[OW!] Boring talking and mistrust.

>"Geez, where were you guys?" RMX asked.
>"Sorry, sorry, got hung up a bit." Shawna said.
>"Hmph." Aureal said.
>"Well, come on, we still have a few stages left to go..."

**********

Back on the HSB, yet another shadowy figure lurked. Unlike the
previous Shadowy Figure, however, this one was highly inept in
figuring out where exactly the hell he was. Kisaragi-ryuu ninjutsu
was good for fighting, but not necessarily good for helping guide one
out of a maze, or wherever the hell he was now. Though these
particular corridors did remind him of a place that existed a while
ago....

**********

"I never thought Levitation would become quite so handy until I
thought about that last stage," X-chan commented, referring to the
revisited Needleman stage she and the others had just completed. Zero
nodded silently and continued to warily peer at the woman still
clinging to his arm.

"I don't know whether or not to trust him," Nic-chan whispered to RMX.
"He's been through a lot, but he's obviously done... things."

RMX nodded silently in response. "Assuming he didn't change from me
too much, he probably won't try anything overly violent. He's
probably reeling more from being glomped repeatedly than from anything
else."

The scene promptly shifted to the outside of a garishly-decorated
castle which prominently featured a large skull in its design.

"Who the hell are you people!?!?" a voice yelled over a loudspeaker.
"Where's Megaman?"

"Uh... we're filling in. Or something," Aureal answered. "And there
won't be a sequel, so there!"

The loudspeaker sweatdropped. "W.. well, you have to get past my
impregnable defenses. See you around, if you survive! Bwahahahaha!"

The group sweatdropped in response.

"There's probably an easier way through the castle than through the
pre-determined routes," RMX said, "but Nic-chan and I will go on
ahead. You'll probably be able to find a shortcut, with your
levitation and all..." With that, he pulled a Card Captor Sakura tape
out, which transformed into a Clow card. "See you soon!" With a few
Jumps, he and Nic-chan bounded out of sight.

"Wait...!" S-CX yelled and reached out with a hand.

"They don't quite trust me yet, I think," Zero said. "And he's
probably pretty shocked to see his near physical duplicate stand in
front of him. I would be," he chuckled a little.

X-chan frowned sadly. "I hope you all can get along," she hoped,
clinging a little tighter to Zero's arm.

"Just give them time," Aureal said and looked at Shawna. "They've
gotten used to me, and I'm Amichanian. They'll get used to him in no
time. I think."

TBC?

-RMX

"I sure hope so... Hey! We'ren't you the one spying on us and attacking Z-kun
and accusing him of being evil?!" Shawna said. "Yeesh."
"Yeah, well, I..." Aureal began. Gemini smirked. LeVar looked lost.
"Heh. Well, I certainly look evil enough, what with all this stuff and this
damned uniform..." Zero said, looking at the implants on the back of his left
hand.
"So wear something else. Maybe a nice Speedo." Shawna said, winking.
"GAH! I wouldn't have worn one of those damned things -before- this happened!"
"Aww..." Shawna pouted. Damn, this one, opposite or no, wasn't any less modest
than the one from this universe.
"You're hopeless, you know that?" Gemini said, twitching at Shawna.
"Yeah, yeah, let's get going. Damn stupid Wily. Why doesn't he just give up?"
Shawna said, glomping onto Zero unhappily. He tried to keep from falling over,
and succeeded, due to the fact that he was quite a bit stronger physically than
your average person.
"Will you -please- stop that? I realise you've probably got some adolescent
thing for RMX going on, but I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't take it out on
m-OW!" Zero said as Shawna smacked him.
"My love for X-kun isn't some dumb adolescent thing! It's true and pure... I'd
do anything for him..." There was a resounding chourus of disbelieving 'Uh.
Huh.'s.
-
Somewhere inside Dr. Wily's fortress, RMX sneezed.
-
"Feh, like a robot could love someone." Gemini said.
"I AM NOT A ROBOT!!! I am an -android-. Robots put cars together and stuff like
that. I couldn't put a car together if my life depended on it."
"I love taunting her like that." Gemini thought to herself.
"Wait... You're an android?" Zero said, blinking.
"Yeah, so?"
"Nothing, just that I never would have guessed... Huh. Cool." Zero said, poking
at her. "I wonder what you look like under that 'skin' of yours..."
"Well, you aren't finding out. I won't even let X-kun study me, and I've known
him for ages. Which, I'm sure will someday come back to haunt me when I get
badly damaged and he has no clue how the hell to fix me, and it will all be
very dramatic and angsty."
"..." Zero said.
"She's right, you know." Aureal said, smirking knowingly.
"Shush, you. Damn omniescent NC beings." Shawna muttered.

<scene switch time, yay>

"First Mega Man, now all these strange people who make me look sane... Maybe
I'm getting too old for this." Dr. Wily mused. "...Nah." He hopped into his UFO
and flew it outside to where Aureal, Gemini, LeVar, Shawna-chan and Zero were
still talking and bickering amongst themselves, wiggled his eyebrows at them,
and then flew back into his office.
"...I was wondering when that was going to happen." everyone but LeVar said at
once.
"Shall we?" Gemini asked.
"Sure." Aureal said, flying off. Gemini grabbed LeVar and did the same.
"Hey! They forgot us! Jerks. Hell, I can barely cast that spell when it's just
me, forget another person." She hmphed and turned to Zero. "I don't suppose you
can use magic?"
"Uh, no."
"Great. Looks like we either have to catch up to X-kun and Nic-Chan, or climb
the walls. Or we could just use the back door, which will inevitably not only
be unlocked, but will also lead directly to wherever it is Dr. Wily is hiding."

"Eh, the back door works." Zero said.
"Righto." The pair walked around to the back of Wily's castle, where they found
the back door, which, as predicted, was unlocked and led directly to where Wily
was hiding.
"Think we should?" Zero asked.
"Nah, we'll wait for the others to catch up." Shawna said.
"Hi there!" Said a small blue robot, waving.
"...Megaman?!" Shawna and Zero said in unison.
"Shouldn't you be, like, screwing around somewhere while we're busy doing your
job for you?" Shawna asked.
"I was, but I need to be here from a plot perspective. Don't want continuity
getting -too- messed up. I appreciate the help, by the way. I get tired of all
that fighting sometimes."
"I can imagine." Zero said.
"Anyone for a game of Monopoly?" Shawna asked, pulling a box from her
hammerspace.
"Sure." MM said. Zero shrugged.
"Ok, but I'll win." He said.
"Like hell you will." Shawna said. "I get to be the battleship."

<Meanwhile, elsewhere scene switch>

"This is getting boring." Aureal said. "Hey, where'd Shawna and Zero go?"
"You lost them!" Gemini said.
"I didn't lose them! They lost themselves!" Aureal argued.
"Whatever. I'm not looking for them."
"PUT ME DOOOOOWWWWNN!!!!" LeVar yelled, kicking and screaming.
"Hush, you."

<Another damn scene switch>

"I wonder how the others are doing..." RMX said, wasting a random bad guy thing
with a fully-charged X-buster shot.
"I'm sure they're fine... Isn't that overkill?" She asked.
"Yeah, it is. Kinda fun, though."
"I guess so." Nic-Chan said. "I'm worried about Shawna, though..."
"All the clinging to this Zero guy, ne? Yeah, I'm worried about that too... She
loves me already, it's not that far of a stretch for her to fall for him, and
he doesn't appear to be taken..." He sighed. "I'm just afraid she's gonna get
hurt somehow..."

TBC?

-Shawna-Chan X
AFU no Movie Anthy, keeper of the movie Duel arena and rose garden.
UtenaCode U:7[!] F:Hi>+++Wa>+++Mk>++:pAM D:Na>+++++ X:[*]a35+++[AM]++++
M:f"PUCHI Banshou no Seimei Kodoku Shi(OST7)
http://www.eccentrix.com/misc/shawnachanx

<XFER scene switch>

"How dare you?!?" Shawa screeched, pounding her fist on the table. "You
absolutely cannot do that! I won't allow it!"

Zero sweatdropped. "Ano... all I did was buy Tennessee Avenue..."

"You can't do that! Tennessee Avenue must belong to ME!" the Reichanian
repeated emphatically, the look on her face daring anyone to try and debate
the subject so she could pound them into the floor.

"Uh... I'll trade it to you for Park Place?" Zero tentatively offered.

"Fine!" S-C X snapped, snatching the Tennessee Avenue card and tossing Park
Place at Zero.

'Geez, I know I said I was going to win, but if she keeps this up it's going
to be a heck of a lot easier than I reckoned,' Zero thought. Aloud, he said,
"anyway, it's your turn now, Megaman."

"All right!" the little blue robot chirped happily, then paused. "How do you
play again?" The others twitched.

'Yes, definitely easier than I thought...' Zero shook his head and
sweatdropped.

"Lali ho!" a voice called out from above, as some shadows appeared over the
Monopoly table. The players looked up just as Aureal, LeVar and Gemini
floated down and landed on the table.

"Lali ho?" Gemini glanced askance at Aureal. "What are we, dwarves?" Aureal
ignored the question.

"Of course, you just had to go and mess up our game of Monopoly," Shawna
remarked testily. "I was winning, too." Zero stared at her, quickly glancing
away as she looked back in his direction.

"We can start a new one," Megaman said. "Maybe they want to play too."
Gemini and LeVar glanced down upon hearing his voice and blinked, as Aureal
yawned. Gemini shrugged in a "it figures" manner, and LeVar yelped, jumping
off of the table.

"Robot!" he yelled, pointing at the little blue one.

"Um, yeah," S-C X sweatdropped. "That's Megaman, the good guy. Don't worry
about him."

"Oh, okay..." LeVar said hesitantly.

"So, we're still waiting on RMX and Nic-chan, huh?" Gemini noted, looking
around.

"Yeah," Zero nodded. "We may as well just start another game of Monopoly.
They took the long way, so it may be a while yet." He gestured towards the
table. "Anyone else care to join us?" Gemini shrugged, but took a seat and
picked up the dog token. Shawna rolled her eyes. After a few more seconds of
staring warily at Megaman, LeVar wandered over too and took the top hat.

Aureal hmphed and sat down a ways away from the table, her back against the
wall, although sitting would be a rather misleading term, as she wasn't
sitting on anything except air. She could've been sitting on an invisible
chair, only she wasn't. She pulled a magazine out of her pocket and held it
up in front of her face so that the cover was clearly visible to the others.

"Highlights for Children?" Shawna O.o;;ed, reading the title. Gemini
sweatdropped, muttering something about NES sprites not looking at all like
their menu pictures, and a certain webcomic. "Okaaaay," Shawna stared at her
too. "Let's just start the game."

<Your GP or your HP! scene switch>

"I recognize this place," RMX said. "We're just about there..."

"Good," Nic-chan noted. "I hope the others managed to get through okay."
They both slowed in their trek through Wily's castle as a loud clamor
reached their ears.

RMX raised an eyebrow. "That sounds rather familiar..." The two Reichanians
rounded a corner and entered a battle zone. Or what appeared to be a battle
zone at first glance anyway. Several scorch marks marred the walls and the
surface of the floor, and what looked to be the remnants of a card table
were strewn about the area, much of it burned. The two looked around and
noted LeVar skulking around in the farthest corner he could find from the
destruction, Aureal leaning against a wall in that vaguely annoying fashion
that always seemed to surround her, and Zero staring at Shawna as if she'd
gone crazy. Shawna herself was looking upwards and shaking her fist at
Gemini, who was perched on a rafter about 50 feet above the ground.

"Come back down here you lousy cheating Neutralian!" she yelled.

"Cheating?!" Gemini yelled back. "Who was cheating besides you?!?"

"I was not cheating! There's nothing in the rules that says you can't burn
down hotels! Now get back down here and give me that Tennessee Avenue card!"

"There's nothing in the rules that says you can either, and I still won't
trade it to you!"

Zero noticed RMX and Nic-chan standing there and asked, "is she... like this
often?" he sweatdropped.

"Well....." RMX coughed, but was saved from answering as another voice
boomed out across the room.

"What's all this noise?!" Dr. Wily's UFO hovered into the room, the evil
doctor himself popping up out of the top and looking at the trashed room.
"What on earth are you people doing? You're supposed to come fight me, not
come vandalize my fortress!"

"Woo!" Gemini yelled, standing up and leaping down onto the UFO in front of
Wily. She paused a second, then jumped down to the floor before the startled
evil scientist could react. "Mwahahahaha," she cackled, grinning
mischievously.

"What..." Wily blinked in confusion, then shrugged. "No matter. You weirdos
are going down, now!" He sneered evilly, then did his trademark eyebrow
wiggle.

...well, attempted to do his eyebrow wiggle, anyway. Just then he, and the
others in the room, realized what had happened. He twitched. Everybody else
started to snicker at the now eyebrow-less Wily as Gemini tucked the razor
back into her pocket.

TBC?

--
Aureal
MoonieCode (1.12.05) SM:5+ F:sMe+[+]Sa>+:vAlLe:aDi:p*>++
X:**:aCl[R]SSS*s++|ClR[S]d[+]:m20r+ O:d-:s-:o++:a:h+:x?
P:a+:s57:w:f:eBrg:hBrD-:t-:cWh:*Gm:x98.4%:r|-
UtenaCode(1.0) U:4 F:Mi>+Ju>+ D:Ak-Ru X:[*]:a39++ M:f"Virtual Star
Hasseigaku"

"I hate you all!" Wily exclaimed, running off to get his Evil Machine Thingie
Which Is Different In Every Game But Always Consists Of Two Different Fights
And Is An Annoying Pain, which in this game just happened to resemble a giant
crab with huge-ass nails for legs and a gun turret underneath.
"Piece of cake." Shawna-chan said, ducking under it and jamming her lightsaber
into the turret, which made it go boom and had the rather nice effect of
draining the first lifebar. Aureal and Gemini then levitated up to where Wily
was and began throwing spells until the thing finally exploded and it was time
to go on and face the final boss.

-

Somewhere, in some weird, bizzare alternate universe, the android known as
Gamma looked at Dr. Wily and exclaimed 'Dahling, that frumpy old lab coat
SIMPLY will not do!'.

-

"Why do I suddenly have the feeling that I should be smacking my author?"
Shawna-Chan X asked, twitching.
"Dunno..." RMX said.
"Hopefully nothing's happened yet..." Zero said, frowning.
"Happened?" Nic-Chan asked.
"To your world. Be prepared for just about anything when we get back, god only
knows what he's done... I am so dead when he catches me, too..." Zero said,
making a face. "Oh well... Not too horribly thrilled with life anyways."
"You're depressing me." Shawna said.
"Sorry."
"Well, here we are... The final boss. Hopefully now we'll be able to get the
heck out of the game." RMX said.
"Aww..." Aureal pouted. Shawna patted her condescendingly. Nic-Chan snickered.
LeVar sighed in relief. Gemini glowered. Megaman looked scared, and not by the
fact that they were about to face Wily, either. His current companions were a
bit... off. The group entered the room.
"Ack!! Stop shooting at me! Shoot them!" Shawna yelled, hiding behind Nic-Chan,
who promptly smacked her. Aureal set about the extremely important business of
pinging blue and silver jellybeans off Gamma's forehead. LeVar did his best to
hide behind Megaman and whimpered.
"You people are pathetic." Nic-Chan said, rolling her eyes. RMX nodded his
agreement and went to toss Shadow Blades, and quickly dispatched the first
part.
"I -could- just use the Top Spin, but that would be boring..." Zero said,
quickly climbing to the top platform in the room and casually tossing Search
Snakes at Wily. Finally, Wily went boom, and the group, sans Megaman, hid in
the shadows whilst Wily got squished by falling wreckage and MM got knocked
out. Protoman, of course, promptly came to save his brother.
"Pro-" Aureal got out before RMX, Nic-Chan, Shawna-chan and Zero all clamped
their hands over her mouth at once. "Mmmph."
"Let's get out of here." RMX said. The group suddenly found themselves back on
the HSB.

-

"So you're saying a group of weird humans and some weird cyborg were doing your
job for you and beat Wily?" Roll asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah, it was kinda cool, actually." Megaman said, nodding.
"Rock, I think you've been at this too long. Why don't we go see Dr. Light and
see if we can't get this fixed..." Roll said, patting her brother on the
shoulder.
"I'm telling the truth! Geez, my own sister doesn't even believe me..."

-

"Let's see what's been going on in our absence..." RMX said, flipping on a
viewscreen in the HSB's control room."
C-M wrote:
<<Within an hour, a broadcast was beamed out all over OtakuWorld; the image of
ECM was everywhere; "Citizens of OtakuWorld, I am Emperor-CapeMike, the
supreme ruler of what you would call an 'alternate' OtakuWorld, where life
itself has seemingly become a moot point. As of approximately one hour ago,
forces under my control have routed Crystal Tokyo's defenders and I have been
placed in control of this city by Neo-Queen Serenity herself;" the image
moved to show her standing off to his left, then re-centered; "Even as I
speak, additional forces under my control are have been infiltrating
OtakuWorld for the past several weeks. This world...and everything on it,
shall soon belong to me, whereupon I shall usher in a new era of
dominance...my dynasty shall carry on here.... Any attempt to retake Crystal
Tokyo shall be met with swift and devastating retribution.">>
Everyone was silent for a moment. Finally Zero spoke.
"So... It's begun." He said softly.
"What... What the hell is the meaning of this?" Shawna-chan asked, her eyes
widened in shock.
"So this guy thinks he can just take over our world... Like hell he can. We'll
show him." RMX said, angrily. Zero smiled sadly.
"I said the exact same thing a couple of years ago, X... It won't be as easy as
you think. People are going to get hurt. Some might even die. This is going to
be worse than anything any of you have seen in your worst nightmares." He said,
sighing.
"I guess you'd know what he's capable of, huh?" Aureal said accusingly. "Since
you work for him, after all."
"I don't anymore, and I sure as hell wasn't working for him by choice." Zero
retorted. "What the hell is your problem with me?"
"They may not know what you've done," She said, gesturing to Shawna-tachi, "But
I do. You disgusting, repulsive injust murder!!" She shouted. Zero gave her a
hard, sad stare.
"I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of, yes, and murder is definately
among those, but the fact remains that I'm probably one of the only people who
has a chance in hell of helping you people. Now you can either get the stick
out of your ass and let me try to help, or you can keep screaming until Emperor
Cape-Mike comes here and kills us all himself."
"You'll hurt her, I know it, and I won't let you do it." Aureal said. Zero
blinked, having no clue who 'her' was. Suddenly another figure materialised in
the room.
"Ahh, our little traitor." Emperor Cape-Mike said. Zero froze in horror.
"Ah... Uh... I... That is..."
"Don't even try to lie to me, boy." ECM said, pulling a strange looking remote
control-ish device from the folds of his cape and pushing a button on it. Zero
instantly collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony. "I -own- you, Zero, and
don't you forget it! But your pitiful attempt at rebellion amuses me... Ahh,
Nic-Chan. Nice to see you... Alive... Yes... I shall let you live for now,
Zero-kun, and let you try to help these people... It will be most satisfying to
see the look on your face as you watch them die... And watch -her- die yet
again, with you once again powerless to do anything... Yes...
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA*gasp*HA!" He said, pushing the button again and
disappearing. Zero struggled to his knees, gasping for air and looking like
someone had just put him through a blender.
"You... BASTARD..." He panted out. "You goddamned _BASTARD_!!!!!!!!"
"So... That's our adversary." RMX said.
"Hai... Emperor Cape-Mike, ruler of my Otaku World, or at least what's left of
it."
"What happened to his eye, anyways?" Shawna asked. Zero smirked a little.
"Yours truly happened... Just didn't happen enough, unfortunately..."
"Uh?" RMX said.
"I tried to kill him, a while back... I failed. You can see the results of
-that- for yourself." Zero said, making a face.
"...Oh." RMX said. "Hard to believe I'd ever try to kill someone, even if you
are from a mirror universe..."
"Don't think I was overjoyed at the prospect of killing someone, even if it
-was- for a good cause." Zero said. "We're not all -that- different."
"Guess not..."
"I still don't trust you." Aureal said, glowering.
"And you're right not to." Zero said sadly.
"Bah." Shawna said. "I trust you. Like you said, you -aren't- all that
different from X-kun, and I'd trust him with my life." She said, wrapping an
arm around Zero's shoulder. He pulled away violently.
"What the hell has to happen for you to realise that you can't do that, ever?!
I can't be trusted, I've told you! I really am telling the truth about wanting
to help you guys, but... But..." He punched the wall, denting it. RMX groaned
to himself. "I'll explain it later... For now we have to concern ourselves with
how the hell we're going to try to stop him."

"Waaait, -who's- going to stop him?" Aureal remarked in an oddly strained
voice. Things were getting out of hand. Her options were limited, far too
limited... "Are you trying to say that -you- are going to try and stop him?"
she continued her verbal assault, giving no sign of the thoughts running
through her head.

"What? Of course I'm-"

"Oh sure you are," Aureal sarcastically cut off his reply. "We just saw how
well you can stand up to him. One push of a button and you're completely
useless. What, did he implant some kind of control device in you?" Several
of the others were staring at her, faint expressions of alarm at her tone
creeping across their faces, but she paid them no attention. "Just what else
might that kind of thing do, huh?" Aureal growled. "I bet it could take
complete control of you, couldn't it? He could force you to fight us."

"I don't-" Zero started to protest, but again was cut off.

"Face it, you're a just a liability," Aureal accused. "You'd better just get
out of here before you mess things up."

"Hey now!" Shawna finally managed to get a word in. "We don't know anything
of the sort! I've already said that I trust him, so just give it up! What
is -wrong- with you?!" she demanded, frowning at the Amichanian.

Aureal twitched. Her fist clenched and she stood there, shuddering angrily
for a few moments. "Fine then," she finally hissed, her eyes narrowing
dangerously. Only one thing left to do... "If that's what it takes..."

If Zero hadn't had extremely good reflexes, he never would have gotten out
of the way of the dark blue lightsaber blade that suddenly slashed through
the air where he'd been standing moments ago.

"What the..." he gasped, pulling himself back to his feet, a ways back from
his previous position. Aureal regarded him with an unfriendly gaze, whipping
the lightsaber back into an attack stance. "En garde," she snapped, then
leaped towards him, lightsaber out in front of her.

Zero reflexively pulled out his beam saber and parried the blow, taking a
couple steps backwards and stepping out of the Amichanian's path. He backed
up until he was next to the wall, then used it as a platform to push himself
off of as he leapt up into the air in a completely un-natural manner.
Aureal's bottom lip curled in a sneer, then she leapt up into the air in a
similar un-natural way.

"Since when can he do that? They're practically flying around the room," RMX
remarked, sweatdropping.

"I think since somebody's Author saw Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Gemini
replied, looking disgusted.

Zero and Aureal continued to float around the room, looking as if there were
invisible wires suspending them. Gemini shook her head, continuing to look
disgusted at the stupidity of it all. Shawna just stared, wondering what the
hell was going on.

Suddenly, Aureal bounced off of a wall and rocketed towards her opponent at
much faster than her previous speed. Zero tried to turn to block the
lightsaber, but he was still in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon mode, moving
rather slowly, and it was obvious that he wouldn't be able to get out of the
way in time.

Shawna's eyes widened as she realized that. "Aureal!!!" she yelled, notes of
anger, frustration and panic working their way into her voice.

The dark blue lightsaber paused in its outward stroke for a split second,
which was enough for Zero's beam sabre to whip around to parry it. Except
that the lightsaber blade never ended up there, and the sabre continued it's
arc, striking a glancing blow off of the Amichanian's shoulder as her leap
carried her past Zero. She landed roughly some ten feet away from him,
stumbling, falling and rolling across the ground a few times before ending
up in a sitting position, her back to the others in the room. Zero made a
much better landing, then glanced back at Aureal, who hadn't moved.

"Just what the hell was that all about?!" Shawna-Chan X exclaimed angrily,
striding towards Aureal, who still didn't react. "Well?" she demanded,
grabbing Aureal's shoulder and starting to pull the Amichanian around to
face her. That jolted Aureal out of her motionless state, as she bolted
upright. She quickly wrapped her arm around Shawna's shoulder, pulling her
closer, and crushed her lips against the Reichanian's. After a few seconds,
before the startled Shawna could react, Aureal broke free and ran out the
door.

"Wha... wha... wha..." Shawna sputtered. She turned to Gemini, twitching
angrily. "What the hell is wrong with your Author?!? First she thinks this
is some stupid Chinese fighting movie, now it's Looney Tunes?!?!?" Gemini
shrugged, sweatdropping. "Bah," the Reichanian growled. "Typical useless
avatars..." she muttered. "Anyway, let's just get on with our planning, now
that that's done with... I guess..."

<*holds a tiny umbrella over her head* scene switch>

"So, have you finally lost it?" Gemini asked rather pointedly as she phased
through the wall into the room where she sensed Aureal was lurking.

Aureal looked up from the corner she was sitting in, startled. "Oh, you.
Just shut up and let me die," she muttered wearily, resting her head back on
her knees. Gemini raised an eyebrow.

"Die? From what, that little scratch you got?" she asked, attempting to
lighten the mood as she pointed at Aureal's shoulder. "I suppose you
might... if you leave it alone for a week or two you might die of blood
loss." The Neutralian put her hands on her hips and adopted a more serious
tone. "Oh come on, what's with you? You and I both know that you can take
care of that with your non-continuous powers, no problem. In fact, I'm
surprised you were injured at all. I don't think I've ever seen you actually
get hurt by anything..."

"That's just it!" Aureal yelled in frustration, slamming a fist against the
wall. "True non-continuous beings -don't- get hurt like that! Their bodies
are just a physical representation with which to interact with the physical
world; they don't need to exactly reproduce the weaknesses of the actual
mortal form."

"Um..." Gemini blinked. "'Their'? 'They'? You don't sound like you're
referring to yourself. Are you trying to say that..."

"Exactly," Aureal finished the thought in a weary, disgusted voice. "I'm no
longer non-continuous, I'm just plain old human."

"...I see," Gemini noted, careful to keep her tone neutral. "What happened?"

"None of your business," Aureal snarled. Gemini raised an eyebrow and leaned
in closer.

"Oh really? Whose business is it then? Shawna's?" Aureal twitched. "Perhaps
you'd be more willing to talk if I took you back to her..."

"Oh bah, like she'd care," Aureal retorted. "I just tried to kill one of her
best friends! She'd just beat me up or something."

"And that doesn't have anything to do with what happened to you?" Gemini
continued to press the point. Aureal tried to lean away from the Neutralian,
who moved closer. "You just -happened- to become human at the same time that
you were engaged in a ridiculous fight with that guy that she likes?" Aureal
winced, a guilty expression crossing her face as she looked away.

"You wouldn't understand," she said shortly.

"Try me," Gemini responded, in an equally short tone.

"Fine," Aureal sighed. "Basically, my non-continous existence here in Otaku
World is- was," she corrected herself bitterly, "linked to two people. One
is obviously you, since if you didn't exist there couldn't be a
non-continous essence linked to you in the first place." Gemini nodded,
indicating she understood, and Aureal continued. "Second, my physical
manifestation is linked to her as well... It was a long time ago, when she
somehow ended up getting stuck in NC-Otaku World. She ran across the
non-continuous essence of you, and since it needed a physical form to
interact with normal otaku, that essence grabbed some matter so that it
could- and created what became me. So, I basically wouldn't exist if either
of you didn't." Gemini nodded again, a bit slower this time.

"That still doesn't explain your actions," she noted.

"Hai..." Aureal muttered. "I'm getting to that. Anyway, since I now had a
physical form, I was able to leave NC-Otaku World and interact with normal
otaku as if I was one of them. I still had those links though, and they kept
pulling me back to you two. It somehow got to the point where I started to
feel that being there was the most important thing..." she frowned and
trailed off. "I guess my links to humans started to wear away the
non-continuous energy, and instead a human soul started forming..." She
stopped and smacked herself in the face. "So that's why I've been so limited
recently... I didn't even realize it then, but my powers have been fading.
Before, I could have done just about anything with my NC powers, but in
those last few minutes there was virtually nothing I could do..."

Gemini looked at Aureal carefully. She could sense that Aureal hadn't told
quite everything, but she could take a guess at the rest. She shook her head
slightly, sighing.

Aureal looked at Gemini pleadingly. "Do you suppose you could do something
about this?" she asked, pointing at the cut on her shoulder. "It hurts."

Gemini sweatdropped. "You can't do anything about it yourself?"

Aureal scowled. "Do I look like I carry bandages in my pockets? Humans don't
naturally have any sort of magic, y'know. No, there's nothing I can do about
it unless I start ripping my clothes up to make a tourniquet or something."

"Ah," Gemini said. "I guess that makes sense." She held her hand over
Aureal's shoulder, a faint silver glow appearing around the wound, which
quickly closed up and vanished.

"Thanks," Aureal muttered grudgingly.

"Well, I guess we should get back to the others if we're going to try and do
something about stopping that alternate universe's Cape-Mike," Gemini noted.
"They probably haven't even noticed I'm gone; I just slipped out while they
were studying maps or something."

"Have fun," Aureal growled.

"What, you're not coming?" Gemini asked.

"What would the point be? I'm useless now," Aureal glowered darkly. "I'm
sure they don't want to see me either, so I may as well just... well, do
something else," she finished in a disgusted tone. She slumped against the
wall, looking dispirited. Gemini looked sympathetic.

"I think you underestimate what she thinks of you," she said. Aureal looked
at her. "She has a short temper, but you knew that already, didn't you?
She'll get over it, probably quicker than you think." Aureal crossed her
arms and looked away sullenly. "Well, nobody's forcing you to do anything. I
guess you can find us if you change your mind." With that, Gemini slipped
away, leaving Aureal alone with her thoughts.

"She's right... I should go before I get you people in trouble... I'm just a
bother..." Zero said, talking too fast and looking a bit thrown.
"Zero...?" Shawna said.
"I'm sorry, I can't stay here... I have to leave, before any of you gets hurt
because of me..." He teleported away before anyone could say anything.
"Zero!" Shawna yelled after him. "Damn it, if Emperor Cape-Mike finds him
alone, he'll kill him for sure! I have to find him..." RMX put his hand on
Shawna's shoulder.
"I'd think he'd find him before you would..." He said softly.
"Like hell. You're talking to quite possibly the angstiest person on the
planet. I know the types of places angsty people go to hide from the world, and
if anyone was ever angst-ridden, it's that boy. I'll be back shortly... First,
though." She went and found Aureal.
"Here to seek revenge for your friend?" Aureal said bitterly.
"No... I don't understand what's happening with you... But, it's ok... You're
my friend. If you need someone to talk to, I'm here for you, no matter what...
But right now, I have to find Z-kun before he gets himself killed. Damn boy ran
off."
"Which, I'm certain, is all my fault."
"Nah. He'd've done it eventually anyways. I know the type, sort of. Wanna
come?"
"Not right now... I just wanna be alone for a little while..." Aureal said,
sighing.
"...Ok." Shawna said, a bit of sadness creeping into her voice. She teleported
down to the planet to start her search.

<Sometimes, you just wish there were more than one of you scene switch>

"Hmm... Where to start... Where to start..." Shawna muttered. "Eh, good a place
as any..." She said, teleporting to the street in front of Otaku World's
tallest building.
"Well, I always come here... Then again, I'm angsty -and- a justice freak, and
justice freaks like high places... But anyways..." She teleported to the top.
Sure enough, Zero was standing on a corner of the building, his long hair
blowing in the wind.
"Are you running away? What about our promise to have tea and laugh together
ten years from now?" Shawna demanded. Zero almost fell off the building in
surprise, but caught himself at the last second.
"Figures you'd come..." He said.
"I'm like cockroaches, Dr. Wily and the Sigma virus. You can't get rid of me.
At least not for good." Shawna replied, joining him at the edge of the
building. "Aren't you scared?"
"Nah... Death doesn't scare me... Hell, I'd welcome death. Wouldn't have to
live like this anymore..." He said, glaring bitterly at the back of his hand.
Shawna looked at him sadly.
"Yeah... It must be awful to hate yourself so much all you can think about is
how horrible you are and how horrible your past is." She said.
"Ano..."
"So what happened?"
"What do you mean, what happened?" Zero asked.
"What happened to you? And Nic-Chan?" Shawna replied, removing her helmet and
untying the bow holding her hair.
"So you -do- take that thing off occasionally." He said, raising an eyebrow.
"Heh. Yep. Now stop changing the subject, boy. What happened?"
"I... I don't really want to talk about it."
"Too painful? Or too afraid I'll hate you?"
"...You're good." Zero muttered.
"No, I'm evil, with a twinge of Justice Freak. Now tell me, or I cut your
hair."
"Hey! Leave my hair alone! Fine, fine. I'll tell you, just stop glomping me all
the time." He said, sitting down on a conveniently placed bench.
"Oh, alright. Spoilsport."
"Why don't you glomp X, anyways?"
"One, he's not strong enough to not collapse, and two, Nic-Chan would beat the
crap out of me."
"Sounds about right..." Zero said, smirking a little. He sighed. "Ok... Well,
it was a couple years back... Things started going to hell after that whole
Otaku Seishi thing got out of hand..."
"I sense a flashback sequence coming on." Shawna said.
"Of course. Anyways, after Sailor Jupiter died, Cape-Mike started taking
over..."
<cue flashback sequence>
A slightly younger Zero, wearing jeans and an anime t-shirt, and without the
implants, sat on a console in the HSB's control room, chewing on a thumbnail.
"We have to stop him. This can't keep going on... First Crystal Tokyo, now the
OSDF... What next? How many more people are going to die at the hands of this
madman?" He sighed. Nic-Chan sat next to him and leaned against him.
"I don't know... I just hope everything will turn out alright." She said. "I'm
scared."
"I am too." Zero said, smiling faintly, as he pulled Nic-Chan against him and
gently kissed her cheek. "Don't worry... I'll kill that bastard and put a stop
to this. I don't want to, but there's no other way to be certain... Sure, the
fighting will still go on, it was here before, it'll still be here, but at
least we won't have him looming over all our heads..."
"I'm coming with you." Nic-Chan said.
"Like hell you are! It's too dangerous." Zero said. "I don't want you to get
hurt."
"Pfft. Besides, what would be left for me if you died?"
"Nic-Chan..."
"I understand how you feel, Chris-kun, but I won't let you go alone."
"Nic-Chan... After this, I promise, we'll leave this place and go find
somewhere where there's peace and we can live out our lives without having to
fight for our lives at every turn." Zero said, hugging Nic-Chan tightly.
*break in flashback*
"I never should have let her come with me... I should have forced her to stay
on the HSB somehow... Maybe then she'd... She'd..." Zero choked out, fighting
back tears. Shawna-chan held him and gently stroked his hair until he calmed
down.
"What happened next?" She asked.
"We managed to get into his fortress without being detected..."
*re-begin flashback*
"Hope we don't get caught..." Nic-Chan said casually.
"We shouldn't... I mean, we're walking down the hallways like we belong here."
"Yeah, but everyone else is wearing uniforms." She said, altering her form so
she was wearing one of the uniforms most people in the hallways were wearing
and grabbing Zero by the arm. "C'mon, prisoner."
"Ehehe..."
"Hey, where are you going?!" Said a random Makochanian.
"I'm taking this prisoner to the Emperor, duh. Are you blind, you daft idiot?
Do I have to kill you?!" Nic-Chan demanded.
"N... no, ma'am." The Makochanian stammered, running off.
"...That was easy." Zero said. "Almost too easy. I have a bad feeling about
this."
"Me too... Hmm, we should be near him..."
"Judging from all those guards, yeah..."
"Who are you, and what are you do- Oh my, it's that pesky Reichanian. Good
work. I'm sure the Emperor will be glad to see you." The guard said, letting
the pair pass.
"Geez, I thought I'd have to show a little leg or something." Nic-Chan said.
"Dorks."
"Yep." Zero said, tensing.
"Hi, Emperor Cape-Mike-sama!" Nic-Chan said brightly, shifting back to her
usual clothes.
"What the... How did you people get in?"
"Oh, we just walked in. The best way to sneak into a place is always not to do
so, so we just wandered in like we owned the place." Zero said, smirking.
"Impressive. Most people would try something stupid like crawling through the
ventilation systems. But then, what else should I expect from you, eh?" EC-M
said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep, yep, anyways. We don't like what you're doing, so..." Zero said, grabbing
his beam saber and running at EC-M. Nic-Chan changed to a piece of rope and
tied EC-M to his chair. Zero slashed at him, leaving a trail of blood across
his face where his right eye had been. EC-M roared in pain and managed to work
his hand to the hidden emergency alert button on the arm of his chair. Seconds
later, guards stormed the room.
"Kuso!" Zero said, turning to face them.
"DO SOMETHING, YOU BLOODY MORONS!!" EC-M shouted. The guards attacked Zero, who
tried to defend himself, and failed miserably.
"Zero!!!!" Nic-Chan screamed, changing back to her normal form. EC-M got up and
stomped over to where Zero was half kneeling and half leaning on the wall for
support, covered in blood and gasping for breath.
"Impressive... You managed to get to me, and cost me my eye. You'll suffer for
that. Oh yes, you'll suffer." EC-M said, smirking evilly. Zero glared up at
him, tried to say something, and instead lost conciousness.
"Keep him alive! He may just be useful to us. We'll have to do some...
things... to him to insure his loyalty, though... MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA*gasp*HA!!!!"
He pointed to a guard. "You! Take her to the brig!" He said, gesturing to
Nic-Chan. "Hehehe... Ah, this will be -fun-."
*end flashback*
"...Holy geez." Shawna said, stunned.
"I failed... Failed her, failed myself, failed every single damned person on
the planet..." Zero said softly, the moonlight reflecting off his tears.
"It's not really something you could have controlled or planned for..."
"I should have!" Zero said angrily. "I should have thought of everything!"
"That would take being perfect, and no one is perfect."
"Maybe not, but still..." Zero said, sighing.
"So what happened after that?"
"I woke up like this, had the fact that I belonged to him drilled into me
rather painfully, and did a bunch of stuff I'm not at all proud of that
resulted in the deaths of thousands of people. Then I came here. End of story."
"What happened to Nic-Chan?"
"She died."
"How?!"
"It doesn't matter! I don't want to talk about it!" Zero shouted, shoving
Shawna away from him.
"You'll have to tell me about it -eventually-!" She said.
"Just leave me alone!"
"No! I want to help you, damn it, and I can't do that if I don't know what's
wrong!" Shawna said. "You're a good person at heart, despite what you think,
but you've been hurt worse than I could ever begin to imagine... If only I
could just wave some magic wand and make all your pain go away..." She sighed.
"I'm a failure, too. I'm not strong enough to protect the people I care
about... Can't even protect myself. And I _SUCK_ at psychotherapy!" She yelled,
banging her fist on the bench.
"...Heh. You're one strange person, X-chan." Zero said.
"Even if I'm not strong enough, I want to protect this world... And I want to
protect you."
"Me? Why on earth would you want to..." Zero shook his head. "You -are- weird."
"Damn straight. Now come on back to the HSB with me before you catch cold and
die."
"Ano..." Zero began, then shrugged. "Alright..." He suddenly blinked and felt
his hair. "What the..." He pulled a small pink bow from it. "X-chan...!!!" He
said, sweatdropping heavily at the realisation that his hair was full of the
things.
"Well, come on!" Shawna said brightly, grabbing him and teleporting the two of
them back to the HSB.
"We're back!" She said. Zero tried to slink off to hide until he could pull all
the bows and ribbons and flowers out, but was grabbed by Shawna.
"What the..." RMX said.
"Shut up. Just SHUT UP!!!" Zero said. Gemini snickered.
"Aww, you look cute. Now we just need to put you in a dress and get some
make-up on you." She said.
"ANO!!!!!!" Zero yelled, hiding behind Shawna. Nic-Chan giggled.
"Anyways..." RMX said, shaking his head and smiling. "We should get to work."
"Hai, hai." Nic-Chan said.

TBC?
Holy christ, this post is long.