Here comes the second part of it...


                               #Meetings#

  The girl was quietly walking down the street, returning home after school, 
with no clue on
what was about to happen. A black car was stalking her since she took her way 
home, but
had waited till she was in a proper place: deserted, isolated, on the way of 
a ramen shop. It
appeared out of nowhere, blocking the way; a huge man dressed only in black 
exited it.
  Fuu stopped. <Now what's...Keep calm, maybe they're not after me. Stay 
alert and watch
out.>
   The gorilla coughed to draw her attention. "Fuu-sama..."
  <What could they want from me...> She politely bowed. "Yes, I am."
  "...could you follow us please?"
  Fuu was puzzled. "Excuse me sir, but how do you know my name, and why I 
should accept
your offer?" All her body was ready to jump away at the first sign of danger.
  "My boss wants to talk to you" the man explained. "He also said you would 
have accepted
after reading this." And handed her a sealed letter.
  She reluctantly took it from his (four-times--than-hers-sized) hands and 
opened it: there was
a note written in trembling kanji on a blank paper. <What is going on here? A 
6-years-old
child sent me a letter?>
  "*Dear Fuu-sama, I would be really honoured of your presence in my estate; 
I would like to
discuss with you about your friend Ferio, and of Cefiro.
  You can refuse my offer, but beware, this is not a stupid joke; as a proof 
of what I'm telling
you, there is a photo of him in the letter, too.
  Nemo*"
  She and her heart throbbed. <How could this be? This is really his 
photo...This is simply
impossible!>
  The gorilla was waiting for an answer to come from the girl's astonished 
face.
  "I accept." <I'm gonna regret this...but I must find out who this *Nemo* is 
and what he
knows about my Ferio.>
  "Come inside, then" said the man letting her sit in the car.

  "I'm glad to meet you Nemo-san" Fuu said bowing. <So *you* are the 
misterious Nemo, an
European. Well, seems you are a real esibitionist if you decided to impress 
me presenting
yourself riding a...gee, that horse's really big!...No kidding, let's see if 
I can squeeze from this
guy some news about my Ferio.>
  "Me too, Fuu-sama." <I must admit, Ferio has got taste.> "Please, would you 
like to have a
ride with me?" As soon as he asked, a groom brought there a white mare of 
impressive
splendor and beauty.
  <I have no chance anyway...> "Sure" cheered the girl mounting, using some 
help. "You
wanted to talk me about something, right?" <Let's cut courtesies.> When she 
was ready, Fuu
noticed that fastened to both sadddles were a bow and a quiver with 
blue-and-green
feathered arrows.
  "Right" Nemo said spurring his huge jet-black horse to walk away; Fuu's 
mare followed at
his side. "I can understand that this could seem strange but..."
  "Why I'm here?" <Damn! He wants to irritate me! I must be more careful.>
  Nemo laughed. "My dear lady, <She wants to get to the point...and the 
quicker, the better!>
Ferio is actually in bed after the travel that brought him here."
  Fuu squezzed the reins. "Really?" She tried to plaster indifference in her 
words.
  The hidden half of Nemo's face motioned into a smile. "Seems like you don't 
care about
him that much."
  "With all respect, why I should believe you?"
  <She's testing me...smart move.> "Because of this" he simply said throwing 
her the egg-
shaped jewel.
  <This is Ferio's...no doubt. Thus he's...Wait a sec, this is all he got and 
doesn't means
nothing.>
  "I had a very good time with your *friend*, speaking of various 
topics...and the most
interesting we found was you."
  She nearly blushed. <What are you trying to do?> "And what he would have 
said about
me?"
  "Well, he said that you once traveled to a very far away place..."
  <Nearest than you could guess.>
  "...and there, you did some things for *them*."
  <Something is strange here...who's he? What he knows of me and Ferio? What 
is his aim?
Better tell him nothing, I don't trust him .> "With all respect, this story 
is far too vague to be
believed."
  <Don't play with me girl...>
  "Moreover, I don't undestand why you choose me: there are lots of girls 
with my name in all
Japan..."
  <Careful, girl...>
  "...so why you think I am the one that knows this *Ferio*?"
  "Because you accepted my invitation! Did you go mute, my poor dear?"
  She was gasping to find an excuse, a plausible one.
  "Fuu" said Nemo breaking the silence "you can go now, but rember just one 
thing: I'll always
hit the bullseye." And rose the bow, aiming at a row of targets siding the 
stables.
  The arrow stuck the outer rim of the yellow center.
  "Me too" Fuu said, with a *perfect* bullseye and a smirk clearly visible 
under her glasses.
"Farewell, Nemo-san."
  "My men will bring you home."
  When she disappeared from sight his face twisted in a grimace of 
frustration: "Shit! She has
been clever than I thought! Go, Black King" he patted the horse's neck "for 
me it's time to go
to another meeting."

  Hikaru Shidou was sitting on the rear seat of a long, black car headed for 
a very special,
and strange, appointment. She was still fidgeting with the badly-written 
letter the driver, a pal
come out of some spy story, had given her along with a photo of the Magic 
Knights, still
sobbing, in the Tower of Tokyo. <This letter only sais that someone wants to 
talk with me of
Cefiro...could be it? Could be possible that someone else knows of it?> She 
looked at the
indifferent driver. <Could it be a trap?> The thought chilled her, and more 
the thought of
other battles and other sufferings. She looked out of the side window as 
another car, much
like the one she was on, crossed them, and managed to glance who the 
passenger was: the
green-dressed Fuu.
  "Fuu..." but the cars went different ways. <I don't like that thoughtful 
expression of hers>
Hikaru frowned <What's happening here?! Why Fuu is in my same situation? 
Better if I stand
on guard.>
  The car stopped, drawing Hikaru back to reality. "Miss, you can get off" 
the driver said with
a hint of irritation.
  She promptly obeyed and stepped right in front of the stone stairs leading 
to a Shintoist
temple. <He wants to meet me here?> She wondered passing under the great red 
Tori at the
entrance; in the courtyard there was only a little, old monk sweeping away 
the fallen
autumnal leaves, even if they were in late Spring. "Sorry" Hikaru began, but 
the man
interjected, rising his head.
  "My greetings, you should be the one *he* was waiting for, right?"
  "Y-yes, I have to meet a person...did you say he was waiting for me?"
  "Sure, *he* is in that building, over there, in the kendo dojo. Make haste, 
sometimes *he* is
not a patient one."
  "Thank you" she said, leaving the monk. <Strange he wants to meet me in a 
*kendo* dojo;
this doesn't looks like a simple coincidence.> She opened the door and 
stepped inside,
leaving the shoes at the doorstep and walking on the wooden floor. The man 
she was to
meet was there, standing still in the middle of the room, turning his back to 
her, and
apparently lost in his own thoughts; "Excuse me..."
  "I heard you coming in, Hikaru" he said in a deep voice.
  <Now what's next? Should I take initiative?>
  "Don't be so shy, do as you were home" he said turning to look at her with 
a wide grin,
letting Hikaru notice that he was fully armored, save for the helmet, for a 
kendo match. "My
name is Nemo" he continued, walking toward her. <Let's begin *my* game with 
her> "I
apologize for my rather unpolite invitation, but the matters I have to 
discuss with you are
more than pressing and I..."
  "Excuse me, Nemo-san" Hikaru interjected "but what *your matters* have to 
do with
Cefiro?"
  <Yes darling, expose yourself.> "I represent what can be described as 
a...great financial
corporation; you don't need to know its name, just that its president invests 
a substantial part
of the income in various researches linked to many fields of knowledge, from 
occultism to
advanced robotics. During one of the experiments we have stumbled upon 
another world,
that further studies have identified as Cefiro."
  "So why you sought me after? Didn't you already know everything?" <Don't 
think I'm so
stupid to spill the beans in front of you.>
  "Yes, that it's true, but you have proved to know 'Cefiro' merely by coming 
here, and, more
important, we have contacted its inhabitants, and they told us to look for 
Hikaru Shidou,
Japan, Tokyo."
  "Who?" she said with surprise. <If he is not lying...>
  <Ah, ah, ah! You are mine now. Let's see if the info we had got from the 
Base was not a
simple waste of hard disk space.> "We have talked to a creature named Ferio."
  "Ferio?" she asked, relaxing a bit hearing a friend's name.
  "So you know him?" <(Smirk)>
  "Y-yes. What did he said to you?"
  "So Ferio is male? A human?"
  "Sure he is" she explained. <Now I have no reason to lie anymore.> "But you 
didn't answer
my question."
  <The classified file told us that Cefiro is ruled by a *Pillar*...let's see 
if she knows something
about it.> "Mainly, of Cefiro as a whole, of your trip there, its people, its 
*Pillar*..."
  Hikaru's eye first widened for the unexpected name <How can there still be 
a Pillar...?! And
if this...> then narrowed, guessing the real, tricky nature of that 
conversation.
  Nemo noticed her sudden change and damned himself for saying the wrong 
thing in such a
critical moment. "So, what happened to the Pillar, and what you did there?" 
he asked,
changing his tone to cold iron and picking up a bamboo sword.
  "Nothing" she replied with the same tone. "What do you want to know next?"
  Nemo smiled. "What do *you* would like to know, Hikaru?"
  "Only if we'll have to fight."
  "Perhaps" he stated, turning to face the battle ready and sword-wielding 
redhead.
  "Prepare yourself then!" she cried, jumping to his foe, trying a wild swing 
hit.
  When she landed, Nemo was still in the same place, unharmed and ready to 
face another
assault.
  "Good move, Hikaru, but not enough." He said charging her, sword held high 
over his head;
for the Magic Knight, in normal circumstances, this would have been one of 
the simplest
blows to parry, but just as she rose her sword to counterattack, Nemo 
lightning-slashed his
weapon to her ankle with a dirty move making Hikaru fell flat on her face.
  "Let me tell you just one thing: when you fight, don't take for granted 
that your enemy
follows the rules or has a code of honour."
  "And do you have one?" she said, standing up even if the ankle was hurting 
like hell.
  "Our fight is over now, you can go home. My men will take you."
  "No thanks, I prefer to go by myself." <I have other plans for you, 
I-know-everything-there-
is-to-know-san.>
  He watched her walk, unsteadly, away, and stood there until he was sure she 
was on her
way home before darting to the lockers, where he entered in kendo outfits and 
59 seconds
after he exited resembling a perfect manager, complete with briefcase and 
cell phone.
  "Now who's next..." he murmured taking a notepad from his pocket his way 
down the stairs.
"Our dear Umi Ryuuzaki..." he opened the door of another big black car and 
sitted. "We can
go" he said to the driver. "How much it'll take?"
  "No more than thirty minutes, sir."
  <Perfect, I have time to read something.> As the car began to move, he 
opened his
briefcase and took a couple of magazines, those of the weird-scandalistic 
type that reported
every day UFO sightings, sea monsters, mutants and all the likely stuff. Many 
believe this
are only a waste of paper and money, but Nemo seemed totally absorbed in it 
and before
making any comments he raised the dark glasspane between himself and the 
driver.
  "Well!" he flashed at the first glance of the cover. "What we have 
today...the usual thing
about *Flying people over Nerima*...I already know about it...*Tokyo Tower 
going
hyperdrive*, I know it even too well...mhmhmh (little frown) I'll have to 
check this *Frog Men
in Tokyo bay*..." He then smiled a the sight of a photo depicting a strange 
winged humanoid
creature, or better, its shadowy frame, perched on a skyscraper. "Mr. Xanatos 
never gives up
old habits...by the way, if I'm not wrong I should meet David next week to 
discuss about
some...stonemansonry problems in Manhattan. What we have next..." he chuckled 
turning
the page, and stopped laughing. "*UFO sighted over Shikoku*!!" He hastily 
plunged into his
briefcase until he found a magnifying lens, then put it on the photo, nearly 
consuming it with
his eye-popping gaze. "This is not one of ours...heck! It's that
braindead...Mahoshi...Mehoshi...Mihoshi or whatever-her-name-is sent by the 
Galaxi Police.
If she goes on with this careless flying I'll have to fix an appointment, but 
I don't want to meet
a person that has less brain than a crab, and spend three hours just to make 
clear that my
name is Nemo and hers is Mihoshi!"

  The car stopped in front of a skyscraper of Tokyo's downtown and Nemo 
walked right into it
looking like the boss (that effectively he was), greeted here and there by 
others or blocked by
a last minute question from some of the lead managers of some important 
ongoing project;
after literally cutting his way throught waves of people and many floors, 
either by feet or
using the crowded elevators, he got to his office in the 'penthouse'.
  "Good day, Mr. Nemo" said the secretary, a blonde, eye-glassed woman in her 
late
twenties, when he entered the anteroom.
  "Good day" he replied. "Did my guest arrived?"
  "Yes, she's waiting you in the office."

  Meanwhile, a faint noise was coming from the trunk of the car Nemo had just 
used to get
there.
  "*Mmppff*"
  The driver started and stopped reading his paper. <What the hell was that?> 
he wondered
looking around for a clue.
  "*Mmmpppfff*"
  <Again?> He threw the paper on the seat and moved with circumspection all 
around the
car.
  "*MMMPPPFFF!!!*" This time the car itself jolted; and the driver too.
  "Holy Heaven! What's going on here?" Working for that Nemo bloke sometimes 
brought
you to strange places where weird things happened, but this was far too much 
for the usual
day-to-day business. "Who's there?" he asked, a faint tremble in his voice.
  A female voice answered from the trunk: "Please, sir, help me out of here! 
I'm locked
inside!"
  After reaching gropingly for the keys, the driver cautiously opened the 
boot from far as he
could, outstretching his arm up to the unlikely to avoid anything nasty that 
could have been
trapped in there; legend said that Nemo's previous personal driver had been 
eaten by
something hidden in the engine.
  "Oh, at last" a redhead said, able to see again. "I'm all a bruise." When 
she managed to
crawl out, Hikaru was left breathless at the sight of the impressing 
structure of glass and steel
overlooking her and all the busy people entering and exiting the building in 
a stream of work,
like black ants coming and going from their lair to feed their queen. A faint 
squeak made her
notice the grey-dressed man curled up some feet away from the car, arms risen 
to protect
the face.
  "Excuse me, sir" Hikaru said puzzled. The driver twitched and opened an 
eye, then,
realizing there was nothing around that could eat him he blushed and tried to 
assume a
decent look tidying his jacket and asking the girl with all his politeness: 
"Did you was locked
inside the trunk, young lady?"
  Surprised by the sudden change Hikaru grew a bead on her head and smiled: 
"Yes." <I'm
lucky he's not the same man that brought me to the temple.>
  "I'm sorry it happened, but why you was there?"
  Shifting to hyper-kawaii-mode with watery eyes: "Well...I was happily 
walking around when I
saw your car; it was soooo beautiful that I got nearer to watch it better, 
but when I pulled that"
she sniffed like she was going to cry, pointing the trunk "it opened, and I 
fell inside it, and
it...it" more sniffs "it closed me inside, where it was dark and I could not 
breathe!
Puuuuuleeeezeeeee mister, don't tell this to my mom!"
  "Don't worry, child, it is all right. <Man, sure she's still at elementary 
school, but she's a
brat.> Girl, do you want I take you home?"
  "No sir, thank you" Hikaru flashed. "I can go home by my own!" And skipped 
away, turning
as soon as she can in an alleyway, returning to her normal behaviour and 
hiding from the
driver's sight. <Perfect! Now I know where you are. Let's see who's the 
smart.>

  The door opened, at last; she was fed up to wait for this 'Nemo', or 
whaterever, that *wanted
to see her to talk a very pressing problem about Cefiro*. When she got there, 
she couldn't
believe an office could be like *that*! It was like a little, western-style, 
home, complete with a
bathroom (a big one, she had been allowed to use it), another door probably 
leading to a
bedroom and a lot of furniture; all, from floor to ceiling was either of 
glass, jet black or
shades of blue ranging from moonless night to a watery turquoise. There was 
even a pair of
fencers fastened to a wall.
  But she had waited too long, and this businessman would have to face the 
rage of a pissed
Umi Ryuuzaki.
  Nemo opened the door. <Here's our last chance to know something more about 
this
*Cefiro* place. The other two girls were too cautious in their answers, and 
only Hikaru
partially fell in my traps; the other was too cold and scheming, nearly 
dangeorous. But this
one...she's my ace-in-the-sleeve.> "Good day, young lady" he said, trying to 
look as pleasant
as possible. "I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner, but I have been blocked by 
a serious
setback."
  <Oh, I don't want your excuses! It's better if you don't play me fool, or 
you'll learn how to
treat a girl! The hard way!> "It's a pleasure to meet you, Nemo-san" she said 
rising from her
seat and bowing.
  "Sit, please, sit" he said reaching for his chair, on the other side of the 
cobalt desk.
  "Give me an explanation for all this" Umi said risolutely. "*Now.*"
  <Right into the pit...> "My lady, don't be so rude, there's no need of it."
  "No, you didn't undestood me well: spill everything!"
  <With a boulder tied to the neck...> "Really I was hoping to hear something 
from *you*,
that's the point."
  "What do you mean?"
  "I mean that I, as responsible of a scientific project, want to know more 
of Cefiro before
letting anyone go there."
  "*GO THERE!?!?* Why you should?"
  "I am not the head of the company, I'm only carrying out orders given to 
me, and orders
were to send people there. But from your answer, I guess that you know that 
place and
possibly...has been there, too?"
  "I... <Stop Umi! This is a secret, and you should keep it.> ...don't know 
nothing about it."
  <How pathetic!> Nemo's eyes narrowed like a predator's ready for the kill. 
"What would you
say if the Pillar..."
  "The *Pillar*!? But there shouldn't..."
  "Go on." This time words came out like grenade sharpnel.
  <Uh-oh, I made a wrong step. Don't worry, I can get out of it easily, I 
just need to deny the
evidence.> "...but there shouldn't be...those sales in the shop over the 
street!"
  Nemo slid from his chair in astonishment. "There are no sales!" he roared 
getting up.
  "Sorry, I mistaken."
  <Grrrrr...> "Ferio." The sharpnel sunk in the flesh.
  "What you did to Ferio!?"
  "Nothing" <All depends on you, my dear Umi.> he said, walking slowly to the 
fencers' rack.
  "I warn you" barked Umi, rising from her chair and facing him "if you even 
*try* to touch his
hair, you'll face my wrath!"
  "So" Nemo said, preparing to get out of her reach if need would arise "you 
work for the
Pillar!"
  "No" she cried. "The is no more a Pillar on Cefiro, the last died by our 
hands!"
  "You, Hikaru and Fuu, right?"
  "Yes!" She took a sword from the rack and shifted to a fighting stance. 
"But don't think we
did it on purpose, or happily, because we Magic Knights were summoned there 
to *save*
Cefiro, and the only way we could was to *kill* the Pillar." Her eyes felt 
the tickling presence
of rising tears.
  "The Magic Knights fight for Cefiro?" He took a fencer, too. <Gee, I don't 
use one of this
from my training sessions with Oscar! If I'm not careful with this girl I 
could end like a skewer
this time.>
  Instead of answering, Umi began her attack with a lunge.
  "Could you fight against Earth?" Went on Nemo, jumping back to avoid the 
sharp point.
  Tears flowed. <How can he say so?> The attacks continued, gaining speed and 
precision.
  "Answer me!" He badly parred, the fencer whizzing past his arm. "*Could you 
kill?*"
  The last question had a devastating effect on her, breaking the last 
restraints she was
uncounsciously keeping up. <What is he saying? I'm not a murderer! We do not 
kill for sport!
We *do not* want! He doesn't know nothing of us, how could he *judge* us!? 
What gives him
the right? Cefiro is a peaceful planet, and wanted nothing from Earth but 
help.>
  As these rushed inside Umi's heart, matched outside her by a stream of 
crystalline tears,
her latent magical energies, forgotten since she was back from Cefiro, were 
summoned
again, building up in a burst of her blue aura; with a battlecry half chocked 
by a sob she
threw back her fencer and lounged, the powers of water enveloping the blade 
in a whirpool of
azure magic.
  Nemo had just the time to *swerve* the blow, too fast to be dodged and too 
accurate to be
countered, managing to receive a scratch on his left arm, instead of a fatal 
hit at the heart.
He was still recovering from the sudden pain, when he heard Umi sob; she was 
staring at her
sword with deep amazement and terror depicted in her eyes, trembling at the 
sight of blood
slowly oozing down the edge of the fencer. Then she finally broke out in a 
loud cry, throwing
her sword to the ground and hiding her face between her hands before running 
out of the
office.
  "What I... <was going to make?>" Nemo heard Umi sob as she passed next to 
him.
  He checked his wound; it was *already* healing, but not fast as it should. 
He had clearly
seen the aura enveloping her, and recognized its magical nature, completely 
different from a
martial artist's one, which he knew well. She had charged the sword itself 
with mana, and that
proved her magical talent and powers to be of the highest grade, and, most 
important,
proved her to be *used* to. He was still puzzled by her reaction at the 
wounding.
  <Her eyes were so frightened...Oh, forget it! I got what I needed; now, to 
the Tower!>

                          #Knights on the move#

  Down in the street, Hikaru was making up her mind: Nemo was in the 
building, but she
would not dare getting inside, as it would be impossible to find him without 
evading security,
and even if she would be able to pass past them, there were perhaps a 
hundreds of offices
inside there, and she had not the time to try them all; the other chance was 
to wait for Nemo
to come out and follow him again, either using the *trunk tactic* again <It 
worked once, why
not twice?> or any other method she could find. There was still the problem 
she didn't know
*when* he could have come out, but that was the least important, as she 
wanted to discover
who he was and what he did to Fuu, and would not give up the chase now; 
anyway, there
were sales at a cute shop right in front of the building, so she could spend 
a little time there
still keeping an eye on the gates.
  Someone run out in the street, her eyes red and her cheeks streaked with 
tears. "Umi?! You
too?" She wanted to call her friend, but she was walking right in front of 
Nemo's pesonal
driver, so she had to keep hidden and watch Umi disappear in the crowd.
  "Nemo, you'll pay for everything!" Hikaru sweared, her red aura flaring for 
an instant around
her clenched fist.
  But something else was to get her attention moments after: Nemo was exiting 
the
compound. Her gaze fixed on him, Hikaru began to walk toward him, doing her 
best to
remain hidden, often turning 180 degrees or crouching behind people. Peeping 
throught a
car's windows, she watched as Nemo reached the driver and talked a while with 
him, her
face melting in a satisfacted smile when he strolled away from the car 
towards a subway
station.
  <That's my lucky day!> Hikaru cheered, darting at safe distance behind him. 
Shadowing
was not her specialty, but she had seen a couple of spy movies, and that Nemo 
punk could
have been a very misterious man, but away from the scenery and the special 
effects, he was
not clever than everyone else, and she could say he was even a little dumb 
not to realize he
was being followed so clumsily.
  When she finally returned to the surface world, the sun blinded her for an 
instant, obscuring
the sight of the massive, red-and-white-striped body of the Tower. <How comes 
that I'm not
surprised a bit?> she thought as soon as her eyes worked again. <Where's 
him?> She
scanned the place, all her senses pointing his little figure, already far 
away from her, going to
one of the Tower's concrete bases; without hesitation, she sped up, even if 
that meant
crossing directly the park in front of the Tower with the risk of being seen, 
ruining all her
work, until he entered a little green-painted metal door cut in the concrete 
with the
*MAINTENANCE* sign labeled in red. When she arrived there, she cautiously 
approached it,
fearing someone could see her or Nemo could come out, and tried to open it, 
as there were
no ventilation holes or the like in it to peek, but found it locked.
  "Damn! I've lost him!"
  But in that very instant a strange sound came from inside the concrete 
walls, like an
approaching metallic moan rising from underground, amplified by some 
subterranean cavity,
that faintly shook the ground and stopped a few second later. The door 
clicked and opened
squeaking.
  There was nothing inside the little and dusty room aside spiders and tools.
  "Things are gettin' pretty strange around here."

  Sixty feet below ground, the elevator opened and Nemo stepped in the 
dirty-white, slightly
hexagonal corridor, floodlighted and lined at regular intervals by steel 
doors or connecting
alleyways. To the unaccustomed observer, the whole effect of that deformed 
architecture
and unnatural, sickly pale light could be felt as weird and disturbing, but 
the only thing that
Nemo, used to live in such (and for that matter worse) places, wasn't able to 
stand in that
maze of underground, claustrophobic tunnels was the presence of the alien 
Lead Scientist.
  "Come down" Nemo said to the black mass hanging from the ceiling.
  "Sir" the LS gargled after landing near him with a loud *thud* "all 
proceeds well; we'll be
able to repeat the test as scheduled."
  "Perfect" <At least he brings me good news.>
  "Excuse me, sir" the creature continued "what did you got from the girls?" 
He was watching
the cut sleeve.
  "Some very interesting things" he said beginning to walk. "Come, I'll fill 
you in."

  "Hikaru, it's very late, where did you have been?" asked Masaru as soon as 
her sister
opened the door; she blushed of shame seeing his worried face.
  "I'm sorry, but I had to...well..." she began to fidget looking for a 
plausible excuse.
  "That doesn't matters" said at last her brother, understanding her 
embarass. "I'm just
relieved nothing happened to you, but" he put a hand on her head ruffling her 
hair "don't do it
again, or you'll kill us of heartache."
  "All right" she said, watching her brother going into the other room to 
tell Kakeru and Satoru
Hikaru was home, and consequently hear the same things Mamoru said twice 
again. <I'm
sorry brothers, but I had to.>
  Several minutes later, Hikaru finally put down the phone, panting: "It's 
over!" A smile
crossed her face. <Nemo, now it's *our* time to come after you!>

  Next day, Fuu was waiting for her friends in the park beneath Tokyo Tower; 
the weather
was sunny, with spare clouds crossing the sky here and there, and warm. And 
all that was
there, and still wan not there, at least not for her. From his meeting with 
the horse-man, she
had not been able to think clearly, and the situation got worse when Hikaru 
phoned her to
arrange the rendezvous; usually, *she* was the calculative girl, ready with a 
tactic to
outsmart the enemy, or at least she always thought her to be, and now, after 
a chat with a
stranger *pretending* to have Ferio in his hands, she was having trouble 
getting dressed, or
finding the right way for the Tower, while her friend Hikaru had followed 
Nemo all the way,
discovered he talked with all three, and prepared the counterattack.
  She shivered for a sudden gust of wind and turned to watch the Tower, and 
all that it
represented for the Magic Knights. Bad things <Emeraude's and Eagle's 
sacrifice, scars that
will never heal> and good things <Ferio>. Yes, Ferio; from their departure 
from Cefiro she
had dreamed more than once the sweet guy that took a lot of pleasure 
upsetting her, knowing
well she was not going to see him again.
  In reality, nothing blocked them to go to Cefiro again, as their wills had 
already proved to be
able to accomplish it, but even if she knew well she wasn't the only Knight 
that left her loved
one on Cefiro, they never talked of it, perhaps fearing that changing 
dimensions could bring
a new threat for that already troubled planet. So her Ferio was only a 
distant image, that now
had surfaced again, obscuring everything else in the world.
  "Hi Fuu!" Hikaru cheered putting a hand on her friend's shoulder.
  "How are you?" asked Umi.
  "Fine thanks, and you?" Fuu said, remembering her usual politeness.
  The three Knights hugged and sitted on a nearby park bench.
  "Well, Hikaru, why did you wanted to meet us?" Umi said.
  "You know" the redhead began "that a strange man named Nemo had invited 
every one of
us to a *chat*, I told you this yesterday to the phone."
  Fuu darkened, Umi clenched her fist.
  "Yes, I can understand you" Hikaru said. "But if I hadn't the chance of 
glancing Fuu on one
of his cars, and you running out of the office building, we would have never 
been able to
realize what is going on."
  "Good question" interjected the blue-haired girl. "*What in the world is 
going on?*"
  "We're trying to figure it out!" barked Fuu, losing for a sec her self 
control. The other two
watched her like she had just grown horns.
  "Anyway" Hikaru broke the sudden silence "the first thing to discover are 
this man's plans.
When he talked to me, he wanted to know about Cefiro."
  "The same for me!" the other two said at once.
  "This is interesting" Fuu stated, managing to clean her mind from the image 
of Ferio. "If the
only thing he asked us about was Cefiro, this means for sure he knows 
something of the
other dimension; the question is, how much does he already knows, and how 
much
informations we gave him?" She turned to Hikaru.
  "Only admitted I had been there and knew Ferio."
  <Then Ferio *is* in their hands.> "And you, Umi?"
  All that came from her was a deep blush.
  "So?" asked Hikaru. "Did you spilled the beans?"
  "No...just told him...well you know..." her voice was not louder than a 
whisper. "Something
about the Pillar and us Magic Knights."
  "Fantastic!" commented Fuu, without her usual humour.
  "Don't be so rude with her" Hikaru said. "You too had talked to him, and 
surely had noticed
his tricky speech. By the way, what did *you* told him?"
  "Nothing" she replied sharply. "Absolutely nothing, but right now our 
problems are not over
yet."

                         #The second experiment#

  Under the asphalt, under the subway tunnels, under the sewage system, a 
gigantic concrete
room was lighted by the blue shimmer of a forming storm of blue plasma inside 
a metallic
cylinder. From their safe position, Nemo and the Lead Scientist were watching 
over the
monitoring computers.
  "I hope, for our mutual benefit" Nemo said without watching directly the 
alien at his side
"that this time all will work the way we want."
  "Don't worry, sir, nothing could take us by surprise now; the medical squad 
is ready and in
daylight the accumulated energy is nearly invisible." With the last words, he 
misted up the
glass.
  A voice shouted from behind: "Full grid power, sir! Waiting for your 
order!"
  "NOW!!!"

  "Let's sum up what we have" stated Hikaru, rising from the bench and 
turning to the other
Knights. "Someone named Nemo, the only sure thing about him seeming to be the 
name,
had been asking us about Cefiro and Ferio we-don't-know-why; Fuu, you've said 
that in your
opinion he knew nothing of Cefiro, right?"
  "I said so."
  "Then, we can suppose that all informations he has comes from us. Next 
step, *what* we
passed to him: that us three are called Magic Knights and have been to Cefiro 
on order of
the Pillar, and that we...*you know the story* and that we personally know 
Ferio. If this is all
he has, he is still in the dark."
  "This doesn't means he is not dangerous" Umi said.
  "Umi's right" Fuu interjected. "Why he looks for Cefiro is still a mistery, 
and who knows if
Nemo-san's an enemy or an ally."
  "But, Hikaru" Umi rose, too "didn't you said you follow him, did you?"
  "Yes" she admitted "but only up to that storage room in the basement of the 
Tower." She
pointed at it, a little green spot against grey. "But now all the area near 
the Tower has been
cordoned off for maintenance works."

  Someone walked over the great balcony overlooking the rocky lanscape, 
dotted with
patches of green grasslands and villages around the castle; the sky was clear 
and all felt
peaceful and quiet.
  <Cefiro is recovering well from the war> Presea thought leaning to the 
marble railing.
<Alas, seems it's not over yet. Maybe it has something to do with *destiny*.> 
She discarded
the last sentence with a wave of her hand and simply stood there ejoying the 
warm breeze
suddenly blowing on her face, not caring a bit about all Clef had said about 
exposing too
much or being in constant contact with him.

  "What's the matter, Fuu?" Umi asked as her friend literally froze, her 
amazed sight fixed on
the Tower. Getting no answer back, she followed her eyes and what she saw 
left her
breathless. "Hikaru...do you see..." she managed to stammer.
  "Y-yes" but she was not yet sure; they should be used to strange things, 
but usually *that*
kind of things happened on Cefiro, not in Tokyo!
  The Tower was glowing; faintly, but they could still see a dwindling blue 
aura against the sky
dancing, nearly crawling towards the television antennas on the top. There it 
stood, growing
larger with time, shaping into a perfect pulsating sphere before fading into 
nothingness in a
matter of seconds.
  Hikaru was the first to make up her mind. "Magic Knights, I think 
everything's gettin' a bit
more complex than we thought."
  Umi and Fuu nodded.
  "And" the redhead continued glancing at the far away green spot "I know 
where we'll begin
our search."

  "All is normal sir. Energy safety locks disabled" a voice cried from the 
computers' pit.
  "Here's the *truth moment*" Nemo said under his breath. <I can't believe 
I'm hoping that
junk will mess up dimensions again.>
  "Parameters changing, sir!"
  "Execute the auxiliary program" ordered the Lead Scientist with a high 
pitched hiss and a
tail slap. Then, to Nemo: "Now we'll get all we want about the other plane of 
existence and
everything will be over."
  "Good." But his voice hinted at what he was thinking <I've got a bad 
feeling.>

  "Sir, I'm getting troubles with the radar sir!" Echoed one of the many 
operators' voice on the
main deck of the NSX.
  "What's the matter?" asked Geo, frowning.
  "The thing's kinda weird, sir. I've got phantom images, static, the whole 
enchilada!"
  The captain's eyes narrowed as he understood what that meant. "Zazu!" he 
shouted, turning
with his forefinger outstrectched and resolution on his features to his 
friend's place on the
deck; when he shifted his focus from the finger to the empty spot where Zazu 
should have
been, a drop of sweat slid right between his widened eyes and his jaw dropped 
with a metallic
*clang*, exposing all 32 teeth and a good portion of his windpipe; a fragment 
of time after the
raging roar *"Where the heck are you!!!!"* could be heard in the whole ship, 
and a couple of
farmers on the surface of the planet rose their heads looking for approaching 
stormy clouds.
  "Hey, Geo, down here" quietly replied a voice from below the Geo's arm. 
"Don't screw up,
captain. Put back in place your jaw and pick up your eyeballs, everything's 
under control."
Not caring if his friend was putting his pieces together (he was), Zazu faced 
the operators
and began to shout orders to prepare the ship for the task; the NSX was going 
to be turned
into a giant geostationary lab.

  The very fabric of universe *twisted* and *teared*. With the naked eye was 
nearly
impossible to detect the deformations against the black of space, if not from 
the blurring
effect they had on the images of the stars and galaxies, but with the NSX's 
devices,
everything was clear as daylight; alas, that was all they could do: watch. 
The mathematical
data taken from the scanners was turned into geometrical representations of 
the *tunnel* or
*hole* that was appearing again over Cefiro.
  "Is it?" asked Geo, back to normality.
  "Yes, perfectly the same" said Zazu without turning his attention from the 
monitors. "Too
perfect to be a natural phoenomenon, I fear."
  "Then, what's next?"
  The whirling dimensional tornado was reaching its peak activity, as 
indicated by the many
computers aboard the ship, but it was clear even without the help of 
Autozam's technologies:
the whole juggernaut was glowing softly, shaping into a vortex of 
unconceivable lenght, a
whirling nightmare sinking its roots in the farthest reaches of their known 
universe, fueled by
unknown forces, ready for another strike on Cefiro; the last act came as it 
came before, a
deadly ray of unbearable brightness shot from the black hole to the surface, 
that sucked
everything in its path.
  All faces went up, or down, beholding the fate falling from the Heavens, 
admitting a Heaven
could unleash such a power on a planet like Cefiro; Geo and Zazu blocked on 
the deck,
impotent on their ship; Clef frozen on the throne room, suddenly pale from 
the shock; Lantis
in the gardens, surprise and anger surfacing in him. All looking at the beam 
striking the
castle, smashing into the shield Clef had risen to protect it and the nearby 
fields; but it didn't
last for long, the amount of energy being too much even for Clef's magic, and 
the castle was
soon engulfed in a cloud of plastery dust.

  Back on Earth, the whole underground lab was overexcited.
  "Sir, another object inside the tunnel."
  "Scan it"ordered the Lead Scientist. "Look like we got another specimen" he 
whispered to
Nemo.
  "Yes" he replied. "This is *not* a good thing."
  "I understand sir but..."
  "Scan complete" shouted someone. "Results are: human, female."
  Nemo's "Prepare the medical team!" echoed in the room as the body raced 
trought
dimensions towards Earth.

  In another sector of the underworld under Tokyo Tower someone was woken 
from his sleep
by a sudden tremble, something that made the devices around him shake and his 
hair stand
up. He sat on his bed, still wondering on what *really* woke him, because he 
had felt
something more inside the quake, a wave of energy of a nature he could not 
identify with
accuracy, but reminded him of some *scientific test* the NSX did on Cefiro. 
Still, that one
had instilled in Ferio a strange sense of danger, a prescience of the future 
that descended
over him like a giant black spirit beast.
  <Fuu may be in danger> he realized, his limbs chilling. <I must get out of 
here *now*> he
swore looking at the locked door, a plan making his way in his mind.

  Somewhere just outside the Solar System, a great black shape was moving. It 
was not a
comet, yet it pulsated with hidden power; it was not a beast, yet it was 
moved by an
intelligence; it was not a ship, yet it was made of steel and wires. What it 
was, only few
people actually knew; among them one was human, and had a deep terror of it, 
the other, its
commander, was nothing more than a blurred shadow, and in that device it 
found the source
of its immense powers.
  A voice squeaked in a dimly lit cavity in a language no human could even 
speak:
"Commander, we are approaching to the Sol System."
  "Fine" replied a croaking shape. "Trace the course and prepare the ship for 
our arrival."
  "Doing, Commander!"
  "I'll personally see that Superintendent Nemo will have a plausible excuse 
to give me
before I'll judge him."
  The creature laughed, if that murmuring sound of boiling engine grease 
could be called a
laugh.

  The door opened, flooding her little white room with blinding light. She 
moaned faintly, her
eyes hurted.
  "Excuse me, lady" said a male voice a second before the door closed, 
returning the room to
the more confortable shades.
  She tried to crawl sit, against the torpor and the many tubes sticking into 
of her wrist, to
meet the man standing before her bed, shrouded in a white cloak, his figure 
enveloped in a
nearly visible gleam emanating from the golden pieces of armor protecting his 
shoulders and
chest.
  "I'm glad you're awake now."
  "Who are you?" she forced out of her voice.
  "I'm Nemo" he said in a brisk yet gentle tone. "Now I would like to know 
about yours."
  "Presea."
  "Good, Presea."
  "Where...am I?"
  "I will be plain simple with you, Presea. We brought you to Earth, by 
accident."
  "I...understand." Then, something flashed in her eyes: "Where's Ferio?"
  Nemo had the urge to turn to the hidden camera from where the Lead 
Scientist and a
couple of doctors were watching them to show not sedating her had been *his* 
good idea.
"You're smart" he admitted "but you are not in the condition to ask too many 
questions."
  "So you'll not answer?"
  "You just need to know that Ferio is here, under our care, and is well; 
just like you."
  "I'm ain't feeling *that* well" she remarked, remembering her body was 
still like a torn piece
of paper.
  "I can understand how you feel, Ferio too was not in a good shape when we 
*borrowed*
him; and according to the doctors, you're worse."
  "What do you mean with *borrowed*?" If her body was still like a wreck, her 
wit was getting
better with the conversation.
  "I mean we'll send him back in one piece, like we'll do for you, when 
you'll be better."
  "So you tried to kill me once, and want to do it twice?"
  "Understand me, lady" he said opening his arms in excuse. "If you want to 
go back home,
and *you'll go*, you must make some sacrifices, don't you?"
  But she wasn't so sure and her expression made it clear. "Maybe if we wait 
a bit *someone
will come* to take me home."
  Nemo's face and thoughts froze at those words. <...*somebody will come*...> 
"Miss" he said
shifting to a colder tone "I have to leave. Please stay quiet and take all 
the rest you need."
And turned without stopping to listen a reply from her.
  As soon as the door closed, he faced the Lead Scientist with an iron 
glance: "I think we
could have an additional problem."
  "I'll personally make all necessary steps."
  "It'll be better for you."

Here it ends...