“What is the first lesson?”

The girl wasn’t sure if the voice was coming from all around her or simply
from inside her head.  She had been sedated and floating in a pillar of
pristine blue water for six straight hours, yet strangely she was still able
to breathe.  She didn’t know how or why, and to tell the truth she didn’t
really care.  All she did care about was that the Lady was right there with
her.  The Lady had been there ever since she had arrived…

Escaped?

No, escaped from what?  Where was Sensei?  Where was…who?  Who was Sensei?
The girl remembered a face, a name… no, the memory was hazy now, distorted.
She couldn’t quite make it out.  Slowly, the girl felt her thoughts drip and
melt, running into the image of the Lady.  The Lady was kind.  The Lady was
good.  The Lady…

“What is the first lesson?”

That question again.  The Lady was asking a question and the girl knew the
answer.  Slowly she opened her mouth to speak, instantly allowing the thick,
blue water around her to rush in and fill the gaping cavity.  Silently she
mouthed her answer, her glazed eyes half-open, staring out into nothingness.

A woman clad in beautiful blue and white robes appeared beside the eerily
still pillar.  Behind her stood a man with long, black hair and draped in
elaborate robes.  His thin, well-kept goatee highlighted his etched face.
In a deep and somewhat impatient voice the man asked, “How long until she is
ready?”

The woman answered without taking her attention off of the pillar.  “Soon.
Her will is strong, but her fear is deep.  I can’t begin to imagine what
kind of horrific nightmares that madman had planned for her.”

The man nodded and turned to a display counsol etched into the side of a
sleek, wooden pillar.  On the display were various vital signs, each one
moving sporadically across a glowing blue monitor.  Frowning, the man turned
to the woman in blue.  “Are you sure that this is working, My Lady?  The
levels of Jauatan you’ve prescribed… they seem awfully high for a child of
her age.  How much mental contamination can her mind withstand before it
...?”

The woman silenced his questions with a wave of her hand.  “Have faith.  Her
mind has been poisoned by manipulation.  The Jauatan is doing its best to
cleanse her tainted thoughts and free her will.  It will be painful, but
take heart; the truth is always painful for those who need it most.”

The man nodded, his curiosity satisfied.  “Forgive me, My Lady.  It was not
my place to question your motives.”

Smiling, the Lady placed her hand on the column beside her.  The girl inside
closed her eyes and smiled, yet at the same time her brow furled as though
she were in thought… or pain.

“Soon we shall be ready to make our move,” the woman said, her eyes staring
out into space.  “Soon my child, we shall be ready to cleanse the universe.
Soon, all of your pain will be gone.  I promise.”

“And the girl?  What shall be done with her once she is cleansed?”

The woman looked to the girl again.  This time caressing the side of the
pillar with the grace and tenderness of a mother.  “What indeed…”

***

BGlanders presents…

The Villain’s Crusade

Chapter Three:  The First Lesson

***

“What is Pixy Misa?”

The voice seemed to come from all sides, and yet Pixy Misa could have sworn
that there had been no sound at all.  The voice, very feminine and very
real, was still echoing through her mind.  Misa tried to answer, but she
felt as if her mouth was filled with water.  She tried to move, but her body
felt like it was submersed in glue.  She tried to think, but her mind was
now a haphazard mess.  Quietly, the voice asked Misa again.

“What is Pixy Misa?”

Misa would have covered her ears from the pain, but her arms refused to
budge.  A thousand thoughts were running through her mind at once, coupled
with a million emotions.  Fear, anger, loneliness, paranoia; Misa could feel
them all trying to claw their way to the surface.  Each one was screaming,
howling for her to listen to their unintelligible pleas.

“No!  It’s the bad one she’s here and…”

“I don’t wanna do this I don’t wanna do this I…”

“Who the hell is she to ask us that…”

No.

“Just hide just run and hide and hide and be safe and…”

“No we’re not safe here we’re not safe and strong and safe wanna…”

“Can’t I won’t I can’t I won’t I…”

No!

“Please someone anyone papa please I just I just where are you papa I…”

“Why is this happening why is this I don’t want to not again not…”

NO!

“SHUT UP!”

“…”

With a mental scream, Misa silenced the deafening babble that had threatened
to overcome her.  After mentally counting to ten Misa calmed down, focused
her thoughts and tried to get a grasp for her surroundings.  For some reason
she felt as if someone or something was smiling at her.

First off, she was standing on what looked like a flat, golden ledge that
overlooked an expanse so vast that her mind reeled at trying to guess how
far out it went.  She was still in space; at least that much she was certain
of.  The rest just left her gaping in awe.  In front of her a vast ocean lay
beneath endless rows of floating pillars and boxes, each so large that they
baffled the imagination.  Inside these containers were trees, sculptures
that would have driven even the most chaotic theorist insane with confusion,
and still more trees.  In the water, Misa saw immense shadows silently glide
between the suspended containers, as if they somehow dictated a pathway
through this endless maze.

Misa also took time to notice that she was now in black and white.

“What the… This is getting waaaay too weird.”

While looking around and half expecting a man in a black suit to come out
and introduce her as a character in a cheesy sci-fi television show, Misa
noticed that the empty void of space above her was slowly melting away to be
replaced by a backdrop of unearthly huge shadows.  Each looked like a
person, but they were far too big to be human.  The shadows seemed to form
two lines traveling off into the distance, creating a virtual hall of
shadows.  Then Misa noticed that in the center of this hall of shadows stood
three silhouettes that were seemingly out of place from the others.

Each of these out of place silhouettes seemed familiar to Misa, but the
lighting was too dim or her eyes just couldn’t see that far, or maybe they
were merely shadows and nothing more.  For whatever reason, Misa couldn’t
quite make them out.  One of them however seemed to be sobbing, but again
Misa couldn’t tell which one it was.

Suddenly Misa heard the voice again, only this time it was deafening.
Wincing from pain, Misa suddenly found that she could move.  She covered her
ears with her hands, but the question refused to leave them.  She felt her
legs threatening to buckle underneath her, but could not bring herself to
fall.

“What is Pixy Misa?”

It took all of her willpower not to start screaming mindlessly at the
question.  Instead, she forced herself to answer in a voice that was as
quiet as a whisper, yet louder than she could have thought possible.

“Why…the hell… do you care?!”

Silence.

Tentatively, Misa took her hands away from her ears, all the while listening
for any trace of sound.  When all she was greeted with was the sound of her
own breathing, she felt her face twist into a smirk, her fists now clenched
at her sides.

“You hear me!  YOU HEAR ME?  YEAH, I’M TALKING TO YOU, YOU…. VOICE YOU!”

Misa took a quick look around to make sure that everyone present had heard
her, even though she was presently alone.  Then, she resumed screaming at
the hazy shadows in front of her.  Subconsciously she began to notice the
hairs on the back of her neck starting to stand on end, but at the moment
she was attributing it to her heightened agitation.

With all the mental fury she could muster, Misa reached behind her back and
brought forth her magical baton.  Screaming, she focused all her rage,
anger, doubt and confusion at once.

“You wanna know what Pixy Misa is?  Well here!  THIS IS PIXY MISA!”

With a thought, the incredibly powerful force bolt hurled forth from Misa’s
baton, reaching the massive shadows in an instant.  Misa watched as her
energy blast sailed through space, then vanished for a moment just before
impacting the titanic shadows before her.

“Did… did I get them?”

A moment later her question was answered as a tremendous explosion sent her
flying backwards.  Reeling, Misa tried to regain her footing and stay
focused on the situation, all the while trying not to be too impressed with
her own display of power.

For a moment all Misa could see were clouds of smoke where the shadows had
stood moments before.  Grinning, she rested on her haunches and tried to
catch her breath, satisfied that the big, spooky thing in front of her had
been decimated.  She was about to make a snide comment, but then fell silent
as the smoke form her blast receded, revealing three completely unmarked
shadowy figures.

Suddenly, a brilliant light that seemed to shine from the very heavens
themselves illuminated the front most figure.  It was a woman, but unlike
any woman Misa had ever seen before.  For a moment, Misa considered her
flashy, elaborate robes and wondered if the woman was another potential
Queen from Juraihelm.

That was when the lights went out, and Misa found herself standing alone in
a sea of quiet darkness that was strangely illuminated from just out of
sight.  Misa turned, half expecting to be greeted with some strange monster
from another dimension or maybe with a dummied down image of the woman she
had just seen.

Instead, Misa came face to face with the image of herself.

Except to Misa’s horror, it wasn’t herself.

Before her stood the visage of Misao Amano.

“What is Pixy Misa?”  The reflections mouth moved, and the words seemed to
flow from Misa’s own lips.

This time, Misa’s only reply was a scream.

***

Captain Irakura stirred in his black oak captain’s chair as he
half-heartedly reviewed the report logs of the past twenty-four hours.  For
three standard galactic years he and his ship, the Mizutani, had been
performing such all-important tasks as space-traffic scanning, quasar
observations and other menial, trivial, boring tasks that would make any
normal humanoid’s head explode.  However, as fate would have it Captain
Irakura and his crew weren’t ordinary people by a long shot.  No, they were
sailors in the Republic’s Navy, sailing a Battle Cruiser of considerable
power and reputation.

All things considered they probably should have been out performing more
suitable tasks for a ship and crew of their caliber.  However, due to
certain events that were in retrospect no one’s fault, Captain Irakura and
his loyal crew were stuck with what was considered the crappiest duty in the
Republic’s armed forces.

Outer rim patrol.

Sighing, the Captain filled out the electronic log and signed it lazily.
Even the day’s earlier arrest and capture of two traitors to the crown had
not been enough to be considered ‘excitement’ by he or the crew.  After
filing the report away in an arm pocket of his chair, Irakura leaned back
and reflected on how, despite what the initial reports had stated, these
tedious assignments had been his fault.  He hadn’t really meant to engage
the Misaki in battle.  It just kind of… happened.  Their ships just happened
to be patrolling the same sector of deep space at the same time, and that
sector of space just happened to be one of the few that were claimed by both
parties.  His ship fired, their ship fired, some profanities were exchanged
and then both just sailed off, each knowing that a full-blown battle that
deep in space would have surely meant the destruction of both ships.

While neither ship was seriously damaged, the governments of Jurai and the
Republic were both screaming for blood for weeks afterwards.  Jurai had
never fully acknowledged the existence of the Republic as a sovereign Great
House, but couldn’t make a move due to what had come to be known by the
Juraian government as the Treaty of Devils.  Basically it gave the Great
Houses as a whole permission to overthrow Jurai if she ever tried to
forcibly destroy one, even if it wasn’t recognized.  This treaty was seen as
a Godsend for the dozens of Houses that consisted of the extended Empire,
but on the flip side it shot Jurai’s expansion efforts in the foot.

Out of all the Houses that had hidden behind the Treaty of Devils, none had
done so more than the Republic.  For hundreds of years its existence had
been seen as not only a threat to Jurai’s economy but also as an
unforgivable blasphemy on the Goddess herself.  The Empire, even in meetings
of State, spit upon the Republic’s people.  Only through heavy trade with
the other Houses had the Republic managed to stay alive, and because of that
heavy trade Jurai needed a considerably strong reason to launch an invasion.

The destruction of a Royal ship would have fit the bill nicely.

In the end, the Royal Council’s decision to invade the Republic was
overturned by two votes.  It was agreed that while an invasion would be
successful, it would not be worth risking the combined armadas of the Great
Houses.  The Republic issued a formal apology to Jurai, stating that it
would take drastic steps ‘to ensure this sort of incident would never happen
again.’

Because of what had happened, Captain Irakura was seen as an instant hero
and scapegoat all rolled up into one.  The Republic, while refusing to court
marshal him, had elected to reassign his vessel to the outer rim instead;
their logic being that several years out of the spotlight would help the
citizens of both governments forget what had happened.  In the end, the
Captain decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and graciously
accepted his reassignment.

And now, three years later, Captain Irakura found himself wishing that he’d
opted for the court marshal instead.  The monotony of patrolling had taken
its toll on himself and his crew to the point that he had taken to bending
ship protocol to try to keep his shipmates from going insane.  One such
tactic had been to pipe music over the ships intercom system when it wasn’t
in use.

At first there had been a huge debate over what type of music should be
played, considering half the crew preferred classical while the other was
into a harder, edgier style.  Eventually the argument was settled when the
ship deleted all music files save for her own personal picks.  The crew,
knowing better than to mess with the space-faring entity that they relied on
to survive, quietly gave in.  Therefore, for the last month the crew had
been listening to hocked radio transmissions form colonial planet 315.

***

At the moment, Pixy Misa had come to the conclusion that Hell wasn’t being
submersed in lakes of fire or tortured by demons in pits of sulfur, but was
actually being trapped in a brig that smelled like her grandmother while
listening to ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ by Journey being played over and over.
To make it worse, her cellmate had started to hum along.

“Um, Kaggi-pooh?  Could you maybe, oh I dunno, tell me WHY we’re here?”

“…Born and raised in south Detroit… eh?  Oh yes.  I figured you’d be too
stupid to figure it out for yourself, but I was hoping, none the less…”

Misa prepared to charge up an attack, then kicked the side of the cell wall
in frustration when she realized her baton had been confiscated.  Fuming,
she balled her hands into fists and prepared to wallop Kagato over the head.
  Just before she could connect, the unmoving scientist calmly answered her,
his eyes closed in seeming content.

“If we hadn’t surrendered, they would have put seventy rounds, maybe more,
into our stomachs.”

“…Oh.”

The scientist let a tiny sigh escape his lips, and then went back to
humming.  Misa simmered, all the while wondering what Kagato had up his
sleeve.  However, before she could come right out and ask him, the
near-invisible wall of energy that kept her and her associate confined
suddenly shimmered, then ‘popped’ out of existence.  Then, before either
prisoner could react a man appeared in the doorway.

He looked young, about twenty or so, with simple brown orbs for eyes and
short brown hair parted down the center.  He was dressed in what looked like
a black body suit with a red scarf draped around his neck.  On his left
shoulder, Misa saw what looked like two white, puffy balls of cotton.
Covering his mid region, Misa noticed what looked like a dark red tunic.
Suddenly, the image of a cotton ball Roman gladiator sprang up in the young
magical girl’s mind.

She was about to snicker when she noticed the gentleman was also wearing a
simple black belt that had a sleek, shiny, gun-like object attached to it.
Also, Misa reckoned that if he didn’t shoot her for the slew of wisecracks
that were building in her mind, he’d most definitely crack her across the
skull with his staff for good measure.

“Prisoners, I am Lieutenant Daerou.  I am to act as your legal
representative while you serve your sentence on this vessel.  You will be
provided with food and lodging until we reach Yuzuhul.  There you shall be
properly dealt with.”

Kagato nodded and gestured for Daerou to come in.  With a curt nod, the
lieutenant entered, walked past Misa and took a seat on a bench opposite of
Kagato’s own.  As soon as Daerou had entered the cell, the energy field once
again activated, creating a slight orange shimmer in the archway of the
cell.

“I presume you’re here to interview us for the ship’s log?”  Kagato didn’t
bother to make eye contact with Daerou.  Instead he sent the sternest,
hardest glare he could towards Misa, who was at that moment preparing to
scream at the soldier for ignoring her.  Upon seeing Kagato’s warning glance
she relented, crossed her arms and with an angry ‘humph’ turned her back to
her cellmates.

“Um…well…yes.  To tell the truth that is the main reason I’m here.  Um…
let’s start with your name, Mr…?”

Kagato mentally counted to three, took a deep breath, and then prayed to
whatever gods were listening that the lieutenant was either extremely stupid
or insanely naive.

“My name is Professor Tomoe of the House of Jurai.  This child is
my…daughter, Hotaru Tomoe.  We were traveling along the trade routes on the
Outer Rim when our navigation systems went down.  By the time we were able
to raise them, one of your cruisers was firing on our engines.”

“You claim to be Jurain?”  The lieutenant began to write a little faster in
his log.

“Not just Jurain.  I am the chief scientist to his Majesty’s deep space
weapons division, to tell the truth.  In fact, my daughter is a hand maiden
to the second princess.”

The lieutenant’s hand started to tremble as he sped up his note taking.

“So… if this is true, then why were you all the way out here?  There isn’t
even a GP outpost within 1000 clicks of the Rim, let alone any Jurain
holdings…”

“I know,” Kagato said calmly, “we were here to test out our new weapons
system, if you really have to know…”

“Wea…weapons system?”  At this, Daerou almost dropped his records.  Kagato’s
answer was a simple nod.

“That’s right.  We were hoping to catch some slow, run down, forgotten about
Republic cruiser and experiment a bit.  Luckily, we found three.”

As Kagato made the young lieutenant’s eyes grow wider and wider, Misa stood
off to the side, all the while growing more and more tense.  She wasn’t
quite sure where Kagato was going with this, but she was sure he had a plan…
still, she figured it didn’t hurt to pray to whatever gods were listening
that the lieutenant was either extremely stupid or insanely naive

“So what you’re telling me…” The lieutenant stammered out, “is that the
giant…errr…space fish that destroyed…”

“Space halibut,” Misa corrected.

“…Right.  Space halibut that destroyed one of our Lipocarthus class vessels
was the product of some new kind of Jurain technology?”

“That’s right.”

“And that you just so happen to be one of the scientists for the Jurain deep
space weapons research team?”

“…Chief scientist,” Misa corrected again.

“That’s right.  What part of this don’t you understand?”  Kagato took on a
stern look, glaring at the now jittery lieutenant.  “And as a member of the
Jurain Imperial Court, under the Treaty of Devils, article IX, section 5 I
hereby demand political asylum for my daughter and myself.”

Lieutenant Daerou’s mouth opened and closed several times on its own before
he regained motor control over his body.  Visibly shaking with excitement or
terror (Misa wasn’t quite sure which), the lieutenant abruptly stood, curtly
bowed to Kagato and Pixy Misa, and then hurriedly left the cell and headed
for the turbo lift at the far end of the brig.  Idly, Misa noted that the
lieutenant hadn’t pressed any buttons or switches before passing through the
cell’s force field.

Once he was gone, Kagato leaned back on his cot with his hand behind his
head.  “Well, that went better than expected, I must say…”

Misa on the other hand, wasn’t quite as calm.  Without a word, she walked up
to the now stretched out scientist, grabbed the underside of her right arm
with her left hand and elbow dropped the mad scientist square in the family
jewels.  The resulting scream could be heard throughout half the ship.

“If you ever, and I mean EVER draw a reference about me like that again
you’ll go on living this life out in a wheelchair!”  Misa yelled as Kagato
rolled off of his cot and on to the floor, his hand buried between his legs.

With tears of pain and rage streaming down his face, Kagato stammered, “And
what…. YE GODS that… ummmerrrr…. exactly…. urrphhh… did I compare you…to?”

Misa’s left eyebrow started to give off a rather nasty twitch.  “Oh come on!
  While I’m not too sure how you’re even familiar with earth television, I
know a bad series reference when I hear one!”

Through the thousands of screaming banshees in his skull, Kagato tried to
dig back and figure out just what his young traveling compatriot was talking
about.  “I…. Really don’t know what…. You’re talking about…. You little…”

“…Did you have to use her?”  Misa asked, her back to the withering
scientist.  “Did you have to use someone so…

‘Lonely.’

‘Frail.’

‘Afraid.’

“…So weak?  Why should someone as beautiful and powerful as myself be
compared to someone so…”

‘…much like…’

‘…Like…’

‘…Just like Her’

Misa shook her head, then clutched at her temples, her face betraying a
sharp stab of pain.  Silently she stood like that, all the while listening
to her cellmate deal with the new dimensions of pain she had put forth
towards him.  After several moments she sighed, dropped her shoulders in
defeat and walked over to the sink.  Without a word, she wetted down a rag
in freezing water, and then knelt before the still shivering scientist.

“Here.”

Kagato eyed her for a moment through pain-induced slits, then decided
personal maintenance was more important that pride and accepted the rag.
Misa curtly nodded, marched to her side of the cell, and laid down on her
cot with her back to the still whimpering scientist.

Whether it was out of hurt feelings or simple anger, the rest of the evening
was spent in merciful silence.

***

The young girl looked and looked, the inky darkness around her would not
give way.  She was standing within a pool of light whose diameter was only
slightly larger than herself.  What hair she had was pulled back into a
haphazard ponytail, and her sweat-soaked green jumpsuit made even the
slightest movement feel disgustingly slick and constricting, but she didn’t
care.  Several bruises marred her face, and her brow was sporting a shallow
cut that wouldn’t stop bleeding.  She tightly gripped a smooth, tan colored
wooden staff in her hands, her knuckles showing signs of bruising.

The sound to her left was as faint as a whisper, but the girl reacted as if
it were a gunshot.  In an instant she had shifted her weight to her right
side, barely bringing her staff up on her right in time to block a flash of
brown that sliced through the darkness, making a hollow crack against her
weapon.  An instant later it was gone, and the girl slowly resumed her
defensive stance within the circle of light.

There was a faint whistle of wind, and the girl half screamed in pain.  Her
attacker had gotten in underneath her defenses and had hit her in the center
of her kneecap.  Shuddering from pain, the girl bit her lip and shifted her
weight to her good leg.  Hot tears mixed with sweat as they rolled down her
tense, scrunched face.  Her ears were ringing with a dull throb from an
earlier blow across the side of the head.  Her eyes strained to see within
the darkness, her crippled body slowly limping in a circle, all the while
not breaking the circle of light around her.

The girl grew anxious.  The only thing she could hear was her own blood
pounding in her temples, the only thing she could see were her own tears
hanging off the tip of her nose.  Then the blood from her cut started to mix
with the tears, causing her eyes to scream in agony.  Unable to bear it any
longer, the girl squinched her eyes shut, forcing the tears out once and for
all.

The attack came so fast she barely had time to deflect it.  This time it had
been aimed at her head.  Two, short swings from the inky abyss inches from
her taxed form.  The young girl reeled back, desperately trying to block
while keeping her weight off of her bad leg.  Gritting her teeth in anger,
she pushed the offensive weapon away with her own, and then twirled her
staff twice, assuming a defensive posture to compensate for her lame limb.
Her breath was coming in short, labored gasps through gritted teeth as a
thin line of saliva ran down her chin.

The girl strained her eyes, trying desperately to adapt them to the darkness
around her.  She hunted desperately for any sign of movement, any flicker of
light or color that would give her unseen attacker’s position away.  Just as
her eyes were starting to adapt to her surroundings, a blindingly bright
light shattered the blackness around her, causing the girl to keep her eyes
closed in pain.

Two seconds later she was doubling over as what felt like a thousand daggers
were turning in her abdomen.  Something very hard and fast had just slammed
into her stomach with enough force to make her go into dry heaves.  No
longer caring about defending herself, the young girl dropped her staff and
fell to her knees, her body partially leaving her circle.

The moment her knees hit the floor, the room around her was filled with
light.  She was in a training area that looked to be a cube of thirty meters
in every direction.  Presently the various exercise items that inhabited the
room, such as a strange device resembling a three-handled sawhorse to name
one, had been scooted to the far wall, leaving a considerable amount of room
in the center of the facility.  Standing not two meters from the girl was a
man holding a wooden staff and scowling something fierce at the young girl.
He was wearing what appeared to be a loose fitting gray shirt with billowing
pants of a darker shade.  At once the man looked comfortable and ready to
strike out, a true feat of space age fashion design.

“Get up,” the man said.  The girl shuddered, salty tears mixed with a faint
trace of blood flowed down her hot cheeks and massed at her mouth,
threatening to drop silently to the floor with every shudder of the girl’s
pain-ridden body.  Sighing, the man pounded his staff on the floor and asked
her again.

“Get up.”

Slowly, the girl tried to gather herself together.  With shallow, rasping
breaths the girl managed to get herself on her feet, her own body resting
heavily on the staff that remained clutched in her bruise-covered hands.
Then with a start the girl fell forward, letting her body slam into the
floor beneath her.  Quietly, the girl lay weeping on the cold, hard floor.

The man saw and heard all this, and for the briefest of moments considered
punishing her for her disobedience, then thought better of it.  That was the
old him thinking, the clone.  He was better than that now, beyond that.
Before, he would have hit her for her insolence, now…

Now he honestly wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do.

“Child, why are you doing this?”  The man asked of the wilted husk before
him.  “While I’m pleased you feel the need to train yourself, I should point
out that I can only train what is trainable.”

The girl lay shivering, trying to grunt through clenched teeth.

“You aren’t doing this to better yourself.  You’re here to prove something,
yet you can’t even remember the first lesson.  Pity, you seemed so eager to
participate, yet you can’t even obey a simple command.  I…eh?”

The man reached out with his staff and poked the tiny figure before him.
The only response was the sound of strained, small breaths gently repeating
themselves.  Without a word, the man turned and headed for the door, not
once sparing a glance to the broken figure behind him.

***

“…I’m telling you sir, this thing is big…really big!  By the Trees sir, he’s
a Chief scientist to the Jurain Royal family!  He’s got some kind of
devastating weapon that could bring entire fleets to their knees… and now
he’s defecting to our side!  Sir!  This is…”

“Lieutenant, shut up.”

“Umm..yessir.”

Captain Irakura sighed as his lieutenant droned on incessantly about his
latest discovery.  Irakura knew it was a bad idea to send Daerou to take
their statements, but the Captain hadn’t really thought it would make a
difference.  After all, there were only two this time, and one of them was a
child.

‘Of course, even that seems to be too much for the lieutenant to deal with’
the captain thought to himself.  Idly, Irakura scanned the documents before
him that his over eager lieutenant had prepared.

“Daerou, you say this prisoner claims to be professor Tomoe, a weapons
engineer from…”

“Chief weapons engineer, sir.”  Daerou pointed out.

“…Chief weapons engineer from the planet Jurai, out here in the outer rim
testing some new, horrible weapon that fires some type of space fish…”

“Space halibut, sir.”

“…Space halibut that can eat Republic battle cruisers.  And now he’s just
going to up and defect under the Treaty of Devils.”

“Yes sir, that’s about the gist of it,” the lieutenant replied.

“Lieutenant Daerou, need I remind you of the last time you came to me with
an urgent report about prisoner’s claims?”

The lieutenant started to squirm a bit.  “Well sir, I…”

“You remember Daerou, that ultra energy matter scientist you claimed would
unlock the secrets of the universe?”

“Now sir, she had a very convincing sotry and…”

“SHE WAS TWELEVE!”  Irakura screamed.  The bridge crew, now well used to
this, continued on about their duties.

“That was just one… ONE mind you in a series of false reports.  Remember the
time you claimed we had captured an ambassador who claimed to have a secret
weapon against the Zentradi?”

“But sir, his identification was…”

“A POP SONG IS NOT A WEAPON, LIEUTENANT!  By the Tree!  Did you honestly
believe that playing ‘My Boyfriend is a Pyro’ would make them stop their
endless crusade of fighting?!”

“Pilot sir. My Boyfriend is a Pilot,” one of the bridge bunnies spoke up.

“That’s…good for you, ensign.”  Irakura sweat-dropped slightly.  “The point
is that if we captured a Korogian grease monkey and he told you he was Yosho
the Great, you’d take him before the Imperial senate to argue his case!”

“Sir I’m… I apologise.  I guess I got a little carried away.  It’s just they
seemed so convincing this time…”

“Yeah, this and every other time.”  Captain Irakura tossed the report back
to his lieutenant, scowling all the while.  “While I don’t believe what
you’re telling me for a second, it was rather odd that the space fish…

“Space halibut,” one of the bridge bunnies corrected.

“… whatever, materialized right when that ship was about to be destroyed.
And while I don’t believe for a minute that they’re Jurain, they did make a
valid claim under the Treaty of Devils.  I guess this means…”

“This means, sir?”

Irakura sighed.  “This means we have to go through the proper channels and
report this.  Lieutenant, I want you to contact Yuzuhul through the subspace
link and report this to the higher ups.  Lets see what INS has to say about
this.”

Lieutenant Daerou nodded and with a “yessir” he hurriedly left the bridge.
The second he was gone the navigation bridge bunny, Oryo was her name,
turned and asked “Sir?  Won’t he just exaggerate this to Central Command?  I
mean, well, he might misreport this situation and…”

Irakura nodded in response.  “Good.  That’ll give us an excuse to get out of
the Rim for a while.  I doubt our captive is a member of the Royal Court.
If he is, then where is the armed escort?  Where’s Azusa’s goon patrol?  No,
that tight-assed old man wouldn’t let a top-secret weapon be tested without
sending out half the fleet for protection.  Remember that whole Bizen mess?
No… this guy is an independent, but he knows our laws, and that alone leads
me to wonder who he really is.”

Ensign Oryo nodded and turned back to her station, seemingly satisfied with
the captain’s decision.  The others on the bridge were also satisfied, and
resumed their usual bridge activities.  One was sleeping; one was reading a
dog-eared manga and another was playing what appeared to be an air guitar.
Irakura saw all this and listened as a song the ship’s computers called
‘Highway Run’ lightly played over the intercom.

“I hate the Outer Rim.”

***

When Misa awoke, she was still facing the same dingy wall that had been
glaring at her when she had gone to sleep.  With a dejected sigh, she cursed
the fact that it wasn’t a dream and that she actually was still stuck in
what she considered to be one of the worst cells ever constructed.

As she lay there debating with herself about going back to sleep she was
startled by a voice behind her.

“What is Pixy Misa?”

Misa stiffened as a cold sweat began to form on her body.  Without turning,
she said, “What do you mean?”

“You talk in your sleep, you know.  You kept asking that over and over
again.  ‘What is Pixy Misa?’ you mumbled.”

Misa sat up and turned to face her cellmate who was now lying down on his
own cot, his eyes fixed upon the cold, flat ceiling above them.

“Strange to ask others who you are, don’t you think?  Tell me, what exactly
is Pixy Misa, Pixy Misa?”  Kagato asked, his hands behind his head.

Misa gave a dejected sigh and rubbed her shoulders.  “Are you’re…Are you
okay?”

Kagato gave a slight nod.  “They’re a bit scorned, but they’ll survive.  I
don’t suppose you’d mind telling me why you felt the urge to do that, would
you?”

Misa shook her head.  “It’s just… I’m the magical girl Pixy Misa.  I’m
strong where others are weak, happy where others feel pain.  I am the lovely
in the term lovely madam.  And then you had to go and call me…

‘Misao’

“…such a weak and cowardly name.  I guess I… that woman is the living
embodiment of everything I’m not!  I am…

‘I am Pixy Misa.’

“Stronger than that!  Better!  I’m…

‘No, I am Pixy Misa.

“.. I’ve worked long and hard to move past that stage in my life, and I’m
not about to let you or anyone else call me

‘Misao.  My name is Misao.’

“…By that name, Even if it is a joke, got it?”

‘What is Pixy Misa?’

Kagato gave a slight shrug.  “Whatever you say, child.  Honestly though, I
still have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Misa was about to retort, but answered only with a “Say what?”

Kagato continued.  “Professor Tomoe is a name I use when dealing with
contacts in the Republic.  I’ve never really believed in putting all my eggs
in one basket, and I’m wanted for robbery in Republic space as well as
Jurain.  As for your name… It just seemed to fit you, I suppose.”

Misa thought about this for a second, then nodded.  “I guess it would be
impossible for you to know about what I was talking about…”

“That should be quite obvious by now.”

“…It’s just that it struck a bad chord in me, that’s all.”  Kagato nodded
again, all the while not moving from where he was on his cot.  After Misa
stood, washed her face off and paced around the cell several times she
stopped and asked, “Say, how’s come you’re just lying there?  Aren’t you
going to, well I dunno, at least pee or something?  You’re starting to creep
me out.”

Kagato nodded again, still not moving a muscle.  “Actually I have to go
quite badly, but I found that every time I move I seem to get this white hot
pain in my mid region.  I suppose that’s the reason I’m lying here, not
‘peeing’ as you put it and why you haven’t had the living shit throttled out
of you.”

Misa gulped slightly as Kagato gave a slight shrug.

“But as it happens I’m rather restricted at the moment, so I guess you’re
safe…”

Misa sighed and decided to try to catch a few more minutes worth of sleep.
As she lay on her cot, her mind already drifting off to lands of sweet
smelling hay, she heard Kagato’s voice one last time.

“…for now.”

For the next hour, Misa kept a close eye on the mad scientist, who all the
while lay staring at the unfamiliar ceiling above them.

***

The girl wasn’t sure how long she had been lying on the floor, but it felt
like ages.  She couldn’t move, she could barely breathe, but at least she
could cry.  So she wept, long and silently into the night.  Each time she
quietly sobbed, she felt another sharp sting from inside her chest.  Each
time she sniffled, she could taste a hint of blood in her saliva.  Even the
act of crying was difficult, but the girl didn’t care.  She could cry, and
that’s exactly what she would do until her body told her she couldn’t.

As the girl began to silently run out of tears, she thought she heard a
slight hiss from behind her.  Through puffy, swollen eyes she thought she
could see a shaft of light extend across the floor in front of her, but she
wasn’t sure.  Then something, something large and warm, quietly scooped her
up.  She wasn’t sure who it was… maybe her mother?  No… too big, too
strong…. Papa?  Yes, it was Papa.  The girl wept in relief, for she knew
that soon she would be safe, and that Papa wouldn’t let her hurt anymore.

Without a word the man carried her out of the practice room while being
careful not to wake the broken girl in his arms.  She was hurt pretty bad,
but it was nothing that he couldn’t fix.  The man was confident in his
abilities, and he knew the girl wouldn’t die so easily.  With a steady
stride he carried her to the ship’s sickbay.

***

In a place that defied the conventional laws of physics, thousands upon
thousands of giant, humming machines stretched out far past what even the
most gifted imagination could conceive.  Blinking lights and screens seemed
to dot the endless corridors of steel giants as they stretched out into
seeming infinity.  In the center of all this, the great twisted mass of
machinery seemed to converge, forming a tight circle around one well-lit
point.  Inside this epicenter of operations, a tiny figure cursed and asked
a question for the third time to the monitor that was currently before her.

“Are you sure about the name?”

“Yes ma’am.  The man said his name was Professor Tomoe and that he was a
chief engineer for Jurai.  I asked him several times to be sure.”

“Thank you lieutenant.  Relay to your captain that you are to set a course
for Yuzuhul at once, understand?”

The lieutenant shifted back and forth several times in nervousness.  “Yes
ma’am, but under whose authority should I tell him that..?”

“Under my authority, lieutenant.  That will be all.”

“Ye…yes ma’am.”  And with that, the monitor before the young woman went
dark.

“So… he’s decided to show himself here.  Heh… I knew that bastard wasn’t
dead.  That’s just not his style.”  Grinning, the young woman leaned back on
her floating futon, her arms crossed across her stomach.

“My dear Kagato… whatever could have brought you all the way out here, and
into my hands?”

>From the darkness, the woman heard a low, rumbling voice ask, “Would you
like me to take care of this, mistress?”

The woman shook her head no, and said, “Let’s see what he’s up to, first.
This is almost too much of a coincidence for him to be here, now.  No, we’ll
let Kikuchi deal with him first.  If the man claiming to be Kagato can
survive that, then I’ll know he’s worthy of dying at my hands.”

“As you wish, mistress.”  With that, the hulking, shadowy form seemed to
melt back into the darkness.  The woman, once again alone, turned her
attention to one of the many monitors around her.  This one showed the
picture of a large, snake-shaped ship and beside it, a now familiar picture
of a man.

“Kagato, when I’m through with you you’ll wish you had stayed dead!”

Throughout the endless laboratory, the sound of childish laughter could be
heard.

***

The man checked her vital signs one last time before tucking the young girl
in for the night.  Apparently she had broken three ribs and had punctured a
lung.  Also, it seemed her arm was broken.  That, along with massive
internal bleeding, meant that she wouldn’t be up and running anytime soon.

Quietly the man studied her young face in the soft, blue lighting of the
sick bay.  Outside the ship’s window the endless illusion of streaming stars
continued to run sideways across an obsidian canvas.

Idly the man wondered what the girl was so desperate to fight for.  Why was
she so determined to break herself again and again?  She knew she couldn’t
take the abuse he was giving her in training, yet she pressed on with a
demon’s will to continue.  The man was puzzled by this, not knowing whether
to be proud of her for her courage or to scold her for her stupidity.

Once he was sure her vital signs wouldn’t change the man finished tucking
the girl in, and then quietly rose to leave for the night.  Just as he got
to the door, he heard a slight whispering from behind him.  The words were
faint and strained, but to the man they were as loud as a thousand screams.

“Goodnight, Papa.”

Without a word the man quickly left the girl lying in the sick bay, and
whether it was out of fear, confusion or maybe even anger, the man didn’t
know what to say in response.  He wasn’t sure, and that simple fact bothered
him.

“What is the first lesson?”  He asked the air around him.

The silence that followed carried no comfort.

***

Hiya folks!

The first chapter if this series was setup, the second was the establishment
of the plot.  This is…well, more of the same, I reckon.  The fourth will
have more action; that I promise.  Also, it’s been brought up that it seems
these fics begin in the middle of the story.  Well the reason for that is
simple…they did.  The Villians Crusade is actually the third in a series of
stories.  The first was Something More, and the Second was Something Less.
Most of your plot filler questions can be answered with those…most mind you,
not all ^_-.

In our next thrilling chapter…

WHO… is that mysterious child-like woman with the subspace lab? (You might
be surprised)

HOW… Will Kagato and Pixy Misa survive against the crème de la crème of the
Dark Jurain warriors? (You might be amazed)
WHAT… do those strange, David Lynch-esque dreams of Pixy Misa’s mean?  (You
might be confused…I know the author is.)

STAY TUNED… Mysteries revealed as new questions abound!  The next chapter
will leave you reeling!  Or at least, it’ll give you some eyestrain.

Kagato, Pixy Misa, Tsunami & Co. belong to AIC, Pioneer, TV Tokyo and a
whole lotta folks.

All C&C Should go to BGlanders@aol.com or ronoken@hotmail.com please.