Kii:
The son of a good man may still turn out evil.
But the son of an evil man may still
turn out good.
It works the same way with mothers and
daughters.
Genetics and environment play a part,
but they don't define a person.
For the most part, they're used as ready
excuses for what we choose.
It's what we choose that makes us who
and what we are.
Our actions speak louder than our words.
But it's what we don't do that speaks
the loudest of all ...
Gourry: Anno ... I still don't get it. Could you
start over again?
Kii:
(*sigh*)
(*If
you haven't guessed, this is at the EGC Bar. It's empty except
for Gourry, Jenova, Jack, Plimsky, and [of course] Kii ...*)
Kii:
Ah well ... I can't put it off any longer. (*to Jenova*) Hey,
um ... Jenova?
Jenova: Hai, Kii-san?
Kii:
I'm going out for a bit. I'll be away for a little while.
Could you look after the bar?
Jenova: No problem. ^_^
Gourry: Waitaminnit ... you're going out there in the
Demon Invasion?
Kii:
(*nods*) You want to come along?
Gourry: Well, seeing as how you're not much of
a match for a bunch of demons ... hai.
Kii:
Okay then. Follow me!
(*Kii
grabs Gourry by the arm, pulls him out of the bar and starts running
down the streets with him in tow ...*)
Gourry: Where are we going, anyway?
Kii:
De Civitate Dei.
Gourry: Where is that?
Kii:
I don't know.
Gourry: Then how are we going to get there?
Kii:
I don't know.
Gourry: ........
(*Meanwhile,
while Gourry tries to figure out what exactly that implies ...*)
Jack:
Huh. Well, there goes Gourry and Kii.
Jenova: Y'know, I think this leaves us alone --
Plimsky:
Piep!
Jenova: -- with the robot. ^^;
(*a
pause, and then ...*)
Jenova: Hey, Christmas is tomorrow, and
Tifa-san doesn't have the decorations up yet!
Plimsky:
Pip pip pip! Das ist nicht gut!
Jack:
Well, it looks like she's going to fighting demons for a while.
Jenova: Yeah. I guess I'll just have to
set up the stuff myself. Mind helping?
Jack:
Not at all. ^_^
Plimsky:
Pip!
(*Corner
of Sutedja Ave. and Streita Way ...*)
Ailith:
(*squishing, scrunching, and ripping apart demons with Silent Magic*)
Damn, my arms are getting tired ...
Lina:
Poor you. (*turns*) Wind, crimson flame ... grant the power of
thunder to my hand! DIGGER VOLT!! (*blasts a demon or two or twelve
...*)
Amelia:
WAI! This is almost fun! VISFARANK! (*focuses spiritual
energy on her fists and starts pounding the living daylights
[nightlights?] out of a few nearby demons*)
Phyria:
(*bashing a few demons into the ground with her mace*) I don't
know ... something seems weird.
Amelia:
Well, yeah ... we're missing Gourry, Zelgadis, and Jack-daishou-san ...
Phryia:
Well, no, it's not that ... I sense an evil presence.
Lina:
(*sarcastic*) Oh, gee ... we're surrounded by demons invading
from Hell itself, but I guess they don't count as evil presences, ne?
Phyria:
Okay, lemme change that ... I sense a highly annoying
presence. >.<
Xelloss:
I guess that would be me, huh? ^_^
Phyria:
Ack! YOU?! You're here?!
Xelloss:
Hai! Didja miss me? (*grin*)
Phyria:
(*fuming*) What the hell are you doing here, namagomi?!
Xelloss:
Ah ... sore wa, himitsu desu. ^_^
Ailith:
(*rolls her eyes*) Seriously, Xelloss. What are you here
for?
Xelloss:
Well, partly to help, in a way --
Amelia:
Yay! Truth and justice will prevail!
Lina:
(*piku*) A Mazoku? Fight demons? Am I hearing this
right?
Phyria:
It's trickery. Don't believe it.
Xelloss:
Why, me, trick you? Ne, it's in my best interests not to.
Ailith:
And how is that? ¬¬
Xelloss:
It's a long story.
(*Ailith
quickly makes a few complicated arm movements, forming a green energy
barrier around the group.*)
Ailith:
There. We have time to hear it now.
Xelloss:
Well, okay then ... you know Yuna-neko, right?
Ailith:
Of course I know her. She's my cat!
Amelia:
Yeah. Yuna-neko's neat! She talks and stuff and she's from
Sailoon ...
Xelloss:
Hai, hai ... but did you know she had a job?
Lina:
Job? That lazy thing?
Xelloss:
Hai, to keep a mental tab on the Andromeda Triad ... which, until
recently, was the Andromeda Duo. But when you opened up the
portal to travel here to fight Miyu, she sensed that the third Sailor
Andromeda was, in fact, alive. Resurrected.
Lina:
Yeah. We met her a while ago. Not too sharp, that one. ^^;
Amelia:
Hey, waitminnit ... where did she go?
Ailith:
(*shaking head*) No time for that. We can't be changing
scenes this far into the exposition.
Xelloss:
(*nods*) Right. Anyway, the puka activated the
portal with the help of Primera-chan and broke through to this dimension
to get in contact with this renewed Sailor.
Amelia:
Wow! A real Sailor, defender of justice and right! Are they
with her?
Xelloss:
Well, Primera isn't.
Phryia:
How do you know? ¬¬
Xelloss:
(*smirk*) No reason.
(*A
small bag on his belt starts wiggling.*)
Phryia:
What's that, then?
Xelloss:
Err ... it's nothing.
Phyria:
You don't have Primera-chan in there, do you?
Xelloss:
Nnnnnoooo ... she isn't in there.
Phyria:
I'll bet she is.
Xelloss:
Is not.
Phyria:
Is too!
Xelloss:
Is not!
Phyria:
Is too!
Xelloss:
Is not!
Primera:
(*poking her head out*) Am too!
Xelloss:
Hey! Get back in there! (*shoves her back in the bag and
closes it again*)
Amelia:
(*shocked*) Xelloss-san! How dare you keep a yousei in a
bag like that! It's not right!
Xelloss:
Yeah, but Zelgadis broke my Tamagotchi. (*mock pout*)
Lina:
Probably with good reason, I'll bet.
Ailith:
(*rolls her eyes*) We'll deal with this later.
Phyria:
Right. So ... where do you come in this story of yours, namagomi?
¬¬
Xelloss:
Well, Jack-san had to follow Yuna-neko to bring her back, but he
couldn't very well bring the children, could he?
Amelia:
No, I suppose not ...
Xelloss:
Exactly. So he left Van-chan and Tai-kun in my care.
Ailith:
WHAT?!
Lina:
(*aside*) I'll bet you 100 'rims that she's going to say he's
crazy. ^^
Ailith:
Damn it ... he trusts you too much! >_<
Lina:
(*aside*) Darn. And I was that close.
Xelloss:
(*smirk*) What's wrong with trusting me?
Ailith:
Well, 1) you're a back-stabbing bastard, and 2) you certainly don't
seem to be taking care of my children right now. >:P
Xelloss:
(*big sweatdrop*) Ah, well ... there's the problem.
They're in Hell.
(*The
women facefault.*)
Lina:
In Hell? How the Hell --
Xelloss:
All I know is that one second Tai-kun was talking to this shapeshifter
doing a very bad job of impersonating you, and the next
he was doing the whole demonic-voiced, head-spinning,
"I-am-the-embodiment-of-the-Lord-of-Nightmares" schtick. ^^;
Lina:
Tai. The one-year-old.
Xelloss:
Hai.
Phyria:
Xelloss, I'm finding that rather hard to believe.
Amelia:
Hai, me too. I mean, the most complicated thing I've ever heard
him say was "Gagua go puu-puu" ...
Xelloss:
(*raising an eyebrow*) "Gagua go puu-puu"?
(*Lina
sweatdrops.*)
Amelia:
Hai! "Gagua" is Tai's nickname for Lina-san, and "puu-puu" is
this game they play!
Lina:
Amelia, I ...
Amelia:
I mean, Lina makes a sillly face and goes "Puu!" And then he
makes a silly face and goes "Puu!" And then she makes another
silly face and goes "Puuuu! Puuu!" And then he
makes another face and goes "Puuuu! Puuu puu!" And --
Lina:
Amelia, that's enough! ^^;;
Amelia:
Ah ... gomen nasai, Lina-san!
Ailith:
Anyway, back on track ... Xelloss, you're saying my baby boy has gone
evil?
Xelloss:
Hai. And he's holding his older sister hostage just beyond the
rift.
Amelia:
Ipe!
Ailith:
(*fuming*) Why, if those demons so much as touch
my daughter, I'll --
Lina:
Don't worry, touryou! We'll save her!
Phyria:
I think you just want an excuse to blast your way through Hell.
Lina:
(*sheepishly*) Well, yeah, that too ...
(*back
at the bar, the trio is busy with seasonal decorating*)
Jack:
Jenova?
Jenova: Hai?
Jack:
Why on earth are you putting holly on the ceiling?
Jenova: Holly? Isn't this mistletoe?
Jack:
No, holly has red berries. Mistletoe is white.
Jenova: Huh. Okay, now I feel really
stupid. Where did Tifa put that mistletoe, anyw--
(*Suddenly,
she's interrupted by what [at first] looks like a floating mistletoe
right in between them. However, eventually Jack and Jenova
squint and simultaneously look up from the mistletoe to the fishing
line, up the fishing line, and down the fishing pole to --*)
Plimsky:
Piep!
Jenova: Har har. Very funny, Plimsky.
¬¬
Plimsky:
Traurig, konnte Plimsky nicht widerstehen. Pip pip pip!
(*Meanwhile,
down in the [never used, and thus defunct] EGC Subway Corridors ...*)
Kii:
I think we're almost there.
Gourry: How can you tell?
Kii:
I don't know, I just know.
Gourry: Anno ...
Kii:
Never mind. I'm not certain I understand it myself.
Gourry: Nani?
Kii:
...... gomen. Bad way of phrasing it.
Gourry: Oh, okay. ^_^
(*They
turn a corner, and stop ... for at the end of it is _not_ what you'd be
expecting in a subway. It's a big, massive, automatic door, with a
big logo on the front.*)
Kii:
This is it.
Gourry: It is?
Kii:
Hai. Could you help me open this door?
Gourry: Why can't you use the controls?
Kii:
(*pointing at the controls, whose lights aren't on*) There's
no power. We'll have to force it open.
Jenova: Yay! We're finished!
Jack:
And almost in time for Christmas!
Jenova: Well, none of the customers will notice
that.
Plimsky:
Pip pip pip! Fröhliche Weihnachten!
Jenova: Yeah! Merry Christmas!
(*Back
in the Subway. Kii and Gourry have pulled the door up about
halfway.*)
Kii:
Okay, I think that's enough.
Gourry: Whew ... what're you planning to do in there,
anyway?
Kii:
It's a little complicated ... you know about the Demon Invasion right
now, ne?
Gourry: Hai! Of course I do!
Kii:
Well, um ... that's not the main thing that's happening.
Gourry: It's not?
Kii:
No, it's a distraction.
Gourry: From what?
Kii:
Anno ... well ... have you ever dropped a dart on your foot, Gourry-san?
Gourry: (*supremely confused*) Nani?
Kii:
Um ... okay, forget that. It was a really bad analogy.
(*There's
a pause in the conversation while Kii crawls under the partially open
door.*)
Kii:
Now we need to close it.
Gourry: Close it? Won't you be stuck?
Kii:
No, I just don't want any demons getting in.
Gourry: .... oh, okay.
(*Gourry
begins to pull the door down when Kii interrupts.*)
Kii:
Wait .... um ... before the door is down, can I ask you a favor?
Gourry: Sure! I don't mind.
Kii:
Well, um ... if you can, just ... tell Asuka ......
(*long
pause*)
Kii:
(*smiling*) .... never mind. I'll tell her myself.
But if you do see her, wish her a Merry Christmas for me. Okay?
Gourry: Okay! Can do! (*starts
pulling door again*)
(*Finally,
the door is brought back down with a final slam, and Kii's footsteps
can be faintly heard walking away on the other side.*)
(*Having
nothing better to do, Gourry re-examines the
logo on the door more carefully ... not comprehending it, of course
...*)
Gourry: TIAMAT? Isn't that a dragon?
Ah ... the plot thickens. Or heads toward a
resolution. Who knows?
Ooh, ooh! Spiffy new URL for the webpage:
http://chatty.dardan.com/egc_stuff/ It's the same one, really,
but it looks so much cooler this way. ^_^
