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"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.
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.
"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.
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?}
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"
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.
* * * * *
"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.
"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
* * * * *
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.
In her arms, she cradled the limp, still-naked body of her beloved Nagisa.
The poor girl, she had undergone such sickening torture at the hands of
the Rhadam, and now her body and mind were paying the price for it. Sheer
desperation had enabled her to make her escape, but shortly afterward, she
had collapsed. She was in shock, and Iczer-1 knew that the slightest
disturbance could have at best horrific, and likely deadly, consequences.
The translucent sphere in the center of the room split neatly in half, and
Iczer-1 carried Nagisa inside and allowed it to close around them.
Somehow, it seemed to be larger inside than out. Iczer-1 laid Nagisa's
unconscious body down, and it naturally curled into a foetal position.
Gently, the blonde android repeatedly ran her fingers through the girl's
wet, dark green hair, whispering what was almost a mantra in her ear.
"Nagisa, you're all right. It's over."
"Nagisa, you're all right. It's over."
"Nagisa, you're all right. It's over."
* * * * *
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.
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?"
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!"
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.
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^�
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."
"Who are you?"
"I'd hoped you'd recognise me. Well, my name used to be Tabris, but now
it's Kaworu."
"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."
A sudden wave of worry ran through Nagisa's being. "Am I dead? I can't
be! Iczer-One needs me!"
"No, you're not dead. Just in shock. You'll recover soon. But before
that, you need to meet someone." He held her hand, and flew towards a
rainbow-colored portal which appeared a short distance ahead of them.
* * * * *
While Nagisa's body lay unconscious, the pod she was inside began to glow
with soft blue light, and the air around her began to cool rapidly.
Unbeknownst to Nagisa, words appeared on a screen outside the pot.
[Body confirmed compatible]
[Mental scan complete]
[Commencing transfer process]
* * * * *
Ivory fired the Zeta Custom's thrusters, and flew through the next wave of
Spider-Crabs, powerful beams of pale blue energy from the mecha's hand
killing many of them. The Rhadam mothership was almost within firing range
now, and as she approached, she focused her targeting device on the
sickly-looking organic vessel's spine-like hull. She fired as soon as she
entered effective range, energy pulsing again from the Zeta Custom's
outstretched arm, and tearing along the Rhadam ship's hull. Ivory shot
past the vessel, strafing all the way, and then turned around to prepare
for another pass.
"Only minor hull damage? That's a well-armored ship." She said to
herself. A tekno bolt shot toward her, only to be blocked by the Delos'
force field, and Ivory activated one of the Rion Lancer's energy blades,
instantly vaporising the Teknoman as it struck. Receiving a telepathic
warning from Cyan, she took cover behind the Rhadam ship as the /Seriphos/
launched a volley of fire, unfortunately only managing to graze it. Then,
she saw the hull in front of her open like a snake's mouth, and she felt a
wave of pain inside her head.
"A Tekno Mega? Kuso..."
Ivory had seen reports about, but never encountered, these. While normal
Teknomen retained some semblance of their identities, however twisted it
may have been, if the Kthulhu's theories were correct then these were the
result of an even more terrible process. The theory was that the creation
of a Tekno Mega required a large number of victims, at least ten and often
more, whose minds were split in a sort of psychic fission in the pods and
the resulting energy used to form its massive body. The only thing that
remained of the victims' former selves was the psychic agony the new
creature wielded along with its physical weaponry. As Ivory shielded her
mind, she was thankful for the psionic training all Kthulhu received from
childhood. She fired a burst of energy from her mecha's arm, but the
creature, with unnatural speed for its size, dodged aside, and flew at her.
* * * * *
"It's been a long time. Too long, for you. Am I right?"
Nagisa Kai instantly recognised the girl of her age who stood in front of
her as her grandmother, and ran to embrace her.
"Oh, grandmother! I missed you so much when you died! Did you know?"
"Of course. I remember how you stayed up crying every night for more than
a week. I wanted to come and comfort you, but you needed to learn how to
deal with what had happened on your own. As all mortals do."
"I wasn't alone." The younger Nagisa said. "Mizuki-neesan helped me.
And so did my parents, and my cousins. But now, everything's different.
My parents died, and Mizuki and my cousins left on that ship..." she broke
off, trying to fight the tears welling in her eyes.
"Let the tears come, Nagisa. It helps." The elder Nagisa said. "And
you're right on both counts. You know that my life changed just as much at
your age."
"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.
"You're from the legend! Latshen of the Sunlight!"
Latshen smiled, but Nagisa detected a hint of sadness behind it as she
spoke. "And the story is still known by the Kthulhu in the present age."
"It's true?"
"Metaphorically, yes. Literally, even I can't say. It's hard to explain,
but I'm a manifestation of the ideals Latshen represents. Of course, the
Kthulhu have lost their sun's light in a different way, now, and I can't
bring it back this time. I can only hope they understand the deeper
meanings of the story, rather than the words that are written down." She
shook her head. "I've seen too many people from too many worlds take what
their religion says too literally. But that's another matter. As for the
reason I came to speak to you..." She paused briefly, as if trying to
figure out what words to express her thoughts with.
"Along with others, you now hold the hope of the Kthulhu. It is your
responsibility to do your utmost to protect them and other races from the
current threat. And, while I cannot guarantee that the Kthulhu will
succeed, or that you yourself will survive, I can promise that we shall try
to help anyone who does their utmost.
"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."
Nagisa hesitated. To be completely defenseless against anyone and
anything that wished to invade her mind, take what they wanted from it,
manipulate it for their own purposes? Even here, she felt unsafe doing it.
Not just unsafe, afraid. Very afraid. Raura's fears, for the same
reasons, served to redouble her own. She shook her head and involuntarily
backed away a couple of paces.
Then, she felt her grandmother's arms around her shoulders.
"Nagisa, don't be scared. If I believed anyone was even possibly going to
do anything harmful to you, I would not have permitted this."
"I believe you. But... this way, I'm relying on other people, again,
aren't I? Like I've been doing too much."
Kaworu looked her in the eye. "You proved you were worthy of it, when you
brok free of the mind control. And we do this only because you're likely
to face something that is out of your depth. If you could do it by
yourself, we wouldn't be helping you."
Nagisa stared into the eyes of her grandparents, silently, as if in deep
thought. Finally, she spoke.
"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.}
{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.
{They just don't give us a break, do they?} Interjected Tina. She tried
to manuver behind the Teknoman she was fighting, but the Teknoman spun to
face her and she was forced back onto the defensive.
{Just keep trying, Kiiro!} Nami sent. {You're handling him so far!} She
turned to concentrate on her own battle. The Teknoman she was fighting
flew at her, her teklance spinning like a metallic whirlwind. Nami set
herself, waiting for the attack, and, with her enemy nearly upon her,
ducked underneath, using one of her beam swords to deflect the teklance.
The beam sword sheared through the lance, sending one end of it flying
through space, while Nami brought her second blade up to stab through the
Teknoman's armpit and. The blade emerged through the top of the Teknoman's
shoulder, and she screamed in pain and rage. Nami ran her through with
another beam-sword thrust, then turned and headed for the ship. Nearby,
Jalir fired an energy blast through her enemy's torso, and did the same.
*
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.
"Amber, take command - contingency plan delta. I'm going out."
"Understood."
Cyan's Iczel appeared beside her, and she prepared for the rush of energy
through her body as she transformed.
"CHARGING!!!!!"
*
The Delos Zeta Custom dodged and twisted, trying to evade the barrage of
energy the Teknos Mega was letting loose, attempting to incinerate it. One
of the energy blasts struck the mecha's hip and, in the cockpit, Ivory felt
the mecha vibrate. The mecha's AI, however, reported no internal damage.
{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.
{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.
"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."
"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.
"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.
"Jalir, why do you serve the Kthulhu? Why do you further the aims of
those who let me die?"
Jalir stared in disbelief at the image of the cheerful girl with
ponytailed black hair. Her greatest friend.
"Tayah?"
"Yes, Jalir. It's me. Please, fight alongside me. Fight for the Rhadam."
* * * * *
Nagisa's surroundings faded to a silver-white glow, with glittering
fragments of every color in the spectrum surrounding her, resembling
many-hued stars. She felt a hands touch her shoulders, and, without
needing to look, was aware that the hands were those of her grandmother and
grandfather. Latshen stood in front of her, and stretched her hands out so
that they, too, touched Nagisa's.
"Sisterhood, scource of all light and the life it gives..." Latshen
began, and Nagisa recognised what she was participating in as an archaic
Kthulhu religious rite.
"Sisterhood, with those who provide light..." Nagisa Kano continued.
"Sisterhood, with those who are aided by light..." The next line was
Kaworu's, and Nagisa saw him and her grandmother exchange subtle glances as
he said the line.
"Sisterhood, with those who find light within themselves." Latshen said,
reaching to gently touch Nagisa between her eyes.
"Sisterhood within all of us, this one is yet to face her darkest hour.
Please, when the time comes when what she must do is beyond her own power,
arise from her."
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.
* * * * *
Ivory looked worriedly at the Delos' sensors. She had made her move
towards the Rhadam ship's hull so that she could use it as cover for
hit-and-fade tactics. At first she thought she was having some success -
she had scored hits, albeit minor ones, on her enemy a few times and been
able to dodge its counterattacks. But now, it had begun to use the ship as
cover itself, and she had no idea where it was - other than still nearby.
The mild disorientation she felt due to its psychic attack confirmed that,
but made it even more difficult for her to determine its location.
Her mecha's sensors alerted her just in time as the Tekno Mega appeared
from her leftward rear. Ivory tried to manuver out of harm's way, but did
not have enough time to evade the hurled teklance, which struck the Delos'
side and knocking it off balance. Before she had time to recover, her
opponent was upon her, its shoulder plates opening and beginning to glow
with fire-red energy. The mecha's right arm was pinned - she couldn't
bring the Rion Lancer to bear.
{Great. How am I gonna get out of *this*?} Ivory thought as she watched
the energy for the Tekno Bolt build up. She glanced at the Delos' pinned
right arm again.
{Channel reserve power to the right arm!} she commanded the Delos' AI.
{That will result in a loss of power to shielding} The AI responded.
{We can't survive the blast at this range anyway. Do it!}
The Delos' right arm glowed with pale blue energy, causing the Tekno Mega
to pull away from its pin due to the shock. As soon as that happened,
Ivory activated the mecha's thrusters, taking it out of harm's way
milliseconds before an energy blast sliced through the spot she had been
pinned. Now, the tables were turned. She brought the Rion Lancer to bear
and concentrated, sending energy resonating between the weapon's two
blades. When enough energy had been built up, she fired, the blue-white
wave striking the Mega in the chest, leaving its torso a burned-out shell.
Exhausted almost as much physically as mentally by her battle, she held the
Delos' control sticks to keep herself from collapsing.
{Ivory, return to the ship.} Came a telepathic message from Amber.
{I ... can continue.}
{Negative, Field Lieutenant-Gamma Ivory. You are mentally exhausted, and
your mecha's circuits face imminent overloading. Return, and that's an
order.}
{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.
"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?"
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."
* * * * *
"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.
"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.
"Jalir, this isn't you!"
Jalir ignored Nami's words, and continued attacking. Nami bided her time,
continuing to dodge and parry. Finally, she saw an opening. Dodging to
the side on one of Jalir's thrusts, she parried with one blade, slashing
the other in a rising arc at the tendril attatched to the back of Jalir's
neck. Jalir screamed in pain, and collapsed to the ground. Immediately,
Nami knelt by the girl's side.
"Jalir, it's okay now. You're free."
Jalir stirred, and then opened her eyes, which glowed pink-orange. Before
Nami could react, a beam sword appeared in her hands, and the stabbed with
it. The blade pierced straight through Nami's heart.
"Tayah, I did it. I killed her for you." Jalir announced to the Tayah in
her mind.
"Thank you. Please, Jalir, you have to kill the rest of them!" Tayah
replied.
"No... wait..." Jalir looked down at the corpse of Nami, dead by her
hands. Or *was* it Nami? As she looked, the body's form shifted, the dead
woman beconing younger, shorter-haired, seemed more familiar... the dear
friend whom she had lost to the Rhadam.
"Jalir, please." Her friend said. "Remember what we are fighting against."
Jalir remembered. The corpse changed back to that of Nami, and the image
of Tayah disappeared, replaced by that of Devass.
"How dare you??" Jalir demanded. "HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO ME???"
Violet-colored light surrounded her body, and once again she summoned her
twin beam-swords. Devass hefted her weapon, and the pair clashed. A wave
of force emnated from the Tekno Warlord, and Jalir was hurled backward,
crashing headfirst into the chamber's wall. She lay there, stunned.
"I regret your betrayal of me, Jalir." Devass said calmly. "Your anger
at the Kthulhu would have been a great asset to our masters' cause. But
you chose to betray us." She walked toward the fallen Iczelion.
"And in doing so, you have chosen to die." She raised her weapon and
prepared to stab it through Jalir's heart.
"SUPER TORNADO!!!!"
A blast of energy struck Devass in the chest - the Tekno Warlord
staggered, but retained her footing. Kiiro, Tina and Cyan stood at the
entrance to the chamber.
"Sorry we're a bit late, Jalir!" Kiiro started - then she saw Nami's dead
body on the floor of the chamber.
"Nami! Oh, my god!"
"It's my fault." Jalir said as she stood up. "I'm so sorry... it's my
fault." Her beam swords appeared in her hands, and she once again prepared
to attack Devass. The other Iczelions moved to join her.
"Don't help me!" Jalir shouted. "I want to fight her myself!"
"Sorry, girl." Kiiro replied. "You're getting our help whether you want
it or not."
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.
"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?}
* * * * *
END PHASE 3, CHAPTER 7
Next Chapter: Star vs Saber: Round one!
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.
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.
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.
Well, that's about all. See you soon!
_____________________________________________________________
Andrew Dynon
There are certain sincere practitioners who, out of ignorance
and lack of contact, believe only in their own religion and
consider other religions wrong. In some cases it is the result
of teaching, but usually it is due to lack of contact, lack of
awareness and real understanding of the deeper value of the other
tradition. Once you realise that there are wonderful people
among Christians and Muslims, you automatically develop an
appreciation for their tradition.
- The Dalai Lama, _The Transformed Mind_