Tears of the Phoenix Chapter 3: Together Again
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction; the characters depicted do not
belong to Platinum Dragon or War-Ouki with exception of the following:
Megumi (Platinum Dragon), Jay (Platinum Dragon). Please do not sue us; we
have no money in any case.
Comments, Criticism, Insults, Flames and/or Death Threats should be
directed to Platinum_Dragon@usinternet.com and Kawaii_Death@hotmail.com.
Author's Note: This story arc is set in the same 'universe' as Bonds
of Trust by Platinum Dragon (Shameless plug, I know); some of the
references made here won't make sense if you haven't read that story, such
as the 'bond' between Genki and Pixie.
Author's Note 2: This story arc takes place roughly seven and a half
years after the events in Bonds of Trust.
*****
Genki stared at Pixie, as she shook her head and did her best to
describe where she'd come through to their world. All the landmarks she
described were unfamiliar to him, though, and Jay didn't recognize them
either. He frowned, thinking, and then glanced at Suezo as he cleared his
throat. "Umm� Why don't you try asking the Stone?" he suggested. Pixie
started, and looked at Suezo; Genki slapped himself on the forehead.
"Where is my mind? I should have thought of that right away," he
exclaimed, as he pulled the Stone from under his shirt. "Magic Stone,
please show us where the Gateway Pixie came through is." The stone
flickered fitfully for a moment, searching. Then an arrow began to form,
but before it was half-done, it paused. They blinked, as it suddenly
changed into a question mark.
"Ok� That's a new one," said Suezo.
"And it puts us right back where we started," said Pixie, plucking at
her shirt irritably. Her shirt� Genki suddenly started laughing.
"No, it can't possibly be that simple," he muttered, before grinning.
"Hey Jay - remember what you overheard Chisa say about the person that
stole her clothes?" he asked.
"Yeah, she said that she saw a flash of red hair, why?" replied Jay,
before doing a double take. "Red hair�?" He started laughing too, as he
caught on. Pixie was frowning, confusion coming through the bond. Genki
grinned at her.
"Where did you get those, Pixie?" he asked, indicating her shirt and
pants.
"They were hanging above where I came out of the portal," she said.
"There was a robe too, but too many people gave me odd looks while I was
wearing it, so I got rid of it." Genki and Jay looked at each other, as he
rooted out his copy of the student directory.
"And here I always thought that this thing was a waste of paper," he
said, as he flipped through the booklet, and found Chisa's address. "If
you'd have told me a year ago that I'd actually want to know Chisa's
address, I'd have laughed in your face."
"Chisa?" asked Pixie; Genki blinked as a very tiny spike of what
seemed like jealousy came through the bond, just barely strong enough to
notice.
"The former owner of what you're wearing - and may I say that they
look far better on you than they ever did on Chisa?" said Jay. Genki
glanced at Pixie, grinning slightly.
-He'd have a heart attack if he saw what you used to wear, Pixie,- he
said mentally. She raised her eyebrow at him.
-And still do, I hate these things. I wouldn't have bothered with
them, save they made finding you easier,- she replied. -They're so blasted
restrictive!- Genki smiled slightly, feeling his throat go a little dry
while he remembered exactly what Pixie considered 'decently covered.' What
a difference seven years could make; back then, he'd hardly noticed just
how beautiful she really was. -Thank you.-
Abruptly he noticed that she was blushing slightly, and remembered too
late that she could hear feelings and thoughts that he wasn't intentionally
broadcasting if he was thinking them strongly enough. -Gah, it's going to
take awhile to get used to having you in my head again, Pixie. I didn't
mean to embarrass you,- he told her. Pixie smiled slightly, pleasure
rolling through the bond.
-I think that I can survive the 'embarrassment' of being called
beautiful, Genki. If I said that I thought you'd become rather handsome
while you've been away, would you be embarrassed?- she asked. Her smile
widened, as he felt his own cheeks heat. -Then I didn't mean to embarrass
you, either.-
"Umm� Why do I get the feeling that I've just completely missed out on
something interesting?" asked Jay suddenly, looking at the two of them with
a curious expression. Pixie and Genki glanced at each other, and then
shrugged.
"Humans. Always seeing something where there is nothing," she said
dryly, shaking her head. Genki grinned slightly.
"Give me a sec to check on Megumi, and then we can go," he said,
crossing the room and opening the door. Pixie opened her mouth, and he
paused. After a moment, though, she shook her head slightly and closed it
again. -Pixie?-
-Nothing, Genki. Just� old memories. I think that hit on the head
knocked a few loose. They are� unsettling me.- There was a short pause,
and then she added, -Thanks for asking, but you know me. I'll be fine.-
For some reason though, she wouldn't quite meet his eyes. He frowned
slightly, but finally nodded and then stepped out the door. Megumi's room
was just next door to his. Despite her protests that school was out, he
had few doubts that she'd been out cold the moment their mother had put her
to bed. He just wanted to make sure that she would stay that way as they
left.
Slowly, he cracked the door open, and stuck his head into her room.
Had she been awake, that would have been practically a death sentence; with
her asleep it was little more than a dangerous idea. Dark as it was, he
could see perfectly; one of the bonuses of being bonded to Pixie. Megumi
was in her bed, surrounded by a wall of stuffed toys, including the Tiger
plushie he'd given her what seemed like ages ago. It had been her favorite
ever since; she carried it everywhere with her, even tucking it into her
backpack so that it peeked out when she went to school. As he looked in,
she shifted slightly, before sighing and settling back down. Genki grinned
slightly. If he knew her, she'd be asleep until nearly noon. "Twip," he
said, grinning again, before crossing back into his room. "The brat is
still out of it," he told them, as he laced on his rollerblades and grabbed
his boots and backpack. "Come on, let's go."
Pixie looked about herself in curiosity, as they walked along the
nearly empty streets. According to Genki, it was just before dawn; it
seemed a different world from the one that she'd stepped into the day
before. Yesterday it had been a tense, loud, rushed world; today it was
quiet, peaceful - almost tranquil. She could get used to this world, she
thought, even though she knew that it wouldn't last. Even now, more cars
were steadily starting to appear on the streets.
"How has everybody been, besides Nightstorm and all?" asked Genki,
looking at her.
"Well enough. Holly and Suezo traveled from town to town, trying to
help reestablish trade lines and highways destroyed in the war. Tiger
stayed with her; he's been getting more and more protective of her every
year. Hare had been working on getting farmers resettled to the outer
areas. Golem kind of dropped out of sight for a while; Holly mentioned
something about him going to Undine's Lake," she said, raising her eyebrow
at him. "Maybe you know what she was talking about?" Genki nodded.
"Yeah, I do," he said quietly. "We met Undine while we were traveling
through Gray Wolf's lands - it was about a week and a half after the Scaled
Jells attacked. She tricked Golem into promising to protect her, and lured
us out on an island. But Golem� Even after he realized that she'd tricked
him into it, he protected her from us. In the end, it wasn't any of our
attacks that defeated her� it was Golem's friendship." Pixie nodded after
a moment, understanding; Genki had 'defeated' her in much the same way.
"Anyway, he came back in time for the seventh anniversary of Moo's
defeat, which was when Nightstorm attacked. We were all together,
luckily," she finished.
"What about Moochi?" he asked. Pixie frowned.
"He kinda drifted after you left. He was always with one of us - I
think he even searched out Golem at some point, although I'm not certain,
but he was never really interested in anything we did," she told him. "He
took your going home the hardest." Genki nodded; she felt guilt from the
bond.
-I never really thought I'd miss everybody as much as I have. I knew
that I'd miss everyone, just not how much,- came his mental
ending. -Especially you and Tiger.- Pixie blinked, both at the near
mirror of her thoughts on how much she'd missed him, and finding out that
he'd missed her more than the others. -I don't think I knew just how
lonely I'd gotten until I realized that it was you and the bond came back.-
She looked at him, and then smiled slightly.
-Yeah, I know. We� I've missed you a lot, too,- she told him. There
were only two humans she could recall ever being just herself with. One
was Holly, after Genki had gone, and the other was Genki himself. To a
certain extent, that was almost a given; being bonded to him had meant him
learning more about her than she might have freely told another, yet, even
before they had become bonded he'd had a way about him that she'd known she
could trust. It was a� maturity that few humans ever reached, but it
seemed almost inborn for him.
It was part of the reason that she'd chosen to bond him in a time when
she deeply hated humans for what they had done to her. Somehow, the then
young boy had broken through all the walls of anger, fear and hate that
she'd built up around a soul she'd thought long since shattered beyond
repair. Somehow, he'd managed to be her friend, no matter how hard she'd
tried to push him away. He'd been more than just her friend. Genki had
been the one she had chosen to be her bondmate, something that was, in many
ways, far more intimate than anything else that could be between a man and
a woman.
Pixie started as she abruptly realized where her thoughts were taking
her, and blushed, hoping Genki hadn't been paying attention. She didn't
think that he'd say anything if he had, but still� She stuffed those
thoughts into a sack, buried it away in a back corner of her mind, and then
hopped up and down on their grave a few times for good measure. This was
Genki she was thinking about! He was a friend - alright, she admitted,
friend fell a good deal short of describing a bondmate - but that was
absolutely absurd. This was the same kid that used to drive her up the
wall with his hyperactiveness. The same Genki that�
That she'd been unable to believe had grown so handsome in their years
apart. It was too late, she realized helplessly. She'd already gotten the
idea in her head, and there would be no getting it back out. Oh Pixie, why
do I have the feeling things just got much, much more difficult? wailed a
small voice in the back of her head.
"Ok, this is Chisa's address - there, that must be the alleyway you
were talking about, Pixie," said Genki, pointing. Firmly shoving that
wailing voice from her head, Pixie looked up, and then turned slightly to
see the gigantic glass building from the day before. She nodded.
"Yeah, this is it, Genki," she agreed, walking to the alley and
turning down it. They followed her, Suezo reappearing once they'd turned
the second corner into the dead end. "This is where I came through," she
told them, pointing ahead at the brick wall. They came to a stop before
it, and Genki pulled the Stone out from under his shirt.
"I assume that you know what you're doing, Genki," said Jay, grinning
at him. Genki glanced at him.
"Nope, I'm just playing this by ear. All I know is that the Stone
opened the portal the last time I went through it," he replied. Pixie
smirked in spite of herself as Jay lost his grin.
-Relax. I trust that you'll get us home,- she told him. Genki
glanced at her, and smiled slightly.
"Just cross your fingers, everybody," he told them, before raising the
Stone. "Magic Stone, open the doorway between worlds and let us pass."
For a moment, the Stone was dark. Then, it suddenly flared to life, the
Phoenix flapping its wings. The firebird began to grow, until it left the
stone. For a moment, it paused, and then with a screech, flew into the
wall and vanished. The brick wall rippled like water, and then began to
change, until they were looking at what seemed to be a brightly shining
mirror that reflected their images back at them. Inside the stone, the
Phoenix briefly reappeared, and then faded away. Genki grinned, and tucked
it back away.
"Not bad, for playing it by the ear," said Suezo, as he hopped up to
the portal.
"Hold it Suezo. You'd better let me go first," said Pixie. "The
others� won't be overly happy to see you, until one of us explains, and I
doubt that they'd listen to you." He nodded slowly.
"Oh, yeah�" he said slowly. Pixie nodded, and walked up to the
portal. Genki nodded at her.
"I'll have to go through last, or else the portal might close. We'll
give about a minute between each of us going through, alright?" he said.
Pixie nodded again, and then stepped into it. An icy prickling ran through
her this time, and then a moment later, she landed on the floor of the
ruins. Holly looked up in surprise, and then gasped as she recognized her.
"Pixie?! What happened to you, you're human!" she exclaimed. Pixie
was opening her mouth to explain when pain abruptly flared throughout her
body. She doubled over as the breath was forced out of her lungs; dimly
she was aware of the sound of cloth ripping. Then, just as suddenly as it
had come, the pain was gone again. Sucking in a breath, she shook her head
and looked around. Holly and the others were staring at her with wide
eyes. Guessing at what had happened, she reflexively stretched out her
wings, and was quite relieved to find that they had indeed grown back. She
could fly again! At least, she could once she got rid of what was left of
her borrowed clothing. She started to slice away the shirt with a claw as
she spoke.
"To make a long story short, it was a trap. Nightstorm must have
control of the Oracle, but it backfired - I found him. Well, he found me,
but that's beside the point. We ran into somebody else, too - don't worry
when you see who it is," she said, tossing away the last of the shredded
shirt and starting on the pants. Even as she finished speaking, Suezo came
through the gate. Holly gasped; Tiger and Hare both moved in front of her,
dropping into defensive positions. "Whoa, whoa! Relax I said. The Stone
freed him from Nightstorm's control," she said. They blinked, and looked
at her.
"Suezo?" asked Holly cautiously, stepping between Tiger and Hare. He
grinned weakly.
"Hi guys� I hear I've been kinda a pain lately," he said in
embarrassment. Tiger snorted.
"That's Suezo alright. Master of the understatement," he said
gruffly. Holly laughed, and hugged Suezo. Pixie forced herself not to
roll her eyes. After all, Suezo had been Holly's companion longer than any
of them, much as Big Blue had been hers. Holly had been the one to find
and unlock the disk he'd been stored on. If Big Blue was stolen from her,
wouldn't she be glad to get him back?
Jay stepped through the portal next, carrying his skateboard with him.
"Jay, I don't think you're in Kansas anymore," he muttered, as he looked
around. Jay blinked as he saw Hare and Tiger, and flashed a quick smile at
Holly. His eyes just about popped out of his head as he saw Pixie tossing
away the last remains of her borrowed pants; she smiled evilly and lashed
her tail a couple times just for effect. Jay swallowed hard, and looked
away. Genki hadn't been kidding, apparently. The two golem were
apparently still outside keeping watch. Holly was looking at him in
surprise.
"Genki?" she asked; Pixie shook her head.
"No - a friend of his in their world. He was with Genki when they
found me," she explained. Jay nodded, bowing slightly.
"Name is Jayson, but you can call me Jay. Everybody does," he said,
grinning. Holly smiled and introduced herself and the others. She
finished just in time for Genki to step through the gateway.
"Heya everybody. I hear you've got some new monster troubles," he
said, grinning at them.
"Genki!" laughed Holly, smiling at him. Beside her, Tiger settled
back on his haunches.
"Hey kid. Good to see you again," he said, sounding as though he was
trying hard to sound indifferent. Genki grinned again; she knew that Genki
knew Tiger too well for that act to work.
"Hey Tiger. It's good to see you too," he replied, and then glanced
at Hare as the six-foot rabbit smirked.
"You can hardly call him a kid anymore, Tiger. Then again, I suppose
that everybody is a kid compared to you, aren't they?" he teased. Tiger
growled, as Pixie rolled her eyes.
"Like your nickname couldn't be old Gray Hare?" he shot back.
"Well, at least I can admit it, instead of acting like I'm still a
pup!" answered Hare. Genki turned to Pixie, smiling as they started
fighting.
"Nice to see that some things haven't changed," he said dryly. She
smirked, as Jay frowned.
"Are they always like that?" he asked, watching the two monsters
rolling around.
"No, this is actually pretty light today," said Holly, smiling. Jay
blinked, as she continued. "Don't worry, they'll get it out of their
system before long."
"At least until the next time," added Pixie, grinning slightly. Even
as she said it, the two combatants stopped fighting, and settled down to
slightly dirty looks at each other.
"So, all joking aside, Pixie told me some about this Nightstorm guy,"
said Genki, growing serious. Holly nodded.
"Nobody knows who or what he is, and he makes Moo look like an altar
boy," she replied. "He isn't making any secret of his goals, though.
He's been gathering what are known as Fire Crystals."
"Fire Crystals?" asked Genki.
"They're something that Moo talked about a few times - another reason
that we think Nightstorm may have been involved in some way with Moo," said
Pixie. "He said that they were a power source, kind of like a spirit
capsule. The difference was that a Fire Crystal produces more than a
thousand times the power a spirit capsule does. One of them powered Moo's
floating castle."
"And that was the first one that Nightstorm took," added Holly. Genki
frowned.
"How many has he found?"
"We think ten, so far," said Hare.
"So he needs a lot of power for something. Maybe he's planning on
putting on a concert for the entire world," said Jay dryly. Genki gave him
a flat look, and then frowned.
"You know, I wonder� How did Suezo get to my world? He must not have
come through this Gate here - I saw the one he came through. It was
different than the portal that the Stone opened up. How much power do you
suppose it takes to open one of those?" he asked slowly. "How much power
do you suppose it would take to open one large enough to take an army
through?" Pixie and Holly blinked. It was almost too obvious to notice,
but as Genki had pointed out, Suezo couldn't have come through the portal
they were standing at.
"You think that he's trying to open a portal to your world?" asked
Holly.
"Well� You think that Nightstorm might have been behind Moo all
along. What would he have done after he conquered this world? We know
from Monol's story that monsters were sent here, but created in my world -
what if he wants revenge?" he suggested. "Suezo said something when he was
still under Nightstorm's control - Nightstorm had sent you and Pixie to my
world to get you out of the way until later, so that probably means that at
some point, he's going to come to my world." Pixie nodded, understanding.
"And if he has a way to get to your world, then he wouldn't be waiting
unless he wanted to amass an invasion force," she said. Genki nodded.
"Bingo."
"Ok. So this Nightstorm plans to invade our world. What do we do
about it?" asked Jay.
"How about starting with the Oracle?" suggested Pixie, looking at
Genki. "With the Stone, you can break Nightstorm's control over them and
we can get some real answers." Genki nodded, and was opening his mouth to
reply when the ruins suddenly shook. A moment later, Big Blue stuck his
head in.
"The Pirate Dragons have returned in force!" he called. Genki looked
at Holly, Pixie and Jay.
"I think we should continue this elsewhere," he suggested. They
nodded, and dashed for the exit. The ruins shook again, stones falling
from the roof as they made it out. Overhead, the Pirate Dragons circled,
blasting at the ruins with their fireballs. Pixie was just raising her
hands to launch a spell of her own when she heard a scream from inside the
ruins. Turning, she blinked. Standing where the portal opened was a
little girl, clutching what looked like a tiny, stuffed Tiger pup. Then
she blinked again. The girl looked a lot like� "Genki?" Standing beside
her, he turned. Panic suddenly flooded through their bond.
"Megumi!" he shouted. "Go back through the Gate! Now!" She only
screamed again, jumping back as one huge stone fell where the gate had
been. "Damn it!" he growled, as he skated back into the ruins. Pixie ran
after him, blasting a few stones that looked like they were going to hit
him or the little girl - Megumi, had he called her? Genki dodged in, and
scooped up the girl, just barely avoiding another huge stone. The blasting
from the dragons intensified, and she saw the foundations beginning to
crack.
"Hurry, it's collapsing Genki!" she called. Skating as hard as he
could, Genki dove through the exit just in time to avoid being clobbered by
a stone a little larger than Big Blue. Rolling, he ended up on his back,
with the little girl sitting on his chest. She slowly looked around, and
then giggled suddenly, grinning at the gasping Genki.
"That was kinda fun! Can we do it again, big brother?" she asked.
Pixie stared at Genki.
-Big brother? This is your� sister?-
Genki just groaned, "No, Megumi, we can not do it again!"
"The pirates are coming around for another pass!" called Holly. Pixie
frowned, and turned her attention from the two to the incoming dragons.
Now that the bond was back, she could take care of them all in a single
blast. There were seven coming in at them; Pixie raised her hands.
"I've had about enough of these guys," she growled. A silvery-blue
sphere of power began to form between her hands, growing in size quickly.
The dragons, perhaps understanding that they had bitten off more than they
could chew, broke off and started to climb as fast as they could. It
wasn't nearly fast enough. She finished the spell, and the sphere raced
upward, slamming into the lead dragon. It detonated, the blast outshining
the sun. Then, after a few moments, it slowly began to fade away, leaving
the sky clear. Just barely she could pick out the form of seven Disks
falling toward the ground. She nodded self-satisfactorily, and then
swayed, as a wave of weariness washed over her. "Whoa� I forgot how much
that takes out of me," she muttered. Jay was staring at her.
"Genki," he said a little dryly, "remind me to NOT get her mad at me."
"Ok� Megumi, would you please explain to me exactly what you thought
you were doing following me?" asked Genki. They'd found a cave big enough
for the two golem and the rest of them to fit into comfortably, and had set
up a small camp; Holly was stirring a pot of soup. His stomach growled, as
he remembered how good her soup could be, but he pushed those thoughts
aside for the moment. "For that matter, how, the Gate should have closed
behind me."
"Are you kidding? How couldn't I, with all the sneaking about you
were doing? And bringing a girl into the house while mom was gone? You
know the rules Genki, we can't have friends over when she isn't home!" she
shot back, clutching at her Tiger doll in a way that he knew meant she was
frightened half out of her wits. He supposed that didn't surprise him
much. After all, the real Tiger was curled up barely three feet away, not
to mention Hare and the rest of them. "And anyway, I didn't mean to follow
you. When I touched the wall, it pulled me through," she finished. He
sighed again.
"Mom will kill me if anything happens to you, you know that twip? But
I can't take you back through the gate, because it's buried under all that
rubble," he said. She frowned and opened her mouth, but he didn't give her
the chance to speak. "You're going to have to come with us, because
there's no way I'm going to let you out of my sight," he told her,
frowning.
"What us?!?" she exclaimed incredulously. "You, Jay, a girl that
looks like she had a tangle with a giant bat, a couple walking mountains, a
six-foot rabbit, and a wolf that looks like the Tiger plushie you gave me�"
Abruptly she trailed off, blinking, and stared first at Tiger, and then at
her stuffed animal. He could practically hear her mind coming to a
screeching halt, as she realized what she was looking at. "Th� th� th�"
"That," he supplied.
"That is a Ti� Ti�"
"Tiger."
"Tiger fr� fr�"
"From Monster Rancher. And that's Pixie, Holly, Hare, Golem, Big Blue
and Suezo, all from the 'game,'" he said. Megumi's mouth worked, no sound
coming out.
"Oh, great. Another kid that thinks we're all characters from a video
game," muttered Tiger gruffly, though he was grinning slightly. Hare
shrugged.
"Well, you have to admit that we are pretty famous for that, if not
quite the way we would like," he said. Genki turned slightly and smirked
at them, and then looked back at Megumi.
"Look," he said to her gently. "You might be a little too young, but
do you remember when everybody thought that I had run away, and I was
missing for six months?" he asked. She slowly nodded.
"Only a little� I remember mom was really worried for a long time,
and wondering where you were. I remember how happy she was when you came
back, but not much more than that," she replied. Genki nodded.
"I didn't run away - I got pulled into this world, and these," he
said, indicating the others, "are friends that I made while I was here.
What we call a game is the world that they live in, for lack of a better
explanation. It isn't quite that simple, but it's a start. The first time
that I came, they were under attack by an evil monster named Moo, and I
helped to defeat him."
"But then why did you come back?" she asked. Genki briefly wondered
just how in shock she was, to readily accept that without argument, or at
least a few flippant remarks.
"Pixie came to our world to get me because another evil monster has
come to this world, and he's going to be attacking our world once he
finishes here. He had intended to trap them there, but he wasn't counting
on her actually finding me," he said, before frowning. "And if somebody
had stayed in bed where she belonged, I'd probably have been back before
anybody knew I was gone," he finished dryly, before sighing. -Way, way too
much like me at that age,- he muttered irritably. Pixie, standing behind
Megumi, looked at him, smiling faintly.
-Just what we need, another Genki,- she said, bemusement coming
through the bond. He glanced at her.
-Remember how hyper I used to be? Megumi is worse,- he told her.
Pixie raised her eyebrow at him.
-Is that even possible?- she asked innocently, her smile widening a
little. He frowned at her slightly.
-Just wait, you'll see soon enough,- he told her, before turning back
to his sister. "Listen brat. Monster Rancher may be just a game in our
world, but the danger in this world is real. If a fight starts, I want you
to stay with Golem. He'll keep you safe," he said. Apparently that
snapped her out of her shock, as she wrinkled her nose.
"No way! I can help too!" she said, shaking her doll at him. He
lightly poked her nose.
"You are too young. Besides, it'll be my hide if you get hurt, and
you know it," he said, and then winced as Tiger laughed. For that matter,
Pixie looked like she was fighting not to laugh, and Holly had hidden a
smile behind the pretense of sneezing.
-She's the same age you were when you first came here,- pointed out
Pixie, grinning. The bemusement he'd sensed earlier was still there, along
with a pleased surprise. -Funny, I never would have pictured you as the
over-protective older brother. The responsible older brother, for that
matter.-
-Yeah, well�- He paused, a little embarrassed. -As much of a pain as
she can be, she is still my sister� Sometimes, when she forgets that I'm
her arch enemy and isn't going out of her way to be irritating, she can be
standable.- He grinned abruptly. -Though those moments are few and far
between.- Pixie smiled, though now there was sadness filtering through the
bond from her.
-She's luckier than she knows,- she said quietly. Genki looked at
her; he knew that she'd had a sister, but that they had been torn from each
other when slavers had taken her and the rest of her family into slavery.
To his knowledge, she'd never found her again, though she had found her
father's Lost Disk.
-Pixie�- he said, but she shook her head.
-What's past is past,- she said, with a sense of finality. "You
should listen to your brother. He knows what he's talking about," she said
aloud. Megumi twisted to look at her.
"You must be thinking of another Genki. My brother wouldn't know
where his own head was if it wasn't attached!" she exclaimed. Pixie
started to frown, but Megumi didn't seem to notice. "Yep, you're probably
lucky that I decided to come along, 'cause he would have led you into all
sorts of trouble without me along to steer him clear!" she finished,
grinning widely. Genki just shook his head, grinning in spite of himself,
as Pixie looked at him.
-I think I'm starting to see what you meant,- she said dryly. Across
the cave, Suezo casually leaned over to Hare.
"Do you suppose that runs in the family?"
----
The Platinum Dragon
"'When the devil finished, Johnny said, 'Well you're pretty good old son!
But sit down in that chair right there and let me show you how it's done!'"
Dragon's Masaki Shrine of Tenchi Muyo - http://dragonsanime.com