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In the theatre:
[Andrew lies sound asleep. Ruri and Duo enter and check him]
Ruri: Still not awake.
Duo: Damn it! Has he completely forgotten about the MST he has to reply to?
Ruri: Apparently so.
Duo: Guess we'll just have to do it on our own then.
[PS: Sorry this is so late!]
At 10:31 PM 12/29/00 -0500, you wrote:
In the Knight Productions Theater:
Nicole: Hey all, We're just waiting on Brian..
<Brian comes in>
Nicole: What kept you?
Brian: Family business...my family suddenly got a strange start spring
cleaning early.
Yui: ...in the middle of winter?
Brian: Like I said, strange. Anyway, are we ready?
Athena: Yep, got the popcorn and everything!
Brian: Okay! <to Catty> Roll it!!
**5**4**3**2**1**
At 03:48 PM 12/19/2000 +1100, you wrote:
"Okay, here they come." said Nami as the first wave of
spider-crabs from
the Rhadam mothership approached. "Get ready."
"No need to tell me, Nami, I can see them." Kiiro replied. The
Gold
Iczelion, flying alongside Nami, already had her Tornado cannon on standby.
Nicole: <Kiiro> Yeah, it's not like I need glasses or anything!
The Delos Zeta Custom pointed its fist at the wave of Spider
Crabs, and a
pale blue energy beam swept through them, annihilating most of the first
attack wave.
Nicole: <trying to figure that out> That...sounds a little strange.
Duo: Huh? Looks okay to me.
"Good work, Ivory. Iczelions, and Mizuki, you handle the rest
of the
spider-crabs, and the Teknomen when they arrive." Said Cyan from the
/Seriphos/' bridge. "Ivory, you attack the Rhadam ship."
"Hai. We know the battle plan." Ivory replied.
Yui: Which according to the rules of warfare, is going to come apart within
thirty seconds or so...
Ruri: Of course.
Aboard the /Seriphos/, Cyan looked over the monitors showing the
battle
>from various angles. So far, her strategy seemed to be working, but she
felt more than a hint of unease.
{Is it just nerves?} She wondered, {Or is my intuition telling
me that
something's wrong, that there's something I haven't taken into account?}
<Cue dramatic music (Track 18 from the Lunar 2 soundtrack>
Nicole: Since when did we have music tracks?
Brian: <grins> Since I like that game.
Ruri: Well, I wouldn't count on Andrew to know how it goes.
Athena: And *how* many times have you been killed by the last boss?
Brian: <sulks> Shaddup.
For now, there was no way to tell.
* * * * *
OPERATION LIGHTSPHERE
An Iczelion/Teknoman crossover fanfic
by Andrew Dynon
Phase 3
Chapter 7
"Tomodachi no Koe"
Brian: <tries to translate, but....> Err...translation please?
Ruri: "A Friend's Voice"
OP: "Time Distortion" by Two-Mix, from the album "Dream Tactix"
The Iczer series (c) Toshiki Hirano/AIC. Tekkaman Blade (c) Tatsunoko
Productions.
Any resemblance between the Delos mecha and the title mecha of a certain
long-running anime is purely intentional.
* * * * *
All: <Try to see the connection, but fail>
Duo: Okay, he didn't put as many references in as he was going to. But
what did he have to do? Put a yellow V-Fin on the Delos' forehead?
"My daughter, you have been named for the heavenly guardians, the
angels
of protection that our religion speaks of - the Iczers. Many of our
legends speak of innocents being protected from harm by Iczers, especially
as they slept. Iczer-1, what remains of our race are now at their most
vulnerable, as they sleep on their journey through the darkness. It is
your duty to act as the heavenly Iczers do, and allow no harm to come to
them."
- Excerpt from Violet's message to Iczer-1, received immediately upon
Iczer-1's awakening.
Athena: That's...quite a wake up call.
Ruri: And "the race that created you has been brainwashed into taking over
the galaxy by your mother" isn't?
"When Latshen ("Sunlight-eyed") finally escaped from the Sorrows,
she was
exhausted, and knew she was too badly wounded to fight. Yet she still ran
through the darkness, her vision aided by the sunlight she had retrieved
>from the deepest part of the forest, and at last she came to the lake of
Princess Elithtae ("Purifier"). As soon as Latshen set foot in the lake,
she collapsed, and Princess Elithtae carried her to her palace in the
lake's waters. But the Dark Lady's demons, in pursuit of Latshen and
hoping to prevent her from releasing the sunlight, attacked the palace and
slew Elithtae's guardians. Princess Elithtae drew the symbol of protection
around Latshen and prayed, and an Iczer, seeing Latshen's vulnerability,
appeared before her armed and armored, and slew the demons. Then, the
Iczer said to the sleeping Latshen, "Bearer of the sunlight, as you were
unable to defend yourself, it was my duty to do so. But soon, you will
have to face demons more powerful than the ones I fought, and you will face
them alone. Understand that you may fall in that battle."
- From the Kthulhu legend of Latshen
* * * * *
Nicole: Heh, wonder if that has anything to do with Nagisa's current
situation.
Yui: Given the laws of probability, probably.
(Nagisa Kaworu appears)
Kaworu: I'd say more than probably.
Ruri: Hmmm... we don't have a guest booked. Would you like to join us?
Kaworu: Thank you for the invitation.
Iczer-1 floated effortlessly inside the large, spherical chamber,
not even
needing to spend the tiny amount of energy required to fly - there was no
gravity here. Soft, peaceful silver-blue light, emanating from a complex
pattern inlaid in the walls, filled the room, which was otherwise
featureless, apart from a translucent sphere a little over one meter in
diameter, which was suspended in the exact center of the room.
Iczer-1 had thought she would never come to this place again, and
she knew
that nobody else had. There were no entrances to this room - it was only
accessible via teleportation, and the only other people with that ability,
her sisters, were completely ignorant of its existence.
But now, she had reason to return to the chamber she had awoken in.
Nicole: <blinks, and Fireballs Brian>
Brian: <charbroiled> What was that for?!?
Nicole: To forestall any "return to the womb" jokes. <smiles>
Kaworu: My lips are sealed.
[snip]
"Nagisa, you're all right. It's over."
"Nagisa, you're all right. It's over."
"Nagisa, you're all right. It's over."
<Battle auras spring up from the girls>
Duo: Hey, what's that for?
* * * * *
Star sat on her bed aboard the /White Shield/, silently cursing
the state
of inactivity she had been in since she and her companions had retreated to
the ship. For what were supposedly the front lines of the war, things had
been far too quiet recently - there had been no major battles in the time
she had been here, only a few minor raids, skirmishes and probing attacks.
And neither she nor the ship she was aboard had been involved in any of
them. It was probably just as well - even with the Kthulhu's advanced
medical technology, Kawai, Shara, and Blade would need time to recover from
their wounds, but common sense did not dampen the desire she felt to
retaliate against the Rhadam and their Teknoman servants for hurting her
friends... and hurting Blade.
Yui: Wait a sec...<re-reads> Shara and Blade I can understand...but when
did Kawai get injured?
[Duo moves to whap Andrew for continuity errors, but then decides to save
it for when he wakes up]
In particular, one specific servant of the Rhadam.
"Blade..." she said aloud, not caring that her addressee was
absent and
unconscious. "You want to kill him yourself, don't you?"
Nicole: Of course he does, it's in the rules.
Athena: Angsty main characters with evil siblings are *always* drawn to
kill them.
Yui: Okay, there are a few exceptions, but generally that's the rule.
Her eyes flashed with anger.
"But after what he did to you, I won't let you. I know how angry
you'll
be at me for this. And I don't care."
She stared at the image of Saber she imagined, her green eyes
burning with
the fire possessed only by one who had seen the one dearest to her heart
come to harm.
* * * * *
"Floating..."
"What's floating?"
"I'm floating."
"Who am I?"
"I am us."
"Where am/are I/we floating?"
"I/we don't know."
"I'm/We're scared!"
"What of?"
"There's something following me/us!"
All: <eyes going swirly after following that verbal tennis>
Kaworu (swings a pocket-watch in front of them): When I snap my fingers,
you will become a chicken! {Snap}
The merged soul of Nagisa Kai and Raura Karura, who called
herself Nagisa,
asked and answered questions as she traveled through alternating areas of
light and darkness. This place, if that was what it was, was quite unlike
the terrible realm where Iczer Zero had tortured both of her, but, in its
own way, it was a place of doubt and fear. Her form was alternately
engulfed in the darkness and the light, and wisps of things she knew should
be familiar, but were not, played around her body, becoming insubstantial
when she tried to grasp them. And, only ever seen in the corner of her
eye, a demonic shape followed her like a hungry wolf.
Nicole: A wolf demon with Iczer-Zero's face, no doubt.
If she screamed, the wolf-demon would catch her. Her instincts
told her
that, and she had no reason to doubt them. But, nonetheless, the fear she
was feeling grew, and with it grew the overwhelming urge to scream, to
allow the predator to catch her, to end the horrid pursuit. It was all too
much. She prepared to release the scream^�
<Three swords are at Brian's throat before he can get the "Scream/Scary
Movie" joke out>
Ruri: He wouldn't get it, anyway.
But before she did so, she was surrounded by a warm, white-gold
light, and
her fears dissolved as she felt someone's arms around her. Gradually, her
eyes adjusted to the light, and she saw the form of an albino boy her age,
who looked at her as if he were gazing upon a sister he had never before
seen.
"Really, Nagisa." The youth said. "After what you went through
against
Iczer Zero, I'm surprised you just gave in to that little thing. You must
be exhausted."
Nicole: <growls, pulls out a Zero dummy, and slashes it in twain>
(Kasumi enters)
Kasumi: She'd really like to meet her, wouldn't she?
"Who are you?"
"I'd hoped you'd recognise me. Well, my name used to be Tabris,
but now
it's Kaworu."
All: <facefault>
Kaworu: {ego swell}
"Ka... wo... ru..." Nagisa tried to remember where she had heard
the name
before.
"Grandfather?" She hardly dared believe what her instincts knew
to be true.
"Yes. Although my mortal form died before you were born. Please
forgive
me for that."
All: HUH?!? <facefault again>
Kaworu: Let me explain...
[cut to Nadesico's Ines Fresenjue]
Ines: Huh? "Explain"? Where? Where?
Kaworu: As Andrew forgot to mention in the notes, this is from the
"Nagisa^2" fanfic he abandoned because it got too hard to write. To cut a
long story short, I was reincarnated as a human, Nagisa Kano and I stopped
the Third Impact by trapping Keel Lorenz in a time loop, and we married.
(snip)
"A Tekno Mega? Kuso..."
All: <All the good guys in the area> OH SH**!!!
Kaworu: ...as they say in the classics.
(and snip again)
"As did Raura Karura IV." Another girl, slightly older than the
two
Nagisas, appeared. She was athletic, with long blonde hair and the
distinctive red eyes of the Kthulhu, and dressed like an Earthly mediaeval
knight, in plate armor with a blue-bordered yellow tabard over it, carrying
a spear in one hand and shield in the other. Nagisa gasped as she
recognised the young woman.
Brian <deep thinking> Why does that description remind me of something?
Ruri: Well, he didn't knowingly base it on anyone.
"You're from the legend! Latshen of the Sunlight!"
Nicole: And here's the connection with the beginning!
Ruri: Well, one of them ;-)
"Nagisa Kai, Raura Karura V, you have earned something that may
help you,
when the time comes, in the war against the Rhadam. However, what we are
about to do will require you to drop your psychic defenses completely."
Nicole: <Nagisa> EEEEHHHH??????
Duo: Nicole, when did you get so ecchi?
All: <try to figure out Nagisa (elder) and Kaworu...and fail utterly>
Kaworu: [smiles enigmatically]
"I'll do it."
* * * * *
{Iczelion units, our battle plan has changed.} Cyan
sent. {Ivory will
engage the Tekno Mega. You are to attempt to break off your current battle
and attack the Rhadam ship.}
Nicole: "Attempt" being highly understated here.
{I hear ya, Cyan!} Kiiro replied, as she ducked a thrown
teklance and
fired at the enemy that had thrown it. {But Teknoman-han here doesn't seem
to want me to go!} She blocked another Teklance thrust with a well-armored
part of her lower leg, and flew backward, attempting to put some distance
between herself and her current opponent.
Yui: Is she always so...polite?
Athena: You should have seen her at the Christmas party.
Ruri: She's more joking than polite here. Kiiro-san can get quite...
expressive... at times.
*
On the /Seriphos'/ bridge, Cyan observed the situation on her monitor.
Kiiro and Mizuki were still having difficulty disengaging, and she doubted
Nami and Jalir would be able to defeat the Tekno Warlord alone. Now was
the time for her to act. She turned to her second-in-command.
Yui: Wait a sec...where's Mizuki? It only went through Kiiro and Tina.
[Duo notes another continuity error to give Andrew pain for]
{Not yet, anyway. But this thing's making life difficult for me.} Ivory
thought. The Zeta Custom was agile for its size, but its opponent seemed
just as much so, if not more. She occasionally managed to get
counterattacks in between dodging the Mega's energy blasts, but none of
them so far had looked close to hitting.
Nicole:<wince> I know how you feel.
Duo: So, does that mean you're not a very good pilot?
{Kuso... this isn't getting me anywhere. I gotta try a different tactic!}
Unfortunately for Ivory, the Mega did not allow her time to think in
between dodging energy blasts. She could only see one option present
itself.
{Better than nothing. But if this doesn't work, I think I'm sunk.} Still
attempting to dodge the Tekno Mega's fire, she turned and dove toward the
Rhadam ship.
*
Nami slashed with her beam sword, this time creating a gash in
the hull of
the techno-organic Rhadam ship, which bled pink goo as she and Jalir flew
through it. The pair flew through the narrow, dark passage, in the
direction they hoped the Tekno Warlord's sanctum lay. For this type of
attack, greater forces would have been preferable. For now, though, they
would just have to provide a distraction for the Warlord until greater
forces could be brought to bear. She slashed at any spider-crabs that came
near her, while Jalir blasted them with energy bolts. None managed to do
harm to either of them as they flew threw the dimly-glowing tunnels.
After what seemed far too long a time, the pair flew into the Tekno
Warlord's chamber. The dim, pinkish light of the ship's corridors was
replaced by a bright, blood-colored illumination as they entered, and laid
there eyes upon red-and-gold armored, feminine figure, wielding a
double-ended spear, standing nonchalantly to face them.
Yui: You're missing an "a" in there.
Ruri: Got that down?
Duo: Sure have!
"Welcome to my inner sanctum, my enemies." She said, her refined,
haunting voice barely above a whisper. "I am the Tekno Warlord Devass. It
is unfortunate, I think, that your friends are not here to be killed with
you."
"Yeah, right." Nami spat derisively. "I don't think you can
kill any of
us."
<Cue Track 19 from previously mentioned soundtrack>
"You try to put on a brave face, Nami Shinma." The Warlord said,
and a
look of shock appeared on Nami's face at her enemy's knowledge of her name.
"But within, you know as well as I do the truth of my words. You shall
die in this battle."
"Oh, will I?" Nami hefted her twin beam swords and flew at Devass,
intending to slice her into three pieces. Devass simply waited for the
Black Iczelion to come at her, then, far faster than Nami could believe,
parries the beam sword strokes with her weapon, and launched a
counterattack, smashing her in the side with her knee. The momentum hurled
Nami sideways, and she moaned in pain, unable to stand.
All: <wince in sympathy>
Duo: Don't you love anime fight scenes.
"And Jalir." Devass turned to the other Iczelion who was in her
chamber.
"I was hoping you'd come." Devass raised her arm, and bloody tendrils shot
>from it. Jalir attempted to dodge, but the tendrils followed her
movements. One bit into her head, then another, then more and more,
attatching themselves like alien leeches. They coiled around her limbs
like chains of living slime, immobilising her. And, when she was unable to
move, she heard Devass' voice inside her mind.
Nicole: Since when can Teknomen do the fusion trick?
Yui: <shrugs> Dramatic effect?
Ruri: Andrew wanted some of them to have different abilities to others.
The fragments of multicolored light drifted toward Nagisa,
seeming to
stick to her astral body. More and more drifted toward her, and her body
glowed with the multicolored light of the particles. For a moment that
seemed like an aeon, she felt, for the only time in her life, at perfect
peace with herself. Then, an exhaustion she was previously unaware of
overcame her.
All: Cool....
Duo: I knew those disco lights would come in handy!
{Negative, Field Lieutenant-Gamma Ivory. You are mentally
exhausted, and
your mecha's circuits face imminent overloading. Return, and that's an
order.}
Nicole: <blinks> was Gamma her rank or last name?
Ruri: Her name is Ivory, and her rank is "Field Lieutenant-Gamma", usually
shortened to simply "Lieutenant".
{Okay.}
* * * * *
"Tayah? Masaka... Tayah, you died. I felt you in pain...
you..." Jalir
struggled to really believe the fact that her friend was alive and standing
face to face with her.
Nicole: <groan> just completely ignoring the fact that she's currently a
Warlord.
Kaworu: Scary what mind-warping can do, isn't it? Especially if the
victim is already disturbed.
"I'm not dead, Jalir. I'm right here. I'm not in pain any
more. Look at
me. You can see that, can't you?"
Yui: <Jalir> Well...not really. Can you take the helmet off first?
Tears of joy welled in Jalir's eyes, the vision of the lifelong
friend she
had thought forever lost to her being far too much for her to have any hope
of keeping in control. Tayah approached her, and clasped Jalir's hand in
hers, and then wrapped her other arm around her shoulders. For what seemed
like hours, the pair simply stayed in that position, words being
unnecessary - unsuitable - to express the pure joy Jalir felt, and knew
Tayah felt as well, at finding a friend she had believed to be forever
lost. Finally, Tayah was the one who spoke.
"You'll kill them, won't you? The people who let me die? The
Kthulhu and
those who serve them?" She looked at Jalir pleadingly. "For me?"
"Yes, Tayah. I promise. I'll kill them all for you."
Athena: Err...Nami? Run. Now.
* * * * *
"I'm getting tired of you, damn it!"
Tina dodged out of the way of the teklance her enemy thrust at
her, and
twisted sideways to avoid another slash. Her fight against this Teknoman
had been going on for far too long, especially considering that Nami and
Jalir were inside the Rhadam ship at the moment. She glanced briefly in
Kiiro's direction, wondering if the Gold Iczelion could assist her, but
Kiiro was too tied up with her own fight. She returned her attention to
her enemy, to see him almost upon her. She tried to intercept his teklance
with her beam glaive, but she couldn't bring it to bear in time. The
teklance thrust carried past her attempted parry, and toward her chest...
...only to be intercepted by a large disc of pale blue energy.
After
blocking the teklance, the disc circled back toward the figure of Cyan,
landing on her left arm to become a shield. Cyan wasted no time - she flew
toward Tina's opponent, slicing him in half with her beam sword, and then
turned her attention to the Teknoman Kiiro was fighting. The teknoman
managed to dodge Cyan's first shot, but flew straight into a burst from
Kiiro that knocked him backward. The next shot from Cyan went straight
through his chest.
All: <applaud that cool fight>
Ruri: I'll tell Andrew you liked it.
"Thanks, Cyan." Said Tina.
"No time for that. Let's get into that ship."
* * * * *
Nami stood, shaking off the effects of the blow the warlord had
landed on
her. Focusing on Devass, she hefted her beam-sword and charged again.
Devass did not move as Nami ran at her. She slashed with the beam-sword,
only to have it suddenly impact against another energy blade. Nami gasped
in shock as she saw who wielded the weapon.
"Jalir?"
"You let her die! You let Tayah die!!!"
With that, Jalir summoned another beam sword and slashed at
Nami. Nami
parried, not wanting to attack the poor girl. In the dim light, she
thought she saw slim tendrils attached to the base of Jalir's neck,
radiating a faint, pink-orange glow that seemed to be flowing into Jalir's
body like some kind of electricity.
Nicole: Question: Wouldn't her armor had prevented this, somehow?
Ruri: No. When transformed, the human consciousness dominates the
Iczelion. The Iczel's consciousness is secondary.
Jalir shrugged contemptuously, and charged at Devass, the others
joining
in as soon as she made her move. Once again, she felt herself knocked
backward as Devass' weapon penetrated her defenses. The Tekno warlord
dodged a shot from Kiiro, before striking Tina when she thrust at her with
her beam-glaive. Cyan attacked with her beam-sword, but Devass parried,
her teklance glowing with sinister orange-pink radiance. The weapons
glowed brighter and brighter as they pressed against each other, both
combatants attempting to break through and strike their opponent. Finally,
the blue light of Cyan's blade seemed to shatter, and Devass' teklance cut
into her shoulder, knocking her, bleeding, to the floor. Devass raised her
teklance, preparing to stab Cyan through the chest, and swung downward...
...only to find herself struck through the heart by a beam-sword
wielded
by Jalir. The brown-haired girl's whose eyes burned with a rage few would
believe possible - especially those who did not know what she had gone
through.
Nicole: <growls> No comment.
RAuri: Is any necessary?
"Jalir!" Cyan gasped in surprise... then, she stopped abruptly,
as she
realised that Devass' teklance had pierced Jalir's chest, too. Jalir
hardly seemed to notice at first, as she spoke to the slain Tekno Warlord.
"I got you. I got you, you bitch." Then, she winced in
pain. "Tayah,
did you see me? I'm gonna... see you again... now. I'm... coming..."
With that, she collapsed, her blood intermingling with Nami's on
the floor
of the chamber. Cyan looked on, with a question running through her mind
that refused to allow itself to be answered.
{Jalir, your death... was it on purpose, or not?}
Brian: <changes track to Amazing Grace>
[Duo and Kaworu sing karaoke to it]
Ruri: Baka-baka.
* * * * *
END PHASE 3, CHAPTER 7
Next Chapter: Star vs Saber: Round one!
All: FIGHT!!
Duo: Tekno-fight, READY, GO!
Author's notes:
Okay, sorry I took so long writing this, but I'm done now. To make up for
it, I promise to get onto writing the next chapter quickly, as well as
other things. This was the first really big fight in the story for quite a
while, and I had trouble trying to develop the imagery for it. One of the
things anime can do better than prose, I guess.
Brian: Can't argue with you there!
One thing that I meant to mention in the last couple of chapters but forgot
to was that the practice of putting quotes at the beginning of chapters was
inspired by (of all things!) Jack McKinney's Robotech novels. Oh, well,
I've mentioned them now.
Brian: I always found that enjoyable.
Although I don't subscribe to any religion in particular, I do find
mythology and religion fascinating, and that's showing through,
particularly in recent chapters of Lightsphere. I'm trying to create a
belief system for the Kthulhu, and have tried to research many mythologies
and religions in the attempt - something I recommend all writers do,
because there's a reason that these stories have survived for centuries and
millennia. Elsa Bibat's "A Long Slow Walk Y2K" essay has a good section on
this. I'll also sneak in another plug for Joseph Campbell's work here,
including the "Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth" series of interviews
conducted by Bill Moyers that my university has on video, and Chris
Vogler's "The Writer's Journey", which studies how the principles of
Campbell's "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" applies to contemporary film.
One way this fascination with mythology worked its way into my
story is
the fact that the Iczers were named for mythological beings. On Earth, we
borrow many names from old (and contemporary) religions, and, given how
important Violet saw Iczer-One as being to the Kthulhu (she intended her to
be the leader and guardian of her people), I think it would be somewhat
surprising if her name did NOT reflect this.
Nami and Jalir's deaths... I don't want to kill characters for
nothing but
shock value, but neither do I want to fall into the trap of "nobody ever
dies, and everyone lives happily ever after". Let's face it, sometimes
life, fate, God, or whatever you want to call it, is cruel, and there's
nothing that can be done about it. I still try and keep a positive
worldview, though. BTW, for masterful use of character deaths to advance a
storyline, watch Yoshiyuki Tomino's works, especially the Gundam series he
directed. I'm currently trying to think of a good Gundam story to write.
All: NO GUNDAM WING!!!
Brian: Anything but that. No offense, but I'm all "Winged" out, so to speak.
Duo: HEY!
Well, that's about all. See you soon!
Yui: Okay! Ja...
Brian: Hold it!!
Nicole: What?
Brian: There's another fic to go through. It's short, I promise. <to
Catty> Roll it!!
[Iczers Athene and Tariyu teleport in]
Tariyu: Mind if we do the response for this one?
Ruri: Okay.
**5**4**3**2**1**
Brian: <is charred by several Fireballs>
Just something that popped into my head overnight. I wrote it for myself,
but decided I may as well send it to the FFML.
COMPANIONSHIP
A tale of the far future of the Lightsphere saga
By Andrew Dynon
Any and all C&C needed. MSTs appreciated.
Based on the Iczer series by Toshiki Hirano
* * * * *
Most people would call this planet uninhabitable. It is, for most races
apart from my own. It is blisteringly hot, highly radioactive, and has a
toxic atmosphere and acid seas. Strangely, there is evidence that this was
once the homeworld of another, long-dead race. I have no sympathy
whatsoever for them, whoever they were. If they turned their planet into
this, they deserved to be wiped out. And yet, with its boiling oceans and
the deep gorges where acid rivers run, it has a beauty that is completely
unique. Truth be told, I'm ecstatic that my race chose this as their
homeworld.
*Nicole: <draws on her Explorer Mission experience> Ooookkkaayyy....
*Brian: I guess beauty really is in the eye of the beholder...
Tariyu: Well, I guess humans would find it too inhospitable to see its
beauty.
Okay, so, technically, Kalra isn't the Iczer homeworld. That honor goes to
Tshela. But we left Tshela untouched in order to preserve its environment
- an old joke is that we only use it for making love to our partners on.
All our technology, infrastructure and everything else is located either in
space or on this planet.
*Nicole: Okay, now that makes sense.
"Out here again, Tariyu?" I know without looking who it is, but I feel
it's polite to stand up and turn to face her. Not that I'm in the mood to
be polite at the moment.
"Athene-oneesama." She stands, smiling, her long, thick black hair blowing
freely in the wind, contrasting with the white bodysuit she wears. When I
first met her, she told me how she was named after a warrior-goddess from
Nagisa's original homeworld. Many of my sisters are named for goddesses
and heroines of legend - I myself am named for a legendary queen from Ishua.
*Athena: Grins, that coincides with the eariler fic, at least!
Athene: Well, legends do have an attraction factor...
"How are you holding up?" She asks, concerned.
"I can handle it." I reply, somewhat defiant, not feeling nearly as strong
as I want to sound.
"Liar." Athene says in mock-scolding. Damn. I don't want to talk about
this. Even to her. I just want to think about it alone for a while.
"Let's sit down."
Her words are an invitation, but, even though I don't want to sit down and
talk to her, I feel I have to. Damn you, Athene. You really know how to
make me feel guilty, don't you?
*Yui: <grins> part of an older sister's charm.
*Athena: You? Charm? HA!
*Yui: <pulls a mallet from warpspace and bonks Athena with it> Quiet you.
Athene: Ah... the more sisters argue, the more love they have for each other.
"You know that I went through the pain you're going through." She says.
Oh, she's so sympathetic. Show me some sympathy by leaving me be, will you?
*Nicole: <Athene> Fat chance, sister.
Tariyu: I couldn't have put it better myself.
"Yeah. Centuries ago. I doubt you even remember it." I watch as anger
flashes upon her face for a moment... and then clears away.
*Brian: <wince> Wrong thing to say...
Tariyu: Well, it's hard to get her to stop harrassing me!
"I'll always remember it, Tariyu. The death of my partner, Kalyla, was...
well... the sorrow was as great as the joy I felt when I synchronised with
her. Then, she reincarnates, and grows old again, dies again, reincarnates
again... every time the pain gets worse." There is no way the pain in her
voice is anything but genuine. Maybe I was a bit too nasty with that last
comment of mine, but right now I don't care.
*Brian:<changes music to "Circle of Life">
*Nicole: <pulls rope>
*<Brian is buried under a ton of Lion King plushies>
[Osamu Tezuka's Kimba looks on, annoyed]
"So the pain from Loru dying the first time wasn't enough? Why do I have
to have it repeated over and over, just so I can synchronise? If that's
what happens, what's the point?" I yell despairingly.
*<Aerith blows in>
*Aerith: Just wait, dear. <smiles>
"Well, Tariyu..." Athene says to me in her "mentor" voice, "How did you
feel about Loru?"
*Nicole: <Throws Athene a professor's costume>
Athene [tries it on]: How do I look?
Tariyu: Like an Iczer dressed up as a professor.
"That is so obvious!" I respond derisively. "I was in love with her,
wasn't I? The same way all of us who have partners feel about them!"
"And that's the reason." Athene says, looking... well... smug. "You
loved her, so you need to feel the pain of losing her. The alternation of
love and sorrow... it's what saves us from our death wish."
*Aerith: There you go.
*<Aerith blows out>
*Nicole: What was Aerith doing here?
*Brian: I...have no idea.
"I don't have a death wish!" I fire back angrily. What the hell is she
thinking?
*All: Oh really?
There is a massive explosion off-screen. Heero Yuy is blown into the shot,
landing head first and bleeding.
Athene: He self-destructed again?
Duo: He self-destructed again.
"No, but you're only young." Athene responds, calm as ever. "But,
still... you've fought, and you've seen our sisters killed in battle,
haven't you?"
"Yeah. I've been fighting for sixty years now." Fighting for sixty years
against a powerful, implacable enemy, seeing dozens of Iczers, dozens of my
sisters, killed in many ways. Quickly and brutally, slowly and
painfully... I'm not some novice just out of her training! I know exactly
how terrible this war is, even for a race of warriors.
"It's something the shorter-lived races don't feel. When you're fighting
and killing all the time, you begin to wish to die yourself, to escape from
that life. The trinity were forbidden by their programming from
deliberately dying, but we Iczers have free will now, since we left the
Kthulhu and made our own civilisation in this galaxy. We can choose to die
if we wish. But that synchronisation, that love... it's what keeps us from
making that wish. The pain of loss is the price we pay for our desire to
live."
I don't respond. I want to, but I can't think of anything to say.
*Nicole: Neither can we...
Finally, Athene stands up.
"I'll leave you alone, now. I won't stop you from mourning her any
longer." She teleports away. But I don't want to mourn, right now. I
don't do all my mourning at once, it comes in fits and starts. Right now,
I want to shed my bodysuit and dive off the cliff into the acid ocean
below. I am an Iczer - the ocean cannot harm me, any more than it has any
other time I've done this.
*All: <wince anyway>
Tariyu: One of the fringe benefits of being an Iczer... not a lot of
things that you have to worry about being hurt by doing.
So, I strip, and dive, and feel the warmth of the ocean on my naked body.
The feeling of the ocean is relaxing to me. I can feel my body being
cleansed, and with it, the weight on my mind being melted away, at least
for the moment. I am going to synchronise with Loru again, and I'm going
to watch her grow old and die again. The pain's going to get worse, so
I'll have to learn to bear it better. But that's better than dying because
I don't give a damn any more.
*Yui: About life...or death?
Athene: Well, if you don't care about one, you don't care about the other.
END
_____________________________________________________________
Andrew Dynon
Watt-Evans' Law of Literary Creation: There is no idea so stupid or
hackneyed that a sufficiently-talented writer can't get a good story out of
it.
Feist's Corollary: There is no idea so brilliant or original that a
sufficiently-untalented writer can't screw it up.
Morrison's Corollary: There is no idea that a sufficiently-talented writer
has made into a good story that can't become annoying in the sequels.
Holliday's Corollary: There is no plot so stunningly original that a
journalist can't make it sound hackneyed.