye about 
half an hour ago. That means they should be in Phantom Forest 
right about now. According to the plans devised by Maduin and 
our leader, FuSoYa, we are to assist the scout party as soon 
as the Dead Wall is gone. Since they probably overcame it, we 
must now prepare our Air Forces."
	"Excuse me, sir," one of the pilots said, "Isn't it kind of 
suicidal to use only the Lunar Forces against Kefka and the 
Black Omen?"
	"He does have a point," another soldier added, "Even if the 
Espers and the humans manage to get rid of Tiamat and the Four 
Fiends,  the Black Omen and Orb still have more than enough 
power to knock all of us out of the sky, not to mention Kefka 
has seized control of Zeromus."
	"Zeromus shall not concern us," a tall man in dark armor 
said sternly.
	"Golbez is correct," the commander said, "Our main worry 
should be Kefka. Once we seize his fortress, the Espers will see 
to it that Chaos regains control of the Black Orb and uses it 
to drive the Lavos away."
	"But then we'll be risking destroying Kefka _and_ the 
Espers."
	"Then we would have to sacrifice our victory in order to 
keep them safe," they all stood up and bowed as the wise 
Lunarian entered the room. FuSoYa quickly scanned the room, 
stroking his beard. "You are all young, most of you have lived in 
Esper World all your life. But the oldest among you may still 
recall the hell brought upon our world by the Lavos. It is our 
duty to repay the Espers for accepting us in their planet." He 
thought back to what Maduin had told him, "And remember: no 
matter the cost, we must make sure the Espers and humans 
remain safe at all times."
	A long silence filled the room. The soldiers gulped, they 
now had the challenge of not only capturing Black Omen, but to 
do it in such a way that the party wouldn't be exposed. The 
battle that awaited would be difficult, indeed.
	As the commander went back to explaining the strategy for 
the assault, FuSoYa and Golbez left the briefing room. The 
imposing knight was several feet taller than the hunched-over 
old man, yet the latter emitted an aura of great authority and 
power, both mental and magical. Golbez often wondered why FuSoYa 
had chosen to remain alien to this conflict.
	"The attack shall be in three days," Golbez said. FuSoYa 
nodded silently. Golbez went on, "I hear Maduin is also rallying 
Eliann and Jurtahs. They should arrive at the same time as we 
do."
	"This is a pointless war," FuSoYa said, "Then again, which 
war has ever had a point? Conflict only results in deaths, and 
deaths in grief. I fear for everyone involved."
	"If it eases your worry, I will lead the attack," Golbez 
said.
	"Then I shall give you my blessing. I'm afraid I won't be 
able to help, though. My friend from the World of Ruin, Strago, 
needs the help of the Lunarians. I will depart tomorrow morning."
	"Through spatial displacement, I believe," Golbez said. The 
ship that had brought the Lunarians long ago had crashed into 
the ocean and was never found.
	FuSoYa nodded, then sighed, closing his eyes. Setting his 
eyes on Golbez, he looked at him with worried eyes. "My nephew, 
take good care of our Lunarians. May the spirit of my brother 
KluYa protect you."
	"Thank you, Sir," Golbez kneeled and lowered his head before 
FuSoYa. Swinging his cape around, Golbez walked away.

			*	*	*

	The griffons shrieked as they rained upon the party, 
trapping it in mid-flight against the wall. One of them tried to 
catch Mireillia with its talons, but a White Touch and a BlueBird 
ended that idea. Ranma slashed with the Tempest, diverting many 
creatures from attacking Andellia. Similarly, Ryouga and Mousse 
sent their missile weapons to repel the beasts.
	"Havoc Wing!" Coldfire sent out a hail of feathers, enraging 
many griffons and luring them away from the party. "Come on, you 
stupid birds! Over here!" he called, flying upwards, then coming 
down in a wide shield of Shadow magic, knocking them out of the 
sky.
	"We have to land!" Kirin said, "Maybe they'll stop attacking 
if we turn into humans!"
	"What, and become sitting ducks?" Ukyou slammed a griffon 
with her spatula, "We're better off up here!"
	"But we have to change back!" Terion's horn emitted ring-
shaped blasts, dispersing the griffons momentarily, "They're 
attcking because we're horses!"
	"I don't think we _have_ to land," Mireillia said, "Just stand 
on something solid!" she headed straight for the wall, placing her 
four hooves on it, "Yes!" she said, turning into a human, 
"Piercing Arrows!"
	"Forgetting someone?" Mousse said, seeing Kirin was about 
to do the same. The Esper sweated visibly.
	"Hey!" Mireillia was suddenly grasped by a griffon. "You 
beast! Don't touch me!" she said, grabbing hold of its talons and 
hooking her legs around its neck, pulling down and cracking it. 
She flung the body into a few more griffons, who stared at her 
in shock.
	"Mirei-chan! They're just animals!" Ranko called, upset at 
what Mireillia had done.
	"Sorry, force of habit," she said, leaping onto another 
griffon's back and kicking away, pushing it into the wall and 
leaving it unconscious.
	"We have to end this soon or else we'll draw Kefka's 
attention!" Andellia said.
	"Then maybe we'll get a chance to test these!" Akane took 
one of the Magicite rocks from hyperspace. It was Bahamut's 
Magicite. Not knowing how to use it, she flung it at Mireillia.
	"Thanks!" she said, raising the stone over her head, "King 
of dragons, we summon your help! Sun Flare!"
	Suddenly the entire party disappeared. In its place, a 
large, dark-scaled dragon extended its wings and bellowed, 
releasing a wide blast of blue fire, Many griffons were caught, 
but not all of them. As before, the dragon vanished and left the 
party in its place.
	"Whoa..." Ranma said, impressed.
	"A king of dragons, eh?" Herb wondered, wishing to learn 
more about Bahamut.
	"Look!" Mousse (who was strangely wearing his glasses,) 
pointed. But it was too late, several griffons clutched all of 
the humans and tore them off the Espers' backs.
	"Ranko-chan!" Phaeron yelled. Mireillia immediately landed on 
his back and they darted straight for the griffons.
	"Akane! Ranko! My fianc�es!" Nadir cried before joining in 
the race. "Yuannyan!" Herb-dragon also followed. The rest of the 
Espers quickly came behind them.
	"Hands off!" Ukyou slammed her spatula upwards into the 
griffon's throat. Seeing stars, the beast released her just as 
Herb passed beneath. Smirking, Lime simply removed the claws 
from his shoulders and punched the griffon, knocking it out. As 
he also landed on Herb's back, he saw Mint swing a chain around 
his captor's neck and pull, forcing it to release him. Herb picked 
him up, but then darted at the beast that carried Yuannyan, 
gathering energy in his jaws to fire it away. On the other hand, 
his fianc�e simply concentrated on her Stardust staff and a rain 
of cosmic shards barraged the griffon. She landed softly on 
Herb's back, but then the dragon prince burned the griffon to a 
crisp with his breath.
	Meanwhile, Mousse tied the griffon's talons with a chain, 
making it lose its grip. But he then swung the other end and 
sent it into a treetop, ensnaring a branch. He slid down the 
chain before the griffon could fly too far for its own good. 
Quickly, Mousse sent out another chain to catch the griffon that 
had grabbed Shampoo. The Amazon took the chain, pulled up her 
legs to kick the griffon's chin, and descended the same way as 
Mousse, foot extended to prevent him from hugging her. Rubbing 
his nose, Mousse saw her leap up and slam a bonbori into 
Ranma's griffon, effectively releasing him. Using his Wind magic, 
Ranma floated upwards and Shooting-Star Kicked the griffon 
holding Akane. Too bad the kick hadn't been strong enough, the 
creature just knocked him down by slamming into him.
	"Disrupt Crossbow!" Mireillia shot out. The griffon avoided 
easily, the shaft nearly hit Ranko instead.
	"Wait, Mireillia!" Phaeron called. "You'll hit her instead! 
Let's use magic!"
	"Are you crazy?!" Ranko ceased pummeling the griffon, "You'll 
fry me!" she had forgotten she was wearing the Wall Ring.
	"Wind-Shadow combination magic!" they summoned, "Weakening 
Breath!"
	A small, dark tornado sped towards the griffon. It squaked 
as the wind currents frazzled it, leaving a very confused half-
eagle, half-lion once the tornado dissipated. Taking the chance, 
Ranko used the last remnants ot the tornado to send her own 
hurricane punch upwards into the griffon's gut. Once more, the 
beast squaked as it was sent flying up, and up... Released, Ranko 
just summoned her white aura, using the Cherub Down's floating 
power to bolster her ki. The Kirin immediately came up beneath 
her to make her ride on his back, a big grin on his face, but 
she just punted him into the distance.
	"Let go!" Akane struggled, then summoned Mjollnir from 
hammerspace and smashed it into the griffon's gut. It wasn't 
enough. Gathering all her strength, she noticed Mjollnir was still 
charged with lightning and thrust it upwards into the beast's 
chest, then forced the lightning into it. The electrical surge 
caused the griffon to tense all its muscles, but upon relaxing 
them it involuntarily dropped Akane.
	"Oops..." she thought, speeding towards the dark trees. 
Ranma was still busy trying to get Shampoo off him, he couldn't 
use his Wind. Mousse was just hugging an unconscious griffon, 
"Shampoo, when did you get so muscular? Is this a bird 
disguise?"
	"Akane-san!" Ryouga thrust his umbrella into the griffon's 
gut, nearly skewering it, and used his Earth magic to create a 
staircase in thin air, dashing for her.
	"Gotcha!" Ranko said, coming up beneath her and catching 
her. Akane stared at her wide-eyed, then looked down.
	"EEK!" she held on tight to the redhead, "How... how are 
you..."
	"Eh?" she blinked, but recalled once more that she had 
never used the flying aura in front of _this_ Akane. She quickly 
landed on Herb's back, setting Akane down.
	"How in the world can you FLY?!" Akane was still staring 
agape.
	"Akane-san! Ranko!" the earth staircase reached Herb. 
Ryouga quickly came up to them, also surprised by what he had 
witnessed.
	"Guess there's a need for explanations," Phaeron ascended 
to their level. Boosted by Wind magic, Ranma, Shampoo and Mousse 
also landed on Herb. The rest of the Espers just hovered around 
them.
	However, mere instants before the nervous Ranko could 
explain, one of the few remaining griffons rammed full force into 
Akane, catching everyone off guard and knocking her into the 
forest below. The rest of the beasts surrounded the party 
before anyone could dive to rescue her.
	The wind boxed Akane's ears as she fell, nonetheless 
hearing Ranma's shouts from above. Suddenly Herb and the Espers 
became smaller and smaller, but the trees were rushing up to 
meet her. Akane closed her eyes, curling into a ball to resist 
the impact with the branches. She felt the first leaves 
scratching her face, and braced herself. But she never hit the 
ground, nor any other branches. In fact, she had landed softly, 
gently, as if someone had caught her...
	"YAAAAH!" she eeked away from the black willow that had 
caught her, using its branches like tentacles. She hurriedly 
leapt down, avoiding the willow's attempts to capture her. All of 
a sudden, every tree around her started shivering, slits of 
light forming in their trunks as if to shape eyes. Akane felt as 
in a nigtmare: the murmuring black willows all around her, lunging 
at her with their branches, illuminated from within as if 
possessed by evil spirits. It was truly a Phantom Forest.
	"Wah!" she tripped as a willow stuck out its roots. Not 
willing to go down without a fight, Akane quickly rolled away and 
stood, clenching her fists. Her battlesuit glowed as she began 
her blue-aura thing (tm).
	The trees all lunged for her, howling. She tried to jumpkick, 
but was batted away. A willow uprooted itself and came down on 
top of her, using its roots to imprison her in a cage.
	The willows closed in.
	"Ranma!" Akane called.
	The willows fell, cut in half.
	"Huh?" she blinked. "Kyaa!" she was temporarily blinded as a 
sword flashed before her, cleaving the roots of the last willow. 
A large man kicked the tree away, mockingly shouting, "Timber!"
	"Who...?" Akane opened her eyes to find a massive, heavyset 
man, covered by a rusty-gray armor and a violet cape draped on 
his shoulders. His helmet's mask was pulled over his face, she 
only saw the bright, confident eyes glimmering behind it. He was 
quite obviously a swordsman: not only was he brandishing a 
broadsword, there were two more swords sheathed on his back 
and a couple more scabbards on his right.
	The man stretched out his hand to grab her. Akane 
immediately scampered backwards, not taking her eyes off him. 
Finding the fallen willow in her way, Akane quickly grabbed it and 
flung herself over it, trying to escape from the dark warrior. 
She had fled only to find herself trapped by willows again, but 
these were much quicker. Already one had grasped her ankle. 
Akane fell, pulled by the tree. An ominous opening gaped on the 
tree's trunk, threatening to pull her within.
	Slash! The trees fell once more, the warrior's sword 
completed its arc. Without even looking he flung a kotetsu at 
the last willow, severing its branch and releasing Akane. She 
looked at him, frozen. The man stretched his hand, offering.
	"Trust me or die. Your choice."
	"What?"
	"Just don't take too long. I have better things to do than 
save little schoolgirls."
	Akane fumed at this man's rude maners. Okay, so he had 
saved her. That was still no reason to talk to her like that! 
Why, when Ranma came down...
	"There's no time for this..." the warrior took her hand and 
pulled her to her feet, then ran from the willows, slashing the 
branches that blocked their path. Akane could barely keep up 
with his great strides, every step he took was equal to four or 
five from her. A glowing wraith appeared behind Akane. With great 
ease the swordsman slashed towards it, his sword sending out a 
Wind Shear almost identical to Ranma's. The wraith was torn by 
the attack, then the warrior quickly lead Akane to a small 
clearing. There were no more black willows here, only "normal" 
glowing trees.
	"Ta-ta!" the warrior sang as he vanished amid the foliage, 
instantly becoming a blur in the dark forest.
	"Wait!" Akane called, "Who are you?" But she was responded 
with silence. Frowning, she finally had a chance to breathe and 
signal the others. 
	"So, what's a cute little mallet like you doing here?" 
Mjollnir wasn't wasting his time in Hammerspace, he was already 
wooing Akane's regular Interdimensional Mallet. But his beeper lit 
up. "Great. She's calling again. Don't go away, ok--"
	Akane reached into Hammerspace and pulled him even before 
he finished. With a strong heave, she flung him straight up, 
trying to catch the others' attention. Sure enough, she caught 
Nadir's attention when the hammer smashed in his belly.
	"Who was that?" Akane thought, waiting as she saw the 
Espers spot her.

			*	*	*

	"Siegfried," Phaeron said.
	"_That_ was Siegfried?" Akane asked. Gathered once more, 
the party was preparing a camp. It was past midnight, after all. 
They had to sleep sometime. In fact, most of them were already 
fast asleep, under the protection of the Moon Shield cast over 
the camp.
	"From the way you described him, I'd say so," Terion said, 
polishing his sword. Excalibur couldn't be happier.
	"Who is he?" Ranma asked.
	"Nobody really knows," Nadir said. "He's a mercenary, 
sometimes even a thief. But he's not completely devoted to gold, 
mind you. Although we never got the chance to know him well, 
we've seen honor accompanying him in most of his travels."
	"Rumor has it he trained under my Master," Terion said. 
"Lord Istet was the master swordsman that trained me, since he 
was one of the few, 'chosen' humans from the World of Balance 
that knew about Espers. He always kept telling me I was doing 
progress as quickly as his 'other student.' I always had a hunch 
he was Siegfried."
	"Will he help us?" Ranko asked, before releasing a yawn.
	"I think so," Phaeron said, "After all, Siegfried isn't too 
fond of Kefka. Even if he doesn't actively join us, we could still 
hire him."
	"Makes you wish Nabiki was here, right?" Ranma snickered.
	"But how do we know Kefka won't hire him before we do?" 
Ryouga asked.
	"Even Siegfried wouldn't make a deal with the devil," Terion 
said, "Kefka and his cronies would, but that's another story. 
Besides, I doubt Siegfried would let Kefka's Shadows come near 
him, even if they were just trying to hire his services."
	"There _is_ one place where he's bound to come up," Nadir 
said. "There's an ancient railway system in this forest, called 
the Phantom Train. It usually takes the souls of the departed in 
both Esper World and the World of Ruin, since there's another 
Phantom Forest in that planet as well. Daily, the souls board 
the train, and it takes them to 'the Other Side." Like the Gates, 
only it looks like a train station. It doesn't matter whether 
you're good or bad in your life, if you're in the World of Ruin 
or Esper World, you arrive there when you die."
	"And what would Siegfried be doing in that train?" Akane 
asked.
	Nadir rolled his eyes, "It's full of treasure, waiting for 
someone to come and collect. Since the departed have to leave 
their belongings in this plane before moving on, the Phantom 
Train is crammed with the items the person had before dying. And 
when a rich person dies..."
	"We still haven't figured out how Siegfried manages to 
escape the train," Phaeron said, "Unlike the Gates, once you set 
one toe on it, you can't go back. The Train carries you all the 
way to either the Light or the Shadows, no stops. And yet 
Siegfried always finds a way to leave."
	"Wait, hold it," Ranma said, "You mean that if one of us 
were to die here, we'd end up in that Ghost Train?"
	"Phantom Train."
	"Okay, whatever. But I'm not going to practically kill myself 
so we can call this Signature or Sig-fired what's-his-name."
	"Maybe we can get one of the Guardians to help us, then..." 
Ranko suggested, having briefly experienced afterlife at the 
Gates.
	"I don't think we should look for Siegfried, though," Terion 
said, sheathing Excalibur, "We're already on a tight schedule, we 
don't need any more delays. If we need help, he'll find us like he 
did Akane."
	"I second that," Phaeron said, "But we all have to stick 
together in this forest. We wouldn't want _somebody_ wandering 
off and finding a train station by accident..."
	"Oh, shut up," Ryouga said.
	"Well, I don't know about you but I'm going to bed," Ranko 
said, heading for her tent, where Yuannyan was already sleeping. 
"G'night everyone."
	"Are you going to stay here all night?" Akane asked, as she 
and Ranma were heading for the tents as well.
	"Yeah, don't worry about us," Phaeron said, sitting by the 
fire while Terion and Nadir made for their tents.
	"We'll be alright, Akane-san," Ryouga smiled at her. "You can 
sleep easy, we'll guard for tonight."
	"Just remember that tomorrow it's _your_ turn, Ranma," 
Akane said. He rolled his eyes. "Good night, Ryouga-kun. Good 
night, Phaeron-kun." They replied in kind.
	"Sure you don't need help?" Ranko peeked out of her tent, 
suppressing another yawn.
	Phaeron smiled at her, "Thanks, Ranko-chan, but you better 
get your rest. Tomorrow will be a busy day."
	"Oh, okay..." she yawned again, falling asleep on the spot. 
Phaeron and Ryouga both stood up to cover her with a blanket.
	Phaeron was about to say, "Good night," to her sleeping 
form when Ryouga suddenly beat him to it, also pushing her 
gently back into the tent. Phaeron blinked at his behavior, but 
then smirked, "So, changed your attitude towards her, eh?" 
Ryouga nearly froze him with a glare, but the phoenix could still 
notice he had turned bright red.

			*	*	*

	Akane woke up at the sounds of fighting. Rubbing her eyes, 
she dug herself out of the sleeping bag and stretched her arms. 
Once more hearing grunts and words, she quickly crawled out of 
the tent, grasping Mjollnir just in case.
	She was relieved to find it was just Ryouga and Phaeron 
sparring. True, they weren't the martial arts powerhouses Ranma 
and Ranko were, but they were very evenly matched. For every 
one of Ryouga's umbrella thrusts Phaeron parried and countered 
with his staff, and each time the phoenix attempted a kick or 
punch Ryouga would easily block or divert. Looking around, Akane 
discovered some other people had awakened also: Ukyou was 
making okonomiyaki, Shampoo was bashing Mousse, and so on. But 
since it was still dark inside Cat's Eye, the Espers had to cast 
a small light sphere over the campsite to provide sufficient 
light.
	"Sheesh, why don't you just yell out loud our position?" 
Nadir frowned at Phaeron, who had created the sphere.
	"Remember that Phantom Forest is too dark for any light to 
come out of it," Terion said, doing a few practice swings with 
Excalibur. Mireillia blocked them easily with the AtmaWeapon.
	"Good morning, oneechan," Ranko came up behind Akane, 
yawning widely.
	"Hm? Oh, good morning, Ranko-chan. Well, I think it's 
morning."
	"Heh. Look at those two," Ranko smirked at Ryouga and 
Phaeron, who were still too busy practicing to notice them. 
"Oneechan, you still have that SD magic scroll?" "Sure," Akane 
answered, diving back into the tent and handing it over to her. A 
mischievous smile appeared on the redhead's face. Akane giggled.
	"You're pretty good, bird-boy," Ryouga said, thrusting his 
umbrella below Phaeron's staff and pulling up. But instead of 
losing his weapon, Phaeron used the pull to leap over Ryouga. He 
immediately thrust with his staff... and missed utterly. Ryouga 
must have ducked. But then he also found himself shrinking 
disproportionally, his staff becoming too large for him.
	"Aww, look at the little kiddies playing," Ranko laughed at 
SD-Ryouga and SD-Phaeron. Akane giggled again at them.
	"Uh, good morning, Ranko-chan," SD-Phaeron rubbed his head.
	"H-Hi," SD-Ryouga said in his embarassed tone.
	"How cute!" Mireillia suddenly saw them and lifted SD-
Phaeron high up in the air, much to his own embarassment. SD-
Ryouga blushed mightly when Akane and Ranko took turns lifting 
him.
	"Wook at the widdle piggy!" Ranko mocked him, bouncing SD-
Ryouga up and down in her arms. The miniature Hibiki felt in 
heaven.
	"Cut that out!" SD-Phaeron struggled as Mireillia hugged him 
tightly. Finally breaking loose, he landed on the ground and 
spread his arms... morphing into a super-deformed Phoenix. 
Mireillia and Ranko united in a single, "Kawaii!" Nadir felt like 
exploding in jealousy.
	"What's all the racket?" Ranma came back to the camp, 
followed by Herb and Yuannyan. She also noticed the SD-Phoenix, 
and would have joined her twin and Mireillia if she weren't so 
worried.
	"What's wrong, Ranma?" Akane asked.
	"Yuan-chan? What's up?"
	"Hurry and pick up the camp," Ranma said, "Those two idiots 
got lost."
	"Can't be. Ryouga-chan is right here," although she had 
used the "chan" to make fun of him, SD-Ryouga sighed in 
happiness at Ranko's statement.
	"No, not Ryoug--" Ranma suddenly noticed his condition, 
blinking, "Would you wook at the widdle piggy!" he pulled SD-
Ryouga's cheeks.
	"Weave mwe awone, youw bwig jwewk!" (Translation: Leave me 
alone, you big jerk!) Apparently Ryouga wasn't at all pleased to 
be treated that way by him.
	"Then who..." Ranko started to ask when she realized Herb 
and Yuannyan had come with her brother. "You mean _those_ two 
idiots?"
	"Lime-kun and Mint-kun got lost," Yuannyan said, worry in 
her voice. "I... I asked for a little water, but..."
	"It wasn't your fault, little one," Herb said, "You know how 
absent-minded those two can be."
	"Then we'll have to go look for them," SD-Phaeron said, 
morphing back, "If they reach the Train Station..."

	"I told you we should have taken that right turn!" Mint 
bonked Lime's head as the pair walked around the forest, "But 
nooo, you get so worked up about the mistress talking to you 
that you lost it completely!"
	"And who are you to talk?" Lime idly knocked away a black 
willow, "Look at you, we get to spend over a month in a place 
filled with girls and you still can't get over your shyness!"
	"I'm not shy, I'm just... thinking up the right words to say."
	"Then why do you go, 'Um, er,' each time the mistress talks 
to you?"
	"At least I don't freeze up like you do, you stupid cat!"
	"Who're you calling stupid, baby?" Lime growled.
	"I didn't call you stupid baby, but you sure act like that!"
	"Grrrrr..." Lime glared at Mint, who glared back. Controlling 
his temper with his best friend, the tiger-boy simply smacked him 
upside the head. Mint replied in the same manner. Continuing 
smacking each other as they walked, both failed to notice the 
grass-covered ground gradually disappear, the trees parting. 
They didn't notice the ground turning to an asphalt floor, either. 
It was only when they heard the steam whistle that they 
realized they had entered the Phantom Train Station.


Vehicle of Souls

	A bearer of death, and an expression of life, two bright 
scarlet objects travelled through space. The Lavos was now 
close to completing its trek, Esper World would appear on its 
menu very soon. It was a frightening beast, the world devourer. 
Quite large, as a stadium, and shaped like a teardrop. It wasn't 
truly red, only the speed at which it travelled changed its dull-
brown color to scarlet. All of its outer body was a thick shell, 
covered by bony protrusions, sharp as quills. Its head --or what 
resembled it-- was simply a large brown orb, about two meters 
wide. It was divided in tree sections, like a mouth made by three 
jaws. But within this "mouth," the eye of the Lavos was watching.
	The second object, considerably smaller, was not a living 
creature. It was the Lightbird Phoenix blast, shot by Phaeron 
during the night when Mireillia first attacked. It was astounding: 
even after all the distance, all this time, it was still as large 
as a Russian Mriya goliath airplane. Yet the Lavos ignored it, 
despite the fact that the Lightbird would crash into it shortly. 
It _had_ to ignore it, though. The Lavos Spawn inside the 
monster's entrails was quickly maturning, demanding the 
creature's full attention. Its progenitor could already feel the 
hunger in this "child," a hunger for destruction.
	A shrill scream resounded in the shell of the Lavos. It had 
succeeded in outspeeding the Lightbird. even though the energy 
blast was still on route to Esper World's Cat's Eye. But it didn't 
matter to the Lavos, for nothing can defeat the one true 
Destroyer.
	Nothing mattered to it.
	Everything was the Hunger.

			*	*	*

	The troop dashed through the Phantom Forest. The woods' 
magic wasn't just in animated willows: the trees were so closely 
huddled together that the party was restricted to single-file 
movement, and even then the darkness prevented each person 
from seeing the teammate in front of them. Everyone would have 
been lost by now if it weren't thanks to Ryouga's bandannas --
they had tied many of them together, creating a makeshift rope 
from which the party members were holding on.
	"Idiots!" Nadir, in the lead, muttered, "It's a good thing the 
trail's still warm," his horns glowed as he used a "reverse 
premonition" ability to see through which parts Lime and Mint had 
passed.
	"I hope we make it in time," Andellia said, behind him. She 
was using her staff to light the way for him, even though it was 
nearly useless in the darkness.
	"Will they... will really die if they set foot on it?" 
Yuannyan was shaking with worried fright,
	"Not unless they end up at the Arrival Station," Crystallus 
said, "If the Phantom Train takes them there, anything we do will 
be useless."

	"I have a baaaad feeling about this place," Mint said, 
examining the deserted station. It was simply an asphalt 
platform, with bronze railings. There was also a bronze doorframe 
in the middle, an odd thing since it simply stood there, not 
leading anywhere. But the strangest aspect of the station was 
that, beyond the railway, there was nearly complete darkness, as 
if the Phantom Forest just ended there, no trees, no Black Wall, 
nothing but darkness.	

	Meanwhile, in the World of Ruin...
	Locke continued pacing restlessly in his house in Kohlingen. 
Celes was just entertaining herself by watching him, wondering 
when he would manage to dig a hole in the ground. But his 
apprehension was understandable, though. They were still waiting 
for the Lunarian emissary to arrive, bringing news about Kefka. 
And the scout they had selected was nowhere to be found.
	"I'm getting tired of this..." Locke suddenly muttered.
	"Then sit down."
	"That's not what I mean. I'm tired of waiting, not knowing 
anything about what's going on with Kefka. I wish there was a 
way to know without having to wait for that FuSoYa to come 
here."
	"There is a way, brother Locke..."
	He and Celes looked up at the voice. Yes, it had been 
Seraphim, but there was no broad beam of white descending. 
Instead, there were many glimmers of silver, all congregating in 
front of him to shape a human form. "What in the..." he started.
	Rachel was a thin woman of a small build, yet her strength 
was never of a physical kind. Her dark brown eyes still gleamed 
with the vast inner resources she possessed, surpassing even 
those of Locke. But there was still a small glimmer of nostalgy 
in her eyes, sadness for having died, leaving Locke alone. The 
master thief <WHAM!> I mean, treasure hunter, gasped as her 
ghost appeared in front of him. Celes frowned a bit, knowing that 
Rachel had been Locke's fianc�e before her. But her frown 
disappeared soon, as she was also glad to see Rachel again.
	"Listen," the ghost said, lifting her hand to keep Locke 
from running at her. "Locke, it is good to see you again. But I'm 
afraid my visit is not for something that trivial. You want to 
know about Kefka, and I want to talk to you about him. About 
what he has done to Esper World..."
	At the same time, also on the World of Ruin, a lone figure 
with long silver hair approached a grave near Kohlingen. Fiddling 
with a Joker card in his hand, Setzer, the owner of the airship 
Falcon, placed a bouquet on the tombstone. Here lay  the woman 
he had come to love so dearly, a wild-mannered rogue named 
Darryl. Remaining silent for an instant, he began to pray, 
"Darryl, I fear we may have to face Kefka once more. I ask for 
you to look over my friends, as I add my life to the ante."
	"Still speaking like a gambler, eh, Gabbiani?"
	Setzer bolted backwards, gazing into the spirit before him. 
Smiling, Darryl began to speak.

	"What the heck is that?" Ranma pointed at the ignes fatui 
that were appearing in the distance. The trees in their path 
were parting now, as if to make room for a large structure.
	"Oh, God," Phaeron gasped, "The Phantom Train is arriving."

	"Let's get the hell out of here," Lime backed away from the 
platform. In front of them, the pale blue of the ignis fatuus was 
sprouting from the darkness, while the railway below began 
vibrating slightly. Again, they heard the steam whistle, but it 
was deafeningly close this time. Lime and Mint stumbled at 
hearing the noise.
	"Get off of me!" Mint vainly tried to push Lime away, but 
the tiger-boy was staring aghast at the doorframe.
	"Look."
	The doorframe was glowing pale white. A blue-colored rift 
appeared inside it, swirling. The Musk warriors gulped as they 
saw a host of people coming out of the rift, all wearing robes. 
There were a few with white robes, they walked joyfully, as if 
dancing, and showed wide smiles in their faces. Those who were 
old regained their youth in seconds. Also, every child that came 
from the gate was dressed in white robes.
	Then there were others with gray robes. They walked more 
cautiously than the Blessed, for they had been neither Good nor 
Evil during their life. They looked around, worried, for they still 
didn't know their fate.
	Then there were the black-robed ghosts, who dragged their 
chained feet and fiddled with their hadcuffed hands. Some of them 
were locked in fright, for they knew exactly where they would 
end up, while the rest scowled, enraged that they would be sent 
to the Shadows.
	"G-Ghosts!" Mint stammered, but was shushed by a 
moustached man appeared, wearing a train-driver's uniform. "Don't 
call them ghosts, sonny," the Gatekeeper said, "They're merely 
the departed, as you will be someday..."
	"I'm out of here!" Lime pushed himself off the floor, pulling 
Mint along with him.
	"So, how'd Locke take it?" Darryl asked Rachel as they 
stepped out of the gate.
	"Aah..." Lime and Mint stopped in their tracks, staring at 
the women. They were not wearing robes, instead they wore 
ordinary clothes that bolstered their looks... and made Lime and 
Mint drool.
	"Girls!" they exclaimed.
	"Mint! Lime! Show yourselves!" Herb summoned, as the troop 
came near the Train Station.
	"Hm?" Darryl and Rachel turned to see the two boys that 
were staring at them. With a loud hiss of steam, a gigantic 
apparition solidified on the tracks. It was the Phantom Train.
	"Up ahead! The Train Station is a few yards away!" Nadir 
called.
	As they walked to the Phantom Train, Darryl and Rachel 
looked nervously at the strange boys that followed them, even 
more nervous than the women.
	"Grrrr...." Lime growled (as if that weren't obvious.)
	"E-Excuse me..." Mint stuttered.
	"Shoo, shoo," Rachel playfully dismissed them, "This place is 
not for kids..."
	"At least not for live ones," Darryl smirked. The pair 
boarded the Phantom Train. Lime and Mint still followed.
	"Wait! Don't come here"" the two girls called. Too late, Lime 
and Mint had already set foot on the caboose.
	"Lime! Mint!" the troop came out to the platform.
	"Master Herb!" they turned to him,
	"Ah!" the party stopped dead as they saw the ghostly 
vehicle in front of them. The bronze snake that was the Phantom 
Train was several cars long, some of them slightly damaged by 
time. The locomotive was large, like an intermediate step between 
the General model and a Diesel machine. Again it whistled. The 
wheels creaked as the train started moving.
	"Those idiots! They boarded the Train!" Phaeron and Coldfire 
quickly made a break towards the departing vehicle.
	"Sure. Those guys can be reborn, but what about us?!" Nadir 
grimaced.
	"Easy. _We_ go after them!" Ranko followed Phaeron, using 
her flying aura to avoid setting foot on the train.
	"Phaeron!" Mireillia also followed. "What are you doing?!" the 
rest of the humans followed Phaeron and Ranko.
	"If you can't beat them..." Terion said, as he and Andellia 
joined Crystallus and boarded.
	"Yaah! My fianc�es!" Nadir had no other choice.
	As soon as the whole group was on board, the Phantom 
Train rushed forward. In mere seconds it had already left the 
station behind, plunging into the darkness of the ethereal world. 
The people gulped at their folly.
	"What the hell did you do that for?!" Darryl demanded. "The 
living do not belong in the Gates of Transition!"
	"Tell me about it..." Ranko rolled her eyes.
	"We're sorry, Master," Lime and Mint bowed in abashment.
	"Now what do we do?" Ranma crossed his arms.
	"Can't we get off?" Ranko asked, not daring remove her 
floating aura.
	"I'm afraid you can't," Rachel said, "Once the Phantom Train 
takes you, there is no turning back."
	Phaeron was taken aback by the voice. It took a second to 
recognize it, but he stared agape when he did. Rachel, the only 
human who had ever cared for him as a _person_, rather than an 
Esper, in the World of Ruin.
	"Rachel?" he stepped forward, dubiously staring at her.
	"'Rachel'?" Ranko and Mireillia cocked one eye.
	"It is you!" Phaeron smiled widely, hugging her briefly. 
Rachel was slightly confused. "And who are you?"
	"It's me, Rachel! I'm the Phoenix Esper!"
	Her eyes also opened widely, as her mouth turned to a 
smile, "_The_ Esper Phoenix that I met? The Esper Phoenix that 
saved my Locke's life?!" Phaeron nodded, Rachel clasped her hands 
in delight, "Wow, what a coincidence!"
	"What's going on?" Akane asked.
	"Hm? Oh, sorry," Phaeron turned to them, "Guys, this is 
Rachel. She saved my life in the World of Ruin," he turned to 
her, "...sacrificing herself in the process."
	"Hey, don't mention it. I was destined to die anyway, but 
you gave me the chance to put Locke at rest," Rachel and 
Phaeron told how she had been in coma for years, until the 
Phoenix Magicite resucitated her. But her condition was too 
grave, the Magicite had nearly shattered at the effort. Thus, 
with her last bit of energy, Rachel brought the Phoenix back to 
life.
	"What?" Ranko thought. How had Rachel done that, when the 
Caller had failed miserably?
	"Okay, okay. Enough with the flashbacks," Darryl said, "What 
are you all doing here?" All of them glared at Lime and Mint, who 
shrank visibly.
	"How do we get off of this thing?" Ranma asked. They would 
have jumped off already if it weren't for the engulfing darkness 
around them.
	Rachel and Darryl shook their heads, "We don't know for 
sure. The Phantom Train is a living entity, you need its 
permission to get off. But we don't know _what_ you have to do 
for it to give you permission."
	"What about Sigfried?" Nadir asked, "He _has_ been here 
many times."
	"He has permission," Darryl shrugged, "Maybe you can ask 
him, if he's here."
	"I'll show you around," Rachel said, taking Phaeron's hand 
and leading him into the car. The rest just shrugged and 
followed, as there was nothing else to do.
	The interior of the Phantom Train was luxuriously 
decorated, with fine red carpetry and velvet coaches. But it was 
deserted. Not a single soul in sight. (Okay, okay, sue me. That 
pun was unintentional :) )
	"Okay, wait here," Ranma turned to the troop.
	"We'll go see what's needed to get the Train's permission to 
leave," Phaeron finished. Lead by Rachel and Darryl, the pair 
continued through the Train while the party waited in the 
caboose.
	"I hope they come back soon," Andellia said, "The Train's 
permission won't do much good if we arrive at the next station." 
She heard a light laughter, but ignored it.
	"This place is sure different to what I've seen," Ranko 
leaned back in midair. "The Gates are way better than an old 
moldy train."
	"Of course, _you_ and Phaeron already know what's there," 
Coldfire said. Again there was laughter.
	"What's in the Gates?" Akane asked, curious.
	Ranko swallowed hard, "I don't think it's a good idea to talk 
about it."
	Akane noticed the look on the redhead's face, "Sorry. I 
didn't mean to remind you about it."
	"Do you mean there are other ways to reach the Gates 
other than the Phantom Train?" Mireillia asked.
	"Sure," a voice said, "For example, you could sell your soul 
to me..." they slapped their foreheads.
	"Why don't you just leave us alone, you idiot?" Ranko 
demanded.
	"What fun would that be?" Dysithal laughed, "You know 
perfectly well that you're the reason why I'm bothering your 
friends. Just give Cordis to me and _maybe_ I'll stop hunting 
you. No promises, though."
	"Might as well surrender to you, then," Ranko began calling 
a battle aura.
	"Because we won't let you hurt any of our friends," Akane 
added, grasping Mjollnir. The laughter increased in volume. 
Noticing it, everyone drew their weapons.
	"All right. But let me show you what has happened to the 
people who once opoosed me," Dysithal's eyes appeared in midair. 
Ranko felt a freezing cold cover her.
	The laughter exploded as a host of wraiths stretched out 
from the shadows of the Train. They were made entirely of 
darkness, although their gas-like bodies were shaped like robed 
skeletons. Without wasting more time, the party attacked.
	With a strong heave Ryouga flung his steel boomerang at 
the ghosts, tearing through them. Similarly, all sword-armed 
fighters slashed a path through the apparitions, while Nadir's 
arrows could do nothing but skewer them. In the rear, Akane and 
Yuannyan were helping Andellia with her healing spells, since 
they only had blunt weapons. But when the first attack ended, 
the ghosts simply reformed themselves, completely unhurt.
	"Let's see you handle this!" Ryouga flung an Earth Crush at 
them. The ghosts just phased through the rock. But as they did 
so, Mousse stretched his palm at them, disintegrating several 
with a gust of wind. They kept coming.
	"How do you get rid of these things?!" Ukyou slashed at 
them with her weapons, but a ghost ducked the attack and hit 
her in the gut. She fell over, coughing, as a terrible cold 
spread form the impact. Akane quickly rushed to her, sending a 
healing spell. Just as the first glimmers detached from her hand, 
a phantom got in the way, blocking the spell. But then it 
bellowed in unearthly pain as the healing magic coursed through 
its ethereal body.
	"I get it," Akane said, watching the ghost vanish as she 
healed Ukyou. "They're undead, so cure magic hurts them!" Andellia 
finished. "Everyone, cover your eyes!" she said, aiming her staff 
upwards, "I'll send the strongest cure magic!" she was about to 
cast the spell when a small gargoyle appeared next to her and 
grasped the staff, breaking it in its knee. Andellia gasped.
	"Andellia!" Terion saw her surrounded by gargoyles. "Silver 
Magic technique!" he called, grasping Excalibur over his head. 
Mireillia saw him and immediately cast an aura shield around 
everyone else. "Sibling Blades!" he slashed with Excalibur. The 
Silver magic created a dozen swords around him, all slashing at 
the gargoyles in perfect coordination. "Epee Rain!" he thrust 
upwards. A flurry of thin sabers fell on top of the enemies.
	"Forgetting something?" Ukyou faced the ghosts, then 
charged her spatula and halberd with ice. "Jump!" she yelled, as 
she thrust her weapons into the floor, freezing it solid along 
with everything on it. The ghosts were turned to ice sculptures.
	"Kyaa!" Akane slammed her hammer into one of them. It 
shattered completely, but the specter didn't reform. The ice 
shards kept each fraction of its shape trapped. Slowly, though, 
the ice began to melt.
	"Akane, the Shiva Magicite!" Nadir called. But before she 
threw it at him, he pointed at Ukyou. "Here!" Akane hefted the 
stone at her. Ukyou began focusing her Water magic while Nadir 
completed the summon, "Shiva, Queen of Ice! Gem Dust!"
	All of a sudden, a slim, green-haired and blue-skinned 
woman appeared in front of Ukyou, holding a glowing crystal in 
her hands. A wide beam spread from it, filling the entire car. 
Everything and everybody was covered by the chilling blow. Ukyou 
gasped at what Shiva had done, but was relieved as the ice 
melted off everyone but the gargoyles and the ghost shards.
	"Phew," Akane breathed, "I thought that had been for real."
	"Then you better not see this!" Dysithal sent out an army 
of skeleton warriors, colored red. Ukyou tried to summon Shiva 
once more, but the Magicite had worn itself out for the moment.
	"I've had enough of this," Mireillia said, hissing. "Shadow 
magic technique! Darkness Meld!" as she summoned, she stepped 
into a shadow, disappearing completely inside it.
	"No wonder she managed to stay hidden," Ranko thought back 
to her first encounter with the Nightmare. She quickly had to 
take herself away from those thoughts as a scimitar slashed 
next to her. With a powerful rear kick she sent the skeleton 
flying into a frozen gargoyle, shattering both. But the bones 
shone oddly as the entire warrior reformed itself. Suddenly an 
arm stretched from the wall and grasped the skeleton's skull, 
crushing it to dust. Mireillia returned to the shadows 
afterwards. "These things are even worse!" Akane said, trying to 
hit a warrior with her hammer. Not even ice could stop these 
monsters. Nadir's arrows were completely useless, he had to rely 
on physical combat and telekinesis to defend himself. Herb was 
doing an acceptable job, restricted to blasting away any 
skeleton that came near, but most weapons and martial-arts 
techniques were ineffective against these enemies. Magic was the 
only thing truly reliable...
	"Of course!" Akane reconsidered that last thought. "Fire-
Shadow, Solar Eclipse! Silver-Shadow, Lunar Eclipse!"
	Joining her hands overhead, Akane sent out the fiery disk 
covered in shadow as she had done before with the Doppleganger, 
but this time combined it with a shadow-covered silver disk. The 
four-way attack crushed a handful of red skeletons. But it 
turned out for the worse, though, as all the bones mixed 
together to form a monstrous chimera. It used all of its limbs 
to pick up its weapons and slash at Akane.
	"Watch out!" she heard a voice before a Luminaire bomb 
exploded beneath the beast, sprawling its bones all over the 
train. Ranko's timimng couldn't have been worse, Herb and Nadir 
had also blasted an entire row of skeletons. The troop gulped as 
all of the bones joined together.

			*	*	*

	"So, that's it?" Ranma asked to the metallic panel.
	"WERE YOU EXPECTING MORE?" the voice of the Phantom Train 
reverberated inside the locomotive's cabin.
	"I think it's enough, thanks," Phaeron glared at Ranma, 
trying to keep him quiet. "As long as we don't interfere with 
your job, we can get off when we reach Delat Castle, right?"
	"I didn't think it would be so easy," Rachel shrugged.
	"How did you manage to go back, anyway?" Phaeron asked.
	"Seraphim looked for us," Darryl said, "Everyone in the 
World of Ruin was worried sick about what Kefka might be doing. 
We just calmed them down."
	"Well, it's good to know you're alright," Phaeron and Ranma 
began to walk to the cabin's hatch, "Maybe we'll see each other 
again in the far future."
	"BUT REMEMBER," the Phantom Train said again, "DO NOT EAT 
ANY OF THE YOMI FOOD."
	"Yummy food?" Ranma began salivating.
	"Not yummy food, you dolt. Yomi's food. One bite and you're 
dead for all time, remember?" Phaeron pushed him out of the 
cabin. "Sheesh, can't you think of something else?"

			*	*	*

	"Uh-oh..." Ranko stared at the monstrosity that shared the 
caboose with them.
	"Oops," Coldfire joined her.
	"Don't just stand there, finish it!" Mireillia leapt out of 
the shadows and covered herself with a large solid aura. The 
skeleton monster just batted her away, then tore off a couch 
and smashed it into her, knocking the wind out of her lungs. 
Enraged, Nadir shot out a net-arrow, but a sword slash was all 
that it took for the net to fall in pieces. Nadir found himself 
staring at a massive bony claw that pinned him to the floor. 
Then the beast turned to pint-sized Mint with one of its many 
heads, then picked him up by the foot. Problem solved. When Lime 
tried to attack, he was just punched out of the window. The 
tiger-boy could barely hold on to the edge. Then the many heads 
of the beast began babbling in a hollow voice, their eye-sockets 
glowing red, and Herb was quickly smashed into the ceiling and 
back into the floor. Yuannyan was treated similarly when she 
tried to heal her unconscious fianc�.
	"You bastard!" Ranko began glowing with Light magic, but 
before she could get off one shot the skeleton had squashed her 
against the floor with its foot. She nearly lost consciousness. 
Ukyou was locked in combat with one of the sword-armed limbs of 
the monster, but the distraction of hearing Ranko's exclamation 
left her open to a powerful hook that sent her reeling. Terion 
was facing a similar situation, but he was too busy defending 
himself and Andellia from the six sword-wielding arms. In the 
meantime, the Pegasus Esper was concentrating on creating 
another staff, but it would take some time. Thus, both were 
unable to help. But when Ryouga saw what the beast had done to 
Ranko, he bellowed and sent out his steel boomerang, severing 
many of the creature's arms. But before he could attack again 
all of these arms scurried along the floor and grasped his limbs. 
The hold was like iron, not even Ryouga could break free. And 
there was another hand that slowly crept towards his neck, bent 
on strangulating him. Trying to help, Akane dashed at him with 
Mjollnir, but the creature grasped the hammer, unaffected by its 
lightning, while another hand grabbed her ankle and brought her 
down. Only Shampoo and Mousse remained, but the monster simply 
chanted again and both of them were imprisoned in its rib-cage.
	"Shampoo!" Mousse glomped onto her (as there was nothing 
else he could mistake for the Amazon.)
	"Aiyaaaa! Shampoo no care for monster, just get Mousse 
away!!"

	"What in the..." Ranma looked beyond the cars, leaning 
against the outer catwalk's railing. There was an eerie red light 
emmanating from the caboose.

	"Hey..." a voice, similar to her own, resounded in her head. 
A tiny winged figure appeared in Ranko's shoulder, then phased 
into her head. "Wake up..." Cordis repeated, trying to get Ranko's 
attention. "WAKE UP!!!" somehow, she could fit a megaphone in her 
head. "That's better," she said, seeing the redhead open her 
eyes.
	"Wha..."
	"Do it."
	"C-Cordis...?"
	"Do it. I'll help you."
	"Eh...?"
	"Pray..."
	"I'm done!" Andellia lifted her new staff high over her 
head... just as a bony leg swept her and Terion off their feet. 
All of the monster's swords came raining down upon them.
	All of the monster's swords fell harmlessly beside them, 
along with the arms that held them.
	"What in the..." upon recovering, Mireillia saw a giant sword 
hovering over the kneeling Ranko. Its hilt was pure silver, but 
its blade... It was living fire, changing from red to gold, then to 
purple and blue before becoming orange and red again. As if it 
were liquid, the fiery blade dripped, the reddish drops glowing 
bright white upon touching the car's floor. For a brief moment, 
she could see the powerful aura around the sword, until the 
figure that held it appeared.
	He was a magnificent angel, with large wings and deep, 
penetrating eyes. Although his attire was traditional for an 
angel, he bore a breastplate with a fiery insignia embossed. "I 
am Uriel the Swordwielder. I have come to answer your call..." he 
turned to smile at Ranko, who was still kneeling as in prayer. 
"Now, escape from this place. None of you is strong enough to 
withstand Dysithal's might. I shall take care of this evil spawn." 
That said, he flung his sword towards the monster's ribcage, 
freeing the Joketsuzoku warriors. He aimed his hand at Ryouga 
and Akane, burning the bony hands completely. Another slash from 
the sword freed Nadir and Mint. Hurriedly, the party picked up 
the fallen fighters and dragged them out of the caboose, 
advancing to the next car. Bellowing, the monster rushed past 
Uriel, knocking him aside easily. "You are strong indeeed," Uriel 
smirked, then disappeared.
	"What the hell...?!" Ranma and Phaeron were staring at the 
people who were coming into their car. Surprised, they helped 
Ranko and Lime as they put Yuannyan and Herb on a couch.
	A shocking bellow came from the caboose. Looking out the 
windows, they saw the monster stand up, breaking through the 
ceiling and stretching its remaining arms in all directions. But 
before it could cast its magic upon the group, Uriel appeared 
between the two cars.
	"Return to the Shadows, fiend of darkness!" he said, 
thrusting his sword into the link and cutting through it. In a 
small flash of light, the link between the cars was severed, 
sending the caboose careening into the darkness of limbo.
	"Was that Uriel?" Phaeron stared wide-eyed at the 
disappearing angel, then at Ranko. "Who says praying doesn't 
help?" she smirked.

			*	*	*

	"THIS IS YOUR STOP," the Phantom Train said as it 
momentarily stopped in the middle of the darkness. "HURRY BEFORE 
I CHANGE MY MIND."
	"Come on, let's get out of here," Ranma lead the others out 
of the train. They were surprised to find themselves in front of 
a station, smack in the void. Shrugging, they headed for it.
	"Hey!" Akane pointed at one of the cars. "Look!"
	"Eh?" inside the car, Siegfried looked up from his booty and 
discovered he had been spotted. Startled, he jumped out of the 
train and vanished.
	"AND REMEMBER... I WILL WAIT FOR YOU."
	"Not if we can help it," Phaeron said.
	A light rumor was heard before the Train laughed, "OH, 
YES... I WILL SEE MANY OF YOU VERY SHORTLY..."
	Feeling a chill travel down their spine, they bolted around 
to see the Phantom Train regenerate its caboose, then laugh 
with a harsh laughter as it evanesced into the darkness. Not 
willing to stay any second longer, they dashed into the portal 
of the station, heading back to the forest...
	And they stopped dead in their tracks. In front of them 
was a dark, foreboding fortress. Its stone walls were black with 
mold, the wood of its gate was rotten and cracked. All of the 
trees around it were black and dried, huddled against each other 
as if to defend from the power on the castle. The darkened 
windows resembled eyes, eyes that looked upon the party as a 
king of darkness would look upon an ant colony. And with the odd 
lights from the Black Omen nearly overhead, the castle of Delat 
was the most dangerous structure in the Phantom Forest.


Weapons of Light

	Two more days... That was all that it would take for it to 
arrive. And the spawn within the devourer was nearly fully 
grown. The Hunger would be soon satisfied.

			*	*	*

	Morning came once more, as they had wasted an entire day 
on board the Phantom Train. The camp was settled just outside 
Delat Castle, as they knew it would be necessary to rest before 
such challenge. And the fact that the trees didn't leave any 
other open routes made it impossible to go around the fortress.
	"Let's go," Ranma said, once the camp had been picked up.
	"I've heard rumors about this place," Terion said, "Not only 
is it haunted, but goblins and other foul creatures make this 
their home."
	"Then let's hurry up and get past his place," Ryouga 
hoisted his backpack.
	"This is ridiculous."
	"What is?" Akane turned to Ranko.
	"That we come out of a fight to land in the middle of 
another. We barely have any time to rest here."
	"But Esper World is not like this," Mireillia said, "It's 
usually pretty peaceful here. It was Kefka who disrupted our 
world."
	"Ready?" Phaeron asked, standing in front of the gates. The 
troop joined him, as they took a moment to look at the imposing 
structure before them.
	"Huh?" Terion looked down at his sheath. Excalibur was 
humming strangely.
	"What the..." Ranko looked over her shoulder. Like Excalibur, 
the Saotome katana was humming, plus a mild glow came from the 
blade. Ignoring the swords' reaction, they went into the castle. 
It was fairly dark inside, but not as much as to impede their 
advance. Cobwebs covered many surfaces, even creating "doors" in 
the empty hallways.
	"Let's split up," Ranma said, "Nadir do you have those 
arrows that light up?" nodding, the Esper retrieved the Elf Fire 
arrows. "Okay, let's make two groups. When someone finds the 
exit, light up the arrow so the others can find you, alright?"
	"Shampoo go with Ranma!" the Amazon quickly glomped onto 
him.
	"No, _I_ will go with Ranchan!" Ukyou tried to pry her off. 
Akane quickly ended the argument with an elbow to his nose, then 
dragged him off by the pigtail.
	"Somebody better take care of those two," Yuannyan giggled 
as she also joined the first group. The Musk warriors quickly 
followed her.
	"It's good to know everything's the same with those guys," 
Ranko said, "Then we'll go that way, right?" she pointed at an 
opposite door. Phaeron nodded.
	"Will you come with us, Shampoo?" Mousse turned to 
Andellia. She giggled, "See you at the exit, Terion." The Unicorn 
nodded and went with the first group, noticing how the second 
party was full of Espers.
	"I shall stay with this group," Crystallus said, transforming 
into the Crystal Armor and covering Ranko. Jealous, Nadir glared 
at the armor's helmet. Turning red, Ryouga walked alongside her. 
Predictably, Mireillia decided to go with Phaeron. Having nothing 
else to do, Coldfire also joined the second group. Nadir dealt an 
Elf Fire arrow to each of the teams, while Lime put half of the 
items in his knapsack inside Ryouga's pack.
	"We'll see you at the exit," Herb said, leading the first 
group since Ranma was still unconscious. Nodding, Phaeron lead 
the second one into another corridor.
	A few minutes passed, with neither team finding an exit. 
Not a single creature of the kind mentioned by Terion appeared, 
even though the corridors' darkness increased gradually as they 
traveled further into the fortress. Still, the nerve-racking 
silence soon became too unnerving. When the first drop of 
limewater dripped from the ceiling, Akane nearly jumped, startled. 
Unknowingly, the first group was reaching the nether bowels of 
the castle. The water from a dried moat was still dripping into 
the stone floors.
	"Naaa..."
	"Kyaa!" Akane involuntarily held on to Ranma's arm (now that 
he was conscious, of course.)
	"What's the matter with you?" he asked, annoyed.
	"Didn't you hear that?!" Akane shuddered, "That voice!"
	"What voice?"
	"What are you talking about?" Ukyou asked.
	"Minaaab...."
	"THAT voice, you jerk!"
	"Aww..." Ranma petted Akane's head, "Is widdle Akane scared 
of the ooky scary monster?"
	"There _are_ monsters in this world, in case you've 
forgotten," Herb reminded.
	"You stupid jerk!" Akane punched Ranma into the ceiling. "I'm 
not scared, you...!"
	"Minaaab..."
	"Waaah!" she held on to him again.
	"Not scared, she says," Ukyou pointed at her. Shampoo 
nodded in agreement. A shadowy figure slipped past Yuannyan, 
stealing her Charm Bangle without anyone noticing.
	"Wait, I heard it," Mint said. It was very useful to have a 
wolf's honed senses. "It's saying something like 'Minab.'"
	"Illuuuu..."
	"What in the..." Ranko looked around.
	"What's wrong?" Phaeron asked.
	"Didn't you hear that?"
	"Hear what?" Mireillia inquired.
	"Illuuuu..."
	"That," Ranko pointed upwards, "Listen."
	"Maybe it's just the wind," Coldfire said. After all, this 
group was roaming in the upper echelons of the castle towers.
	"Illuuuu..."
	"There it is again," Ranko looked around again, nervous.
	"You're just imagining it," Mousse said, "I don't hear 
anything."
	"Great. Blind _and_ deaf," Ryouga mocked.
	"Illuuuu..."
	"Whoa, hold on," Nadir said, his horns glowing, "I think she's 
right. And it's not the wind."
	"I heard it too," the Crystal Armor spoke, "It said 
something like, 'Illuu.'"
	"Lade..."
	Whoever was making that third sound sweated visibly. There 
was nobody in the gate to listen to it anyway.
	"Illu?" Phaeron wondered.
	"Minab?" Ranma cocked one eye.
	"Lade?" a spider in the gate heard the sound.
	"Tresspassers!" hosts of goblins assaulted both groups.
	"Where did they come from?" Ukyou batted several away with 
her spatula. Shampoo leapt upwards, coming down with a double 
bonbori slam. Ranma and Herb quickly blasted a few more goblins, 
while Yuannyan White Touched some more straight towards Akane's 
Mjollnir welcome. Terion and Mint easily defended themselves with 
their swords, while Lime was having the time of his life just 
pushing goblins with one finger, seeing them fall unconscious. 
After just a few moments, the goblins all lay on the floor, 
knocked out.
	"Why did they wait so long to attack?" Herb wondered. 
Terion saw a glimmer in the hand of a goblin, "Here's the 
answer," he said, picking up a bracelet and handing it back to 
Yuannyan. "They must have stolen your charm bangle. They 
wouldn't attack someone who is wearing it."
	"But the others don't have that relic..." Akane thought.
	"Who are these idiots?" Ryouga easily punched a whole slew 
of goblins into submission.
	"I don't know, but they're not very tough," Mousse ensnared 
a few more with his chains. True, the experience they had gained 
fighting the Four Fiends and Dysithal's forces had rendered them 
mightier still.
	"They're just a waste of time," Mireillia yawned while 
blasting a row of goblins.
	"But they're not too dangerous," Andellia said, "Don't hurt 
them, let's just stop them." Rising her staff, she began to call 
her magic. The other Espers noticed and motioned for the three 
humans to join them inside a crystal dome.
	"Hey," Phaeron stood next to Ranko and pointed at Andellia, 
"Remember Es'dee? Watch this."
	"Light-Silver magic combination!" Andellia called, "Playful 
Children!"
	Smiling, she aimed her staff at the goblins. She giggled as 
several glimmers detached from it, each falling on a goblin. In a 
puff of pink smoke, they all became... baby goblins.
	"What in the..." Ranko choked as she tried to contain her 
laughter, a feat that Mousse and Ryouga could not accomplish. 
Coldfire joined them and rolled on the floor on laughter. The 
Espers just snickered in amusement.
	"How... did you do that?" Ranko said, giggling.
	"Oh, I just thought they'd behave if I turned them to 
babies. I could have turned them to teenagers --shudder-- or 
small children. I could have even turned them into embryos or 
worse yet, gamets. That could have taught them a lesson. But 
there's nothing to worry, since the spell only lasts a few 
hours." She smirked at Phaeron, "Would you like to be a baby 
again?"
	"No thanks," he defended, "You already did that to me and I 
certainly don't want to become a child anytime soon."
	"Aww, you looked so cute," Mireillia said. Ranko laughed at 
him.
	"Sorry to bring you down to reality," Nadir said, "But we 
have to find the exit, remember?"

	"Wait, look at this," Ranma pointed back at the goblins as 
the first group also left the battle scene. He retrieved what 
seemed to be a key of some sort. Putting it in his pocket, he 
joined the others and they left the basement, climbing a 
staircase.

			*	*	*

	"So, they're in Delat Castle," Kefka said, standing upon a 
cargo bay that overlooked the forest. The Black Omen was 
hovering over Adder's Mouth, the seemingly-bottomless chasm that 
crossed Cat's Eye. Delat Castle was just a few hundred meters 
away from Adder's Mouth, which meant the party would soon 
attempt to strike.
	"Why not destroy the entire castle now, master?" a tall, 
Arab woman clad in multicolored robes asked. Now that they were 
out of the dark throne room, Tiamat's physical beauty shone like 
a gem in the monstrosity of the Black Omen.
	"And risk Dysithal becoming angry?" Kefka thought. True, 
with a little effort he could crush Delat along with everyone 
inside it, but that would mean Dysithal would be deprived of his 
prized prey. Not even Kefka would dare anger a fallen angel. "It 
would be too easy," he spoke, "They wouldn't even know what hit 
them. No, I have many, many plans for them. First I shall rob 
their very lifeforce, then perhaps I'll let them witness the 
savage hunger of the Lavos as both Esper World and the humans' 
home planet become lifeless rocks."
	"Good plan, Kefka," a voice came from the shadowed entrance 
to the bay. Tiamat shivered in fright. The lord of magic rolled 
his eyes. Dysithal had once more taken physical form, but he 
still remained hidden in the darkness.
	"So, when will it be?" Kefka asked.
	"As soon as they are open to attack. I will go personally."
	Kefka smirked, "Going in for the kill, eh?" Dysithal did not 
deign answer, but Kefka could still sense the delight felt by the 
demon.

			*	*	*

	Both parties continued their search inside Delat Castle. 
There had been a few more goblin attacks to the second group, 
but Andellia promptly turned them to harmless babies. Still, they 
seemed to be walking in circles. The rooms kept repeating 
themselves over and over and over and over...
	"What the heck's going on?" Ranma looked around, noticing 
this was the fifth time they passed through the same room with 
the sword-wielding statue.
	"So this is Delat's magic..." Terion recognized it. "It's said 
that Delat was a very powerful warlock from your own planet, 
but in is experiments he released a power he could not 
comprehend. A power of Light, actually, that accidentally spread 
over Earth. Since he was an evil warlock, he tried to contain 
such power by banishing his castle to another world, _this_ 
world. But when he arrived, he was turned into an Esper. An 
ethereal Esper, that curses this castle. The only way to remove 
the curse is by finding the power he discovered."
	"But why are we walking around in circles?" Akane asked, as 
this was the seventh time they passed through the room.
	"Because he had no sense of direction whatsoever," Terion 
said. The rest sweated visibly. Ranma opened his mouth to speak, 
but Akane shut him up, "Leave poor Ryouga-kun out of this."
	"Then, when he became an Esper," Ukyou guessed, "his 
special ability was to make everyone who came inside lose his 
way?"
	"Exactly," Nadir said, as Mousse had asked exactly the same 
question in the second group. It had been Phaeron and Andellia 
who explained the legend to this party, being the oldest Espers 
in it.
	"Then maybe those howlings we heard back there have 
something to do with this 'power of Light,'" Ranko said.
	Upon her comment, Nadir's premonition was triggered again, 
"Wait a sec. I think here comes another of those 'clues.'"
	Everyone fell silent as they waited for the premonition to 
be fulfilled. After a brief moment, the howl came, but it was 
much louder than before.
	"The Masters of Triad..."
	"That's it?" Ryouga wondered.
	"Something about Masters..." Phaeron tried to jog his 
memory about this legend.
	At the same time, the first group was looking around for 
the source of _their_ howl.
	"Techniques can be beaten..."
	"What was that?" Ukyou looked up.
	Meanwhile, at the highest point of the tower, the third 
voice spoke, "Through only one way..." it went on to describe the 
way to defeat the Masters of Triad Techiques, complete to the 
last detail. Too bad the only audience to the voice was a small 
mouse.
	"Look at that," Mousse put on his glasses to make sure he 
had seen correctly. There seemed to be a triangular piece of 
light floating in front of them, dancing in midair. But it vanished 
without a trace.
	"I've had enough of this pointless maze," Mireillia said, 
charging up her crimson aura. But as the light covered her, 
Ranko noticed a wall had suddenly disappeared, revealing a 
corridor.
	"Wait, Mirei-chan!" she stopped her from punching the floor, 
then sent out a small ball of light towards the hidden path. 
"Good work, pigtails," Phaeron patted her back and lead the group 
through the new corridor. Andellia turned to Nadir, and he 
nodded. His horns began glowing as he established a telepathic 
link with Terion.
	"So that's it..." he said to himself. But the reason why 
Ranko had found the corridor was that their room was too dark. 
The statue's room was very brightly lit, and-- of course!
	"Yo've got Shadow magic, right?" he turned to Mint. Nodding 
timidly, the wolf-boy began to do something he still hadn't done: 
call his magic. After a few instructions were exchanged between 
Mireillia and Nadir, then between Nadir and Mint, the youngest 
Musk warrior began to shape a sphere of darkness in his hands. 
Opening his arms, the sphere covered the entire room. The first 
thing they noticed was the long, thin piece of rectangular light 
floating in front of them, but it quickly vanished. Not having so 
many sources of light, the hidden passage behind the statue was 
revealed.
	In the hall of the castle, behind the gates, a T-shaped 
piece of light vanished.
	"What?" Ranma and Ranko blinked as the groups met each 
other. It seemed both corridors lead to the same room.
	"Find anything?" Nadir asked. Akane shrugged and shook her 
head.
	Ranko crossed her arms, "Now what do we doooo!" she 
drifted as she was suddenly pulled into a wall, squashing the 
Saotome sword against it. "What in the...!" she couldn't detach her 
back from the wall. Crystallus, in his Crystal Armor guise, was 
squashed between her and the wall.
	"Whoaaaa!" Terion was also pulled, but he stuck sideways to 
the wall. In fact, it had been his sheathed Excalibur what had 
been pulled, as the katana had also been somehow pulled before.
	"What the heck?" Nadir tried to pull her free, but only 
succeeded in hurting her arm.
	"Stop that," Phaeron pushed him away and healed her, 
examining the glow in both the katana and the broadsword. He 
pushed the katana's hilt against the wall, "Ranko-chan, can you 
kneel?" as she did so, the blade was automatically unsheathed. 
Finally free, she turned to see how the swords were attached to 
the wall as if by glue.
	"Do you think there's a passage there?" Akane asked, 
readying Mjollnir to strike down the wall.
	"Maybe..." Phaeron and Mireillia thought of a way to make 
sure. Nodding to eah other, they stretched their hands at the 
wall.
	"Waah!" Terion cried, "Wait a sec! You'll hit me!"
	Ignoring him, Phaeron created a cone-shaped crystal shield, 
its tip aiming at the wall between Terion and the Saotome 
katana. Mireillia called her aura and released an intense blast, 
like the one used in the battle at Artanis, directing it into the 
hollow cone shield. When it filled up, Phaeron made the tip of 
the cone vanish. The blast was focused with a tremendous force 
through the small opening, like a laser, burning the stone 
slightly. But nothing happened.
	"Maybe if we call Uriel again..." Ranko suggested.
	"Lade..."
	"Minab..."
	"Illu..."
	"Again?" Ukyou looked around. Where were those rumors 
coming from?
	"There's got to be a way to get past this," Andellia said, 
pushing Excalibur's hilt against the wall so Terion could escape 
like Ranko. Once both swords could move freely, they slowly spun 
to aim upwards with their tips, but the people didn't notice them.
	"All right," Ranma said, "The phrase that they said is, 'The 
Masters of Triad Techniques can be beaten.'"
	"And we have three words," Phaeron added, "Lade, Minab and 
Illu."
	"Then those are probably the name of those 'Triad 
Masters,'" Akane began to find relationships.
	"Illu, Minab, Lade..." Terion said, brow knit in thought. 
Trying to figure it out, he repeated the three names. And 
repeated them again, but in a barely audible voice.
	"You sound like a scratched record," Mireillia said. "Listen 
to you, Illu, Minab, Lade. Illu, Minab, Lade. Illu, Minab, Lade-- 
huh?!"
	She was forced to eat her words as suddenly the two 
swords in the wall began shining brightly after the triple 
mention of the three names. They finally noticed their position: 
both weapons were tilted to one side, their tips meeting in a 
single spot while their hilts remained a sword's-length apart. The 
angle made by both blades opened to the floor, while the tip 
aimed upwards. A small bridge of electricity was formed between 
the hilts, finishing the triangle.
	"I see," Phaeron took out his staff, "It needs to complete 
the triangle." He walked over to the wall and put his staff in a 
horizontal position, joining the two hilts with it. In a flash of 
light, he was blasted away.
	"You okay?" Ranko asked, seeing him charred completely.
	"What in the world...?" Akane wondered.
	"I get it," Andellia said, "It needs to complete the triangle, 
but since Indra's Staff is not a bladed weapon it rejected it."
	"I'll give it a try," Ranma drew the Kamaitachi and placed it 
at the base of the incomplete triangle. He stepped back as the 
sword channelled the others' power, but after a few seconds the 
Kamaitachi was repulsed to the floor. Ranma picked it up, 
wondering what had happened.
	"All right..." Mireillia began thinking, "It only accepts 
swords, but won't take another katana. But it already has a 
katana and a broadsword..."
	Nadir's eyes lit up," Terion, you still have your epee? Or 
your rapier?"
	Terion shook his head, "Sorry, lost 'em when the dopplers 
ambushed us."
	"Anyone else got a sword?" Phaeron had also figured it 
out, "A sword that's neither two-handed nor Japanese?"
	"How about this one?" Mint handed his scimitar, while 
Shampoo also turned in her Amazon sword. They tried with both, 
but unlike Kamaiachi they couldn't withstand even a second of 
being in the triangle.
	"Okay, what does the Tempest have that these two don't?" 
Terion wondered.
	"That's easy," Akane said, "Ranma's sword has magic all of 
its own. Those others don't."
	"Then we need a magic sword that's not a broadsword nor a 
katana," Ranko said, thinking. Suddenly she remembered something. 
"Ah!" she slammed her fist in her palm, "Mirei-chan, how about 
yours?"
	Mireillia looked at her oddly until she also remembered, "Of 
course, the AtmaWeapon!" she took the energy blade from her belt 
and activated it. The AtmaWeapon glowed brightly as it took its 
energy from Mireillia's ki. Lengthening it to the proper measure, 
Mireillia placed the sword in the triangle's base. She quickly 
stood back as Excalibur and the Saotome katana accepted it and 
flashed brightly. After the light receded, they opened their eyes 
to find a large spinning blue triangle in front of them, its sides 
being the weapons. Meanwhile, in the floor and in the ceiling, 
three tiles began glowing in a pattern: red-gold-white. These 
tiles were in the same position as the triangle's corners. 
Suddenly it stopped briefly, in the exact same position as 
before, then began spinning again. The tile in the ceiling was 
gold, the one in the floor, to the right, was white, and the one 
to the left was red.
	"Push..." a voice came from the triangle.
	"Which one?" Akane wondered. Which tile was the right one? 
If they pressed the wrong one, it was obvious they'd have to 
make like Indiana Jones and escape a booby trap.
	"Look at it this way," Phaeron said, "That triangle is 
probably a big pointing arrow. It's aiming at the right tile."
	"That doesn't help much," Ukyou said, "That's an equilateral 
triangle. It could be pointing at any of them."
	"Equilateral?" Mireillia thought. It was obvious that the 
katana and Excalibur were the keys to this gate, and the 
AtmaWeapon was just an added side to the triangle. That meant 
the corner between the first two swords was the real pointer. "I 
have an idea," she said. The triangle stopped spinning as soon 
as she came near, but it was in a lopsided position that aimed 
nowhere. She retrieved the AtmaWeapon and concentrated. The 
blade became half as long. Placing it again, she saw how the hilt 
of the other two swords slid across the wall to find her sword. 
Now the triangle wasn't equilateral, but an isosceles instead, 
with the short AtmaWeapon at the base. She stepped away, as 
again the triangle flashed and it began spinning. When it stopped, 
though, it was easy to see it was pointing at the ceiling. The 
tile was gold-colored.
	"Very impressive," Ranma nodded. Mireillia beamed in pride. 
Phaeron walked over to the place beneath the tile and took out 
his staff, thrusting it at the golden tile and pushing it upwards. 
With a tremor, the entire wall slid upwards, dust and pebbles 
falling from it. Only the triangle of swords remained floating in 
place, but it suddenly shot out deeper into the new corridor. 
The party ran after it.
	"Looks like we found it!" Coldfire said.
	"Does this lead to the exit?" Akane asked.
	"Either that or we find out what Delat had discovered!" the 
Crystal Armor said. The corridor became darker and darker, 
fortunately the light shedding from the triangle was enough to 
let them see. However, the triangle easily outflew them and it 
disappeared far into the corridor. The twins and Andella quickly 
cast a light spell.
	Finally, they reached the final room. It was completely 
obscured, the walls of the gigantic chamber were lost in the 
darkness. But there was one single beam of light that came from 
above, lighting the middle of the room. Inside this column, there 
was a small pedestal, mounted upon a low platform. The pedestal 
was covered by a violet cloth. Slowly walking over to it, they 
discovered the three swords were laying motionless on the floor, 
still in a triangle formation that aimed at the pedestal. Terion 
and Ranko retrieved their blades, sheathing them, while Mireillia 
extended the AtmaWeapon to its full capacity, prepared for 
whatever challenge might come from this place.
	When all eyes settled on the pedestal, something strange 
happened. A ghostly image, like a glowing sword, appeared faintly 
on the cloth. Terion went ahead and tried to take it, but his 
hand just passed through the spirit blade.
	"Who's there?" the voice seemed to belong to a boy.
	"Who are they, big brother?" another voice asked.
	"Whoever they are, they should learn some manners!" a third 
one said. The party looked around, "Really, to come into our 
house and try to steal our body! Preposterous!" On cue, three 
small clouds of smoke puffed in front of them. A small boy 
appeared inside each when the smoke dispersed.
	"Who the heck are you?" Ranma asked.
	"Mind your manners!" the oldest kid said, "I am the mighty 
Illu!" he assumed a fighting stance. Akane giggled at him.
	"And I am the great Minab!" the second kid added, putting 
his hands on his waist as if to look imposing.
	"And me! And me!" the youngest kid bounced up and down, "I 
am Lade! I'm Lade!" his older brothers glared at him. "Sorry."
	"We are the Light Siblings!" all three of them said, pointing 
upwards with their right hand. "The Masters of Triad Techs!"
	"More like 'lightheaded bros,'" Ranma whispered to Ranko. She 
giggled and nodded.
	"Okay, laugh at us, old maid," Illu said. Ranko glared at him.
	"But you won't laugh..." Minab added.
	"When we're through with ya!" Lade finished.
	"Come on," Ukyou said, "How could we take on such cute 
little boys?" all three of them looked nervously at her.
	"You're a girl! We hate girls!" they said in unison, "Don't 
try to sweet-talk us!"
	"Someone has some growing up to do," Coldfire said. "Looks 
like they're still in that 'boys-hate-girls, girls-hate-boys' 
phase."
	"Okay, listen to uncle Ranma," he said stepping towards 
them, "Now, let us find the exit and I'll play with you, okay?"
	"You wanna play?" the three siblings asked, smirking 
mischievously. "Okay, let's play!" they leapt at the party with 
surprising agility. Bouncing off Ranma's head, they ran around 
the group at such a high speed they became invisible. Suddenly 
everyone danced the "oww! my shin-bone!" dance as the siblings 
kicked them in that sensitive place.
	"Little brats..." Mireillia rubbed her shin.
	"That was a taste of our Triad Techs," Illu said, "Now get 
outta here if you don't want more!"
	"You guys need a babysitter!" Phaeron said, "Hey, that's not 
a bad idea..." he turned to Ranko.
	"Hey, no way," she defended, "It was bad enough playing 
nurse with that sick kid back in book 33."
	"Babysitter?" Akane repeated, "They need a good spanking if 
you ask me!"
	"Don't try it, sister," Minab said, "One spank and you'll see 
what we can do."
	"You really have to grow up," Coldfire said.
	"That's it!" Ryouga thought, "Andellia, could you turn them 
into adults?"
	"I could try... But they'd still be children inside. I wouldn't 
fight children."
	"We're not children! We're already sixteen hundred years 
old!" Illu protested, "Let's show 'em we're not children!" Nodding, 
the other two brothers leapt up and floated in place above Illu 
in a triangular formation. "Light Siblings Triad Techs!" they 
yelled, "Go, Lade!" the youngest surrounded himself with a T-
shaped aura, "Go, Minab!" he was encased in a rectangular prism 
of light, "Go, Illu!" the oldest was covered by a pyramid of 
energy. The party prepared for the attack, "Sword of Destiny!" 
the brothers yelled. Their auras detached from their bodies and 
joined, shaping a huge broadsword of pure energy. It slashed at 
them mercilessly, tearing the ground open.
	"They're outta control!" Ranma yelled, avoiding being hit by 
the pommel.
	"They can't be really kids!" Nadir added, leaping out of a 
thrust, "They must be the guardian spirits of the castle, the 
power that Delat discovered!"
	"If this is Light, let it meet Shadow!" Coldfire put his 
palms together, "Instant Shadow technique, Dark Scabbard!" he 
sent out an oil-like blast that engulfed the giant sword... 
momentarily. The dark phoenix stared as the sword broke through 
his attack and thrust straight at him with blinding speed.
	"Look out!" he was suddenly pushed to the floor, "Agh!" he 
saw Ranko wince as the sword still managed to cut deep into her 
side. Controlling himself, he quickly pulled her away as the sword 
swung back to a second attack, but he couldn't avoid being cut 
across the back.
	"Ranko-chan!" Phaeron slid beneath the giant weapon and 
immediately released his Cure 4 on her, but was interrupted as 
the sword spun in a circle and came down upon him. He created 
double shields on his hands and clapped on the massive tip of 
the glowing weapon.
	"You guys are crazy!" Akane took the siblings by surprise 
and in one swift motion grabbed Illu, spanking him.
	"Waah! I warned you!" he cried, wiggling out of her hold. 
"Triad Tech! Graedian Rain!"
	The three brothers stood in the ground and covered 
themselves with dirk-shaped auras. All of a sudden these shot up 
and split into several daggers, similar to Mireillia's Graedus. 
Not even the crystal dome could keep them from falling down on 
the party. Struggling, Phaeron blasted the sword upwards and 
grabbed its hilt with an aura shield, then evaporated the 
daggers by swinging the sword into them. Both attacks cancelled 
each other out. Not wasting time, the siblings sent out a second 
Graedian Rain. The fighters had to dance around to avoid being 
hit.
	"You okay?" Ranko turned to Coldfire, even though it was 
obvious what the injury had done. Besides, with the wound made 
by the Doppleganger still not fully healed, this had probably 
revived the pain. "Be careful, okay?" she said, joining the 
battle. Coldfire stared at her oddly, a thoughtful expression in 
his face. Standing up, he shook his head gravely, as if 
regretting something. Seeing the uncessing attack, he reared 
back and crossed his arms, releasing a mammoth Bird of Prey 
straight at the siblings.
	"Hey, watch it!" Minab said, leaping over it. "Didn't you say 
we are children, you big bully?"
	"You can't be children," Mireillia said, "You tried to kill 
us."
	"We can't help it," Illu said, "Blame the TV and movies."
	"And comics," Minab added.
	"And we still won't let you steal our body!" Lade squealed, 
aiming at Terion. With the slightest effort he sent out a 
glistening hurricane wave at the unicorn, who countered with a 
Silver shield. "Big brothers, let's go!" Once more, the trio leapt 
into the air, standing on each other's shoulders at the same 
time.
	"Special..." Lade said. "Triad..." Minab added. "Techs!" Illu 
finished. "Delta Blade!" they all slashed downwards with their 
hands. Another giant blade sprouted from their bodies, slashing 
into the floor and dispersing the fighters. The blade-brothers 
then slashed to the side, but instead of one slash there were 
three energy blades swinging sideways. The group dispersed once 
more, its members could barely jump high enough to avoid a blade 
and low enough to escape the other. Landing, the trio didn't even 
gime them a breather: "Magic..." "Triad..." "Techs!" they called. 
"Silver!" Minab called. "Wind!" Illu raised his arms. "Lightning!" 
Lade stretched his arms to the sides. "Thundering Shear!"
	Once more the party had to move fast as crescent blades 
grew from the floor and raised to the unseen ceiling, then came 
down with the speed of lightning, hovering a foot over the 
ground and shooting out in all directions.
	"They're crazy!" Phaeron countered with his armblades.
	"Whatever they're guarding must be very important!" still 
covering Ranko, the Crystal Armor swept its wing to defend her 
from the shears.
	"Might as well tell you!" Lade said, "This is the room of 
the Lumen Gladius!"
	"Blade of Light?" Terion wondered. "Of course! It's so 
obvious!"
	"Lu... Lumen?" Ranko and Yuannyan could feel something oddly 
familiar, but couldn't tell what it was.
	"We won't let any unworthy heathen to touch our body!" Illu 
yelled, "The Lumen Gladius will not fall to the Shadows!"
	"Their body?" Ranma thought. "The sword is their body...?" 
he gaped as realization hit, "They're just spirits, the spirits of 
the Lumen Gladius! No wonder all their attacks are based on 
swords and blades! In that case..."
	"Sis! Our sword!" he called for her as he also unsheathed 
Kamaitachi. Mimicking him, Terion drew out Excalibur while Mireillia 
grasped both the AtmaWeapon and Graedus. Mint and Shampoo also 
took their swords. Blinking for a moment, Ranko reached behind 
her and unsheathed the Saotome sword.
	"Ah!" the siblings gasped at the sight of both the katana 
and Excalibur. "B-Big sister!" they called.
	"Huh?" Ranko saw the shocked look on their faces, and 
looked at the sword in her hands. "Aah! Sorry! I didn't want to 
scare you--"
	"Big sister!" they leapt at her, releasing countless darts 
of silver. She could barely cover herself with the Crystal 
Armor's wings, then leap as they released another Delta Blade at 
her. "What the heck are you doing?!" she protested.
	"Hey, over here!" Ukyou turned away from her hyperspace 
grill and sent out a flurry of okonomiyaki at them. The siblings' 
eyes opened widely, they sat at a table (also from hyperspace) 
and munched on the food. The entire troop facefaulted.
	"Mmmm, good," Illu said.
	"I like this stuff," Lade agreed. Minab just nodded through 
a mouthful.
	"Well, now that we have that settled..." Phaeron began to 
walk past them.
	"That was easy," Akane blinked.
	"Nothing can beat Kuonji cuisine," Ukyou brushed her hair.
	But as the group walked past them, the siblings simply 
aimed at them, not turning away from their meal, and a large 
pendulum of energy swished in front of the group. A few hairs 
from Ranma's forehead were clipped by the swinging blade.
	"Who said you could leave?" Illu stood up and burped. 
"'Scuse me. If you hurt big sister you'll regret it."
	"_Who's_ your big sister?" Akane asked.
	"She is!" they all pointed at the Saotome katana that Ranko 
was holding.
	"What?!" she blinked.
	"Let her go or else!" the siblings dashed for her. "Triad 
Techs, Call Magic!"
	"_Call_ Magic?!" Ranko gasped.
	"Fragor Gladius!" the brothers pointed up, then whipped the 
same hand to point downwards. A large red sword dropped next to 
the redhead, then it exploded in a flash of light. To the 
siblings' surprise, the Wall Ring had deflected the attack 
completely.
	"Aurum Gladius!" for the next attack, they pointed to the 
side, then at Ranko. A golden sword flew out of the darkness and 
towards her. No matter how many shields Phaeron or Nadir 
created, the sword passed through them as it became a beam of 
gold light. Ranko dropped flat to avoid it, open to the next 
summoned gold sword.
	"Will you cut it out?!" Ranma tried to sweep them off their 
feet, but was blasted away. Still, Lade had to direct his 
attention away from the Triad Technique, the next gold sword 
attack fizzled and died. His brothers bonked him.
	"That kid's their weak link," Mireillia thought. "We have to 
focus on distracting him!" she said.
	"Oh, right!" Akane had an idea. "Think, what does a kid love 
more than anything?"
	There was a short pause as everyone turned to Mint, "Hey, 
I'm already fourteen! How should I know!"
	"Ice cream!" a voice suddenly said. "Well, I still like it..." 
Yuannyan turned deep red.
	"I got it," Ukyou smirked, then rummaged through Ryouga's 
backpack. She took out a small plastic cup, remnant of an 
instant-ramen meal. Concentrating, she filled it with crushed ice. 
"I learned that trick from my refrigerator," she joked while 
trying to find a spoon in the backpack. "What a coincidence," she 
said, taking out a lemon and an orange. "What the..." she noticed 
those two had come from bonsai-like trees that had grown inside 
Ryouga's pack.
	"Okay, so I have to clean it up, sue me," he said.
	"This is perfect," Ukyou sliced the fruits and squished them 
over the ice, spilling their juice.
	"Gotcha!" the siblings pinned both Ranma and Ranko to the 
floor. Phaeron and Nadir dashed towards them, but were also 
trapped by the same darts that caught the Saotomes. "As we 
said, nobody will touch Lumen Gladius," the trio lifted their 
arms, "Magic Triad Techs! Delta Blade!"
	"Yo, want an ice cream?"
	"Wha..." Illu and Minab stared as their blade fizzled out. 
"You idiot!" they cried as they saw Lade leisurely shoving the 
sherbet down his mouth. "Well, we still got Dual Techs!" they 
said, joining their palms. Long swords sprouted from their hands, 
the two brothers brandished them menacingly.
	"You're gonna hurt yourselves by playing like that," Ranko 
said, standing up after Ranma had brushed off the darts.
	"We're not, but you are!" the pair placed their swords 
horizontally in front of them, "Dual Techs! Scissor Cut!" they 
dashed at a tremendous speed, leaving a wake of blue light. As 
they neared their target, they joined swords and slashed...
	...and fell to the floor as a staff tripped them. Phaeron 
retrieved his weapon and quickly took one of Nadir's rope 
arrows...

			*	*	*

	"Sorry," Lade said quietly. "Shut up, idiot," the other two 
glared at him. The trio was nicely bound to the pedestal, after 
a Rasp spell kept them from using any more magic.
	"So, what's the deal with you?" Ranma asked.
	"We're 'good guys,' in case you didn't know," Ranko said.
	"Then why are you keeping big sister?" Illu glared at them.
	"This is our family's sword," Ranma explained, "It's been with 
us for ages."
	"Now, what's this 'Lumen Gladius'?" Mireillia asked.
	"Haven't you figured it?" Terion smirked. "Listen to this: 
Illu, Minab, Lade. Illu-Minab-Lade. Illuminablade. Illumina Blade." He 
grinned, the siblings gulped, the party facefaulted.
	"You mean _the_ Illumina?" Phaeron turned to him.
	"What's the Illumina?" Akane asked.
	"It's a sword of legend," Terion said. "It's supposed to be 
made entirely of light, hence the name. Guess we finally found 
out where it is," he turned to the siblings.
	"That's right," Illu said, "We are the Lumen Gladius. But no 
matter what you do, we won't let you put your hands on it!"
	"Hey, we just wanted to cross this castle," Ukyou said.
	"Besides, we're not evil," Akane said, "We're trying to 
defeat a madman so he doesn't destroy this planet and our own."
	"Believe in their words, little ones," they smiled as the 
familiar beam of white descended next to them. Seraphim smiled 
kindly at the group upon arriving.
	"We were worried about you, y'know?" Phaeron said.
	"I'm sorry about that," she said, "I had to take care of a 
few things." she turned back to the siblings, "Now, children, 
these are my friends."
	"Are you sure, aunt Laris?" Illu asked. She nodded, "I think 
we made a mistake, bros..." he turned to his siblings.
	"You see?" Akane said, removing the bonds from them, "We're 
not really your enemies."
	"Okay..." Illu accepted, "But we still have to see you're 
worthy of Lumen Gladius."
	"Through combat?" Terion asked. The three brothers smirked, 
"Not really... Go, Lade!" the youngest stood firmly on the ground, 
stretching his arms to the sides. "Go, Minab!" he leapt onto 
Lade's shoulders, placing his hands by his sides. "Now, witness 
the Illumina Blade!" Illu shouted, leaping onto Minab's shoulders 
and joining his palms above his head. The trio began to glow 
brightly, until their lights were so potent they became a single 
glow. Then, with a warping sound, they vanished. The party stared 
agape as the ghostly sword they had seen before became visible 
again, but glistening with a solid light.
	"What the..." both Ranko and Crystallus started as the 
Crystal Armor was slowly detached from her, forcing Crystallus 
to assume his avian shape. Suddenly, the sword of light shot 
upwards, then split in two pieces --which  fell on top of Terion 
and Ranko. They weren't hurt, but rather were covered by a 
glowing, pale yellow glow that stretched into Excalibur and the 
Saotome sword. Without the slightest warning, both weapons 
pulled their wielders into a swordfight.
	"Hey!" Terion couldn't control his body as the sword 
commanded his every move.
	"What's going on?!" Ranko tried to stop, but she was also 
caught by the spell.
	"The spirit of Illumina has possessed their weapons _and_ 
their body," Seraphim said in awe. "It's trying to test their 
worth by making them face each other in battle."
	"How do we stop them?" Ranma asked, seeing how the attacks 
were beginning to be stronger and faster. Seraphim shook her 
head, "There's no way to stop them. Lumen Gladius has to decide 
when to free them, as brother Terion and sister Ranko are the 
people who wield the chosen swords."
	"I'm getting tired of this!" the redhead protested. "Then 
finish it," a female voice that came from the sword said, but 
only she could hear it.
	"I'm sorry! Can't help it!" Terion tried to apologize as he 
swung Excalibur towards her at a blinding speed --literally. 
Everyone, even Seraphim, was blinded as the sword clashed with 
the Saotome sword. When the flash was over, both of them were 
facing each other, their swords crossed between them. But their 
eyes were completely blank, the swords were glistening like 
polished gold.
	Terion opened his mouth to speak.
	"It's been a while, big sister," the voice of Illumina said 
through him.
	"Long time no see, brothers," the katana had a spirit of 
its own, speaking through Ranko.
	"What in the world?" Akane stared at them. The rest was 
too confused or impressed to speak.
	"What do you say?" Illumina asked, "Should we help them?"
	The katana's spirit made Ranko shrug, "I've already helped 
them for some time. They're okay."
	"Then maybe they're worthy," Illumina "nodded" through 
Terion. "Well, we'll see how they handle us. If they could defeat 
us maybe we can help them." Illumina controlled Terion to lift 
the sword over his head, addressing the group, "The Illumina 
Blade has deemed you worthy of wielding it, Light Warriors. Be 
aware that it is sentient, and may change its opinion if your 
actions stray from the path of Light. Do not think of Illumina as 
a mere weapon, for I am far more as you shall discover."
	Again, with a blinding flash, Excalibur transfigured into a 
long broadsword, with a golden hilt and a bluish blade made of 
light. Blinking, Terion returned to normal and stared agape at 
the Illumina Blade he held in his hand.
	"But not all is over," the katana spoke through Ranko 
again, "My brothers of Illumina have tested your worth, and have 
answered in your favor. But I shall now speak. I am the sword 
Masamune, lost from the Light eons ago, when Delat's experiments 
caused my release. I took this shape, arriving four hundred 
years ago at a group of islands from the Third Planet. I have 
been in the possession of the Saotome family ever since. But it 
is time I reveal myself. I have accompanied you for a long time, 
and have discovered you are thrustworthy. Let us go forth, 
then, for Masamune will help you defeat Kefka and Dysithal."
	The katana didn't change as the former Excalibur, but 
slowly its blade began emitting a light blue glow. With the sound 
of a forging hammer hitting metal, Masamune's glow became a 
steady aura around the blade. Ranko shook her head as she 
returned to normal.
	"I can't believe it," Ranma said. Their family sword... a 
Weapon of Light?
	"I had a feeling about his," Coldfire said, "I remember, back 
when I had kidnapped you," he pointed at Ranko and Akane, "Mrs. 
Saotome used the sword to attack me. Now I understand why it 
was able to move by itself."
	"Whoa..." Terion and Ranko blinked several times in dizziness. 
"I'm getting tired of people possessing me, you know," Ranko said, 
thinking about her brother, the copycat demon... She handed the 
Masamune to Ranma, seeing him stare at the weapon.
	"Who would have thought..." Phaeron smirked, "Anyway, we 
better get moving. We're too close to the Black Omen to stop 
now, and we still have to find the exit."
	"It's easy," the Masamune spoke by herself, "Just step into 
the light where the pedestal is. But maybe you'd want to take a 
look in the room to your left." They turned, and a dark green 
door appeared on cue. They blinked, and walked towards it. But it 
was locked. Ranma suddenly remembered about the key he had 
found and unlocked the door.
	"This is the armory," Illumina said, "You won't find better 
weapons or armor than these. Be wise in your choices, and you 
won't regret them. Take anything you want."
	"I don't need anything else, thanks," Terion smirked as he 
carefully sheathed Illumina. The sword sighed as it fell asleep. 
Ranko agreed, but Masamune remained awake in its scabbard. "On 
second thought," the unicorn said, "Illumina is too powerful to 
use just like that," he took an ordinary broadsword, swinging it 
around to test its weight.
	"What's this?" Mint found a large scimitar, with its hilt 
wrapped in snake hide and a mean red blade. The Jihad Scimitar 
seemed to glow with Fire magic.
	"Oo, Shampoo like this," she kneeled to pick up a gold belt 
and a silver sword. The belt had a tag of some sort, which read 
"Property of Hippolyte, Amazon Queen." Oh, well, that was 
probably its former owner. Meanwhile, the sword had the 
inscription "Valkyrie Brunhild" in the base of the blade.
	"You'll definitely need this," Ukyou handed Mousse a small 
box. Inside was the empty frame for a pair of glasses. When he 
blindly put it over his eyes, the Spectacle Frame glowed and 
created lenses especifically for its wearer. But they wouldn't 
fall off or slide, as if they were attached to Mousse somehow. 
Shampoo screamed inwards, now he would successfully find her 
whenever he wanted to.
	"Hey, Yuan-chan," Ranko opened a chest to find a pure white 
gown. Yuannyan smiled broadly at the sight of it, she hurried to 
a dark corner so she could change into it. Good choice, the 
White Chemise had the power to restore its owner from injuries.
	"I don't believe it..." Nadir gaped in marvel.
	"What?" Mireillia asked. "Look," he said, pointing at the 
longbow that rested against the wall. "I recognize this, but I 
can't believe it. This is the bow of Yi!"
	"Who's Yi?"
	"Only the greatest Chinese marksman that ever was," Nadir 
proudly took the weapon, grinning like a child.
	"Yo, Akane, look at this," Ranma found what seemed a mail 
vest, colored dark green. He lifted it, and seemed to disappear 
in his hands, like a mirage. No sooner had he worn it he turned 
invisible just by thinking it. Akane rolled her eyes, but noticed 
something that was glimmering in the bottom of the chest, 
previously covered by the Mirage vest. It was a coronet, with 
diamond and garnet incrustations. After she quickly put it on, 
the Sun Corona emitted a strong golden light around her head. 
She closed her eyes and concentrated, controlling the warm glow.
	"Find anything you like?" Phaeron asked as he saw, amused, 
the storm of clothing and armor that Ranko tossed out of a 
chest. A light suit of armor flew out, landing on Ryouga's head. 
Digging himself out of it, he noticed how the Gaia Gear teemed 
with Earth magic and decided to take it. "Look, just take this," 
Phaeron showed her a strange, multicolored belt. "This is the 
Prism Belt. It's a very good item, I hear it transforms the light 
from any source into magic power for whoever's wearing it." True, 
as soon as she tied it around her waist she felt capable of 
throwing Luminaire blasts with the greatest of ease.
	Finally, most of them decided to take something. As they 
compared armor or weapons, consulting the Espers for advice 
regarding any special powers of the items. But when they were 
about to leave, the Masamune spoke again.
	"Ranma, take out your Kamaitachi and look for a dull gray 
katana. It has to be around here someplace. Its scabbard is 
bright blue."
	"What for?" he asked, looking around for the sword. He 
finally found it, unsheathing it and holding it with his left hand 
while his right held Kamaitachi.
	"You'll see when you use your Wind magic to meld Kamaitachi 
and Sky Render," Masamune said. "Akane, use your Silver to help 
him."
	Doing as indicated, Ranma and Akane magically joined 
Kamaitachi with the Sky Render sword. When she touched the 
blades with her Silver magic, a whoosh of wind, coupled with a 
small blast of light, knocked both of them off their feet. The 
new sword fell to the ground, thrusting deep into it --only the 
hilt remained visible, the entire blade had sunk into the stone.
	"Talk about sharp," Ranko noted.
	"Behold, the twin blade of Masamune," the sword said, "the 
sharpest of all, after me and Illumina, of course... Murasame!"
	"Murasame..." Ranma took the sword and easily pulled it from 
the stone. Curious, he slashed once with it. The air itself was 
torn apart by it, a white-hot vacuum was sent forward. The air 
friction had been so great the dust particles suspended in the 
air had blazed and consumed immediately. And Ranma hadn't even 
used his Wind magic.
	"Now, to create a scabbard that can endure Murasame," 
Masamune said, "Take Sky Render's and use every single kind of 
magic on it except Es'dee. Do the same for Illumina's sheath and 
my scabbard." The group did as indicated. "These new scabbards 
can also be used as shields," Illumina said now that he was 
awake, "They can absorb any attack based on the types of magic 
you used. You can also use them as swords, but they're most 
effective against magic enemies. Be very careful with them."
	Thanking the swords, they sheathed them and went outside. 
One by one, they stepped into the light at the middle of the 
chamber. And one by one, they were blown upwards through the 
column, disappearing when they reached the ceiling.
	"That was some ride," Ranma rubbed his head, "Akane, you 
okay?"
	"Yeah, I guess," she said standing up. The party was now 
behind the castle, Delat had been overcome. Illumina had been 
conquered. But the greatest challenge so far loomed above them.
	Black Omen.
	And Kefka.
	

Betrayal

	Adder's Mouth, the infamous pit, was a few mere hundred 
yards away from them. It would be from such place that they 
would set up base to attack the dark fortress. They were so 
close... But there were many other dangers closer still. The 
Lavos would take two days to arrive, minus the hours spent in 
Delat Castle. Dysithal hadn't even shown up since the Phantom 
Train, which could only mean he was up to something. The people 
of Eliann was one step closer to dying due to Kefka's magic. And, 
unbeknownst to all but Herb and Yuannyan, the Lunarian Fleet 
was making the final preparations for the air strike. The journey 
had nearly ended, but the war would just begin.
	"This is it, then," Ranma looked upwards. Thanks to their 
proximity to Delat, the trees of Phantom Forest weren't so close 
as to hinder their view. Black Omen was very easily seen from 
this point, and it looked obscenely large from below, about five 
or six miles wide, and ten miles high. It was hovering at an 
altitude of about fifteen miles, which meant the Dark Orb, at the 
apex of the fortress, was _twenty-five miles_ overhead.
	"Ouch," Ranko commented, looking up...
	"You'll get a stiff neck if you want to see the Orb from 
here, "Coldfire said, then suddenly tensed up as if sensing 
something.
	"Let's go," Phaeron said, "Kefka wil probably be waiting for 
us, but if we wait any longer he'll very likely spot us and use 
his Light of Judgement against us."
	He's right," Ryouga said, hoisting his backpack, "We better 
get moving."
	"Wait, Ryouga," Coldfire said, "Remember that half our items 
are in your bag. You better give them back to Lime..." he made a 
short pause, "Maybe Illumina and Murasame will also be safer in 
there. After all, we don't want them to wear out until we face 
Kefka, right?" Blinking at him, they placed the items and the new 
swords in Lime's knapsack. Taking a deep breath, they started 
walking towards Adder's Mouth.
	"I have to admit," Phaeron said, "it was a good thing Lime 
and Mint found the Phantom Train. It saved us from walking all 
across this forest, even if we _did_ lose an entire day."
	"But is this place really that dangerous on normal days?" 
Akane asked. The trees around them were steadily becoming gray 
and dry as they neared the infamous pit.
	"As dangerous as all of Esper World," Crystallus said, "It's 
the presence of Black Omen that changed the trees into 
malignant creatures. But you shall see. Once we defeat Kefka, 
you will be surprised by Esper World's greatness."
	"I'd like to see that," Ranko said, "It'd be great to spend a 
vacation here... ugh..."
	"You okay?" Phaeron asked, seeing her grimace slightly. But 
he was also overcome by a mild pain that coursed through his 
body, concentrating mainly in his head and chest.
	"Wanna stop for a while?" Ranma asked, concerned. Ranko 
shook her head, "Just... felt something weird, that's all." But she 
then noticed her twin sister grimace in the same way. The pain 
returned to the trio again, Phaeron even had to lean against a 
tree for suport while Ranko reflexively tried to hold on to him. 
Yuannyan also clung to Herb.
	"We should stop," Andellia said, "I don't recognize these 
symptoms."
	"We... we're okay," Ranko said, "Maybe it's just a side-effect 
of being possessed by our sword, that's all."
	"Are you sure?" Mireillia asked.
	"I don't feel so good..." Yuannyan whimpered before fainting 
in Herb's arms. Without a word, Ranko also fell unconcious.
	"What the hell is going on?" Ranma quickly kneeled by her.
	"I don't... know..." Phaeron managed to say, "But whatever 
this is... don't stop. Keep going, or else Kefka will find us..." 
with that, he fell beside the redhead. Confused, the rest quickly 
set down and tried to awake them.
	"Wait, wait," Nadir said, "I hate to leave them like this, but 
Phaeron is right. We're too close to stop now, let's reach 
Adder's Mouth and take care of them there."
	Reluctantly, Ranma and Mireillia had to agree. But when 
Ranma turned away from his sister to pick her in a piggyback, he 
noticed a strong blue glow coming from Akane's chest, beneath 
the battlesuit's white fabric.
	"Huh?" she also looked down at it. Sticking her hand into 
the suit, she took out a glowing blue object.
	"A ribbon?" she wondered, "That's right, I had completely 
forgotten I had it. But why is it glowing?"
	"The ribbon protects you from physical ailments, such as 
paralysis and petrifying spells," Terion said, "Maybe it absorbed 
the same spell or whatever that made them fall asleep."
	"Then lets' hurry up and leave before we're attacked too," 
Mireillia said, helping Nadir hoist Phaeron over his shoulder, 
while Herb carefully picked up Yuannyan. Looking around for signs 
of danger, the troop hurried through the last stretch of the 
Phantom Forest.
	They hadn't walked much when they heard a soft, female 
chorus. They smiled as they identified the angelical tone of the 
main voice, which seemed to come closer and closer. A powerful 
golden light submerged the entire region in its warm glow. But 
then a gasp escaped their mouths. This wasn't Seraphim, nor any 
of the other three Guardians. The angel before them was the 
most magnificent they had seen. She had large wings, almost 
fifteen feet wide when fully extended. A sword and a shield were 
held by her hands, while her arms were covered by golden 
armlets. An odd gown covered her, but that didn't diminish the 
beauty of her face. Long, brown hair, pulled into a ponytail, 
reflecting the light from her halo. A bright face, with a 
spontaneous smile that seemed to glow like the Sun. All 
conscious men drooled, but they were promptly bonked back to 
reality by the girls. There was nothing to bring Lime and Mint 
back, though. Yet there was something about her perfect beauty: 
her eyes. They were solid black, and not only the iris. It almost 
seemed she lacked eyes, for they were dark and avoided 
reflecting the light around her. Coldfire began to feel a deep 
fire burning within him.
	"Hello," she said, smiling.
	"W-Who are..." Akane started.
	"I believe you have heard of me," the angel said, "I am 
Cordis Fortitudo."

			*	*	*

	"You don't say, my poor little friends," Cordis said, walking 
beside the awestruck people. "But I'm afraid not even I could see 
Dysithal coming this time. It's not that easy being this girl's 
Guardian, after all," she petted Ranko's hand. Despite being 
unconscious, the redhead grimaced visibly.
	"So, you've come to help us?" Ranma asked.
	Cordis nodded, "Dysithal has too much power, even if all of 
you confronted him at the same time. Not even Seraphim can 
stand up to him. You need me if you plan to enter the Black 
Omen."
	"But this can't be right..." Akane thought, looking back and 
forth between Ranko and Cordis, "Phaeron-kun said that she 
didn't have a body of her own..." She shook her head, "Oh, well, 
she's here, and she wants to help. Maybe she managed to get a 
body so she could come here.."
	Finally, they came out of the forest. Before them was the 
giant crevice, Adder's Mouth. Its edges were jagged and sharp, 
increasing the feeling of a snake's jaws. Curious, Ranma peeked 
in. A strong air current blew from below, carrying a foul stench. 
Maybe the Adder was still decomposing. But he saw no bottom in 
the chasm, only endless darkness.
	"Here we go..." Nadir seemed nervous as he looked upwards.
	"We should heal them right now," Andellia turned to the 
three prone figures.
	"Oh, they will be healed, all right," Cordis smirked. Nodding 
to herself, she sent a small black ball of energy towards 
Coldfire. Her halo surrounded the dark phoenix' head as soon as 
the ball reached him. Coldfire's eyes went blank, he only stared 
forward as if waiting.
	"Now, little friends..." Cordis lifted her sword, and swung it 
straight at Ranko's throat. Nadir and Mireillia quickly put up 
several layers of aura barriers, but they had to struggle to 
keep the blade away from the vulnerable neck.
	"What the hell are you doing?!" Ranma and Nadir demanded.
	Cordis smirked, "Hell? How odd that you should say that 
word..." she lifted her shield, blinding everyone with its glow. 
"Coldfire, my pawn, it's time you fulfill your duty!" she called, 
smiling with devilish delight as hordes of Red Shadows leapt out 
of Adder's Mouth, surrounding the group.
	"A trap!" Terion yelled, dashing towards Lime in order to 
retrieve Illumina. But before he got there, Coldfire knocked him 
out with a large Bird of Prey. Taking the advantage, he used 
telekinesis to blow Akane and the unconscious trio away from the 
site. He then leapt into the middle of the party, spreading his 
arms.
	"DEMOLISH!"
	Everyone but the Shadows was burned by the massive 
energy of the exploding shield. Weakened beyond hope, they all 
started to fall to the ground, strong enough only to talk. Only 
Mireillia managed to stand after the attack.
	"Why... you..." Ranma splurted out.
	"I knew we should have never trusted you..." Ryouga tried 
to scowl at Coldfire.
	"You evil fiend!" Mireillia hissed, her aura flaring behind 
her, "You were never on our side! You have always been 
assisting Kefka and Dysithal! Now I see why Uncle was upset!" 
she reared back, her fists emitting a solid white light. Coldfire 
wasn't even disturbed, "Thou art a creature of hell indeed, 
Phoenix of Gray. And Hell is where thou belong!" She leapt up, 
engulfed in magic, "Ultimate Fire-Shadow combination attack! 
Quasar Flare!"
	"Stop playing around, little girl," the Cordis impostor 
rolled her eyes and blasted her out of the sky. Not even the 
Limitless Wild Nightmare could resist the attack of a fallen 
angel. Dysithal cackled at her stupidity.
	"It is done," Coldfire said.
	"Not yet," Dysithal pointed at Akane and the other three.
	"Y-You keep away from them..." Ranma threatened.
	"Oh, so you _still_ have strength to talk?" Dysithal smiled 
at him in mockery, "But you won't have it for long. Coldfire, take 
the Red Shadows and seize them. See that they reach Black Omen 
and that Kefka is notified. Now, leave!"
	"Yes... master," Coldfire nodded, but hissed as he said that 
last word. The fire he had felt before became a bonfire, his 
hatred towards Dysithal enlarging almost as quickly as his 
shame. Clenching his fist, he cast orders at the Red Shadows, all 
of which encased each of the captives in inhibitor spheres, 
lifting them into the air. Cursing himself, Coldfire turned into a 
Phoenix, then took the party's knapsack and rose towards the 
Black Omen, leading the Shadows towards the fortress' entrance.
	"Now, for the moment _I_ have waited for..." Dysithal turned 
to Akane and the three others. Smirking, he shed his disguise. 
Akane nearly suffered a heart attack when she saw Dysithal's 
true body, but I don't want you to have one so I won't describe 
it... yet. Striding towards them, Dysithal grinned, "Little girl, do 
you know how long I have waited to destroy these pests?" he 
saw Akane tremble in fright, she was too terrified to speak. 
"Fifteen hundred and four years, that's how long," Dysithal's 
smirk turned to a scowl, "Ever since Cordis arrived at that 
disgusting home planet of yours. Ever since that little bitch 
became aware of her guardian angel," he pointed at Ranko, "Ever 
since that little son of a bitch vowed to join the cause of 
Light," he pointed at Phaeron, "And ever since _she_..." now he 
pointed at Yuannyan, "..found out her sister's little secret. 
Coldfire would have killed them all if it weren't for Phaeron's 
twin brother," he saw Akane was still paralyzed,"Oh, yes, he 
_had_ a twin brother. He was named Raphael, and he died a few 
months before Coldfire possessed him. It it hadn't been for 
Raphael, Coldfire would have destroyed their souls, but nooo, he 
_had_ to toss them into Jusenkyo. It's almost as if he knew that 
I cannot even touch the Sacred Springs. He made me wait fifteen 
hundred years..." he came a foot away from Akane, "Each day 
increased my wrath..." his face was one inch away from her, "But 
now there is no way I will let them escape. None can stop me, 
not Seraphim, not Bryna, not Etheldred, not Uriel, not ANYONE!" 
he roared in her face. Akane shut her eyes out of pure reflex, 
She was panting rapidly, her heart beating like a machine gun. 
She was scared. Scared to death.
	Dysithal, on the other hand, was delighted in her reaction. 
Such glorious fear! What terror he had caused in this girl's 
heart! It was exhilarating, magnificent! It had been such a long 
time since he had caused such reaction on a puny human...!
	"But don't worry, little girl," Dysithal took Akane's chin and 
forced her to face him, "I won't destroy your soul... at least, 
not yet. First, I shall let you see how I rip them apart, then 
you will hear their screams of pain as I consume their souls..." 
he grinned in the way only a demon could. But Akane was 
beginning to disconnect from reality, a state of shock replacing 
her sheer terror. The demon in front of her cackled, chilling her 
soul.
	"Oh, please. How do you expect me to frighten you if you 
go into shock?" Dysithal mocked, "All right, so you can see I'm 
not that bad, I'll kill you first. I don't promise a quick, painless 
death, though. After all, we _are_ at Adder's Mouth..." cackling, 
he stepped away. Her mind finally regaining control, Akane 
suddenly panicked and scampered backwards, but a tree blocked 
her way. She pressed her back against it, as if trying to go 
though it. She dug her nails into the bark. Nothing would make 
her detach from her tree, nothing. Not even the ten meter-wide 
green fireball that Dysithal created in his right hand. Not even 
the fact that he was aiming the ball straight for her. Not even 
the fact that Siegfried had sent a kotetsu straight through 
Dysithal's neck...
	"Wha..." was the only sound she could make as the sword 
thrust into the demon's throat, but without chopping his head 
off. With unveliebable speed for someone wearing a full-body 
armor, Siegfried darted out several daggers at Dysithal who just 
stared at him in disbelief. While the demon tried to remove the 
weapons, Siegfried quickly bolted towards Akane and ripped her 
off the tree, holding her beside him in his left arm. She was 
still too scared and confused to do anything, she could only see 
Dysithal pull the kotetsu from his neck and scowl viciously at 
Siegfried. The mercenary set Akane down next to her friends and 
stood in front of her, defending from the demon.
	"How dare you... Only someone incredibly stupid would dare 
challenge me," Dysithal said, regenerating his neck with the 
greatest ease. "You have made an enemy with me, Siegfried, and 
that is the same as eternal damnation..."
	"We shall see, beast," Siegfried unsheathed a katana from 
his vast arsenal. "Little girl, there's a large pouch tied to my 
belt, under my cape. Take it and use it on your friends, then 
get the hell out of here."
	Shaking, Akane nervously reached out and lifted the purple 
fabric. Beneath, she found a cloth pouch, about the size of a 
schoolbag. Dysithal didn't even care to stop her as she 
retrieved a jar with healing powder, nor when she sprinkled it on 
the twins and Phaeron's faces. Almost as if they were smelling 
salts, they awoke them instantly. Groaning, the trio got up on 
all fours, trying to get its bearings.
	"What the..." the twins said in unison. Phaeron shook his 
head. But when their vision returned, they stared in shock at 
the demon in front of them.
	"D-Dysith-thal?!" Ranko reflexively stepped away, but 
tripped on a branch and fell down, still staring aghast at him. 
Phaeron felt a mix of fear and anger, while Yuannyan just looked 
confused.
	"Now, go!" Siegfried shouted, "You are no match for him, 
escape while you can!"
	"Siegfried!" Phaeron stared at him, "You're a human! We can't 
let you face him!"
	"Then don't! Dysithal immediately sent out a gigantic green 
fireball at them. Siegfried stood his ground while the rest leapt 
to the sides, then he shouted and slashed with his sword, 
splitting the fireball in two. But as the two halves burned a 
path through Phantom Forest, Dead Wall, Kassir Canyon and the 
Sapphire Giants, shooting out to space and causing a white darf 
star go supernova, Siegfried stared in disbelief how his katana 
had melted completely.
	"You still don't get it, do you!?" Dysithal brushed off a 
RedBird and a Luminaire blast as if they were nothing, "I have a 
power you can't even understand! Save yourself the trouble and 
give up already!" he touched the ground with one finger. Adder's 
Mouth enlarged when he created an 8.1 Richter earthquake. They 
could even hear Delat Castle crumbling to dust in the distance. 
Getting to his feet, Siegfried took out another sword and 
slashed in a circle in front of him, his weapon opening a 
circular rift in space. He pulled the rift with his sword and 
flung it towards the four fighters.
	"That's what you think!" Dysithal began to charge a magic 
attack, but just as he fired a broadsword was flung towards his 
chest. The magic sphere flew erratically towards them, speeding 
past the rift. They could never avoid it. Not even the Wall Ring 
could defend from it.
	"What in the..." they noticed that the magic attack had 
changed all four of them into their Esper shapes, although there 
were no changes in clothing for Akane, while the twins' clothes 
became miniaturized along with them. Phaeron just morphed back 
to human shape immediately. But then the rift absorbed the four 
of them, suddenly making them vanish.
	"Now, it's you and me, bastard," Siegfried scowled at 
Dysithal, who scowled back.
	"You... How dare you deprive me of my prey..." His body 
became surrounded by a blood-red light.
	"And how dare _you_ deprive me of my beloved?" Siegfried 
said. "If it hadn't been for you, Kefka wouldn't have used his 
Light of Judgement on my village. Thanks to you, I could only 
see my dear wife die before my eyes, burned by that light!" he 
threw away his sword and reached behind him, "Now, I swear by 
the Gray Blade, I shall destroy you! Prepare for your end, 
demon!" he rushed Dysithal.
	"It wasn't Kefka who used the Light of Judgement on your 
town..." the demon smirked. Siegfried became even more furious. 
"Come into the embrace of darkness, swordsman!"
	Dysithal opened his wings to create a black wind, yet 
Siegfried's Gray Blade cut through it easily. Catching the demon 
by surprise, he sunk the weapon deep into his chest. The 
momentum of the dash, combined with the wind currents from 
Dysithal's wings, sent both of them into Adder's Mouth.
	"You stupid human!" Dysithal bellowed. "You are MINE!!!"
	"No," Siegfied said calmly.
	He was prepared to die.
	"You're _mine_."
	And as the pair became lost in the darkness of Adder's 
Mouth, gigantic blasts of energy shot out of the pit, destroying 
everything in their path. Black Omen had to put up a magic shield 
to defend itself, as the blasts reached upwards and demolished 
Dead Wall's peak. The afternoon light came through the hole, a 
thin shaft of light illuminating the dark valley. And then, as 
Siegfried and Dysithal's shouts suddenly ended, the Phantom 
Forest was filled with spectral calm.

			*	*	*

	A small glimmer appeared a few feet over the ground, near 
Adder's Mouth. The glimmer began to fly in a vertical circle, 
leaving a silvery trace in its wake. When the circle was 
complete, it was filled by a rift of blue light. Two human-sized 
shadows, and a pair of tiny sillouhettes, solidified inside the 
rift. When the portal disappeared, Akane, the twins and Phaeron 
fell on the ground, blinking.
	"Now what?" Akane stood up.
	"Siegfried..." Phaeron looked around, and shook his head 
gravely.
	"What the heck?" a seven inch-tall Ranko asked, noticing 
she and Yuannyan had been turned to fairies by Dysithal. Akane 
was also confused by having been transformed into a Queen 
Fairy, but nervously began to speak. She told them about 
Dysithal tricking them with a Cordis disguise, then leading them 
into a trap. How Coldfire had doublecrossed them, and how he 
captured the rest. Phaeron clenched his fists.
	"That demon..." he closed his eyes, "He gains our trust, our 
friendship... and it was all a ruse."
	"I'm sorry, Phaeron-kun," Ranko said. She knew he was 
starting to think of him as a brother, this had hit him hard.
	"But now what do we do?" Yuannyan asked, looking upwards. 
Black Omen looked as ominous as ever, perhaps more so with the 
magic shield around it. She could see that night would soon fall, 
looking out through the hole left in the Wall's top.
	"There's only one thing," Phaeron said, "We have to find a 
way inside that place, find the others, find our stuff, and do it 
all without attracting any unnecessary attention. I don't see 
Dysithal around here, so maybe Siegfried managed to buy us some 
time. Let's make use of that time." He turned to Akane and the 
twins. Reluctantly at first, they nodded.
	Black Omen. It was their goal, their target. But now, four 
people against it, the task seemed even more suicidal than 
before. It was only natural that they would take a minute to 
kneel, and pray. But not a single angel appeared. Not even 
Seraphim came. Phaeron reached down to his belt and clutched his 
rosary tightly, closing his eyes.
	"Ranma, hold on," Akane thought, "We're coming, just hold on."
	"Oniisan... Mirei-chan... Ryouga... Everyone..." Ranko thought, 
"We'll save you, just like you saved oneechan and I when Coldfire 
captured us."
	"Herb-chan, oniisan, wait for us," Yuannyan sighed.
	"We're now going into Black Omen," Phaeron thought, "Kefka 
will not triumph, I so swear it. We will defeat the Lavos," he 
looked down at Ranko, "_I_ will have to face it. I won't let 
anyone hurt her, not even the Lavos. Give me the strength to 
face this..."
	They stood up, taking a deep breath. Ranko looked up at 
Phaeron, quickly finishing her prayer, "Please, don't let him die. I 
just want a little more time."
	"Let us go," Phaeron said gravely. He examined the magic 
shield around the Black Omen. "Masamune, what do you think?"
	"Eh?" the sword had also been miniaturized along with the 
rest of Ranko's gear, "What the..." it sensed its change, "Oh, well. 
What is it?"
	"I don't think it would be much help against that barrier," 
Akane said.
	"She's right," Masamune said, "I may be strong but with my 
size... I think a butcher knife would do more damage."
	"Then we'll have to do this the old way..." Phaeron clenched 
his fists to summon his armblades. Blasting upwards, he shot 
towards Black Omen's base, rearing his blades back. "Barrier 
Penetrator!" he shouted... and bounced off harmlessly. He could 
barely manage to land softly after being repulsed.
	"Hey!" Ranko noticed his arms were bleeding. Akane quickly 
flapped her wings to send healing dust towards him.
	"Now what?" she asked. "How do we get inside?"
	"I have an idea," Yuannyan said, "Zhaodi-chan, do you 
remember that fight with the Red Shadow just when we arrived at 
this world? Remember how you helped oniisan use our sword to 
beat it?"
	"That's correct," Masamune said, "I was still a fairly 
ordinary sword back then. But you used your Esper power to fill 
me with magic and make me stronger. From what I felt, I'd say 
both of you, being fairies, have the ability to boost someone 
else's power. Phaeron, maybe you could use their ability to 
enhance your own Penetrator."
	"All right," he nodded. He stretched out his arms, letting 
the twins hold on to them.
	"Ready, Yuan-chan?" Ranko held on to his right.
	"Let's go, Zhaod-chan," Yuannyan was on his left.
	"I hope this works," Akane said.
	"It'll work," Phaeron smiled in confidence. "It _has_ to 
work..." he thought, "...otherwise the energy will surge back and 
they might die from the overload..." he sighed, "...just like the 
Caller."
	The four looked up. They were exactly below Black Omen. 
They could only see its base, many broad, concentric circles 
indicating the docking platform, protected by several cannons and 
searchlights. Steam jets flared in the surface: the engine room 
was probably at the bottom of Black Omen.
	"Akane, we probably won't have much time," Phaeron said, 
"I'll fly as fast as possible through the opening, and I want you 
to hold onto me so you're not left behind." She nodded, gulping. 
Phaeron rose a foot over the ground. Akane held him tightly from 
behind, sticking her wings to her body to diminish the air 
resistance. He then surrounded both of them with a crystal 
shield, leaving only his arms out of it. "Let's go, Phaeron-kun," 
Ranko said. With a deep breath, he summoned his gold aura.
	"Comet Flare!" he shouted, blasting off the ground with a 
tremendous speed. Ranko and Yuannyan clung to his arms as tight 
as they could, but the velocity threatened to tear them off him. 
In a matter of seconds, they had already covered eight of the 
ten miles. "Now!" he shouted.
	"Light magic!" the twins called. "Esper Boost!"
	"Barrier Penetrator!"
	Phaeron punched forward with both arms, his blades glowing 
brightly. The twins' fairy-color --green for Yuannyan, gold for 
Ranko-- turned intense white as the energy surged through their 
tiny bodies. Akane screamed as the blast of light surrounded 
them. She could vaguely sense a sudden stop, but less than a 
second afterwards there was a sonic boom and they continued 
forward. They had passed through the shield!
	"That was rough," Akane said, letting go of Phaeron. But 
she had to hold on to his shoulder as she still didn't have much 
experience in flying by herself.
	"We did it..." Ranko smiled briefly before the twins fainted 
in exhaustion. Phaeron recalled the armblades and carefully 
handed the sleeping fairies to Akane, who held them in her arms. 
	"You did a good job, you two," he said, smiling, "But just 
rest for now. We'll find a way inside."
	"Um, don't look now, but..." Akane said, turning to her left. 
The breach in the shield had activate the alarm, and several 
hundred gargoyles were lunging for them.
	"Uh-oh. Akane, stay close. I'll use the Penetrator again to 
get inside."
	"Wait!" she called, "How do I fly?"
	"Just think of yourself in the position you want to be in. 
Think of yourself as rising, and you rise. As simple as that. 
Just don't think of yourself moving at the speed of thought or 
else you might." He smirked. The gargoyles opened fire, "Get 
behind me," Phaeron said. "It's been a while since I used this... 
Golden Birds of Fire Strike!" he blasted out the four bird-shaped 
shots. "Fire-Light combination! Sun Bird!" the Four Birds fused 
into a single fireball, about seven meters wide and with a 
comet-like tail. It blasted a path through the gargoyles. Taking 
Akane's hand, he quickly flew amid the creatures, behind his own 
blast. Calling the blade on his free arm, he swooped upwards and 
delivered a rising uppercut into the metallic panel, tearing it 
open. He then helped Akane climb into the opening and flew after 
her. As soon as they were both inside, he focused Fire magic in 
the gap and welded it closed. The gargoyles didn't even see them 
enter the fortress.
	"We should let them rest," Phaeron said, helping Akane place 
the sleeping twins on the floor. "But when they awake, we will 
look for the others."
	
			*	*	*

	"Damn it!" Ranma punched a panel in the cell's wall, denting 
it slightly. And he cursed mentally again as a jolt of 
electricity, courtesy of Black Omen's defense system, punished 
him for it. "Oww..."
	"Will you calm down?" Nadir said, "We're already in _deep_ 
without you attracting more attention."
	"You sound like you forgot that Ranko and Akane-san are 
down there, with that fiend," Ryouga glared at him, "If he dares 
hurt them..."
	"They'll be all right," Mireillia said, "Phaeron is there, and 
they probably called another of the Guardians. I'm certain 
they're fine."
	"Then that leaves us," Mousse said, "What could they be 
planning to do now? I thought they would kill us immediately."
	"They want to encase us in Magicite, probably," Terion said, 
holding Andellia's hand. The other Espers gulped, while the humans 
hoped that Kefka didn't know about their Esper-like bodies.
	"Oh, how did you know?" everyone stood up in anger at the 
sound of the voice. It was a practical thing to keep all of the 
party captive in the same cell, Eoris and Sharian found it 
easier to frighten them at the same time. But this time, they 
appeared in their humanoid shapes. Sharian, the mistress of 
Water, was a sharp-faced woman with pale skin and blue hair that 
reached down to her waist. It seemed her green robe swirled, as 
if it were made of water currents. She was barefooted, although 
every panel that her feet touched was drenched in water.
	Eoris, master of Air, was similar to his sister. His ageless 
face was thin, with marked angles. His tunic was pale blue, 
although it occasionaly bloated and turned white. Unlike his 
sister, he wore boots and gloves, and seemed to be floating an 
inch over the floor. Together, the two Fiends seemed like twins, 
smirking devilishly and narrowing their empty white eyes. 
However, the age difference could be easily seen. Eoris seemed 
to be in his mid-twenties, while Sharian resembled a nineteeen-
year-old.
	"What a great catch the tide brought in," she said, "It was 
a bright idea of master Kefka to use the Phoenix of Gray as a 
spy."
	"So, you thought you had escaped us, eh?" Eoris phased 
through the cell's barred door like a ghost. Ranma immediately 
attacked but passed harmlessly through him, crashing into the 
electrified bars instead. "Idiot. But now you see how futile it is 
to face us. If the Tritons hadn't saved you from Sharian, we 
would have ended your suffering long ago."
	"But instead you 'escaped,'" Sharian laughed quietly. "I 
understand Arianne helped you, correct? Well, too bad for her."
	"What'll you do to Arianne?" Ukyou asked.
	"She's a sea pirate, I'm the Fiend of Water. Just use your 
imagination," Sharian smirked, "But maybe I shall delight in kiling 
the sea creatures, one at a time, before her eyes."
	"And if you think that Blue Dragon can be of any help," 
Eoris said, "Listar is as good as dead. If a single dragon from 
Sapphire Giants comes here, Tiamat and I will make sure their 
entire race suffers the consequences."
	"Why you..." Ryouga gritted his teeth, "Don't you have any 
honor?"
	The Fiends cackled, "Why, of course we do. Otherwise we 
would have already disposed of you while you were unconscious. 
But what fun would that be for master Kefka?"
	"Actually, there _was_ someone who would kill an 
unconscious opponent," Falia came into view. At first glance, she 
seemed to be the same age as Eoris. Her face was even sharper 
that Sharian's. Her skin was normal, although her hair, like 
Mireillia's Esper shape, was real fire as well as her eyes. She 
was also barefooted, but she wore crimson gauntlets that 
gleamed with her flames. Her very robe was made of fire, for red 
and orange colors danced in it. "Yes, I recall lord Dysithal doing 
something like that, a few minutes ago. It seemed there were 
three unconscious people and a weak little girl left behind when 
Coldfire brought these in."
	"That bastard!" Ranma cursed, "If he touched one hair of 
Akane or my sisters, I'll--"
	"Yes, I remember too," Sharian said, "Yuck, it was 
disgusting. I mean, did he have to bring in his trophies in here?" 
she grimaced in disgust. Every prisoner went pale. "Just 
remembering makes me ill: lord Dysithal, carrying a chopped head 
in each hand, still dripping blood. Then again, I can't tell how 
much blood there was since I couldn't make it out from the red 
hair..."
	Ranma, Ryouga, Herb, Nadir and Mireillia all fell to their 
knees. Their eyes went completely blank, staring emptily into 
space. A slight whimper came from Ranma's mouth as the "reality" 
of the message hit him. According to Sharian's story, Dysithal 
had decapitated two of the most important people in the world 
to him. He felt every cell in his body cease functioning, a 
sensation of endless cold filling the void in his chest and 
spreading over him. But the void was slowly filled with fire. 
Burning rage. Blazing anger. Fiery vengeance.
	"NO!" he lunged at the Fiends through the bars, not even 
feeling the electricity. "You BASTARDS!"
	"Yuannyan!!" Herb's aura filled the room and lit up the 
entire detention area. "YOU MONSTERS!" he shot out a blast that 
would put Blue Tiger's Roar Bolt to shame. Yet Black Omen's 
defenses were immediately activated, he was knocked unconscious 
by a blast of disrupting beams from the walls. The Fiends easily 
cancelled the small fraction of the bolt he had sent, and quickly 
paralyzed Ryouga before the Roaring Lion Bullet could manifest 
itself. Nadir started shaking uncontrollably, his horns glowing 
like the Ginza district of Tokyo. Sharian simply froze him in a 
block of ice before he could do anything. Mireillia was another 
matter. She had "lost" a friend. It's not smart to take away 
somebody dear to the Nightmare. She never attacked, she just 
scowled fiercely at the Fiends. Retribution would come in time, 
increased a thousandfold.
	"Take them to master Kefka," Eoris casually knocked Ranma 
out with a light jab. "Then they'll see what real pain is."
	"What did you do to Akane-san?!" Ryouga managed to say.
	"And where is Phaeron?" Crystallus demanded.
	The Fiends glared, "The girl escaped. Phoenix' body was 
found a few minutes ago, in the bottom of Adder's Mouth. No 
magic can revive him." Mireillia's anger increased even more, now 
they had "taken" her beloved. Falia continued, "But if any of you 
is fond of that girl, I suggest you forget everything about her. 
Lord Dysithal is not forgiving with people who dare escape him."
	"Akane..." Ranma could still hear, "You're alive..."
	The Fiends nodded to the side. A large contingent of Red 
Shadows came to the cell. Sharian opened the door. The party 
still tried to resist, but they were hopelessly outnumbered by 
creatures stronger than Vacuo. They thawed Nadir, and awoke 
Herb, also releasing Ryouga and dragging Ranma to his feet.
	"Move, you foolish creatures!" the Red Shadows commanded 
as they escorted the party through the narrow corridors. Every 
surface in Black Omen was colored leaden-blue, from the floors 
to the walls. Only the ceiling was solid black at all times. 
Weaponless, armorless, and in despair, they could do nothing more 
than unwillingly let themselves be guided through the endless 
mazes of Black Omen. High technology reigned in the fortress, it 
really seemed a completely different world. At one time, they had 
to cross a catwalk over the engine chambers. Looking down, they 
could see the massive machines that powered the fortress and 
kept it suspended in the air.
	"What...?" a tiny green head looked up. "Zhaodi-chan, 
Phaeron-kun, look up there!" Yuannyan pointed. About two hundred 
feet above them, on a narrow corridor that crossed over the 
room, they saw a group escorted by Red Shadows.
	"Damn," Phaeron clenched his fist.
	"Why don't we help them?" sitting on his shoulder, Ranko 
asked.
	"Too many enemies," Akane  took the words from Phaeron's 
mouth. "Right," he said, "We must wait for our friends to be 
unguarded, then we'll help." Unable to help at the moment, the 
foursome continued to stealthily move between the engines.
	Meanwhile, the captives were taken to the end of the 
catwalk. Stationed there was a large hexagonal platform. Once 
they all boarded it, the platform shook and shot upwards like an 
elevator. After about ten minutes, when they had reached the 
middle of Black Omen, they arrived at a gate. They ended up in a 
hallway, with blue arches by the sides and black floor. When they 
reached the end, the Fiends remained behind as the Red Shadows 
lead the group inside.
	"You!" the Espers stared wide-eyed.
	"Me!" Kefka replied.
	"You!"
	"Me!"
	"Y--" the Red Shadows bonked the Espers.
	"How nice to see you here!" Kefka cackled. But this wasn't 
the madman they knew and loathed. Kefka was a tall man, 
impressively so, dwarfing even Herb and Terion, the tallest in 
the group. He appeared to be in his late thirties, his face 
slightly worn and angled. His ever-present grin enlarged in 
delight at the visitors. His glistening blond hair, short at the 
top but long at the back, was pulled into a ponytail. Over his 
left ear was his distinctive red feather, which for some reason 
was like Indiana Jones' hat: it never fell off. But he donned a 
different attire now. He wore white cotton trousers and jacket, 
covered by a purple tunic that was open to the sides. His hands 
were covered with brown leather gauntlets, matching his boots. 
Draped over his broad shoulders was a strange cape --it seemed 
to be purple, but gradually turned white near its bottom. There 
was also a leather belt around his waist, holding the sheath for 
a simple silver dagger. And finishing the picture, Kefka's eyes 
were red, burning with madness and yet showing great 
intelligence behind the deceiving facade of insanity. But there 
was more about Kefka than meets the eye. His very smirk, his 
sneer, all his semblant showed _evil_. An evil only Akane had 
seen in Dysithal's eyes.
	"So you're the one," Ranma scowled at him.
	"The one who what?" Kefka snickered, "No, I didn't shoot 
JFK. Ah, you're saying that I'm the one who did all this to Esper 
World, right? Let me tell you, the fun hasn't even begun! Come, 
I'll show you around!" he motioned to follow him, headed for a 
door. The Red Shadows nudged the group with their weapons, 
forcing to follow. "After you," Kefka mockingly held the door open 
until all of them passed. Once more, they boarded a moving 
platform. But this one was mounted on a rail, overlooking the 
complex machinery below. Kefka strode forth to the small control 
box, mounted on the railing in the platform's edge.
	"So, what do you think of my handiwork so far?" he laughed, 
"I have to admit, I am pretty evil. Like that thing I did to the 
World of Balance. Oo, that was bad." He snickered at the group's 
anger. "Come now, enjoy this little tour I'm giving you. You 
should consider yourselves lucky, you know. You are the first 
humans to see the interior of this place. Too bad you're not 
going to be here when the Lavos eats your planet. That reminds 
me..." he pressed a button. The platform stopped next to a wide 
screen, which showed a tactical map. "Look here, it says the 
Lavos will arrive here the day after tomorrow... Hmm, a little 
late, but it will do. Little pests. They're just like cockroaches, 
you can drop an atom bomb on top of them and they don't even 
feel it. They make wonderful trash-disposers, though. Let's 
continue."
	"You really don't give for life, do you?" Ranma asked.
	"Look at it this way," Kefka said, "In my opinion, this 
Creation is completely wrong. I want to use the Dark Orb to suck 
all of the Universe into it and start from scratch, everything 
going as I wish. But hey, it'll mean no more Lavos creatures 
roaming through space, right? Then again, I might want to keep 
them as pets. Ah, here we are."
	The platform stopped once more. Below, the floor opened, 
revealing the immense numbers of Red Shadows, gargoyles, red 
skeleton warrirors and griffons that marched beneath them. There 
had to be at least five hundred beasts down there, not including 
Shadows. But this was just Kefka showing off, the real purpose 
of this tour would now come forth.
	"Look at this..." Kefka grinned as a hatch over them opened. 
Sustained by a magic ring of Kefka's creation, the object of 
doom appeared. All the Espers turned away immediately to avoid 
its glare, yet Mireillia recognized it at once.
	"The Dark Orb!" she said, protecting her face from it.
	"Very good, you win ten thousand dollars!" Kefka mocked. 
The Dark Orb honored its name, being jet-black. It was about one 
meter wide, irradiating an aura of darkness around itself, an 
aura that blinded magic creatures such as Espers. "Now, I 
already know how to use this," Kefka said, "But there's the small 
bit of needing lots of power to command it, so..."
	As Kefka spoke, four heads, two normal and the other pint-
sized, peeked through a window that looked out to the tunnel of 
the platform. Hidden amid crates and drums, Phaeron, Akane and 
the twins watched very carefully, although Phaeron couldn't look 
towards the Orb. At the same time, a dark figure looked out 
through another window, above the previous.
	"Hurry up, you idiot," a gargoyle said to the Doppleganger 
that waited in a room next to the tunnel. "Master Kefka is very 
smart. To think about this plan... We mustn't fail him."
	"If this doesn't scare the piss out of them, nothing will," 
it said, concentrating as it took Akane's shape.
	"Just hurry," another gargoyle warned, "you know how upset 
master Kefka gets when he is made to wait."
	"...So, to acquire that much power..." Kefka continued, "I'll 
need the lifeforce of strong creatures. For example..." he 
snapped his fingers. On cue, three Magicite stones rose from 
behind him. The Espers gasped at them. Exdeath, Zeromus, and--
	"Master Chaos!" Mireillia cried. Terion tried to control 
himself.
	"You knew Chaos?" Kefka looked at her, puzzled. "Oh, well. 
As I was saying--"
	"Master Kefka!" a voice came from the side.
	"What _is_ it?" he asked, fuming, "I specifically asked _not_ 
to be disturbed!"
	The gargoyles and Doppleganger smirked. Kefka was a pretty 
good actor. "We found her, master. She was hiding in the Mammon 
Machine room."
	"What the..." Ranma and Ryouga couldn't believe it. As a 
moving bridge extended from a door in the wall towards the 
platform, two gargoyles were taking a struggling Akane towards 
them.
	"What in the world?!" the real Akane stood up for a better 
look. "Hey, wanna get caught?" Phaeron pulled her down again. The 
fairies sitting on his shoulders quieted down also.
	"W-What?!?!" the dark figure looking out from the upper 
window was surprised.
	"Akane!" Ranma called, breaking loose of the Shadow's hold 
and pressing himself against the railing, not even caring about 
Kefka.
	"Ranma!" the Doppleganger was also a very good actor, it 
imitated her tone perfectly.
	"You fiend! Let her go!" Nadir bellowed.
	"Well, what do we have here... Good job, you two," Kefka 
smiled at the gargoyles, as he petted Akane-d's head.
	"We found her sabotaging the Mammon Machine, master," one 
of the gargoyles said.
	"Is that so? Maybe I should teach her some manners." He 
turned to the party, "What do you say, kids? Do I send her to 
her room without dinner or give her a good spanking?" he 
smirked, withstanding the gust of wind of several threats and 
warnings that Ranma, Ryouga and Nadir hurled to him. "Or maybe I 
should give her the usual punishment..."
	"No!" the dark figure stuck to the window, as if he wanted 
to go through it.
	Kefka pressed a button on the control box, letting the 
gargoyles and Doppleganger board the platform. Ranma was quickly 
seized before he could get near Akane-d. Nevertheless, the 
"couple" was separated by only one foot and a half, Ranma could 
swear he heard her heartbeats.
	"So..." Kefka smirked as he lifted his right hand. The 
gargoyles forced Akane-d to her knees. Ranma struggled, but the 
Shadow wouldn't let go. Kefka's hand was engulfed in violet light, 
he straightened it in a sword-hand position.
	"Look at them, they're scared stiff," the Doppleganger 
thought, trying to show fright in her face. Kefka reared back. 
"Master, this is okay. Just tell them to give up." His hand 
glowed. "M-Master? C-Come on, you're scaring _me_ now."
	"I know this wasn't part of the deal," Kefka thought, "But 
what the heck. It's only _one_ Doppleganger. It's not as if I were 
losing somebody _important_."
	"You...! Stop! S T O P ! !" Ranma vainly struggled.
	"Bye, bye, little girl!" Kefka cackled as he slashed through 
Akane-d's neck, chopping her head off.
	The gargoyles were suddenly shocked, the Master hadn't 
warned them about this.
	"NO!" the dark figure bellowed, but his cries went unheard.
	Yuannyan turned away immediately, burying her tiny head in 
Ranko's shoulder. Phaeron stared silently, he couldn't believe 
what Kefka had just done. Meanwhile, the real Akane just looked 
on, staring in morbid dread at the beheaded body of her double. 
She gulped and rubbed her neck involuntarily, sweating in fear. 
She went pale just by looking at "her own" head on the platform, 
one inch away from Ranma's feet.
	And what happened to the party? The answer is hard to 
tell. Many feelings filled them like a tempest. Lime and Mint were 
simply shocked to death. Herb was frozen, incredulous. Andellia 
and Terion were the same as Mireillia, who was outraged _and_ 
violated in her emotions. Shampoo and Ukyou suddenly regretted 
any troubles they had had with Akane, wishing for a moment that 
this could be just a horrendous nightmare from which they could 
wake up. Mousse didn't even have his glasses, yet immense anger 
swelled up inside him. Crystallus just stared aghast, his beak 
wide open. Nadir crumbled like a demolished building, falling to 
his knees as before. Ryouga was frozen in terror. But terror 
was replaced by anger, despair, not a single ray of hope left in 
his life.
	Ranma was a wreck, or worse. He stared down at the 
lifeless face, wishing he could feel Akane's soft breath once 
more, her loving mallet hits on his head, to hear her laughter 
again... But it was gone, all gone. Only a headless body remained. 
A disembodied head was all that was left. His life was over, 
_he_ was over. There was nothing left to live for now. Every 
attractive that life once had had been mercilessly torn away 
from him. It was all darkness... It was all death...
	And Akane saw him.
	"RANMA!" not caring about being caught, Akane pounded on 
the window, threatening to shatter it, "Ranma! I'm here! I'm all 
right! Please! Listen!"
	"Oniisan..." Ranko wiped a tear from her eye, clutching 
Phaeron's clothes tightly.
	"I'm all right..." Akane fell on her knees, "Oh, Ranma..."
	"Akane!"
	She lifted her face, looking out the window. "Oniisan!" Ranko 
used her fairy wings to fly over and stick to the glass. Ranma 
was standing before Kefka, his aura close to reaching gold level. 
Every single Red Shadow had been burned to ashes by Nadir and 
Ryouga. Darkness and death were one thing... Now, everything was 
REVENGE!!
	"You son of a bitch!!" Ranma bellowed, "My sisters, and 
AKANE! I don't care what you do to me, I will RIP YOUR FUCKING 
HEAD OFF!!!"
	Kefka smirked. He simply lifted both hands. A dark pyramid 
of pure evil energy surrounded him, spinning on a vertical axis.
	"YOU ARE DEAD!" everyone in the party lunged or pounced 
towards him, only Ryouga remained behind while he fired off the 
largest Perfect Roaring Lion Bullet of his life. "Stupid..." Kefka 
shrugged.
	"AKANE!!" Ranma bellowed... and was repulsed away with 
incredible force as he crashed into the Pyramid. Everyone else 
suffered the same destiny, bouncing off the barrier and smashing 
into the walls of the tunnel, at least fifteen meters away from 
the platform.
	"Akane..." his eyes filled with tears, Ranma whispered before 
passing out. The last hing he saw was a blast of Kefka's magic, 
turning him and everyone else into Espers.
	"Stupid kids," Kefka said to himself. All Espers, save 
Crystallus, had been turned to their mystical shape, while the 
humans were transformed into their Esper-like bodies. The troops 
below scattered before the unconscious dragon dropped on top of 
them. "Now, you _will_ give me your power. Even if I have to 
turn you all into Magicite, I'll drain your life or you'll die in 
the process!" he cackled once more.
	"Hey, you!" a white-collar showed up, waving a document, "I'm 
miss B-ko's attorney. That 'insane cackle' is protected by 
several trademark laws, and copyright regulatio--"
	"You little imbecile," Kefka charred him to ash, "You just 
ruined the dramatic effect!"
	"Ranma..." Akane buried her face in her hands, while 
Yuannyan tried to console her. Ranko flew over to Phaeron and 
clenched her small fist. "I'll get him," she said darkly.
	"And I'll help you," Phaeron scowled at Kefka. Aware of 
Akane's state, he held her tightly, letting her bury her face in 
his chest. The fairies stroked her hair soothingly.
	Meanwhile, above them, the dark figure was still frozen in 
shock.
	"Akane... This... this was never meant to happen... This was 
not part of my plan! Kefka, you bastard! Why?! WHY?!" He paused 
for a moment, "Dysithal, prepare yourself. I will rip Kefka's 
heart out, and then I'll come for you! That's right. For what 
you've done I will kill you! A thousand deaths payed with your 
blood! I no longer have the right to call myself Raphael, but 
even if I die, I will make sure you won't hurt another living soul 
ever again!"
	He punched the wall, tearing a panel open. "Akane, I know 
it's too late to say this, but... I'm sorry. You were my friend, 
more so than I ever told you. I'll never forgive myself for this. 
But now, I will present you my life, and my soul. I will never 
rest until you have been avenged, even if that takes me all the 
way to Hell."
	Just then, a Red Shadow wandered into the room. It saw 
him, and walked over with a big grin on its face. "Hey, see that? 
Master Kefka really showed them who's boss! But that's what we 
should do with all tresspassers. Did you see the look on that 
broad's face? Man, I bet she must have wet her undies from the 
fright! Ha ha! Stupid girl! And that kid with the pigtail! He must 
be the stup--"
	It couldn't finish. Suddenly it found its face being grabbed 
tightly. With the strength of a meteor, he crushed the Shadow's 
head against the wall, killing it instantly as he broke its not-
so-ethereal-after-all skull. 
	With flames in his eyes, Raphael Coldfire strode out of the 
room.  And he had but one goal.
	The destruction of Kefka and Dysithal.


End of section 3D (and no, it's not three-dimensional.)