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Mike's Letter

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Attn: Mike
Re: Next mission
I see that you've done everything that I've expected you to do. Good job. In this next mission, it is absolutely imperative that you recover the following items: Plans for 'Operation Starstruck', a prototype energy weapon, a bag of pellets (denoted on the bag as 'energy pellets Mk. 65ksh6z Lot 45'), and any information that seems to be important. Once you do that, leave the building as quickly as you can. One of my aides will meet you outside. Do everything correctly, and you shall be rewarded with equipment, cash, and information.
Signed Admiral 06978, ESF

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"That was..." Dan searched for the right word. "...disturbing."
Harsemhin nodded in agreement. "Look at the other people here. Just going about their business, as if nothing happened."
"Oh, nothing did. Fourside is just LITTERED with gun toting girls and bloodless psychic psychos," Dan said sarcasticly.
Cirra smiled for the first time since the incident "Really not that far from the truth!"
Dan glared. "Ha ha. We've got bigger fish to fry."
Harsemhin raised an eyebrow. "You do mean Bookas to bake, correct?"

"Skul..." Siris began. "Do you really have to write down everything we say?"
"Hey!" he retorted. "This could be big!" Siris kept his stare. Skulryk coughed uncomfortably. "And...you do get a piece of the action."
"Well, go on, my good man! You don't want to fall behind!"
Cyan attempted to get the group back onto their objective. "Guys...guys..." His eyes reddened. "GUYS!!" Sweatdrops followed. "You do remember we have other things to do!" He shooed them back on track and they walked forward.

Dan looked at the scene just depicted and raised an eyebrow. "Hey Rita...On the subject of things, what exactly are we doing here?"
"Well...should we follow them? That Cyan character seems to kmow what to do..."
Dan pondered. "Good idea, although walking up and saying 'Hi, we don't know you except for a few chance encounters, but would like to help you with whatever you're doing!' doesn't seem to be a good plan of action, eh?"
Harsemhin laughed confidently. "We don't have to go DIRECTLY up to them. Why, in Autumns I was the master of stealth."
"Great idea, Harsy!" Dan said as the group walked slowly towards Cyan and his friends.
"Would you stop calling me that!?"

You'd think that people as bizarre as them would be easy to find...
Matt and Kyle were walking towards the department store. They were looking to find the strange group of people, and maybe a few answers.
"You think that they're still there?" asked Kyle, worried. He was afraid that they may have left by now, and they may never find them.
"I dunno, but I suppose there's only one way to find out," replied Matt. His confidence in the fact that they would find them was slowly dwindling.
The continued their walk down the streets of Fourside. They were passing near the cafe when something odd caught their attention. They stopped in their tracks.
"Hey! Who's that?" exclaimed Kyle, pointing at a figure standing in front of the cafe. "You think he's one of the guys he saw earlier?"
Matt squinted and looked him over from a distance.
"He looks kind of odd, he may be. Let's find out for ourselves..."
The two approached the figure.
"Hey, you wouldn't happen to be part of the group we saw earlier in the cafe, would you?" asked Kyle hesitantly. He didn't really recognize this person, and began to doubt he was part of the group.
"Group? What are you talking about?" asked TsuramiSea, bewildered.
"Oh, my mistake," answered Kyle. "I thought you were someone else." With that, he and Matt began to walk away.
TsuramiSea thought to himself.
Group of people?...Hey, maybe they mean...
"Hey, wait!" shouted Tsurami. The two turned and looked at him.
"One of them wouldn't happen to have a sword, would they?" he asked. The two nodded.
"Then we both have something to discuss..."
Matt and Kyle introduced themselves, and they all shared the stories of what they were doing and what had happened.
"So, you're searching for these guys, just like we are," said Matt.
"Yes, I need to tell Cyan what I've found," answered Tsurami. "It may help him."
"Well, since we're looking for the same people, I say we do it together." suggested Kyle. The others quickly agreed.
"All I have to do is use my Detect Pers-"
"Not so fast," whirred a metallic voice, interrupting Tsurami. The three turned around. Floating behind them were the three UFOs Nual, Nayc and Nath.
"I take it these are your alien 'friends'," muttered Matt. He clenched his fists. He knew that since his sword was gone, he'd have to resort to a more...primal fighting style.
"Uh-oh, a fair fight," exclaimed Nual. "3 on 3."
"Yes, but all injured," added Nayc. "If we each take one, we'll be good."
"Stop chattering, just attack!" ordered Nath.
Tsurami turned to the other.
"We each take one, got it?"
The nodded and got into battle position. Matt jumped forward.
"No weapon never stopped me before..." said Matt. He got dwon on his knees. He began convulsing and contorting. His eyes glowed and fur sprouted from his back. He let loose a howl and transformed into a wolf.
Tsurami and Kyle stood there shocked.
I'll explain later, said Matt telepathically to Kyle and Tsurami. Just worry about fighting now
The two shook of the shock and drew their weapons. They dashed towards their attackers, and Matt swiftly tore into Nath...

"So...which way did they go?" Cirra asked. It hadn't occured to them that as they were considering following Cyan's group, the group had actually disappeared from sight. Harsemhin, Cirra and Dan looked about in confusion. Dan scratched his head.
"Well, Harsy, it looks like your talking about stealth and all made us lose who we were looking for." Harsemhin rolled his eyes.
"I told you to stop--oh, nevermind. I suggest we proceed in the direction which we last saw them heading in." Cirra and Dan nodded in agreement. The three raced down the streets of Fourside, until the road sharply turned. They had reached one of the four corners of the city. Rounding the corner, they found themselves in quite a curious place.
It appeared to be a slum of some sort. At least, it resembled a slum. Yet, there was not a single hint of life in the entire vicinity. The road was cracked and in disrepair. A page from a newspaper blew solemly across the road. The buildings, if they could be called that, were hovels. The normally pink-colored buildings of Fourside had been worn gray, peeling, walls collapsing inwards on themselves, windows shattered.
"Wow..." Cirra whispered. They had been absentmindedly walking into this desolate stretch of the city, as if drawn into it. All was the same...row upon row of dilapidated housing. Yet...one building stood out among the rest. One building remained upstanding and upkept. One building retained its pink paintjob. The three companions drifted towards this structure.
Steam billowing from a manhole cover partially enveloped the entrance to the building. As they approached, the steam seemed to pulse and waver, as if alive. A glimpse. What was it? Harsemhin halted and spread his arms out, urging Dan and Cirra to go no further. Gazing into the thick cloud of steam, Harsemhin could barely discern a figure, caped in the mist. A sudden gust of wind blew the cloud of steam in the direction opposite of the building, exposing the apparition.
It was Raltise.
"Ah, so good of you to come! Good of you to come!" He grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Come now, why don't you step into our new art shop? I am quite positive you will find something interesting..." Raltise slowly bobbed his head, as if affirming something in his mind. "Yes, yes...interesting indeed. Interesting, quite."
Dan looked to Harsemhin and Cirra. "Oh man...not this guy again..." He rolled his eyes. "What do you think we should do?"
Harsemhin frowned. "I...believe we should investigate. I believe we should not ignore something that may prove to be useful." Yet, Cirra was apprehensive.
"Are you kidding me!? You're just gonna waltz right in there and trust that he's telling the truth!?" Dan rolled his eyes.
"I thought you had an M16." A large sweatdrop visibly formed on Cirra's forehead.
"..oh yeah, I forgot. Hehe..."
Raltise interrupted. "Now, now...don't be afraid, I assure you this will do you no harm...it is merely art, after all. Come, come! Step this way." The unearthly one ushered the three uneasy travellers into the building. Once inside, he turned to them, grinning, and motioned for them to follow behind. They proceeded deeper into the store. Surprisingly, it was a lot larger in length than it had seemed from the outside, yet extremely narrow. After a few minutes of silence, Raltise's booming voice finally broke the stillness like thunder.
"Now, I suggest you observe your surroundings very closely...very closely, yes." He made an arm gesticulation indicating the wall to their right. A clock sat ticking away the time in mournful tones. Cirra gazed to the opposite wall. Several paintings hung from it, nearly encompassing it. Several sculptures posed on pedastals at random intervals on their journey. "Ahhh...yes, you are on the right track. Only a bit further now, yes...yes." Raltise murmured. They continued walking.
Harsemhin frowned, and leaned over to Cirra. "Is it just me, or is it getting darker in here?" Before Cirra could answer, the one of the ghastly complexion replied.
"Oh, you will see in due time. Time...yes, time. What is the time? Could you please tell me the time?" Dan frowned and looked up at the wall.
"Why it's--" He started. The clock was not a mere clock...it seemed to be sliding down the very face of the wall itself. The hands were transfigured, and it appeared as if two eyes gazed out from the clock face. It was melting. Cirra gasped, and her head snapped over to the other wall. The paintings, which had started out as classical in tone, seemed to be becoming more abstract as they ventured along. The paintings now appeared as if they were no longer attached to the wall, but floated in space.
The sculptures which they passed time to time seemed to be growing more demonic as the proceeded. It was as if they were alive...visions of golden, glistening horned devils with deadly blades. The atmosphere had grown almost pitch-black now. Harsemhin, who had allowed himself to be immersed in the darkness, suddenly found himself walking right into Raltise. He had stopped. In the dim light, he seemed to be gesturing to the area around them. "We're here." He stated concisely.
Everything was pitch-black, yet bright at the same time. But it was an unearthly light which illuminated this place. It was a light which emanated from everything--the floors, the ceiling, the walls, the shelves, everything. The three travellers gasped in shocked and dismay as they realized what they had ventured into.
The light was indeed coming from everything, for everything was glowing. An evil, pulsing, neon glow emanated from every structure around them, or at least the outlines of these structures, for everything else was pitch-black. The clocks which had been consistently drooping were now floating about, alive. The abstract art did so as well. Before them, roving fires dotted the ground. Raltise simply grinned and nodded.
"Yes, yes...you see it now, don't you? Yes, your world is changing. It is merging with one of illusion, one of pure and unadulterated evil." In one sweeping motion Raltise snapped to attention before them. His red eyes seemed to glow with an eerie ferocity, even in this darkness.
"Welcome. Welcome to your world. Welcome to Moonside."

After a fairly long walk Cyan, Siris, Luna and Skulryk arrived at the entrance to the Gulf Temple. With little speech Cyan walked straight into the building which housed the downward path to the temple. When they went through the door, it sealed behind them. Cyan wasn't concerned, though.
As they descended to the underwater temple, the signal from Cyan's tracker became much stronger.
The signal is becoming too strong ... I don't think this is Anthadd, I think it's the temple itself which is showing up... Cyan thought to himself.
They reached the end of the path and found themselves standing in the middle of a large room with a pillar of light in the centre. "So the pillar is back. That must be what my tracker is picking up."
"What is the pillar?" asked Luna.
"It restricts the power of the warriors assciated with the Temple - in this case, myself and a person I know as Mike, though the Mike of this world might not be the same person as the one connected with this Temple in another world," explained Cyan. "If you'll excuse me for a second, I'll fix this."
Cyan calmly walked straight towards the pillar and then jumped into it, causing it to shatter quite spectacularly ...

Kyle energized his stick with the power of water, hoping it to be affective on the UFO's metal. He lashed out at Nual several times as she buzzed around him, firing off lasers. Kyle's attacks did not seem too effective, so he quickly switched to darkness.
Nayc would zip out of the way whenever TsuramiSea tried to hit him with his mallet, but the kid evened the battle by miraculously bouncing away from every beam fired. Only when TsuramiSea paused to try his Peanutbutter Bomb Trick did he get hit. The blob of peanut butter only hit the side of Nayc, but the small amount that got stuck disrupted his balance somewhat.
Serious action was happening in the area of Nath and Matt, now a wolf, as they both soared through the air, trying to strike each other. Every once in a while, Matt would land a glancing blow on Nath, forming small dents. Nath was taking the situation badly.
The strong pressure of PSI Aqua Beta gushed through the air, hitting Nual squarely. She went spinning into a wall, but recovered and hit Kyle back with a beam that suddenly caused bad sinus activity. Kyle caught a very painful head cold.
Tsurami cast a Flamol 2 spell, which easily connected with the now slow-moving Nayc. The Lil' UFO was scorched from this, and was slipping out of consciousness. He fired a flurry of lasers at TsuramiSea, but he dodged them easily.
An energy field burst around Nath, and he rammed Matt with all of his vigor. Matt took some damage, and snarled threateningly. He extended his claws in a flying leap, and scraped the High Class UFO hard. Nath flew over to Nual, and they in turn both closed in on the teetering Nayc.
"Giving up?" yelled Kyle, who had been sneezing away his health, but was hanging on.
"Not on your life!" The UFOs had an arc of electricity spring between them. They gleamed with the energy that they were generating.
"TRI BURNER!" the three saucers shouted together. They all fired a laser at Matt, who got a terrible burn on the lower left side of his torso. Matt gave a terrifying roar, and bounded at the UFOs, managing to hit Nual. As the saucers scattered, Nath hit Tsurami with a strong beam to the chest, causing Tsurami to drop to his knees in pain.
The three saucers gathered together again, looking very dinged. They wobbled slightly as they hovered together. TsuramiSea noticed this, and rose while clutching his chest.
"They're weak enough now. I'll end it," he said to Kyle.
"What are you going to do?"
TsuramiSea smiled at the UFOs cheerily. "Okay now, this will be lovely!" The UFOs only charged up their combined attack again. Matt and Kyle exchanged looks fearing for Tsurami's sanity.
The boy in question was focusing somehow, his arms limp and his eyes closed. A faint aura, with mixed hues and tones of red, glowed around him, from pink to crimson to cherry to magenta. As the UFOs were preparing to fire, TsuramiSea's eyes snapped open. Throwing his arms wide open, he cired, "Red Hearts Seal!"
A light and dainty ringing, like that of many small bells, could be heard as heart-shaped projections of bright red light rushed from TsuramiSea. The UFOs stared as the light washed over them in waves. The light grew around them until they could not be seen, but their cries of surprise could be heard. After several moments of waiting, the light died down, and all three UFOs were frozen in fine red crystal.
Matt slumped onto the ground, panting heavily. TsuramiSea's eyes were fixed on him with a strange expression. Kyle gawked at the trapped UFOs. "Are they.... dead?"
"No," gasped TsuramiSea, recovering from his watching of Matt the wolf, and his use of the attack. "It's 'Red Hearts Seal', so it just sealed them. But they're QUITE inactive, so they won't bother us from now on."
But what if the seal is broken, put forward Matt with telepathy, resting on his knees.
"Only a very strong power could do that.... but perhaps their master won't notice for awhile." TsuramiSea grinned. "See, now we can take them with us and show them to the others!"
Kyle shrugged. "I guess. But why didn't we finish them? They were going to kill us."
TsuramiSea lowered his head to face the pavement.
Matt shook his furred head. You're not a fighter, are you?
"No," said TsuramiSea quietly. "I can't be sure of their true alignment. But don't worry. If I can determine the depths of their evil behavior, and they're too obsessed with killing us, then I'll help get rid of them once and for all."
Matt and Kyle just expressed their thoughts to each other through their eyes. Then Matt 'spoke'. All right. We'll take them with us. Better do what you were starting to do before.
TsuramiSea nodded, and was about to chant. But he stopped for a moment, and faced his two new companions. "Thank you for helping me."
The others were surprised, but nodded graciously. TsuramiSea began to chant the Detect Person spell.

TsuramiSea was wrong. Mani Mani noticed rather quickly, when he went to visit with the UFO's.
"You bumbling fools! Show yourselves!"
Only one UFO emerged from their signature whole. Eon. Mani Mani slapped his hand to his head. "Where are your brothers and sister?"
"They went out, granny Mani!" Eon said, hugging a plush toy. Mani Mani looked down at Eon. "What have you got there?"
"It's my JunJun doll, Mani-Face!"
Mani Mani glared at Eon, and the doll exploded. "AAAH!"
Eon shrieked, and glared at Mani Mani. "Do you have any idea how expensive that was?"
"Relax, I�ll get you another one if you find your siblings. Don�t you have any fighting skill on your own?"
Eon grinned. "I have my billiard ball!"
"Whatever...just use it. Now GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

Eon hovered shakily out of the hole, with her ball in tow. She frowned. "Where are they?"
She flew up higher, and started to hover around the city. Looking down, she saw hundreds upon hundreds of people, moving at a rapid rate. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something with a slight glimmer. She zoomed down closer for a better look.
"Hey! Those UFOs are in glass! Those are my siblings!"
She cried out in surprise, and looked to see who was holding the glass. "Two or three kids...can't tell from here. Oh well, doesn't matter." She swooped down rapidly, and prepared a tractor beam. Lowering her eyebrows menacingly, she shot the beam square into the blue billiard ball. "Nice shot!" she grunted.
The ball crashed back and forth around the buildings, and it went lower and lower with each bounce. Finally, it hit its target: the pink glass.

TsuramiSea looked down and screamed. Instead of seeing the red/pink glass tucked neatly beneath his arm, all he saw was shards of glass on the ground. He turned around to see the three UFOs, sneering angrily at him. Eon swooped down, and crashed into Nayc. "Hey, owwie!"
She righted herself with a glare from Nayc's direction. "Looks like we'd better get out of here before Granny Mani has a heart attack!" Eon held her billiard ball in a beam and looked back at the boys. "Go, Kiss of Death!"
From Eons shadow, a huge pair of lips formed. It struggled to free itself from the asphalt, and burst through in a fantastic array of gravel and glass. Eon grinned, and flew of after her siblings. Nath leaned to Nayc. �Perhaps all that Sailor Moon is paying off..."
The lips targeted Tsurami first. "Kissykissy!"

Joe sat on the banks of the river and threw stones into the water. His attempts to find Paula were fruitless.
"This is dumb," he commented to himself. "I've been searching for a while, but I can't find her...I'm outta here!"
He got up, dusted himself off, and headed towards the streets of Fourside.

In Moonside, a woman wearing an interesting choice for a chapeau wandered by.
She noticed Harsemhin, Cirra, Dan and Raltise.
"Hey! Parking meters!" she exclaimed. "And you're walking around!"
Harsemhin stared at her.
"Excuse me, miss," he curtly said, "but what are you doing?"
Then, another woman wandered by. Eerily enough, she was 100% identical to the first woman. She too noticed the group of four.
"You're mailboxes," the second woman cried, "and you have a habit of staggering around."
"They're not mailboxes with a habit of staggering around!" the first woman retorted. "They're parking meters! And they're walking around!"
"Stop visiting Jackie's Caf� and stocking up on java!" the second woman insulted the first.
"Lay off the mocha!" the first shot back. "You're clearly out of it. They're obviously mailboxes with a habit of staggering around!"
Cirra looked at Harsemhin, who looked at Dan. Dan looked at Raltise, who looked at Cirra. They all nodded, and ran away quickly.
Of course, they weren't screaming. To do so would have alerted the weirdos of their presence.

Harsemhin and Cirra sat, breathing heavily, on a park bench. Dan was nearby although out of earshot, surveying the landscape. Raltise was meditating, and therefore oblivious to much.
"So..." Harsemhin trailed off, not sure what to say next.
"Yes?" Cirra responsed thoughtfully.
"You had an odd reaction when Raltise mentioned Altus, Rita. I came from the area known as Altus back in 99X. Before I went to Autumns. And before the Giygan invaders besieged the world and put me into Diamond Stasis."
Where did the Tome of Sugemo go to? he thought.
"What does this have to do with me?" Cirra feigned ignorance.
"You know what I mean." Harsemhin smiled weakly. "You come from Altus, don't you?"
Cirra stiffened.
"Now I know," Harsemhin whispered in Cirra's ear. "You do come from Altus."
Cirra nodded meekly, then dropped her head.
In a voice Harsemhin could barely hear, she amended that accusation.
"I was a member... of the royal family of Altus."
Harsemhin blushed, embarrassed.
What? Has the royal family fallen? he thought.