Ah, happy new year everyone! Here's the second post
of Unlimited Moment ZERO. It's gone through some pretty
severe changes so far, and I expect some more before the
final posting.

-- John --


Unlimited Moment: The Legacy of Largo

Chapter Zero
Prologue: Wing of the Firehawke

Written by John 'Firehawke' Peasley        [fhk-hjr@worldnet.att.net]
Editing by Kevin 'Mystic' Mignery          [mystik@cyberstreet.com]

RELEASE CANIDATE 2 [Final Testing Phase..]

Dedicated to my family, and my friends worldwide. Thank ALL of you!

--[Act I]-------------------------------------------------------------

In a fairly mundane universe, a young man slept. Neither bright
sunlight streaming through his bedroom windows or background noise
could wake him. The room this man slept in was cluttered, as most
bachelor rooms tended to exist as. Dozens of Mountain Dew cans
were stacked-- piled, even-- beside his bed, a testament to his
caffeine intake.

On the wall beside this bed many large dents existed, oddly enough.

Less than a foot from this same bed rested a large wooden desk.
The desk was nondescript, but the computer that occupied it said
volumes about the owner of the room. The case was off the system;
to be honest, the case had never been ON the system in the first
place- too many modifications had been made to have to take the
case off and put it back on every time a change was made. Cables
spewed from the system in every direction, to many other oddities.

The computer was on, of course-- it was very seldom turned off when
not being modified. The screen showed the brutal attack and
counterattack of Ryu and Sagat fighting.. the computer was indeed
running Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. An odd 'screen saver'. Beside
the keyboard, just within reach, was an old, beaten steel alarm
clock.

Beside the desk, a classic bookshelf lay silently. Anime tapes,
sci-fi and fantasy novels, videogame boxes, magazines.. these littered
the shelves liberally. On the bottom shelf, an old reel to reel tape
system sat; God only knows where that had been obtained.

The man on the bed snored raucously, not aware of the fact Fate had
decided to spice his life up a bit. An intensely painful ringing
echoed from the alarm clock in an attempt to awaken the young sleeper.

Time passed.

More time passed.

Finally, the figure on the bed opened one bleary eye and regarded the
clock menacingly. An arm shot out, amazingly fast for someone still
mostly asleep, and throttled the clock. The same arm jerked, and the
clock went flying.

The clock once again met Mr. Wall forcefully, leaving yet ANOTHER
dent in the wall. It then slid down between the bed and the wall.

The room was once again quiet, but the damage was done-- the occupant
was now awake.

<John, you really, REALLY, -REALLY- need to get a new clock..
something much less annoying!>

John sat up unwittingly and his head entered the direct stream of
sunlight entering from his window.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGH!" he screamed in agony, the searing
brightness from directly looking at the sun killing his eyes.

He fell on his back, hands covering his eyes and mouth opened in
shock and pain.

John rolled to the side and awkwardly stumbled to his feet. The room
was an interestingly hazy shade of green in his eyes as he tripped,
stumbled, and crashed over most everything between himself and the
door-- John was NOT a morning person, at least not until he had
his first two cans of Dew.

----------

The living room was quiet; it was still fairly early in the morning,
and most sane people were still sleeping. Socks, the family cat, was
sleeping on the floor.

Socks was a.. unique.. cat to say the least. A partial Burmese,
Siamese, Alleycat cross, she had major traits of each. She had the
standard Siamese markings, but they were mitigated slightly by
the Burmese coloring tinges. And this cat was huge-- 20 pounds
of immense bulldozing feline. Cats have a tendency to become
cranky as they become older, but this hairball had stayed mellow
over the years-- always friendly.

Too friendly-- she tended to try to lick people to death.

As John passed, Socks raised her head questioningly. John knelt
before the cat. "'Morning, Socks. How're you doing this morning?"
he questioned, petting the cat unsteadily. Socks glanced up at him,
eyes half-closed, and began to purr softly. 

John rose slowly to his feet, then wandered into the kitchen. On
pure automatic reflexes, he grasped the refrigerator door's handle
and opened. Immediately assaulted by a blast of polar air, John groped
around inside the door for a can of Dew.

Finding one, he quickly shut the door; it still took him a moment to
thaw himself out.

Cracking the can and taking a caffeine loaded swig, the room suddenly
jarred into focus for John. (Although a sudden queasiness in his
stomach also took this moment to gain his attention. He ignored it.)
<Wow! This stuff never ceases to amaze me..>

----------

The Void between universes is not quite the empty nothingness it is
believed to be. Forces beyond most beings contend here for supremacy
over the others. Some are mindless, some are not, and some are not even
able to be described on those terms.

Powers from some planes spill out here and are tapped by other
universes. The reality-warping forces changing the "normal" ways of 
those places. Natural or not, in whichever universe, the power behind 
the throne is located here. 

Hurtling through the Void, a blue/purple energy bolt searched
relentlessly. It was, in fact, a binary mind.

[SCANNING UNIVERSE 1.42.207.218.4.34 FOR POSSIBLE HOST.]

The energy stream slowed slightly, hesitantly.

[POSSIBLE TARGET OBTAINED.. CLOSING IN FOR PROXIMITY SCANS AND
SUITABILITY TESTING.]

A rip in the Void opened, and the stream flowed through.

----------

John didn't see the rip open in his room, nor did he see the energy
flow through. He was currently at the refrigerator, obtaining a
chemical kickstart.  The energy flow exited the portal completely,
which closed behind it, then acted like a water droplet; it fell
to the floor and 'splashed'. The energy formed into an expansion
card, the kind used in a PC-- but it had no bus on it oddly enough.

[BEGINNING SCAN..]

The sensor sweep crossed the room, quickly detecting the PC.

[PC: 486-DX4 100 MHZ. 20 megs ram. 2 gigabytes of HD space (IDE).
 VESA local bus technology. Sound Blaster PRO 2.0]

[SCANNING DRIVES..]

The mind analyzed its findings a moment.

[SUBJECT HAS INFERIOR MACHINE CONSIDERING CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
TECHNOLOGY AT THIS POINT. HOWEVER, THE SUBJECT HAS EXTENSIVE
KNOWLEDGE OF COMPUTERS, AND HIS TENDENCY TO PUSH THE
TECHNOLOGY TO THE MAX POINT SHOWS A SKILL THAT MITIGATES
THE CIRCUMSTANCES.]

[SUBJECT IS 20% APPROVAL RATED. CONTINUING SCANS..]

The sensors scanned the bookshelf next, slowly taking in everything.

[SUBJECT HAS A COLLECTION OF SCI-FI AND FANTASY NOVELS.]
[SUBJECT IS 30% APPROVAL RATED. CONTINUING SCANS..]

[ANIME VIDEOTAPES DETECTED-- FULL SCAN PROCEEDING]
[RANMA 1/2]
[BUBBLEGUM CRISIS]
[DOMINION: TANK POLICE]
[PROJECT A-KO]
[AKIRA]
[MACROSS SUBBED]
[SOUTHERN CROSS SUBBED]
[MOSPEADA SUBBED]
[ROBOTECH: GENERATION ONE]
[ROBOTECH: GENERATION TWO]
[ROBOTECH: GENERATION THREE]
[3X3 EYES]
[8 MAN AFTER PERFECT COLLECTION]
[DIRTY PAIR: PROJECT EDEN]
[DIRTY PAIR: FLIGHT 005]
[DRAGONBALL Z]
[VAMPIRE HUNTER D]

[SUBJECT IS 80% APPROVAL RATED. CONTINUING SCANS..]

[VIDEOGAMES DETECTED-- WARNING-- EFFECT UPON DATA UNKNOWN.]

[SCANNING SUBJECT.. SUBJECT IS TAKING IN MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF
CHEMICAL KNOWN AS CAFFEINE. DRINK IDENTIFIED AS MOUNTAIN DEW.
ATTITUDE AND BEARING SUGGESTS BACHELOR, UNATTACHED.]

[INTELLIGENCE LEVEL -- MODERATE TO HIGH.]
[PHYSICAL LEVEL -- MODERATE TO LOW AVERAGE.]

[SUBJECT IS 103% APPROVAL RATED. OBTAIN SUBJECT.]

The card changed subtly.

----------

"Mumblegrumblemoangrunt." John uttered. He hated mornings; whacking
away at a keyboard 'till 5AM tended to make mornings pure hell for
him, especially with only an hour's sleep. The Dew helped to lessen
the impact, but it still hit hard. 

<I think I'll log onto the net to let it check my mail and scan for
new fanfics on RAAC and the FFML while I'm taking my shower.>

John walked back into his room, turned on his light, then sat before
his computer. Reaching to his left, he closed the curtain that let in
the horrifying light streams. John aborted the 'screen saver' and
rebooted the machine. He didn't notice the odd silver expansion card
now sitting atop the monitor. He logged online and ran a script, then
popped into his bathroom.

About 35 to 40 minutes later, a much refreshed but still tangly-haired
John stepped forth from the bathroom. No matter how much combing,
coaxing, and moussing was done, the hair always refused to play fair--
it was in a permanent state of Bad Hair Day(TM).

He sat before the computer again and checked the mailscan. Nothing.

Leaning back to stretch, he bumped the desk hard with his knee.
Wincing in pain, John leaned forward. The bump against the desk was
just enough to shake the card down from the monitor and it landed on
his keyboard.

"What's this?" he murmured, picking up the odd silver expansion card
and eyeing it carefully. "I don't remember having this. I wonder what
it is."

He glanced it over. No ports for cables, no jumpers, and no dip
switches. John frowned deeply. <Odd. A card with nothing but ICs
and the connections to and from.>

John logged off, still deep in thought about the card in his hand.

<I don't remember this card at all. It's like it just appeared or
something. I'd better put it in to make sure of what it is. It's
a VESA slot. I have ONE open, luckily.>

He reached to the side and flicked the BigRedSwitch downward. The
lights in the house brightened noticeably. Forcing his way through
the jungle inside his computer, John fought valiantly against the
Cable Beasts and managed to find the empty slot. Still battling
with all his might, the card entered the slot easily. He then
retreated before the cables could regroup and attack again.

John reached over and flicked the power back on. The lights dimmed
somewhat, then a familiar, sickening to the bottom pit of his stomach
scent. He recognized it, of course he did-- every tech feared this
scent. Eau de burning electronics.

John reached for the power switch, violently cursing. "This can't b--"

An explosion, everything went white. Then, nothingness.

----------

He was unconscious when they entered the Void as an energy burst, one
much like the card had been. This one was identical, in fact, except
for the fact it was larger.

With John unconscious, the card was unable to keep a stable profile;
the energy form the two took was careening out of control. Spiraling
crazily, it sped towards an ancient red portal, long sealed.

The impact was harsh, smashing the seal apart violently. The card was
unable to hold the energy form, and it released. An unconscious John
and the card floated deeper into the portal slowly, and an ancient
creature awakened.

It looked down at the man. "Millennia have passed since I was
imprisoned here unjustly. I am too weak to go forth anymore, but
perhaps I can repay you for freeing me.."

The creature smiled inwardly, then reached into John's soul....

----------

The energy form sped through the void once again, this time under
control. With John still unconscious, it followed its directives and
chose an exit..

--[Act II]------------------------------------------------------------

Consciousness returned slowly to the sound of splashes on pavement.
A thundercrack, and more splashes. John opened his eyes slowly and
just as slowly regained his focus. <It wasn't raining when I got up
this morning.. odd.>

John rose to a semi-erect position, glancing around. It was dark.

Evil looking brown clouds covered the sky, drenching everything with
acid rain and lightning. Rubble was strewn everywhere, collapsed and
barely standing hulks of buildings all around. Crumbled, shattered,
the hulks were a mute testament to death.

On the horizon, a large spiraling monolith caught his eye. It too
was crumbled and destroyed, but that wasn't what stopped his heart.

It was the faded and scorched GENOM logo. He couldn't read the
Japanese lettering, but he knew it nontheless.

"Bubblegum Crisis? But that's an anime series.." John breathed
softly. His hand reached down to a piece of rubble. It felt as real
as anything he'd ever felt before. "This is MegaTokyo-- but it's
so.. so.. dead!"

The MegaTokyo that John knew of was a thriving if corrupted world,
protected by the Knight Sabers and AD Police. (Okay, okay, so AD
Police was notoriously ineffective.)

He briefly considered insanity and delusions as being a possibility,
but set those aside as 'Not bloody likely'. This whole situation
looked real enough, and for some odd reason, it FELT real deep inside.

The scene before John's eyes was overwhelming; he shivered, rubbing
his arms. <What happened here?>

A glint caught his eye, and he glanced down. A familiar silver
expansion card caught his eye and he shivered again. Examining it,
he noted it was still intact.

When his hand touched it, he felt a slight tremor in reality. He
looked up to make sure of his surroundings, a bit cautious. What
he discovered shocked him to his core-- the Japanese lettering on
the various pieces of billboards and signs was readable now; he
instinctively knew Japanese!

<I think this card got me here somehow, and my computer had something
to do with it. It also seems to have given me the ability to read
Japanese at a native level, which scares the living crap out of me. I
need to know more about what had happened here. I only know of one
place that might still have the technology to get me information. I
only hope it's still intact.>

John made his way slowly through the devastated landscape, avoiding
the acid rainfall when possible. Eventually he made his way to the
front of an intact building. He read the sign then smiled.

'Silky Doll'

He wrenched the door open with all his strength. The musty scent of
an ancient tomb rushed to his nostrils, making him wince. John felt
bile rising into his throat as fear began to grasp its chill fingers
around him. He swallowed, then crept inside.

John's eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness as he moved slowly
through the damaged room. He blushed at some of the.. 'apparel' that
caught his eye as he passed, but didn't close his eyes out of fear.

At the back of the room, another steel door led to a hallway. The door
lay on the floor. Shattered into several pieces. John frowned as he
passed over the damaged door. <What could do that kind of damage to
a door like that?>

His footsteps echoed in his ears as he walked nervously towards the
end of the hall. Another steel door, this one open. A faint red glow
from the locking mechanism caught his eye-- there was apparently still
some power in the building.

The stale air grated against John's frayed and already nervous self.
This was a lesson in fear he would never forget as long as he lived--
an entire world seemingly destroyed by an unknown for an unknown
reason. And he didn't know if the unknown was still around.

John stepped into the room and glanced around. A laboratory surrounded
him, but it was a lab like no other he'd ever seen. A massive
mainframe covered a section of the lab, an intact terminal still
connected to it and apparently functioning.

John walked into the glow of the monitor and studied the screen. The
system was logged into the account of one.. Sylia Stingray. His
stomach did a backflip.

Brushing the dust off the keyboard, he studied the interface.
Microsoft had still made quite an impact on the interface world,
apparently-- it looked remarkably like Windows. John shrugged-- the
universe moved in odd ways sometimes.

He checked the statistics for the account-- and promptly lost his
nerve. The account had been logged in.. for 30 years. Sylia and
most likely the other Knight Saber members had been dead for 30
years!

John backed off into a corner and shivered awhile, panic taking
control of him. He was most likely the last living person on this
world, with no food or other supplies.

His eye fell upon the silver card again. <...It brought me here, so
maybe it can get me out.>

He walked again to the terminal, searching it carefully, then started
violently, remembering something important. Even if he could install
the card onto the mainframe, he couldn't log back onto the computer,
as he didn't know Sylia's password!

The mainframe would be useless for this purpose, so John studied the
lab again, this time more carefully. Five glass tubes stood against
one wall, dust making it impossible to see inside.

John searched one of the tubes, but found no controls. Apparently the
only usable equipment in the room was the computer.

That was not exactly a bad thing, though-- John was a techie, and the
chance to experiment with such advanced equipment made him satisfied.

It was only an hour before John had figured out how to use the system
with moderate effectiveness. Gaping at the terabyte of free space
on the system, his explorations were fascinating to say the least.

At least, until he found the file marked "log: Sylia 4-2-2037".

Noting it to be the only file labeled as a log on the system, he
pulled it up.

----------

The KnightWing hovered over the drop zone-- The secret Genom research
facility.

Sylia knew she'd been lucky to obtain the info when she did-- it would
only be a matter of hours before the plans of Largo were revitalized
in the new next-generation boomers. A pre-emptive strike would be
needed-- NOW.

>From the darkness below, an azure beam lanced skyward. It ripped into
and through the KnightWing's wingtip, shearing it off to fall to the
ground far below.

Through the suddenly listing and smoke-filled plane, Sylia fought to
get to the cockpit. "Mackie! Status Report.. What hit us?"

"Sis-- there's heavy support weapons below. They have a particle---"

Mackie was cut off by the sudden appearance of another beam, this one
cutting through again. An explosion threw shards of metal and glass
back from the now nonexistent cockpit.

Again, the beam fired, shearing the same wing as before, ripping it
completely off. The shredded metal fell heavily to the ground,
screeching in the wind.

Without a cockpit and with a single wing, the plane stayed up as well
as expected: it didn't. As it began its final descent to the Genom
building below, Sylia heard herself yell "Brace for impact!"

Someone screamed-- was it Nene?

The sound of warping and fearfully stressing metal everywhere...

Explosions.. blood everywhere-- was it hers?..

Nothing.

----------

John aborted the log, hands trembling. <What a horrible way to die..
trapped inside the dying plane, they either died on impact or due
to the explosion of the fuel tanks. And Mackie.. he never knew what
hit him. One moment he's alive, the next..>

The transponder had sent the log from Sylia's hardsuit to the main
computer when the crash occurred-- the final mission and destiny of
the Knight Sabers, recorded for 'posterity'.

<She said Largo, though. Largo was destroyed, I thought.. unless they
were able to salvage some of his chips. But still, this doesn't say
anything about how this world was devastated!>

John felt sorrow and a deep sense of loss for the Knight Sabers, for
those he would never know, but still his life had been touched by.

Looking behind him at the huge canisters, he decided to see if
the computer could do anything to help. When he turned back to the
screen, a warning message had popped up for his viewing pleasure.

'Battery power level low: Estimate 1.5 hours before total system
failure.'

His eyes narrowed slightly-- if the computer died before he left,
he would be trapped in this world until he died.

With this knowledge in his heart, he set to finding how to open the
canisters. Eventually, after searching many files and directories,
he did find it.

John heard a slight hissing noise behind him, but when he turned to
look, the canisters were still closed. The canisters were no longer
airtight, but apparently jammed shut.

He tried it again. Nothing.

Rising to his feet, he took a closer look at the canisters.
<Definitely jammed.>

He brought some of the Tae Kwon Do he'd taken to use in the form of
a vicious sidekick. The dull clunk of metal echoed in his ears.

<Dull? Echo?... That means the canister is empty. Ack-- I'd forgotten
they'd taken all their hardsuits with them on that mission.
Stupid, stupid, stupid!>

John decided to confirm this on the other canisters.

....-clunk-....-clunk-....-clunk-....-whump-..?

<Hmm? That fifth canister seems to have something in it.>

John attempted to force it open, to no avail. Sylia had made the
canisters impossible for boomers to force open, much less simple
humans. This also explained why John's kick had no effect.

He went back to the computer and closed the canister. Then, he moved
the mouse to the open command and dragged the mouse with him almost
all the way to the canister in question. He clicked the mouse with his
foot, then applied pressure to the canister. With the help of the
proper opening mechanisms, he was finally able to open the canister.

Inside lay a bright red metal object-- a hardsuit. It didn't take any
effort to recognize it as being for a male. It obviously had belonged
to Mackie-- but why hadn't he taken it out on the mission?

John studied the hardsuit carefully-- not a scratch or burn mark on
it. It looked like it had never even been in a firefight. That's when
he noticed the empty weapon bays. The hardsuit wasn't quite complete.

A panel on the front opened easily since the hardsuit was off. Ten
slots looking much like expansion slots waited. John's eyes
raised in silent question.

He stepped back, and turned around, walking to the computer. On the
floor, a familiar silver card waited. John grabbed it and went back
to the hardsuit. He pushed the card into one of the slots gently.
There was a slight bit of resistance, then a sudden pop as it slid
into place.

John slid the panel back into place with a click, then stepped back
to give the suit a closer look. The suit was somewhat bulky with
jutting lines and protruding areas. It looked like an overhaul job--
obvious patch armour plates covered areas where electronic devices
such as ECM and hacking had most likely been. The weapon mounts were
empty, but the cables and slots looked like a rush job. The cable for
hooking the hardsuit up to a computer was still intact, however.

All in all, though, the suit was pretty much done-- John could
understand why the suit hadn't been taken on the mission though--
it was still a bit underpowered without weapons and with the messy
patchwork armour it wouldn't stand much of a chance in a battle.

John looked around; no softsuit. He hoped the hardsuit would work
okay with him in street clothes. Stepping forward, he fit himself
gently into the embrace of the hardsuit.

The boots slowly tightened around his feet to a perfect fit. Then,
the arms clamped, releasing air as they tightened around John's
arms. The torso came together, as did the legs, with a metallic
clunk-- locking in place. John looked down at his feet, then grabbed
the helmet there. Placing it securely on his head, a final hiss of
released air was given-- the suit was now airtight. Suddenly, the
inside shrank gently, fitting John's contour better.

A viewscreen burned into life in front of John's eyes. The surrounding
room was shown in startling detail, overlaid with status gauges,
weapon statistics, and the like. A voice spoke into his ear, startling
him momentarily.

"Hardsuit Operating System, Version 4 Non-Softsuit Enabled."
"Warning- Weapons not mounted."
"WarpCard active and ready."
"Warning- Armour at 33% of maximum."
"All systems active and ready."

He frowned. The suit was in worse shape than he thought. 33% wasn't a
good number when dealing with the one thing protecting you from
being sliced, diced, chopped, pureed, toasted, roasted, and generally
mutilated.

John mentally slapped himself-- <Not a good thing to think about..>

<Wait a moment. What was that about a WarpCard being active and
ready? That card I have.. that's a WarpCard, then? And it's designed
for hardsuits? I believe a few pieces of the puzzle are beginning to
put themselves in place!>

He stepped forward, as to leave the canister, but the hardsuit was a
bit too large to fit through the damaged and still jammed device.

Using the power assistance of the suit, opening the canister was a bit
easier than expected, though. At least the hardsuit still had the
actuators in place to boost arm and leg strength.

John stumbled to the computer; the hardsuit was a bit unusual, and he
wasn't used to it. While it felt perfect, it still took some practice
to be able to use it without knowing it was there. A mental hang-up,
John supposed.

He hooked the hardsuit into the computer, and a few new options
appeared to be available to him. He chose to download as much of the
important data as he could into the hardsuit memory banks. The banks
hadn't been designed for that-- they were designed for data runs while
on a mission, but they held up nicely.

Another warning popped up on the computer, warning of a single hour
before the system died completely. Giving things quick thought, he set
the system to destroy all the data and feedback the power systems.

<Just in case someone from Genom is still around...>

John watched the timer a bit: 75 seconds until the core overloaded.

He then realized he hadn't taken the time to look for any weapons;
the hardsuit was still defenseless!

A sinking sensation began to pool at the bottom of his stomach;
this was not a good thing. Going out without some kind of
defense was suicide, but he only had 70 seconds to find a weapon
and still get out in!

John stumbled over most everything in his path; he raced through
the room, searching for ANYTHING he could latch into the suit
so he could leave.

<There! In the corner, under that rubble..>

John tripped over the rubble and landed hard on the floor. As
the stars faded from his sight, he took a closer glance at
what was under the pile. There were several modular tubes. One
was obviously a swordblade. The others, he had no clue about.

He grabbed them and raced for the exit. 15 seconds..

Tripping and stumbling over the racks in the lingerie shop
in the front, a mental countdown kept echoing through his
head.

Three seconds. John reached the door and ran through it,
fear running rampant though his mind.

----------

The explosion would have been visible for miles, had anyone
been alive to see it. As John looked back at the burning wreckage,
he knew he'd done what was right-- There was too much risk in
leaving the technology there, because he couldn't believe the
ENTIRE world was gone because this one city was. The legacy of
the Knight Sabers was safer buried-- for the sake of their families
elsewhere.

John looked at the canisters in his right hand. He slid the
swordblade into a socket on the right arm gently, locking it in
place. Then, he plugged an unknown canister into the left arm.
The systems registered it as a small laser. Not too effective,
but something nonetheless. The last canister he plugged into a slot
under the right arm-- sparks flew from the connection as it went in.
The system declared it to be damaged beyond repair. John quickly
removed the canister-- the connector was glowing red hot. In
disgust, he threw it to the ground.

John glanced back over his shoulder one last time at the blaze
through the hardsuit screen, then began walking. He didn't know where
he was going, but he was going somewhere. Somewhere with the living.

The rocks and rubble of the already dead city of MegaTokyo watched
silently as he passed. The fire's glow lit his path as he took each
step in silence. John's mind was a blank-- he was not sure what to
think or even how he felt. He felt.. empty.

A warning buzzer went off in his mind-- something wasn't right. He
looked left, then right-- scanning the terrain quickly. Nothing. He
scanned again, this time checking the terrain more carefully. Still
nothing.

John's eyes narrowed inside the helmet. <Something's not--->

He never saw the azure beam that struck him in the back-- it tore
chunks out of the armor with a screech, tossing them aside. The force
of the blast threw John several steps forward, face first.

The suit screamed at John-- he barely paid attention though.

"Back armour at 15%. Structural integrity at 97%."
"Front armour at 25%."

John briefly wondered why the front armour was damaged until he
reopened his eyes to see pavement. He managed to struggle to his
feet and turn around, only to face that which attacked him.

A large purple mechanoid stood before him. Its yellow eyes glowed
through the blackness, promising a quick but painful death. The arms
ended in powerful hands, and a -very- large autocannon lay attached
to its shoulder. The head's design was eerie-- a blackness where a
mouth or nose would be-- and the eyes glowed with an eerie red.

A quiet, almost hissing voice crept from the darkness.

"Well, well.. I thought all you humans were extinct. Guess I was
wrong. Hm. I'm glad I decided to check out that explosion tonight
or I wouldn't have ever known about you."

"Extinct?"

"What?! You should know: we killed all your kind years ago. How you
survived is beyond me-- unless.."

The yellow eyes narrowed and considered the figure in front of it.

John gathered his wits and fired the laser. It hit the target, but
did no damage. His throat suddenly went dry as the strange purple
boomer charged him, then lifted him.

<What the heck am I doing?! I have no combat experience..!>

The other hand flashed forward, tearing through the front armour. A
wet, sticky fluid dripped slowly down John's chest. He looked down to
see a three bladed claw slowly remove itself from the wound, covered
in his lifeblood.

<I'm going to die...>

Somewhere in the back of his mind, his consciousness, while fading,
refused to give up. John touched an idea, then a concept. The word
warpcard crossed his thoughts, and as he faded, he activated a
random warp.

The boomer screamed in anger-- it had a fresh kill, the first one in
over 30 years, and it disappeared! The body had become energy and
just.. left. At least the nasty human was dead, even if it HAD managed
to escape..

----------
SOMEWHERE IN ANOTHER UNIVERSE...

All along the seashore, waves lapped wistfully at the sand and grass.
This same beach had once held a weary traveler who had his ship
destroyed from under his feet. But now, it was empty. The sun shined
brightly upon the land, giving this world a shine of health. A few
birds flew overhead in the blue sky, heading back to the forests in
which they lived. The serenity of the land was broken; a 'rip'
appeared in the sky. The birds scattered. From the rip, a water-like
drop fell. It 'splashed' onto the grass and formed into an amoured
figure.

The figure was breathing very shallowly, but the average watcher
wouldn't have seen that-- they would have seen the deep gash on
its chest and the trails of blood that led from it.

John was unconscious and dying; he had maybe five minutes before
he was beyond help. Nightmares of a purple boomer, blood, death,
and mayhem replayed over and over, intermixed with him berating
himself for his stupidity. His mental state was almost as bad as
his physical.

--[Act III]-----------------------------------------------------------

It was quiet when John awoke. He felt a weakness like none he'd felt
before, yet he forced his eyes open to a distorted, blurry mass.

Slowly, ever so slowly, his eyes focused.

He was in a bedroom. Through the window beside the bed he lay in, John
could easily see the stars and moon. <Evening. I don't remember much.>

John shifted and he stiffened in intense pain. <I feel like I kissed
a Mack truck doing 70. Reminder: Look both ways before crossing the
street.>

He looked down at himself, at the bloody bandages across his chest,
and then he remembered. The boomer had nearly killed him. The pain
dropped to a repeating dull ache. John took a closer look around
the bedroom in which he lay.

Everything was cast in a greyish tone from the little light that did
enter through the window. By the foot of the bed was a nondescript
dresser. Atop it was a photo. John couldn't see it clearly though.
Beside the dresser was a large greyish shape which he couldn't quite
make out. By the head of the bed, a nightstand sat. Atop it was a
clock, ticking away quietly. 1:30 in the morning, by the hands.

John judged by the lack of personal items that this was a guest room.

He attempted to force himself to his feet, but it was too much of a
strain. He collapsed, and everything was dark once again...

----------

With the bright morning, life continued as usual for one young
woman. Footsteps echoed softly as she quietly entered the room in
which John slept; she took a careful examination of the wound on his
chest, then placed a fresh, damp cloth upon his forehead.

She closed her eyes, chanting under her breath for several
moments. Then, gathering her chi, then she placed her hand on John's
chest and whispered aloud, "Cure". His color became perhaps a bit
healthier from the sickly shade it was. Noting the improvement,
she watched a moment, then left just as quietly as she had entered.

John stirred slightly and his eyes opened. A sourness permeated his
mouth; he groaned and winced at the taste. His eyes wandered the room
again. This time, he could see the photo. A young woman and man,
apparently twins. Both had brown hair. John guesstimated them to be
at least 15 or 16. His eyes wandered again, finding his hardsuit
beside the dresser-- it was unsealed also. Whoever had rescued him had
somehow managed to open the hardsuit. He worried slightly over that,
but pushed it to the back of his mind. He had other things to worry
about.

The aching in his chest had subsided to an extremely dull level. John
shifted slightly, this time with no pain. The bandage across his chest
was still there; he studied the blood soaked into it carefully before
rolling to his side.

John gained a bit of confidence when the stain on the bandages didn't
grow with his movements. He swung his feet around to the side of the
bed and relaxed himself to a sitting position.

Feet pushed against the floor awkwardly and then he was standing. He
hesitantly took a step, unsure if he should or could trust his feet.
John stumbled to the hardsuit, looking worriedly at the damage. The
claws had missed the card slots by only a few inches. The damage was
mostly armor, but John could see a wrecked circuit board below.

He hobbled into the opened armour and activated it; the sensation of
it closing all around him was expected this time. The hardsuit
computer booted, then began complaining of the treatment it'd been
getting thus far.

[Status: Severe armour damage. Major internal damage-- communications
subsystem destroyed. Weapons slot #3 internal damage. Power at 92% of
maximum.]

"This is not good," John whispered to himself, "the suit took quite
a beating, and so did I. What can I expect, though? I know NOTHING
about hardsuit combat, and was taken by surprise. I'm not going to
let THAT happen again if I can help it."

He walked slowly towards the door of the room, then opened it quietly;
<No knowing who or what is out there. Better play it safe.>

The door opened to a hallway. John peeked his head out to the left,
then to the right. Nothing. He headed to the left, cautiously making
his way down the hall.

A nagging sensation buzzed the back of his mind. <Um, John.. you
do realize that if they were hostile, they probably wouldn't have
put you in a bed in a guest room..>

John mentally slapped himself for the lack of observation, then
took off his helmet-- he looked less like a serial killer without
it-- and continued with less caution. At the end of the hall, he
studied the door. It opened outward, so he grasped the handle.

The door opened on its own accord to show a young woman. The same
young woman who'd been watching over him earlier, but he didn't
know that.

Green eyes met with hazel ones; several heartbeats of unmoving
silence.  The woman's brilliant green eyes seemed to absorb John
into them, merging souls. Long brown hair, waist-length, caught his
perpheral attention, and her creamy white skin... <Wow... almost
like a Goddess on Earth.. She's so.. familliar, though.>

She was clad in a long green dress; simple yet elegant on her.

John blinked, breaking contact. Another moment passed.

"You.. Aren't you supposed to be in bed? Your wound isn't completely
healed-- you could reopen it!"

He shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts, then blinked.

"Don't I know you from somewhere....?"

She shook her head. "I don't think we've met. Now, you're going back
to bed."

John knew better than to argue. He walked meekly back to the room, the
hair on the back of his neck tingling-- a sure sign she was watching to
make sure he went. Those neck hairs had been trained from years of
attempts of sneaking out when grounded as a child, and John had
learned to trust them.

He turned abruptly before the door. "Say, what IS your name?"

The young lady smiled. "Porom, and yours?"

"Gwaaaaah!" replied John, now in a deep state of shock.

"Gwaah? A nice name," she giggled in response.

"Er, um, my name is John. Yeah, that's it.. John," he added, unsure
why he was acting so strange. "I'm kinda new here."

"Pleased to meet you, John. When you're feeling better, I'll have to
show you around. For now, you should go back to bed."

"Where AM I, anyway?" the young man queried.

"Mysidia," she replied with the same smile.

The sinking feeling in the pit of John's stomach seemed to lurch.
<Uh oh.. could I be..? Nah...>

John smiled slightly. "Tell me, do you have a weird brother?"

Porom blinked, "Yes, you -could- say that. Why?"

John felt the blood start to leave his face; that and the sinking
sensation in his stomach turning into the beginning of an ulcer.

"Is his name Palom by any twist of fate?"

"Yeah! You know him, then?"

"In a way, you could say that..," he trailed off. <?! How did I
get HERE? And she's older than I remembered.>

John mentally slapped himself. <Idiot! She is a living person, John.
Stop treating her like a character in a story.>

He was interrupted from his line of thought by Porom's voice.

"John? You okay..? You seem spaced out there," asked Porom.

<You know, she _is_ kind of cute, and that voice....>

"John!", Porom tried again.

"Huh..what? Oh, sorry.. spaced a moment. What were you saying?" John
responded sheepishly. 

"I asked if you were feeling alright-- you spaced and were staring at
me with glazed eyes," added Porom.

John blushed slightly. "Er, yeah.. I'm fine."

Porom blinked in apparent surprise, then smiled. "Get a bit more rest
and we'll talk later."

A nod, then John went back to his temporary room and shut down the
hardsuit in the same location it had been stored. His mind swirled
with thoughts and ideas as he sat upon the bed.

<So, here I am, far from home. I have no idea how I got here, except
that the Warpcard is the catalyst. First I find myself in a dead
Bubblegum Crisis universe, get scared half to death, then nearly
killed. THEN I get thrown HERE. I think whatever deity exists up there
has a sick sense of humor.

Personally, I think the average guy would just want to get home in
one piece, but I think I see a chance to make a difference in a
universe. I need to know more about what happened in BGC; let's call
this one Ground Zero, since it looks rather like a nuke had hit it.

If the Warpcard can handle universes, can't it handle time as well?
And, more importantly, who created this card? Why was _I_ selected to
take it?

And, why am I _here_ of all the possible places? There are too many
missing pieces to this puzzle, and that bothers me a lot. I don't
think there's much I can do at the moment; I'm still injured, and
it will probably be a couple of days before my body can handle
things.

Besides, I was too weak and inexperienced to handle hardsuit combat.
I think I need to take time to get used to the feel and weapons in the
hardsuit so I'll be better prepared NEXT time.>

John reached over and grabbed the photo on the dresser, studying it
intently.

<Palom and Porom. My memories of this place are somewhat different
than what I'm seeing, but Porom seems to be older. Maybe 10 or
more years older. She's not the haughty straitlaced girl she was. I
remember that she used to be quite the proper lady. She's still
proper apparently, but she's tempered somewhat.

I wonder how Palom has changed? And what of the others..?>

John gently placed the photo on the nightstand, then leaned back on
his bed, his back to the wall. <I guess I do need some rest.>

Sleep was slow to come.

----------

John awoke to the light of an orange sky, whose color was slowly
fading to a deep purple. His eyes automatically searched for a
clock; 5:30 in the afternoon. He lay there a moment before struggling
to his feet. <I wonder where and if I'm going to be able to get new
clothes. I didn't exactly pack for the occasion. Then again, I wonder
how I'm going to be able to _AFFORD_ the clothes, since I don't have
money here.>

He stood up and looked out the window. Dark grey clouds gathered and
drew near; John recognized them as the same formations that built
up in the Arizona summer during the time called the "Monsoons".

<Heavy rain and wind coming, I'd guess maybe two to four hours before
it hits.>

John turned away and stepped out into the hall, this time without his
armour. He opened the same door he'd intended to, this time without
incident. Beyond was a fairly large room that he guessed to be the
front room.

A wooden table was in the room, almost in the center. Against one wall
was a full bookshelf. At the far end of the room was the front door.
Catching John's eye, against one wall lay..

A couch?!

<Now THIS is weird-- fairly modern amenities. These people are
advanced in a different technical level. Technology is here, but
there's more of an emphasis on the magic, I guess.>

Sitting on the couch reading a rather large looking book was Porom;
John walked to the couch and sat down. "Good evening, whatcha
reading?"

Porom looked up at John. "Oh! Nothing important," she put the book
down and continued, "How are you feeling, John?"

John sighed. "Being as close to death as I think I was makes me
just a little sick, but I think I'm fine now. Thank you for helping
me where so many others could have left me to die..." he trailed off.

Porom stiffened visibly a moment, then relaxed. "What kind of a person
would leave someone to die?" she asked.

"Someone who didn't care. A lot of the people from where I'm from are
jaded and just don't CARE anymore," returned John.

"Where are you from?" queried Porom, "I don't think I've ever seen you
before."

John looked vaguely apprehensive. "You.. wouldn't believe me if I told
you."

She smiled secretively and responded-- "Try me." 

"Well, it kinda goes like this..." John started.

--[Act IV]------------------------------------------------------------

"What you're telling me is that an odd 'expansion card' threw you from
your home universe into another one-- one that exists as popular
fiction in your home-- then from there you were thrown here after
getting nearly killed?" Porom responded.

"Well, that's the gist of it, yeah," John quietly agreed.

"Somehow..I..I believe you, John."

"Thanks. It's nice to see someone who can appreciate the fine mess
I've somehow managed to get myself into. Maybe the Elder knows
something that can help me. I'm just a normal guy trying to keep
himself alive right now."

Porom's eyes brightened considerably. "Yeah! He probably has answers
for what's going on. Why don't we see him tomorrow morning?"

"Sounds good to me, I don't have any pressing plans, you know," added
John with a grin. "I'm living one day at a time."

Porom studied John a moment, then glanced at her clock. "Okay, great!
It's a bit late so I'm going to bed now."

John nodded in agreement. "Okay. I'll be up only awhile longer. I'm
still pretty tired; I guess my body is still recovering."

Porom put the book back on the shelf, then left the room. John, in
curiosity, glanced at the spine of the book. <Mysidian Legends?>,
he mused, <Hmm...>

He left the book there and walked over to the front door. He opened
it quietly and looked outside.

It was peaceful. Storm clouds were gathering on the horizon, but
there was only a light wind at the moment. Nobody was outside: it
was late evening and things were beginning to darken, but that
didn't explain the sense of forboding John was feeling.

John stepped outside and closed the door behind him. Closing his eyes
and just listening to the ambient sound of the wind, he felt at peace.
This was nothing like the hectic world he lived in. After a short
time, the wind began to pick up. It blew John's short hair around,
but John appreciated the coming storm, as it reminded him of his home.

Arizona is normally a very dry place. Nearing the end of the summer,
a period called the Monsoons begin. During this time, fierce storms
of wind, rain, and lightning blast the state. The normally peaceful
environment becomes dangerous in its own right-- the long dry ground
becomes flooded, and people make dangerous and stupid mistakes. This
often causes them to lose their lives.

John had survived these monsoons each year, like so many others, by
being intelligent enough to never try to cross a flooded area, and
various things of the like.

He wasn't stupid; John knew he was still too weak to be out in
the rain. The cold rain would weaken his immune system more than
it already was, and he would be easy prey to pesky monsters or
illness.

It was growing towards the night from the already dusky sky. Stepping
back inside, he watched the storm slowly build around him. Lightning
started a display of raw power, and John watched with fascination.

The rain grew fierce and driving, so he finally shut the door behind
him. <No sense in getting the floor all wet. I don't think Porom
would like that very much.>

At the thought of Porom, he decided to see if she was awake. John
hesitated. <I don't know if I should. I mean, she may be sleeping,
and I don't want to disturb her..>

John sighed, locked in an internal battle with himself. <Why do I feel
so awkward? Why do I feel like this..? I hardly know her.. This is
wrong! It's all wrong.. I can't feel this way, damnit!>

John unconsciously clenched his fist, then relaxed. <I guess it
wouldn't hurt to see if she's awake.>

He stepped into the hallway, and took a cursory glance through the
door to his room. Nobody there. Good. A bit of paranoia was healthy
after coming so close to getting your heart cut out.

He crept down the hall towards the other end. The door was slightly
ajar. John put his ear to the door. Nothing. Taking a deep breath and
holding it, he cautiously pushed the door open slightly, then peeked
his head through.

Through the flashes of lightning, John took in the room. Dark green
curtains covered a window through which the storm raged. The room
was unusually formal; not many personal items were abound. The bed
was draped in green, and a single photo was framed beside the bed.

John looked more closely at the bed. Porom lay asleep, breathing
slowly and rhythmically. <Sleep well, m'lady..>

He shook his head slightly. <I haven't said things like that since..>
He trailed off. That wasn't something he was ready to face yet.

John watched a few moments more, a sense of peace overcoming him, then
he left quietly as to not disturb her. Back in his room, he sat on his
bed brooding silently upon his situation.

<I wonder if Mom and Dad think I'm dead. I'll probably never see
either of them ever again, or any of my friends. They're probably at
my funeral telling each other what a nice guy I was, and thinking to
themselves about how much an asshole I was.>

The rain continued to beat against the window while lightning flashed
in an odd rhythm. The hairs on John's neck rose slightly; something
wasn't quite right. He rose and awkwardly activated the hardsuit, a
chill running across his spine. Turning back to the window, the
hardsuit sensors recognized multiple contacts OUTSIDE the buildings.

<Walking around out in the rain seems a bit odd. Let's see if I can
get a closer scan on one.>

He zoomed in and painted one for the target acquisition system.

Life signs: NULL
Electromagnetic: NULL
Classification: UNKNOWN
Threat Level: UNKNOWN

<Hmm. No life signs, and not a machine? Either something's wrong with
the sensors, or...>

John pulled up a visual scan of the target in question and waited for
a lightning flash to give him...

...there!

<What the..!? It's a rotting corpse walking out there; a freakin'
ZOMBIE!>

He quickly instructed the computer to classify as enemy of type
"Zombie", then rescanned the area. The hardsuit cheerfully reported
a small army of 41 zombies wandering through the town.

John muttered under his breath. "I don't know if this is a good idea,
but I see no choice but to go out there and handle this myself. It
shouldn't be TOO tough; no need to wake Porom or anyone else up."

John crept out through to the front door. He scanned again quickly for
a tactical advantage. <The zombies are searching for something out
here-- but WHAT?> He crept out the door and held his arm forward in
a reflexive position from years of martial arts training.

Yanking the door shut behind him, he moved quietly through the grass,
eyes peeled for any motion. He spotted one of the roaming corpses, its
back turned to him. Carefully aiming, he fired a yellow beam from the
small laser while bringing his hand down at a diagonal. The smell of
burning flesh, and then it was neatly sliced apart. A spray of black
blood and pus erupted from the destroyed undead before it faded away
in a red haze.

John stepped back from the sight. <Ugh, talk about a mess. I hope the
others don't die as messily.>

He felt the tension in his shoulders release somewhat; he was starting
to get the hang of how the basics of the suit worked.

<So, now what? I've made my first kill, but there're still 40 of them
out here. Do I fire a shot into the air to get their attention, or do
I pick them off one by one? Well, let's see-- they're looking for
something. If they're looking for a person, then sending them all
against me would make it easier to stop their intentions. However, if
they're looking for ME, that would be a BAD thing to do. Decisions,
decisions..>

John frowned and grit his teeth in frustration. <There are people
sleeping out here-- I can't just let the zombies wander through town
killing as they please! That leaves me with one choice...>

He brought his arm up, aiming the beam at an approximate 60 degree
angle. Closing his eyes and silently praying to whatever deity was up
there, he fired the laser in a 3 second pulse, bringing it straight up
by the end. <That should do it...>

John brought the scanner online and checked the area. 40 confirmed
enemies moving in, with him as the convergence point. Exactly what
he'd been trying to do. However, the fact he was in the CENTER of the
mess was going to be a problem. <They're going to overwhelm me if
I don't drop each one quickly. I have one shot to do this right.>

He briefly noted one of the blips was going slower than the rest, then
prepared for the incoming horde. Resetting the power level to minimal
to make sure he wouldn't waste system power, he forced himself into a
stance that would allow him to fight, yet still be VERY ready to run
if necessary.

The zombies lazily shuffled closer and closer. <This is beginning to
remind me of a bad movie. Hey, isn't that..?> John looked closer;
indeed, a zombified sheep. <Now THAT'S something you don't see every
day!> Then the hordes were upon him and the battle began in ernest.

>From the right, a zombie reached out to grab his arm; John fired a
laserbolt that severed its arm. A second bolt caught it in the throat
and dropped the head. From behind, a zombie reached out to touch him.
John wasn't impressed with the AT&T impression and sliced his legs
and torso off, spraying the zombies behind it with acidic blood.

John, being ignorant of proper hardsuit tactics, put himself in
dangerous and stupid position after position, but slowly began to
grasp the basics of tactics while the zombie count dropped.

Finally, as the zombie count thinned and disappeared, the final blip
on the sensors was close enough to scan.

A huge, misshapen corpse stomped towards him, then stopped. A fairly
small humanoid sat on its shoulder, but John couldn't make out its
shape. The small creature called out to him.

"You destroyed my zombie force?! Perhaps you're stronger than I
thought. Now, hand over the WarpCard and maybe I'll let you live!"

John frowned. <So, it IS me they're looking for.>

"Why do you want the WarpCard? What do you know about it? I'm not
giving it to you!"

<No need to let them know it's my only way home!>

"I'll take it from your corpse, then! Zombie Ogre, kill him!"

The Ogre raised a large arm and pounded John's shoulder jarringly.
<OUCH! Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could I be so careless?!>

John countered with a laserbolt aimed straight for the Ogre's chest;
it struck, but with much less effect than hoped for. <This is not
good; I'm fighting something dead and it's still stronger than I am!>

He backed off, tactically scanning the target.

Life signs:
        PRIMARY: NULL
        SECONDARY: YES
Electromagnetic: NULL
Classification:
        PRIMARY: ZOMBIE
        SECONDARY: UNKNOWN
Threat Level: HIGH

<The body's too tough for my weapons, and I can't just stand here to
target the small guy on the shoulder with my laser. What can I do...?
Hmm...... The head seems to be the weakest point on zombies, but I
still can't stand still so I can aim with the laser. What else do I
have..?>

<..... That's it! The swordblade!>

The forgotten blade extended from the gauntlet of the right hand with
a quiet *snickt*. John charged the giant undead, slashing it furiously
with the blade. A gout of acidic blood sprayed from the cut, eating
into John's armour lightly.

<Damn! That isn't going to work; I HAVE to hit the head!>

The Ogre was quick to respond, attempting to swat at the annoying
hardsuit and barely missing. John hopped onto the beast's arm, then
leaped off, swinging the blade viciously towards the face.

The blade caught the zombie's forehead, slicing furiously and exposing
its rotting, worm-ridden brain. The humanoid cried out, "Huh!? Hey!",
shocked at the move. John ran back out of reach, laughing grimly to
himself. <I think I've got it; now, let's burn a few brain cells!>

John turned the laser's power usage up, then taunted the creature.
"Come on, you bloated waste of time; you're going to have to do better
than that if you want to kill me!"

The Ogre charged forward, preparing to punch its nemesis with a
killing blow; John was ready, and let the laser loose--

A yellow beam of death flew straight and true into the Ogre's exposed
brain, incinerating the mass. The now unfunctional corpse faded in a
red haze like its brethren, dropping the humanoid to the devastated
grass.

"How?! I couldn't lose! I gotta get out of here, fast... EXIT!" it
cried nervously before disappearing through a black portal.

John sighed in relief, then raised his arm in silent victory, his face
a huge grin. <I did it!>

Suddenly self-conscious, he looked around-- nobody. <Good. I'd hate to
have to explain this to everyone; how embarrassing, I've made a mess.>

Suddenly tired, he shut down his weapons and headed back to Porom's
home. Sneaking in the front door, he quietly crept to his room and
shut down, not noticing that Porom's door was slightly ajar.

John was quick to fall asleep, dreams of family tormenting him.

-----

The morning light entering through the window awoke John, but this
time it was a much more gentle process. His eyes opened and quickly
focused on where he was. <...*sigh*..and I was starting to hope this
was all a dream..>

John rose slowly to his feet, then went to his door. He listened, his
ear to the door: nothing. So, he exited the room and followed the
hallway to the living room. There, sitting on the couch, was Porom,
writing something in a book. John looked more carefully. No, it was
a diary. He shrugged mentally, then walked into the room.

Porom looked up at John, her pen stopping in mid sentence. She studied
him a moment, no words forthcoming. Then, she answered. "Good morning,
John. I trust you slept well?"

"Yes, thank you," John returned.

"Good. Now, you said you wanted to talk to the Elder, so we should go
now, before he's too busy."

"Ah, yes. I'd forgotten. Thanks, let's do that."

Porom finished her writing, then closed the book and put it away. She
then stepped to the front door. John held the door for her, then they
left.

Outside, many people were gathered around a large indentation in the
grass. John overheard bits and pieces of the conversation:

"There was some kind of a battle last night. Apparently zombies got
into town, somehow. But who could have destroyed them?"

"There's no way someone could have caused the wounds these body parts
indicate! It's too sheer of a cut-- only the Crystal blade could cut
like that, and that blade is far from here! Besides, these cuts
don't have the aura of holiness that the Crystal blade emanates.
Whatever did this, it's never been seen before."

Porom noted aloud, "Whoever did this will be found-- nobody can hide a
weapon like that forever. Besides, we all owe him or her a huge thank
you-- we could have all been killed last night in our sleep."

John forced himself to not smile, and nodded-- he said nothing, for
fear of slipping up.

Porom and John left the crowd and headed towards the Tower of Wishes,
the largest building in town. The Tower of Wishes was an ancient
building, dating back before anyone alive could remember. It, in fact,
had been built by Lunarians. That though, is history that's not
relevant at this time.

John held the door for Porom, then entered behind her.

Inside, a huge library hall lay. Hundreds of thousands of books on
magic, from universes far and near. These were the legendary book
stacks of Mysidia, famed for having most every book ever written
about magic. A grand staircase in the center of the hall led upwards,
which John and Porom followed.

A room of mirrored tiles wait silently. An eerie, quiet tune played in
John's head as he entered, causing him to involuntarily shiver. In the
center of the room, a pedestal waited, cradling the Crystal of Wind
within. The Crystal was perfect and symmetrical, with a soft yellow
glow emanating from it.

Porom spoke reverently. "This is the Crystal of Wind. It controls the
very atmosphere and air of this world we live on."

John nodded in agreement. "It's beautiful.."

A quiet voice like the wind whispered, "You've come, John."

John looked around, startled-- nobody else in the room except Porom,
and the voice wasn't hers. "Who's there?!"

Porom watched quietly, unable to find her voice.

"I.. the Crystal.. We've been expecting you. There is a growing danger
to all of the realities of the multiverse, and you are the key to the
coming crisis."

"What are you talking about? I understand that there're multiple
universes, there HAS to be in order for me to have ended up here, but
I don't understand-- what is this danger? And why am I the key?"

"Even we don't comprehend the full import of what is coming. All I
can tell you is that EVERY reality is in danger of being destroyed.
That includes your home. You were unwittingly chosen; no, the WarpCard
had nothing to do with that, but the timing of when you received
the card threw the balance of good and evil off."

"My home, destroyed? Keep talking.."

"There is a universe, the prime universe, which everything else is
based on. That universe is your home. As the people of that
universe create stories, images, and ideas, they shape a new universe
at the same time. But, they never realize this. The barriers between
the universes have been strong until lately. People have been thrown
from the Prime universe into various other ones, throwing off the
balance of good and evil. As the balance is thrown, it begins to
teeter wildly-- evil's power compensates for the extra goodness,
growing to match it. However, it doesn't just match it, it goes
beyond, making itself stronger. Then, good compensates, and throws
the balance off even more. We do not know just HOW evil has
compensated, but if things aren't brought to a normal balance soon,
the barriers between Prime and everything else will be destroyed, and
everything will spill into your universe, destroying it all."

"This sounds serious, but how do I know I can believe you? Besides,
how could I help? I'm just a simple guy."

"You have an inner strength, John. Remember your destruction of the
zombie forces. There are evil forces already seeking your destruction,
wether you choose the mission or not. Even when your strength fails
you, you will have friends who can help you. You'll never truly be
alone."

"You!" Porom intervened, an odd expression on her face, "You WERE the
one who stopped the zombies!"

John nodded quietly. "I was ready to catch some sleep when something
seemed odd; I put on the hardsuit and scanned the area.. and there
they were. I couldn't just let them murder people, so I went out and
did my best."

"You showed real courage out there, John."

"I've seen my share of death and destruction. Someone I cared about
died because I wasn't able to see the signs in time. I swore then
that I'd never let myself fail someone in need. It's hard to explain
why this world means so much to me, but it does."

<Oh, lovely, John. Spit out your most inner secrets to someone you
hardly know. You're doing great here, maybe you'll even get them to
hate you before it's all over with!>

John closed his eyes and lowered his head, deep in thought over what
had been, and what could have been. He was interrupted, though, by
Porom.

"John? Let's go.."

His eyes opened slowly, and a sigh escaped him. "Yeah, let's go."

John followed Porom to the far wall and through a door. The Crystal
merely shed its light in silence.

Another staircase, this one quite long-- Porom led John up, but his
mind wasn't on the trip. John's eyes were on something else
altogether. <I wonder how old she is? I've never seen someone so
devoted to magic before. I wonder if she's even ever had a boyfriend
before? I doubt it somehow. .... Why am I asking myself this? It's
not like I'm going to get involved with her-- she's got her magic,
and I won't be here too long if I can help it.>

John bit his lip in frusteration, slowly following Porom's steps.

<A guy I knew once told me that honor could be frustrating at times.
He was right, as he usually was. Out of all the problems I'd lived
through, he almost always had an answer for the situation. We'd met
through an extrordinary method, and we'd been friends for a long time.
Then, one day, he disappeared without a trace. I wonder what happened
to him? He'd have some kind of suggestion, at least. I'm so clueless
around women.>

Porom reached the top of the stairs, with John soon behind. They'd
reached the very top of the tower. A stone rail waist-high guarded the
edge to prevent people from falling from the edge. There was no roof;
it was open to the sky, yet no rain ever fell upon this holy place.
The view was panoramic, stretching across countless miles. Mount
Ordeals could be seen from here, the legendary testing ground of the
paladin. Many had tried that test of inner courage and strength, but
only one man had come back. The beach where John had been found was
visible from here, as was the large expanse of ocean. All in all,
a breathtaking view.

Standing at the rail was a man. No ordinary man, though-- he was the
Elder of Mysidia. His name was lost to time, his life devoted to
teaching magic. The Elder had a keen eye for those whom Fate had an
unusual path for; he'd helped weave the path for several himself. He
heard the approaching footsteps and smiled to himself, still looking
out over the ocean.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake. Welcome to Mysidia."

John recoiled slightly; his action was expected and responded to.

"Don't worry, I'm not a mindreader. I have a good sense of hearing;
I could hear the distinctive steps of Porom, and someone with her I'd
never heard before. That would have to be you. I didn't catch your
name."

"John. And thanks, you had me a bit shocked there a moment."

"John? Again, welcome to Mysidia, John." <He's different. I can feel
it from here; there's something about him..>

"Thank you. How can I repay you for your hospitality?"

The Elder turned and took his first look at John. John stood tall in
his shorts and shredded t-shirt, his hair somewhat a mess but still
fairly presentable. His eyes glimmered with a spark of intelligence
behind them. If there was any fear, his eyes showed it not.

<He's obviously not from this universe, yet he shows no fear of magic.
There's something odd about him.. like he expected me..>

Porom interrupted his thoughts, "By now, you've heard of the zombie
attack last night and also heard they were decimated. The Crystal says
HE did it!"

John looked mildly embarassed. "It's not THAT big a deal. So I wiped a
few zombies.."

<Hm. He's embarassed by the attention to his deed. Interesting..>

"You did a good job. We've managed to figure out for the most part the
size of the force you fought. How you managed to take down 40 zombies
and a zombie ogre is a matter of speculation, but you did well. You're
obviously a trained fighter."

John's face twisted up in a humorous grimace. "Me? Fighter? No, not at
all. I'm just an average guy who did what he felt he had to."

<He's not a fighter by trade? This gets more and more interesting.>

Porom interjected again, "The Crystal said something else. It
mentioned something about the 'multiverse' and that a crisis is coming
soon. It mentioned John as being integeral to the situation."

The Elder's face turned ashen; his knuckles turned white from the
tightened grip on the guardrail. "The balance has been broken after
millenia? Evils from many universes will be reviving! John is the key
to this..?"

John shrugged. "I don't know why it said ME, or what I can do to
help."

He described his discovery of the WarpCard, the dead universe he found
himself in, and the subsequent events leading to his near-death
experience.

The Elder and Porom listened in silence before nodding. "Your story,
while most unusual, sounds to be the truth. Your description of the
Void is accurate. I see no reason to disbelieve you."

John frowned a moment, then relaxed. <You know, the thought I could
have been lying never occured to me. Interesting.>

"There is one important thing you need to realize. Your home dimension
is at risk and YOU appear to be the only one forthcoming with the
equipment and inner strength to handle this."

John considered quietly. <The problem is that he's right. I,
unfortunately, appear to be the only one who is equipped to do this.
Okay, I'm not a coward-- I can face death-- so why does this whole
thing bother me, then?>

He looked to the other two. "I'll do it." <I can't believe I just
SAID that! What have I gotten myself into?>

The Elder nodded. "You will need to learn to defend yourself if you
intend to be able to succeed. Porom will take you to Baron, where
you should be able to get instruction. I'll write a note for you that
explains the situation."

John agreed silently-- the only reason he'd managed to survive the
zombie assault was the superior technology he wielded. Against a
tougher foe, he would have fallen. This he knew-- there were no
ego based visions of him being invincible. He'd already come too
close to falling...

He shook his head. <It's best not to dwell on that. I guess I'd better
start learning-- there's something big going on here, and I'm going
to be thrown right into the center of it all. This isn't a game.
They'll be shooting to kill.>

<The question is, where will I be heading first? There's no question,
I have to do this-- running away isn't an option anymore. I need to
know more about how this.. 'WarpCard'.. works.>

John mentally shrugged. "I'll be ready in about 20 minutes. It's not
like I have to pack or anything."

--[Act IV]-----------------------------------------------------------

The lump in his stomach churned wildly-- John was extremely nervous
about what he'd agreed to. Sitting on 'his' bed, he stared at the
machine that had both saved and cursed his life-- the hardsuit.

John had been an 'otaku', one of the dedicated anime fans, for a
long time. Seeing a hardsuit up close was exciting, but also drew
dread-- he felt like an intruder wearing the armour.

He walked to the armour and slowly pulled it on, shoving aside the
thoughts that ate at him. John just stared through the viewscreen at
the window-- nothing registered in his mind. Finally, he made a
decision.

He explored the hardsuit's computer, getting a handle for the various
controls, options, and systems. By no means was it comprehensive, but
it was knowledge-- something that could save his life. Pulling up
random files, he glanced through incomphrensible statistics.. then
he found something.

The file was like any other, but it was stored on the WarpCard itself.
It didn't take him even a moment to make a decision-- he pulled it up
for a look.

----------

It was a man of a height around 5' 10", whose body was concealed
by a long, black cloak with royal blue trimming along the edges.
The hood was pulled back so the slightly longish brown hair with
streaks of grey indicating some degree of age on the mysterious
apparition's head was revealed. Hazel eyes on a good-looking face
that seemed younger than it should seemed to lock onto John's
presence, making him shiver at the seeming depths that was
somehow conveyed though the image's eyes, and regarded the younger
man.

And sighed.

"Well," the man began, shaking his head, "if this recording has
been activated then it means that Skuld somehow lost or misplaced
the blasted card -AGAIN-, or something else like Mara happened,
who knows?"

<Huh?!,> John gaped mentally, <he can't mean Skuld of Ah! My
Goddess?!> The image smiled wryly and the next few words
unfortunately, or fortunately (depending on your tastes) confirmed
it.

"Yes, I DO mean Skuld, Goddess of the Future, sister to Belldandy and
Urd, and who used to reside with Keichi like Ah! My Goddess. Don't
be surprised," the image chuckled, apparently guessing John's stunned
reaction, "if you didn't know about the anime, the card wouldn't have
landed in your hands, whomever you are." The figure looked up at the
ceiling as it considered its next words before looking at John again.

"That's why I left this message in the card: to explain why I know."

"You see," he began, "magic and psionics are quite possible in the
vastness of all creation. Like you, I was from a world where
neither was an active force. My name I will not tell you because if
you search for me you may encounter people who have been hostile to
me in the past few millennia of my existence and they'd take an
especial interest in you, which you don't want. Trust me on that
point."

"Needless to say, I was changed when I was pulled from my own universe
and acquired great power in both magic and psionics."

"Now the card itself was a concept I came up with and decided
to go to the Skuld I knew, infinite universes, multiverses, and
omniverses having many others. It was designed by us to allow a
person in a hardsuit, like Sylia Stingray made, to travel to a
universe he or she had been to using one's will. The random
universe function was more of a whim Skuld incorporated in the
original design."

"However, I began to wonder what would happen if evil or chaotic
forces got hold of the card, and decided to add safety features.
Skuld agreed." A wry look appeared on the man's face. "I may be
millennia older, and have considerable technical knowledge as a
result, but Skuld still makes me shake my head at the forces
she can utilize with her devices. Therefore, I merely gave her
guidelines to follow for the safeties and she burned them into the
hardware of the card."

"One was that the card would find a new owner if lost, one from a
universe like mine. That owner would be of a generally good-oriented
nature, have certain other features like intelligence and curiosity,
and an otaku nature." The image chuckled at the thought. "Mostly
because they are the most likely to accept what the card could do.
If activated, the card would then take its new owner to a universe
where the owner could and would be mildly compelled to build a
hardsuit of his or her own. It'd find a universe where it would be
POSSIBLE, since I doubt you would normally have the technical skills
to build a hardsuit. Trust me, if it's possible then the compulsion
might be vital."

<I don't doubt this at all,> John mentally added, remembering the
universe he had been launched into the first time. He'd barely
survived that one.

"From there things got less then perfect," the image sighed, looking
annoyed, "The willpower needed will take years, perhaps DECADES to
develop for the average person to consciously CHOOSE where to go.
Skuld altered the randomness function to give the wearer a better
chance of landing in a beneficial world for him. HOW, I have no idea,
but she's reassured me about it."

"Once you have the control needed, the card works perfectly and I've
tested it myself without trouble." The image looked thoughtfully at
John, who was VERY uncertain about the whole situation.

<Why am I here? Why was *I* chosen..? I don't understand...>

"I hope those who use this card, which is nearly unbreakable, thanks
to the power inherit in it, do not blame me too harshly if they run
into trouble. After all, the card will take you to realities where
your favourite characters are real, as are their powers. Please
remember that; sometimes they might not LIKE you, so be prepared to
run. You may also gain powers of your own or become immortal like
I have."

His tone turned grim. "It is equally possible to become cursed or
killed so be very, very cautious. My advice is to learn combat skills
and make as many friends as you can, you will need them."

"The last thing is that the card will NOT work for an evil or amoral
person. If you are killed, the card will vanish to find a new owner,
so live long... and prosper." The image of the co-builder of the card
faded with an amused chuckle.

John moaned, slapping his forehead as he got the Star Trek reference.

<Who was that cloaked man? Uh..oops..cliche!>

John grimaced in frusteration. <Years?! I don't HAVE years to master
this! And who the HELL were you?!>

He calmed down slightly, his resolve hardened. <I'm certain to find
him sometime during my mission-- he's an anime fan, so he's certain
to be in an anime universe. He knows about hardsuits, so Bubblegum
Crisis would be a good place to look. First though, it's time for
training.>

----------

John looked at the small white disc with a touch of distaste. "This
is the Serpent Road?"

Porom nodded. "Yes. It's an ancient transportation system-- created
long before anyone alive today remembers. Step onto the pad and you'll
be transported across the world to Baron. It drains stamina to use
this path though-- the magic is powered by the person using it."

"I don't know if I like the sound of that..."

"Oh, come on, if you can handle zombies, you can handle
teleportation."

John grumbled under his breath. "....and my molecules get scattered
across the cosmos..."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing, nothing.. might as well give it a shot."

John stepped onto the pad. His vision blurred, then began to swirl in
a flash of green. Before he could lose his breakfast, everything went
dark...

He could see nothing, smell nothing, hear nothing, and feel nothing.

Suddenly, John was hit with the oddness of the situation. <You know,
didn't I read this in a book?>

Everything faded back in with a nauseating flourish-- right where he
started! John blinked. <Huh?!> He walked to the door and opened it,
to see Porom.

"Hey.. it didn't work!" John gasped, barely keeping from being
violently sick, "We're still here."

"Look again, John. Welcome to Baron."

"Huh? You're joking-- I went into the road before you.."

"The more times you take the road, the faster the trip is."

John took a moment to look around-- indeed, he was now in the town
(quickly growing to a city) of Baron. Large buildings lay in every
direction-- an inn was visible to one side, a tavern to the other.
People went along on their business, but some stopped to stare at
the unusual man in the armour.

John turned around, and looming over the city in a sense was Castle
Baron. He smiled, recognizing it. "Yeah, I think we're here.. but it's
GROWN from what I remember..." <Just like a certain female I know...>
his consciousness added. He quashed it viciously, then continued, "Can
I take a quick look around before we go to the castle?"

Porom smiled. "Sure. I need to talk to someone while I'm here,
anyway."

John walked along aimlessly, taking in the sights. Here and there,
people talked or went along their business. Some stared at him, his
unusual armour marking him as an outsider and of interest, but not
a word was said to him. <Hm. The people seem rather content. They're
not picking fights at least.>

----------

The throne room of Castle Baron was sparsely decorated, with only
simple stonework and a lush red carpet holding any asthetic value.
At the wall opposite Porom, two empty thrones sat, their usual
occupants being too busy welcoming their new guests.

Cecil wasn't exactly the type of man you'd expect to see as king of
a country; decorum was pushed aside as he hugged Porom. "Porom!
It's been a long time. How have you been?"

Before she could respond, she was 'assaulted' from the other
side-- a gentle hug from Rosa.

Cecil and Rosa had been king and queen of Baron for eight years now,
and had firmly entrenched themselves into the people's hearts. Cecil
had grown up forced into darkness by a king who had wanted him to
become a Dark Knight. He had truly wanted to become a Dragoon, one of
the honored guards and the best of the best in fighting, like his
father who he had never knew. This all went awry spectacularly when
he was ordered to steal the Crystal of Wind from Mysidia, leading
into the adventure of a lifetime. Cecil eventually had to face the
inner darkness from being a Dark Knight and overcome it. The changes
to his body when he became one with the light were easily visible--
his hair had become a deep shade of purple.

Rosa, on the other hand, was daughter to a powerful knight.
She had wanted to learn the magics of healing, White magic, and
eventually her mother relented. Then she had met a young Cecil. It
wasn't long before the two were a pair, but the bond would be
cemented by the adventure that the two faced. Eight years had not
made any impact on her features of delicate beauty.

Porom exchanged greetings with the two, then handed them the letter
from the Elder of Mysidia. "The Elder asked me to give this to you. He
fears the coming threat may be even more dangerous than the one we
faced eight years ago," Porom began.

Cecil's face hardened. "I see. And this 'John' is caught up in the
center of this, then?"

Porom nodded her assent. "It would appear so. He's reluctant to deal
with something like this, though."

Cecil handed the letter over to Rosa, then nodded. "Anything else we
should know about him?"

Porom frowned. "Yes, there IS one more thing. We were attacked the
other night by a large force of zombies while the town was asleep.
When we awakened, we found small amounts of remains-- the force was
devastated. John admits to having been both the target of this
attack and to being the one who singlehandedly dealt with it. The
Crystal of Wind brought this to our attention-- John didn't say
anything about it himself."

Her frown slowly became a smile as she continued. "He seems a bit
modest about any abilities he has. He won't admit to his deeds
easily."

Cecil shook his head. "This gets more and more interesting. Where is
John now?"

"He's currently in town wandering. Which reminds me, he appears to be
holding back some information. He came through a high technology
universe, and seemed to have SOME knowledge of past events there.
When he arrived here, he also seemed to have knowledge beyond what is
normal. The Elder and I believe he is from the prime universe. Being
that he 'knows' you, he will be extremely cautious and shy until he
REALLY knows you."

Cecil frowned. "Hmm. I'll send Kain out to find him and bring him
here."

Rosa interjected. "That may be a bad idea, dear. Kain can be a bit
rough to those he doesn't know. Why don't you send Palom instead?"

Cecil looked to Porom a moment, then grinned. "That's a brilliant
idea. If he knows you, this should be easier for him to accept, don't
you think, Porom? Meanwhile, tell me his story to the best of your
knowledge.."

----------

John, by this time, had begun to tire of his wanderings, and steered
himself towards the castle. He'd only taken a few steps when a male
voice called out from the crowd.

"John!"

The person in question turned to see a young man waving to him. Almost
automatically, John gauged the person. <Hm. Non-hostile, 5'10, male,
brown hair, green eyes.> John tensed, then relaxed a moment later.
<John, you're getting too jumpy. This isn't high school, where you had
to be prepared for anything. RELAX, man.> he told himself.

The young man walked over to John, who raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"You're John?"

"Lemme check," John responded. He felt himself in a couple of places.
"Yup. It's me alright."

The man smiled. "She didn't tell me you had a sense of humor."

"She?" John asked guardedly.

"My sister. She asked me to bring you to the castle."

"That would make you Palom, twin brother, correct?"

"Absolutely," finished Palom, studying John. <She's right-- he's
hiding something. And his emotions.. they're guarded, like he doesn't
trust easily.> "C'mon. We have to get to the castle before everyone
begins to worry-- you wouldn't want Porom to worry, would you?"

John reacted as if struck. A pained look crossed his expression for
a brief moment, then was gone. "Yeah," he agreed distantly, "let's
go."

--[Act V]-------------------------------------------------------------

John entered the throne room quietly-- his heart was attempting to
push his lungs into his throat. The image that thought produced
only made him even more nauseated. Choking it down, he forced his
eyes to glance to the King and Queen, then to the floor.

<My instincts say I should show proper respect. A good idea, I think.
Let's give it a try.>

John knelt before the royal pair, then spoke confidently.

"My liege, I am John, and I am here as requested."

Cecil looked to Rosa, fighting his expression from becoming a grin. He
nodded to her, allowing her the first words. <Porom did say he'd be a
bit stiff.>

Rosa smiled. "Rise, John, and don't be so nervous. We know all about
you and your long trip."

John rose, suprised by the response. "Er.. Okay.."

He glanced to the left, at the several guards, then to the right.
There he noticed the grinning Palom and the smiling Porom. It didn't
take much brainpower to figure out the situation-- he looked back to
the King and Queen.

"Porom has told my story, then?"

"Indeed," Cecil responded, "and while it is a most unusual story, you
have the backing of both the Elder of Mysidia and the Crystal of
Wind."

John's face flushed somewhat. "If I have earned backing by such
impressive allies, I know not how," he attempted.

Cecil glanced to Rosa, who nodded back. <Your turn, Love.>

"Ah, and what of the zombies?"

The delicate shade of red upon John's face deepened immensely.

<Damn. I was hoping that wouldn't get out-- how could I convince
anyone I'm just a normal guy if that story keeps getting out?>

John sighed. "I see. She told you that, too. I can't deny it, even
though I'd like to. Well, my side of the story is simple-- I'm an
average, normal, plain guy. There's absolutely nothing special about
me."

Cecil nodded slowly. <Porom hit his personality dead on, it would
seem. Interesting.>

"Okay. Now, if I am correct, you would like to receive training in
hand to hand combat and basic weapons?"

John glanced upwards, deep in thought. <Hm. Training IS what I came
here for-- basic defense, hand combat, etc.. I realize I can't learn
the proper use of the laser here-- I can only learn that in a place
where it would be common-- such as Megatokyo. I *can* become stronger
here, though. That is an asset of itself. I won't stand ANY chance
against boomers unless I'm stronger, faster, and have much more
endurance. That is the valuable gain I can make here.>

"Yes. That would be my request," John finished.

Rosa looked aside to Cecil, her expression unreadable except to him.
The expressions sent across with a simple glance said volumes. Cecil
turned to John again, and assumed a grim expression.

"Okay. We have come to a decision."

----------

John groaned softly, sitting in his temporary quarters. The decision
had been a bit unusual---

"John, is this all of your stuff?" Palom asked with some suprise.

He responded sarcastically, "I didn't exactly PACK for the trip,
you know! I'm going to need to get some clothes while I'm here."

<Palom assigned to be my 'tourguide'. Kain, the Dragoon, as my
instructor. When I consider the fact Palom is quite the party type,
and that Kain can be an extremely tough teacher, I can already feel
the world-class headaches beginning..>

He glanced about his new room-- situated in the hall of guest
quarters, it was fairly nondescript. To be honest, it was just like
any other room-- sparsely furnished with a comfortable bed, dresser,
and two chairs. At the ceiling, the walls were painted a deep violent,
but slowly changed to a blue by the floor.

A knock upon the door regained John's attention, and he opened it
slowly as Palom watched from behind. In the doorway was a man of
average height and strong build. What gave away his identity was
the helm that he wore-- it gave his face the general appearance of
a dragon's. A bit of blonde hair was visible from under the helm as
well, another clue, but John had already deduced the answer.
Kain, the dragoon, and head of the guards. Best friend to Cecil for
many years as well.

Kain regarded his new student a moment. "You are John?"

John nodded in the affirmative. "Yeah, that's me."

Kain smiled. "Cecil was right. You're not a fighter, are you?"

Shrugging, John replied, "Not really. If you were hoping for a
brilliant tactician, or a bodybuilder type, I'm sorry I disappointed
you. I've only fought in the past when I *needed* to, and I know
SOME martial arts, but I never had time to master what I could."

Kain was silent a few moments, then smiled. "You'll do nicely. I think
you'll survive, as long as you keep a good attitude."

John was taken aback a moment. <Huh? He's changed?... *whap* Mental
Slap-- he's probably had time to mellow a bit, you idiot. You're
forgetting that a lot of TIME has passed here! Keep an open mind!>

Kain added, "Be ready-- your first lesson is tomorrow, 5AM."

<Kinda early for my tastes, but I'll survive I guess.>

"Uh, okay. I'll be there." John responded. Then he turned to Palom,
"I'm going to have to get some new clothes-- these aren't going to
last me much longer."

Palom grinned. "I know just the place! Follow me..."

----------

HOURS LATER...

Slowly, John's consciousness began to collect itself-- something
rather familliar and extremely annoying was infringing upon his
attempts to sleep. Little by little, as coherency was gathered,
he realized it was that an alarm clock was ringing.

Bemusedly, his thoughts rambled a moment. <Morning? This feels
familliar, like a dream..>

However, unlike a dream, the alarm clock kept ringing. The amusement
rapidly gave way to annoyance. the covers abruptly went over John's
head in an attempt to block the sound.

It didn't work.

Annoyance gave way to irritation, and an arm slid from under the
blanket to grasp the clock and heave it in a random direction.

A sudden dullish thump and a voice crying "Hey!" didn't impringe
itself on his mind. He merely let himself begin to drift away again.

Irritation gave way to shock as a sudden snowdrift piled itself
right on John's blankets. He quickly jumped to his feet beside the
bed.

"HEY! WHAT T..the..."

John trailed off, looking at the mildly amused Palom standing in front
of him.

"You did this." -- It wasn't a question.

"Turnabout's fair play!"

John considered the response with some puzzlement, at least until he
saw the fact Palom's left eye had been blackened.

"What happened to _you_?" John questioned.

"Does a certain _ALARM CLOCK_ ring a bell?" was the sarcastic
response.

"Ooops," John muttered, "..sorry."

"Oh, hey," John started, "Where's the shower? Geez, I should've thought
about all these things BEFORE now."

The mage grinned. "Down the hall, first door on the left."

John grabbed a handful of snow, tossing it into the face of the now
extremely suprised and sputtering Palom.

"Hey! You.."

"You can get your revenge later. I'm going to shower now." John
interrupted, grinning. <I think I could get used to this eventually.>

----------

John stood in the heated spray, feeling some of his tension and
worries begin to fade away. He could almost forget about the people
trying to kill him. Almost.

He shook his head. <Damn. I need to get my mind off this, it's
unhealthy to have a preoccupation with death. I'll have to ask Palom
what a guy has to do to have some FUN around here!>

John's eyes closed, the image of his family back home flickering in
his mind. <Will I ever see you again..?>

Another image came unbidden, walking beside his family. His eyes were
quick to open, his hands clenching unconsciously. Several tense
moments passed, and finally he relaxed slightly. <You DO realize
you're going to kill yourself if you keep this up, I hope. You HAVE
to relax a bit, man. Just don't think about certain things and you'll
be okay.>

He shook his head again, muttering, "This is getting ridiculous. If
you were at home, you wouldn't be tensing up like this. Where's your
sense of humor? Where's your edge? Pull yourself together!"

John chuckled. <Thanks for the pep talk, John. You really know how to
make yourself feel quite the fool.>

----------

"Okay. The shower's yours now," John called, refreshed and dressed in
light blue cloth shorts and a dark grey t-shirt. He glanced down at
his clothes in amusement. <At least the clothes are fairly stardard;
I'd be in an awkward position if they weren't. Seems I have a bit of
luck on the minor things, but zero on the major things.>

He tread the distance to the front door quietly, opening it to gaze
at the sunrise without. "It's going to be a long day.. somehow I just
can feel it," he sighed. "4AM.. I hate getting up this early. An hour
till I get to embarass myself in front of my instructor. Oh, joy."

----------

The dawn's light was just barely visible over the castle wall. John
noted it in passing as he stood in the courtyard, a sense of dread
beginning to well up within him.

A man stepped into view, dressed in combat armour, but also carrying
a bag. John studied the armour briefly. It was metallic blue in color,
the helm shaped much like the head of a dragon. The rest was
well-designed, giving extensive protection, but still being comfortable.

And the man wearing the armour? His jaw was set in a grim expression,
his eyes not easily seen within the helm's interior. He appraised
John a moment, then spoke.

"Good morning, John."

John nodded, "'Morning, Kain."

Kain frowned. "I'm to teach you the finer points of weaponry.
I personally know spears and swords, and will be teaching you those.
The first step, however, is to test what you already know. There's
no point in teaching material you already have a grasp on."

John nodded. "I'm not that good with either, I fear."

"Okay, John. Which shall we test first, blade or spear?"

John grinned, suddenly. "Let's try spears first."

Kain reached into his bag, pulling out two spears. He tossed one to
John, who caught it. John hefted it carefully, gauging the feel and
weight of the weapon. "Okay. Ready when you are."

----------

Kain held his spear ready with the air of confidence felt by a
warrior who knows his weapon and his opponent. He declared, "This is
a one round battle-- you can't make any mistakes, if you hope to last
long against me."

John nodded decisively. "I'm ready."

Kain leaped forward, slashing the spear downward onto John with sudden
fury---

"THEN DEFEND YOURSELF!"

---who blocked it crosswise, on instinct. For a brief moment, the
two fought a war of strength-- with Kain winning. John shifted his
balance, kicking Kain in the stomach to break the situation clear long
enough for him to leap back and survey the situation.

Kain grimaced in pain. "Where did you learn to kick like that?"

John shrugged. "A couple of years of martial arts. I wasn't the BEST
student there, but I picked up fairly well-- and I never stopped
practicing what I did know."

He swung his own spear low, but Kain lept it and countered with a
straight stab. John sidestepped the stab, stabbing his own spear
lightly to tap Kain on the shoulder-- who proceeded to kick John
back. "First strike goes to me-- don't TAP with the weapon, hit
hard. Why do you think I brought a couple of CURE potions along
for?"

John lay on the ground, given new resolution by the blow. Kain
stabbed downward at John, but missed as his target rolled aside.
With Kain's spear stuck in the ground, John made his move-- he
stabbed at Kain, forcing him to leap away from his weapon.

John rose cautiously to his feet, keeping himself between Kain
and his weapon. "Do you yield this combat?" he asked.

"No. Not yet---"

Kain gathered his strength and lept into the sky-- John groaned,
seeing the coming events. Kain came back down in a diving swoop
that caught John in the mid-section, throwing him back to the
ground. John's spear flew to the side, both combatants unarmed.

Kain stood and brushed himself off before looking down at John
with newfound respect. He extended a hand to him, who gratefully
accepted it.

"I do believe this is a draw," Kain said with a grin. "I think
you've got the knack for the spear, but need the training."

John felt a wave of relief crush him into submission. <I proved
myself-- pure luck, but I've succeeded this far.>

Kain rummaged through his bag, handing John a bottle. "Here, drink
this-- It's a CURE potion. I'd forgotten you were new here, and
hadn't seen one before."

John opened the bottle, taking a sniff. The aroma was like nothing
John'd smelled before, something not unlike that of a flower. He
then took a careful sip. <Hm. I've tasted worse..> The flavor
reminded him of the pink medicines he'd taken as a child in an
attempt to ease the pain of the constant ear infections-- a sort of
strawberry flavor, but not quite.

A warm feeling, somewhat resembling that of the emotion of love,
crossed over his body as the pain of the kick and tackle faded.
He didn't see it, but under his shirt, the bruises faded away.

Kain pulled his spear from the ground, wiping the dirt from it
carefully before putting it aside. John's spear was also cleaned
and placed aside. "Now, how are you with a sword? We shall see!"

The dragoon pulled two blades from the bag he'd carried out,
tossing one to his opponent. "Take a few moments to get your
bearings with it-- every sword has a distinct feel and cut."

John hefted the blade a moment. "Ready."

Whatever skill John may have had was defeated-- he was still tired
from the first battle. That isn't to say he didn't get a good strike
or two of his own in.

"Hm," Kain remarked after sipping his cure potion. "You've got some
talent for this-- with training you might become a decent warrior.
If you lived in this world, I'd ask you if you wanted to become a
Dragoon, even-- consider that a high honor."

John smiled. "Thank you, Kain. I'm honored by your praise, but I'm
not that good yet."

Kain sighed, "Okay, now let's get down to business. I think you need
more training in the sword, so we'll begin with that."

AND SO JOHN BEGAN TRAINING UNDER DRAGOON KAIN...

----------

APPROXIMATELY 10 DAYS LATER...

"No, no! That's not the proper stance. Move your right foot
outward slightly," Kain admonished. "If your stance is too small,
you don't have the balance you need."

John groaned, then adjusted the foot in question. "Here?"

"That's better. Now, for this technique, the slashing motion is a
quick down and to your right motion. Watch.." Kain commanded, going
through the motion slowly and fluidly. "See? Now, you try it."

John attempted the motion clumsily. "Blast.. I'm not getting this!"

"It takes time, John. Don't give up. When you learn the basics, the
rest of the techniques come naturally." Kain added, before John
could show too much frustration.

"Hey! How's it goin, man?" asked Palom from behind, arriving at the
practice area.

"Not so good," John responded, downcast. "If anyone's life depends
on my blade skills, they're doomed."

Kain shook his head. "He'll get it, in time."

"Anyway, I have a message from my sister. She'll be visiting tomorrow
for a couple of days. She's received some free time from the Elder,
who wants her to take a vacation. At least, that's what she says-- I'm
betting it's more likely she'll be here to check up on my behavior and
your progress." Palom continued wryly.

"Oh, just lovely. And I thought things couldn't get worse. Now I get
to embarass myself in front of HER too!" John muttered.

Palom stared at him a moment, then shook his head. <If I didn't
know better...>

Kain nodded to John. "Take a break, get some lunch. You can't practice
on an empty stomach, and rushing it only will make your skills worse,
not better."

The dragoon smiled wryly. "Go on," he added, seeing John hesitate.
"Both of you. I'll catch up a bit later."

John wiped the sweat from his brow and followed Palom towards town.
Several minutes later, they found themselves seated in a cafe, ready
to order.

"So, John.. really, how IS practice?" Palom started.

"I'm learning, but slowly. This isn't easy, especially since I have
to keep reminding myself this isn't a dream. This may be a normal
world for YOU, but I sure haven't gotten used to this yet."

Palom nodded quietly in agreement. "Someday, I'd like to see your
homeworld."

John grinned. "If I come out of this alive, I promise you'll get a
chance to see."

A waitress stepped to the table. "What would you like?"

John glanced at the menu for the first time, then blanched. <Uhoh..
I don't know ANY of these items, nor do I know the names of the things
I've eaten in the past! Think quick!>

The brain responded with an idea, an unusual event under pressure.

"Hey, Palom.. what do you suggest?"

<Good move!> John congratulated himself mentally.

Palom glanced at his menu. "I'll take the shadow dragon steak. And
since John here is new to this area, we'll let him try the house
special-- the electrifish. As for drinks, we'll take two Kaipo
Specials."

The waitress had it on paper as quickly as Palom had mentioned each.
Within moments, she had the bill prepared. "That'll be 17 in gold."

Palom nodded. "Hey, miss.. what are you doing tonight after work?"

John rolled his eyes. The waitress followed suit. "I've heard all
about you, loverboy. Don't even THINK it."

She turned to John. "As for you, rumor's been flying all across town
about who you are and why you're here. Is it true you've been talking
to our King Cecil, and that you've been training with the Head of
Security, Kain?"

John's jaw dropped. "Man, word spreads fast around this town. As for
talking to your king, uh, well.. you could say we've talked. And, as
for Kain, yes, I'm learning under his expertise."

The waitress's eyes almost turned to hearts as she contemplated Cecil.
"Rosa's so lucky.. Cecil's so"-- John tuned out her words, mentally
shaking his head. <This is one bizzare world I've gotten myself stuck
in..>

John didn't even notice the waitress leaving. Palom tapped John on the
arm. "Hey, you okay?"

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, I'm okay.." John apologized.

"You're worried about tomorrow, aren't you?" Palom queried.

John hesitated a moment. "N-no. Not at all. Why?"

"Nice try, but I could see right through that, even with my eyes
closed."

"Okay, okay. I'm worried." John finally admitted.

"Why?"

"I.. don't know.." John finished, his eyes distant.

<Oh, lovely. You sound REALLY sure of yourself. Here's where the
battle of wits begins-- you think you can handle it for a change?>

"So...," Palom began, "When are you going to ask her out?" Thrust!

"WHAT?!" snapped John, brought back to reality suddenly. "You've
got to be kidding me!" Parry.

"She seems to like you, and you seem to like her-- what's the big
deal?" Slice.

"Okay, hypothetically speaking, if I *did* like her, it wouldn't
work out. We're from different worlds, to start with, and my
life expectancy isn't the greatest in the world, Mr. I'm-an-expert-
in-love." Counterthrust!

"Love transcends barriers. If you really do care, it'll work out.
There's absolutely no reason to worry." Disarmed and.. victory?

"Hey, I think lunch is about to arrive," John finished, discreetly
pointing towards the waitress carrying two trays of food. <Saved
by lunch!>

The waitress arrived, carrying the trays-- she didn't notice the
dirty look Palom was giving John. Nor did she notice the smug look
he was returning to Palom.

The food was placed, and both combatants eyed each other warily a
moment. John then turned his wary eye onto his plate. <Hmmm.>

To John's relief, the food looked (and smelled) rather good.
<At least we can certify the cook wasn't Akane or C-ko!>. He took a
bite, sampling the fish. The flavor was unique-- spices that he'd
never tasted before, with a distinctly delicious fish. Blinking, John
took another bite. He glanced to Palom. "This IS pretty good. I'll
have to remember it for another time."

Palom nodded, "I usually order the shadow dragon, myself."

Lunch progressed quietly, both too hungry to have much in the way
of a conversation. John was nearly finished with his meal when a
distinct voice from behind him caused him to choke on a bite.

"John," Kain started, "I figured I might find you here."

Coughing, John turned to glare at the dragoon. Kain looked mildly
amused and embarassed both. "Sorry, didn't realize you were taking
a bite."

John nodded, the coughing fit having passed. "No problem. Take a seat,
Kain."

Kain smiled, pulling up a chair. "Thanks. You did okay out there
today. Given some time, you'll get the hang of it."

John muttered quietly to himself, "That assumes I survive it."

Palom shook his head, grinning. "I don't know just HOW you change
from a good mood to a morose one so quickly, John. How DO you DO
that?"

The look John returned would have maimed Palom, had a look been a
weapon. He glanced at Kain. "So, what's the plan for tomorrow?"

"Same as today. Next day after that, it's endurance testing."

"Endurance testing?" John queried, stomach beginning to tie itself
into a knot. <I don't like the sound of that...>

"You'll see soon enough."

----------

After the day's events, John collapsed onto his bed. His arms were
aching from the blade practice, and his mind grumbling about the
little duel with Palom.

<What's with him, anyway? He seems to keep thinking I.. No, I don't
want to think about it right now. The primary problem right now is
that I've found myself willing to stand up and fight, which really
scares the living daylights out of me. I'm non-confrontational, so
why am I doing this?! This is only going to kill me in the end. But,
I can't quit now.. they seem to think I have the ability and talent
for this. I still have so many doubts.. but I'll continue onward,
since there's nobody else to do it-- I can't just abandon this now.>

He pushed himself to a sitting position, then grumbled aloud. "Blast.
I just can't push it from my mind!"

<This could take some serious soul-searching.>

----------

ELSEWHERE..

Porom sighed inwardly. <I'm not going to get anywhere tonight in my
studies tonight, I think. I just can't seem to concentrate.>

Glancing around her small personal library, she felt a restlessness
she'd never had to face before. <What's wrong with me? Why do I
feel like this?>

A knock on the door interrupted her self-interrogation.

Porom opened the door slowly-- to show John. "John! What are you
doing here?" she asked of him.

John twitched nervously. "I.. have something to show you. Come outside
with me a moment."

She frowned slightly, but stepped outside-- and John flickered out of
existance. "What?!" she cried. A spell hit her, and rings of energy
formed around her body. Porom struggled, unable to move. "Who are you?
Why are you doing this?!"

A ghastly voice answered her. "Who am I? You know me not, but John
does-- he refused my demands, then destroyed my zombie army. THIS time
I shall be ready for him.. and YOU shall be my bait!"

"John..! Watch out....", Porom murmured with what strength she had..

----------

John sighed, disgusted with himself. <I think I'll head up to the
castle walls, a change of scenery might be nice.>

Within minutes, he was standing atop the wall. The sunrise was just
beginning to become visible on the horizon. The show was beautiful,
giving John a moment of peace. A hand on his shoulder caused John to
spin around-- it was Cecil. "Enjoying the sunrise, John?"

John relaxed visibly. "Yeah, this is a beautiful world. I only wish
my own wasn't so torn apart."

Cecil nodded. "Tell me about your world, John."

John started, "It's.. not a place you'd like to visit. There--"

He was interrupted by lightning striking the ground before the
castle's doors. Palom ran onto the wall with several guards. "What
was THAT?"

John looked out over the edge, and what he saw caused his stomach
to jump. "Damnit.. not again..."

"C'mon out, John. I know you're here!" the small mage cried, "I have
something you should see!"

John stewed silently upon the castle wall. <The one that got away, and
he tries again! He still wants the card, obviously.>

>From the darkness, a shape slowly formed-- it was Porom, surrounded
by several ring-shaped fields of energy.

"Does she look familliar? She's unhurt-- merely paralyzed, but I can't
be responsible for what might happen if you don't give the card to me.
Your choice is quite simple, boy-- the card or her. I'll give you 60
seconds to make your decision."

John began to shake uncontrollably, rage fueling a fire deep inside
him. <That bastard would do _anything_ to get the card!>

The imp's mocking voice continued, "Not much time, John. You'd better
come to a decision! It'd be a real shame if she had a nasty..
accident, don't you think?"

The little creature pulled out a vicious-looking knife.

John looked over his shoulder-- several guards were restraining a
raging Palom from going out to kill the imp. Palom and John exchanged
glances, then John looked into Cecil's eyes, his own burning with a
dangerous mixture of hatred and rage.

"I'll handle this." he added in a deceptively quiet voice. Cecil
caught the barely controlled reaction, then nodded his assent. "Good
luck."

"Okay. I'm coming down with the card."

"Good boy. You're not as stupid as you look!"

Porom protested weakly, "John.."

The inferno inside John raged silently, growing hotter as he climbed
down the flight of stairs to ground-level. He left the castle, an
almost visible aura surrounding him.

Standing before him was the imp mage, the bearer of his trouble.

A small portion of his mind chuckled dementedly. <Here we are-- you
don't even know the guy and you're about to.. 'dance'.. with him.>
It was quickly throttled and subdued. 

"I'm here."

"Good. Take off your armour, piece by piece, and lay it at your feet."

<I see no choice but to follow his instructions.> John took off the
helmet and placed it at his feet, followed by the rest of the suit.

"John, don't.." Porom tried again.

"John, now step away from the armour."

John backed away, moving between Porom and his enemy. His muscles
tensed, anticipating the right moment to strike.

"The card's mine at last. Oh, John?"

"Yeah?"

"I lied to you."

A blurred glint of steel was visible as the knife flew through the
air towards Porom. Calmly, John stepped into its path-- the blade bit
deeply into his stomach. He forced himself not to wince or scream as
his lifeblood sprayed from the wound, dripping from the knife's edge.


John pulled the bloody dagger from himself and staggered towards the
now wide-eyed creature. "No.. this can't be happening..!"

The imp quickly backed up, casting a ice spell at the enraged man--
frostbitten and dying from a stomach wound, John shrugged off his pain
and continued to stalk towards his enemy.

The mage stepped back, considering his options, then shook his head
grimly. <He'll be dead in a matter of minutes, but so will I if he
gets his hands on me! I'm getting out of here for now-- but I'll be
back for the card!>

Taking measured strides backwards, he began chanting.

John just kept coming, clutching the dagger threateningly. The
expression upon his face was about as cold as an ice storm in the
middle of the arctic.

The little mage finished his chant, then cast EXIT as before, fading
away into nothingness.

John stood silently a moment. <He escaped.. again.> The blood oozing
from his stomach reminded him to his mission, however. 

He staggered towards Porom in an attempt to shatter the holding spell
from outside, reaching an arm out and touching her. The rings faded
and disappeared-- the spell was released. 

John called to her. "Porom.. so sorry. Didn't mean for you.. to get
involved.. in my mess.. forgive me.."

The stress placed on his wound was too much-- he fell to his knees,
and before Porom's horrified eyes, the light faded from his own.

Darkness surrounded him...

----------

John found himself in something much like the Void. Darkness in every
direction with a soundlessness gave him a sense of peace. <Am I dead?>

He sighed, and laid back to rest. <I guess that's how it all ends..>

----------

Rosa worked feverishly over the body of John, now lying in a bed in
the medical center. <Stomach wounds are always the worst. They tend to
be easily fatal.> Spell after spell she cast, technique after
technique she tried. <This is going to be a difficult case.>

----------

Cecil, Palom, Porom, and Kain waited outside. Nobody spoke-- no words
were needed for the gravity of the situation. Each was lost in their
own thoughts.

Rosa stepped out from the room, wiping the sweat from her eyes. Her
eyes were bloodshot from hours of intense work and her strength was
drained. Everyone looked to her, and all Rosa could do is shake her
head.

"I'm sorry..."

----------

In the darkness, John became aware of a presence. Something was out
there. <Somehow I know there's someone there.. I don't know how, but
I do.>

John's eyes opened and he frowned. <I have nothing else to do. I'll
go check this out. It's not like I can be killed or anything..>

He quietly tred towards the presence and was rewarded by a voice.

"Welcome. I was starting to think perhaps you ENJOYED being dead."

John raised an eyebrow. "It IS peaceful. Who are you? Show yourself!"

A swirling, raging torrent of flames burst into life several feet in
front of him; he could feel the heat, but it oddly wasn't
uncomfortable. The flames formed into a shape-- a large bird.

"A Phoenix..." John gasped to himself, "Man, things just get weirder
and weirder."

The bird smiled. "Not A Phoenix, but THE Phoenix. I'm the last of my
kind. You have a good attitude about this, which is a plus. John, you
rescued me from the sealed dimensional cage that held me for millenia.
I'm going to repay your favor."

John quizzically looked at the flaming bird. "Huh? When did I do
this?"

The bird continued. "Ah, I forgot-- You were unconscious at the time.
No matter. You helped me, I'm returning the favor. I've made some..
changes.. to your body. You'll find you're immune to the harmful
effects of fire for the most part: You won't burn, but you will feel
pain-- at least, you will until you attain mastery of your abilities.
You also have basic control of flames-- you can generate and control
fire. Again, you're starting out weak, but with practice you'll get
better.

Keep in mind, using these techniques will cause you some pain. I
believe your kind has a cliche about this: No pain, no gain.

One more thing. As you gain experience with this and are able
to handle new abilities, I'll drop in occasionally to explain them.

There is, however, one side effect... if you are killed and your
corpse is burned in any way... well, nevermind. You'll find out soon
enough."

John blinked a couple of times. "Thank you for your help, but.."
He was unable to continue.

"Don't worry. Everything's going to work out-- there are others out
there who've been changed more than you have, and they've managed
to accept and move on."

John nodded. "I.. see.. What do I do now? I'm dead.."

"Just sit back and relax. I'll help you with that. Now, close your
eyes..."

----------

Porom looked at the body quietly. <To die so far from his home..I
don't understand. Soldiers die in wars like this, but John wasn't a
soldier! He died for ME.. I don't know how to feel...>

Cecil looked at the body quietly. <I wish I'd had the chance to know
him better. Another friend fallen in the line of duty-- Tellah, Anna,
Rydia's mother.. when does it it end?>

Rosa looked at the body quietly. <I lost him. How? It should have been
so simple. Another young life ended in a conflict they didn't know or
understand.>

Kain looked at the body quietly. <You had guts, kid. Stepping into
the blade was a risky move. I'm sorry you lost the gamble.>

Palom looked at the body quietly. <John. I never had the chance to
thank you for helping my sister. I think you finally woke her to the
possibilities of life outside magic.>

John's body lay still on the bed-- his hands burst into flame, which
quickly drove up his arms to his chest and spread across his body. The
last place the fire touched was over John's heart. 

"Get back!" called Cecil, pushing the others back and preparing for
the worst.

"This doesn't look good," added Kain while he drew his spear.

The flames died as quickly as they had formed, leaving John's body
intact upon the bed. The body twitched once, then began a rythmic
rising and falling of the chest-- it was breathing. Two eyes opened,
then closed. Once more they opened.

"Ergh. Wh..Where am I?" John asked, still dazed.

"Who are you?! Identify yourself!" commanded Cecil sternly.

John looked up at the blade-holding man and his spear-wielding friend
at his side, then panicked.

"Putthosedown! Putthemdown! It's me, John!" he cried out,
waving his hands wildly.

Cecil grinned, then put the blade away. Abruptly, the grin became a
frown.

"You have some explaining to do."

"Uh, I guess I do, don't I?"

"You were dead!" interjected a very upset Porom. 

"Dead?" John queried, shaking his head. "It's all so fuzzy. Phoenix.
That's right. There's more to my story then even I knew. Seems I had
run into the Phoenix while I was unconscious after the explosion. He
changed my body somewhat-- I've been granted some abilities, and the
Phoenix has become my patron."

"The Phoenix? I thought they were extinct, and why do you say 'the'?
It does explain the fire, though."

"Apparently there's ONE left in all creation, and it'd been sealed
away in a pocket dimension. I crashed into the seal and broke through,
allowing the Phoenix to leave."

Porom blinked. "John?"

John rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Yeah?"

"Thank you for rescuing me," Porom said, smiling.

John blinked, then again. "You're welcome. Anything for my friends."

He looked to the side at a grinning Palom. <Huh? Why's he grinning?>

John's quizzical expression only caused Palom's grin to become wider,
if that was even possible. <I don't know if I really WANT to know.>

----------

SOME TIME LATER...

John had not had time to look very carefully at the throne room on
his last visit here. This time, he glanced around with MUCH less
nervousness. One of the guards nodded to him with a smile. John
returned the favor, then turned towards the throne.

"You wished to see me, then?"

Cecil smiled to John. "Yes, yes I did. For your defense of this
kingdom in its time of need, and for your actions of personal risk, I
reward you with the sum of 5,000 pieces of gold."

John gaped quietly, unable to find his voice. "...gah..?"

"Not only that, John, but you are to receive a sword from our
armouries. You will be hailed a friend here forever, and may consider
this your home if you choose it to be."

John bowed deeply. "I thank you, sir. I feel I could have done better,
though."

"You did as best as you could with what you had, John. That's all
ANYONE can ask. Take the afternoon off to find the blade you like.
Dismissed."

John smiled, "Thanks."

As he left, he didn't see the young lady behind the throne step
forward.

"What do you think, then?" asked Cecil.

"My opinon of John? He thinks too little of himself.. there's more to
him than he realizes."

"I believe you may be right."

----------

John stared at the racks of various weapons, deep in thought.

<Hmm. I keep telling myself I'm not a fighter, but that fighting
spirit I only once felt in martial arts is here. I don't understand.
WHAT am I becoming?

Enough of this. I'm here to choose a weapon, and so I will. I'll leave
the doubts for another time.>

Murmuring to himself, he studied each blade carefully in passing,
finding none that caught his eye.

Until...

John picked up the blade carefully. Runes crossed the side, unreadable
to him, yet it was an intriguing blade. A voice whispered in his ear,
that of the Phoenix-- "This is the one, John. You will like this one,
I think."

He blinked, holding the blade carefully. A soft red glow formed around
the sword, causing John to smile. <Can it be...?>

A practice swing brought down a wave of flames where the blade passed.

John laughed. "This is the one..."

----------

"Ah, John! Good. Just the person I wanted to talk to!"

John turned towards the voice. A short, bearded and bald old man
stood before him, a homemade monocle covering one eye and ear.

"You must be Cid, the master engineer," John hazarded.

"Quite right!" the engineer added with a smile. "I'd like to take
a look at your armour for a bit, if you don't mind."

John frowned. "Hmmm..."

<I don't know if I should-- I've already changed their history by
even BEING here. The suit did tell me it was extremely low on power
though. But could he help me? It's worth a shot, I guess, but I'm
going to watch him carefully-- I can't let him learn enough to
build another one of these. The devastation caused in Megatokyo
by the boomers is horrifying, and I suspect with magic and the tech
gained from a hardsuit, Cid could actually duplicate the basis of
a boomer. I can't allow that.>

"Okay. Where do I bring it?"

"My lab is in the northeastern tower. You can't miss it," Cid
finished, then waved as he left. John stood quietly, lost in thought.

<He's trustworthy, I know, but Dr. Stingray's work has been perverted
enough. In a perfect society, boomers would have been great, but there
are always people out there who would want to use them for their own
vile ends-- Mason was a good example, as was Quincy.

Star Trek's prime directive had the right idea, but I'm in a bad
situation for it. There's no possible way I can avoid changing history
in at least these two worlds-- my life and my home is staked on this.
Yet, I feel bad about having to do this-- these people have lives of
their own to attend to. I've stepped into this world and changed
people who didn't deserve to have to go through this.

Can I live with myself knowing all of this? Right now, I wonder.

But, I must throw that aside for now. I have things to do, a mission
to perform. When I have finished, THEN I can face up to my actions
and pay the price for some of my actions.>

----------

John stood in his room, staring at the empty hardsuit. "Is this what
I'm destined to become? A mindless fighter? There HAS to be more
to it than THIS!"

Opening the hardsuit, he stepped into it. It sealed around him much
like a lover's embrace, the familliar hiss of air in his ears.

[Warning. Five minutes of power remaining.]

<Hmm, I hope Cid has some way of powering this.. or I'm STUCK here.>

He grabbed his firebrand, but was unable to find a place to put it.
Shrugging, he resolved to find a way to carry it later. Stepping
outside, he trudged to the tower of Cid slowly.. praying he wasn't
making the biggest mistake of his life.

Knocking on the door, he had to wait only several seconds.

"Ah, John! Glad to see you could make it. Come in, come in!"

John entered, glancing about the lab. Parts, papers, and books were
strewn about the place in a very familliar manner. <Almost like my
room back home!> 

"Cid, if I may interrupt anything you're about to say-- I'm running
VERY low on power in this. The unit uses a battery, do you think you
can recharge it?"

Cid blinked. "Of course I can. You doubt me, the great Cid, master
inventor?!"

<Oh, NICE one, John.. Open mouth, insert foot. Suck sock until
thouroughly disgusted with oneself. Tastes like.. Chicken.>

"Sorry," John added vocally, "I didn't mean it THAT way. I'm just
worried about my chances of getting home on a dead battery.."

Cid practically flew through his lab, searching past papers and
through projects to find what he was looking for. Papers scattered
around John as he watched in awe. 

Finally, Cid yelled from under a pile of papers- "Ah, here it is. As
you probably don't know, my airship designs run off electric power.
We use a special device, that captures lightning, to charge the
special batteries inside the engine core. Your battery probably
works using the same principles as ours."

John blinked, then again. "Sounds pretty close, although I don't
completely understand the technology involved in my suit. It's worth
a try, I guess."

Cid emerged from the papers, holding a large cylinder in his hands.
"You'll need to find me a black mage with a lightning spell. I'll take
a look at your suit and hook it up while you're doing that."

John nodded, hesitantly. "There's something you need to know, Cid. The
technology that THIS is somewhat based on was perverted in the world it
came from. It nearly destroyed civilization. While you're trustworthy
enough to handle this, what about the future? Others would see this,
and possibly create hideous creations based on this. Can you accept
that possibility? Do you REALLY want to study my suit that closely?"

Cid listened quietly a moment. "Tell me about this civilization. What
happened there?"

John explained about Genom, about the Knight Sabres, about Dr.
Stingray, and the ongoing war. Then, John explained about Ground Zero,
and what he'd found-- and the fact he'd have to return there to
attempt to prevent it.

Cid's eyes narrowed. "That all happened because of Dr. Stingray's work
and the greed of people? .... I really don't think I want to see your
suit too closely, then. I'd like to see its capabilities, if I may
still, but not enough to understand how it works."

John sighed. "I was hoping you'd see my point.. and you did. I'll show
you what this is capable of, but I believe you may have seen this KIND
of technology before-- on the moon, or in the Tower of Bab-il."

The suit opened with the same hiss as before, and John stepped out of
it. "I'll be back in a few moments, Cid-- I know just who to ask."

----------

Palom grinned. "So, what you're telling me, is that you need some of
my talents to help you get your armour powered again?"

John nodded quickly. "Yes. Will you help, then?"

"Sure! Any friend of my sister's is a friend of mine."

John groaned quietly. "Will you *stop* that, Palom?!"

----------

Palom and John returned to find Cid already finished with the hardware
configuration. "T'was simple," Cid explained, "The battery, while more
efficent and powerful than my designs, used the same type of
connection-- took me a maximum of 60 seconds to get it right. Now, all
we need is for Palom to cast the lightning."

John raised an eyebrow. "Really, now? This may be a bit easier than
I thought. Fire at will, Palom."

Palom chanted under his breath a moment. A bright flash of green chi
and magic surrounded him a moment as he yelled forth his spell.

"LIGHTNING TWO!"

A bolt of bluish green lightning formed in Palom's outstretched hands,
quickly flying forward to smash into the cylinder that Cid had set up.
The thundercrack was deafening, and John shook his head to clear his
thoughts. Then, nothing.

"I don't think it worked, Cid," John started to protest.

"Go power it up and see for yourself, John."

John stifled his response, shrugged, and stepped into the open suit.
Cid removed several wires connecting the hardsuit to the recharger,
then the suit closed around John's body. The computer powered up,
displaying its message:

"Hardsuit Operating System, Version 4 Non-Softsuit Enabled."
"WarpCard active and ready."
"Back armour at 15%. Structural integrity at 97%."
"Front armour at 25%."
"Power level at 100% of maximum."
"All systems active and ready."

John pulled the helmet off. "It worked! I don't believe it, it worked!"

"Never underestimate me, John," Cid remarked with a grin. "I always
have a trick or two up my sleeve."

----------

LATER...

Once again, a familliar sound entered John's ears. This time, however,
he had the presence of mind enough to NOT throw the clock. Reaching
almost instinctually to the nightstand, he grabbed the first thing
his hands could grasp. Swinging down onto the clock, he heard metal
rending onto metal for an instant, than the hiss of something..
melting. Sleepily satisfied, John attempted to get back to sleep.

He failed, however, as the voice of Palom interfered in disbelief.

"HEY! What do you think you're doing, John?! That was my ALARM CLOCK!"

John sat up, blinking. "Huh? What? Who? Where? Why?" he questioned.

Palom's pointing (and shaking) hand was pointing to the clock, which
John quickly took a glance at. Rather, I should say, WAS the clock.
Now it was a pile of melted metal.

By now, Palom was shrieking in indignant fury. "Oh my god, you killed
my clock! I can't BELIEVE you! What DO you have against alarm clocks,
ANYWAY?!"

John glanced at the "clock" then at his sword. His expression quickly
went sheepish. "Sorry.."

Palom calmed slightly. Only slightly. "John, my friend.. you now owe
me a new clock! AND, I refuse to let you leave until you hand over the
cash!"

John grumbled, going through his pouch and finding the cash to pay
Palom. "I said I was sorry, already.."

<This just isn't going to be my day...>

Fateful words, indeed.

----------

John sat in the booth at lunch with an almost visible black cloud over
his head-- this day had been horrifying. It started with the alarm
clock, moved into high gear with him getting his backside kicked
during blade and spear practice, and only got worse when he discovered
the resturant was all out of electrifish.

Pounding his head repeatedly into the table only brought things into
better perspective-- a painful day. 

Palom sat down across from him. "Rough day, eh? We all have these
kind of days sometimes. There's something I need to talk to you
about."

John looked up to Palom, a slight frown forming onto his face. "I'm
listening."

Palom shook his head. "John, I don't know why you get so defensive.
Anyway, it's about my sister."

Almost instantly, emotional guards were in place-- extremely obvious
to Palom, who was watching him.

"What about her?" John said guardedly.

"John, you like her, and I know she likes you. Why don't you ask her
out?" Palom started.

John hissed in response. "No. It couldn't work, Palom. It just can't.
We're from two different worlds, and I won't be here long. That kind
of relationship only works in Anime."

"In what?" Palom asked in confusion.

"Nevermind. The point is, it just CAN'T work."

"You don't know that, John. This is the first time I've ever seen
my sister show interest in something besides her magic!"

"Palom, I'm only going to say this once-- it won't work. End of story.
Get the picture?" John growled at Palom before walking out of the
resturant.

----------

Cecil looked quietly through his window at the surrounding
countryside. Eight years of hard work had mostly repaired the
damage from the violent war that nearly destroyed civilization. Now,
everything seemed to be heading towards a war even more catastrophic.

He sighed. <This is a rather severe problem. This 'John' shows up
without warning, badly wounded, just outside Mysidia-- in fact, on
the same beach I was washed up upon. He seems reluctant, as if he's
having trouble accepting this. He claims to be just an average guy,
yet there's something strange about him.>

Cecil turned from the window and began to pace, now warmed to his
thoughts. <And what of Porom? She seems to think well of him, and he
of her. But, why does John try to remain so cold? There's more to
him than any of us know.>

A hesistant voice resounded-- "Am I interrupting?" John questioned.

Cecil's expression brightened. "No. Not at all. How may I be of help?"

"There are some things bothering me, Cecil. I just need someone with
an outside view, and with Palom in the MIDDLE of it, I can't talk to
him about them." John added.

"I see. Tell me about them, then."

"Well, to start with, there's someone here I really like. I'm told she
likes me, but I fear a relationship can't work. I'm from a completely
different world, and I probably won't be here very long."

Cecil thought a moment. "That is a problem, John. I understand your
reluctance. But, I have to ask you-- you ARE able to return here when
you choose to, aren't you?"

"Y--yeah. I am.. but I don't know if I'll survive the coming war."

"That's an uncertainity everyone has to face in a crisis like this,
John. She knows that just as Rosa knew I might fall in battle. You
can allow your fears to let you lose what's important to you."

John nodded silently a moment, chewing on Cecil's words. "I'll give it
some thought. The other thing that's bothering me is what I appear to
be becoming-- to my own eyes, it looks like I'm focusing on war more
and more.. I'm becoming a fighter and losing everything else I have."

Cecil frowned. "I once came close to something much like that. I was
a dark knight, a fighter with darkness in my heart. It wasn't by my
choice I became this, though. However, the darkness began to consume
me, little by little. For you, though, it's not the fighting spirit
consuming you. You just fear you're becoming centered on violence.
As long as you keep a clean spirit and believe in yourself, you'll
be fine. Just have faith that you can do it."

"Thank you, Cecil. I feel a bit better about myself now, although
I still have my doubts."

"Any time, John. Glad to be of help."

John bowed deeply, then left, leaving Cecil with his thoughts.

<There are still too many unanswered questions.. why is John so shy
about relationships? Why doesn't he trust himself?>

----------

THE NEXT DAY..

John and Kain stood outside the walls of the castle, Kain pointing out
various landmarks. "In that direction is the Mist Cave," Kain started,
pointing to the east. "That's where we'll be heading today as part of
the Endurance Training."

"What exactly does the Endurance Training consist of?" John asked.

"It's a running battle TO the Mist Cave, and then another one BACK.
The whole while, you'll have to defend yourself and attack me. The
stakes are high, though. If I defeat you, or if you're unable to
finish the course, we'll do it again tommorow. However, if you beat
me, or we BOTH finish, you'll have passed the test."

"You're kidding me! That's CRAZY!"

Kain looked at John-- no hint of a smile. "Do I look like I'm
kidding?"

"Oh, man.. if I survive this.."

"You will, John. You HAVE to-- you've trained for this important
test. Begin combat!"

John lifted his sword, jumping to strike at Kain with a downstroke.
Unfortunately, Kain wasn't there when John came down. "You'll have to
do better than THAT, John!"

Kain ran towards the cave, making slow progress-- it was a good
distance away. John kept within attack range, attacking constantly--
however, he was unable to strike a 'fatal' blow.

That isn't to say he wasn't trying. Focused on the battle, John
started to resort to unconventional tactics. Leaping in front of
Kain, he attempted to trip the Dragoon. This failed miserably.

>From the side, a blast of arctic air swept through John and Kain,
knocking both down. John gasped, his teeth chattering. "W-what w-as
tha-tt?"

Kain was affected less, but still cold. "Ice spell. Someone's
attacking us!"

John rose to his feet, holding his blade tightly. "Who are you?
Show yourself!"

--[Act VI]------------------------------------------------------------

Darkened clouds began to converge around the two fighters. As the
sky grew darker with each passing moment, the light dwindled to
a near twilight.

"Remember me?" an ANNOYINGLY familliar voice mocked.

"Damnit, not YOU AGAIN!" John yelled, "Show yourself, so I can
put an end to you!"

"Ah, I think not, John. You're weak. I nearly killed you last
time we met, with a single blow."

"Only because I stepped into it to protect someone. This time,
you're not going to be so lucky."

A figure stepped into the light-- the same imp mage that John
knew all too well. "I am Sirius! Let us FINISH it this time,
John!"

Three daggers flew from Sirius's outstretched hand. John was,
however, ready-- he stepped to the side of the attack. "Kain,
I'll handle this one personally. Get back to the castle and
tell the others what I'm doing!"

Kain nodded. "I trust your judgement. Good luck!"

John charged his foe, bringing his blade up in what looked
remarkably like an uppercut-- cutting a line directly up
Sirius's face between his nose and right eye. "Argh-- damn
you! I'm going to make you suffer for that."

Sirius fell back somewhat, John staring coldly at him.

"Is it cold you want? Then it shall be cold you get!"

Sirius chanted under his breath a moment. A bright flash of blue chi
and magic surrounded him a moment as he yelled forth his spell.

"ICE THREE!"

>From seemingly nowhere, huge spikes of ice dropped onto John,
battering and freezing him. Blood ran freely from the multiple
puncture, slash, and scrape wounds he'd suffered. Falling to one
knee, John felt a battle rage inside him. <No.. I won't lose, not
like this!>

A voice responded inside John's heart. <You're ready for your
first technique, John.>

<Huh? What? Who..?>

<It's I, the Phoenix. Feel the flames of rage inside you. Feel how
your blood boils. Project those flames at your enemy, John! Show them
the true strength of fire.>

"John, you weren't worth the time or effort. I'll take your card, then
I'll kill Porom as well. She and you will meet again.. in the Dark
World!"

Something snapped inside John, finally. He rose to his feet painfully.

"If you think I'm going to let you even TOUCH her, you're wrong. I've
got a little present for you--- HOUNOU NAMITSU!"

John brought his hands together, aiming them forward at the imp. A
wave of pure flame formed, flashing forward into John's enemy.

John fell to his knees. "It's over, Sirius. You've lost."

Sirius screamed as the flames tore through him. "It doesn't matter if
you kill me-- there'll be others! My Master knows where you are, and
WHO you are! You'll never be safe from us.."

Finally consumed by the flames, Sirius was no more. John sighed in
relief before falling forward into the darkness...

----------

AN UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF TIME LATER...

Porom stood over John's beaten body, lying on his bed. "John..?"

John's eyes opened slowly, focusing onto the woman standing before
him. "Porom? Where am I?"

Porom smiled. "You're okay now-- I healed your wounds. I came as
quickly as I could when Kain told me of your fight."

"It's over, Porom. Finally.. he's gone."

"I know. We saw your last attack as we were arriving. What was it that
you did, John? I've never seen anything like it before."

"I believe it's the first gift from the Phoenix.. control over fire.
Given time, I'll become better at it."

Porom nodded, about to say something-- John interrupted, however.

"But.. his last words. I have to leave here, to fight. They know who
and where I am. I can't stay here, Porom."

Porom's eyes showed sorrow, a sorrow John'd never seen before. "I
know, John. I wish it could be otherwise. I never had much time to
get to know you.."

"I'll be back here, Porom, don't worry about that. Could you find the
others.. tell them I'd like to talk to them a moment?"

Porom assented, "Yes. I'll be right back," and left.

<I'm sorry, everyone.. but it has to be this way...>

John grabbed a pencil and some paper, beginning to write.


"To my friends here,"

"They know who I am, by now. They also know where I am. By remaining
here, I only put you into greater danger. I have to set out alone now,
to find the answers to some important questions. Someday, we'll meet
again.. I promise."

"Farewell...   John."

Dragging himself from his bed, he stumbled to his hardsuit. Locking
himself into it, he powered up the armour then grabbed his blade.
Taking a final look around, he switched on the WarpCard and entered
a command. A final message appeared upon the screen.

"Warping to designation 'Ground Zero' -30 years.."

A rift opened above John's head as he turned to energy and lost
consciousness. The rift pulled him in, then closed.

And once again, it was silent in the room...


---------------
Author's Notes:

Well, this is my second posting of this. It's gone through some
revision work, in order to make it better. There'll be at least
ONE more posting, the final one-- I've got just a bit further
to go with my repairs.

Thanks for reading my story. Here's a list of the people who've
helped me with my story-- at least, the ones who I haven't lost
names/addresses for. If you're not on the list and you helped,
contact me!

Raoh Anand
Ed Becerra
John Collins
Robert Kelley
Kevin Mignery
Marla Miner
David Outram
Octavian
Andrew Skuse
Darren Steffler
Jeremy Stone
Fthenakis SunDogg
Greg Thompson
Bert Van Vliet
White Wolf
Kendra Kirai of IRC and Furmucks
The Unlimited Moment Beta Team

This story is the first in a series.. keep a watch,
because UM1 is in the works as I write this!

Hope you enjoyed the ride.

Oh, and thanks, Kevin, for being a good editor as to
help me past 2AM several nights in a row. :)

John "Firehawke" Peasley, January 1st, 1998