Dev City of Jade

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa paused looking at the man as he approached and she forgot a few things.. mainly how to speak as he moved forward and stood in front of her. He head looking along the length of his chest and she tilted her head downwards hiding the heat from her cheeks. She cared for Ni-Ne... even Midori.... if that could be believed... but he was standing right in front of her. "THis...this is.... this is Xavier." She she stumbled her words trying to think about it when they were moving around the room a little and Xavier looked at Ni-Ne raising an eyebrow but he reached out and she felt his finger touching her chin gently.

"Oh so adorable but worry not young one, but you don't have to be nervous around me." He said it and she thought he was talking only to her while she tried to speak and only a small meeping sound came out before she was mvoing back away from him and going over towards Ni-Ne. Nerv ous and flustered for the moment as she clung to the girl and buried her face in her shoulder to... well she wasn't scared she just didn't know what to do or how she could not speak. "Adorable." He spoke and his voice came out while the man looked at the jedi master who was there with them and he spoke. "I am Xavier, a diplomat to Atrisia."

Sawa remained quiet as Kay One whistled and nudged her forward with the man speaking. "I came here to help sneak her itno the archives but seems that wasn't needed, so I can at least offer my ship to get the three of you out of here. Even the Emperor wouldn't attack me yet.... mostly. He wants access to our hypermatter to achieve more space travel and metals for ships." A smirk was on his face though as he was walking towards the jedi master there. "We will have to see what can happen both of these girls are... intriguing yes?" He raised his eyerbows but laughed for a moment walking away and while he offered plenty for NI-Ne to view he wasn't going to press himself with her.

"Ah... y..yo.....you are here to help us?" Sawa said it looking up and trying to get her confidence back before she passed out from the blood going to her cheeks at the compliments. She just stayed there searching for Ni-Ne and her hand was grasping to try and find the other girls. She felt stronger with her and she was sending Kay One to go and get what information he could about what it was that they wanted. THe droid was looking as she focused and relearned how to breath not being around Xavier who had walked away a little towards some of the bookshelves of equipment and scrolls or texts.

 

[Nine Lives]

Albrecht merely stared at the strange man. Everything about him giving a vibe that sent the Jedi on edge, the way his movement seemed too smooth, his smile far too easy. And of course [member="Sawa Ike"] would not notice, having only minor experience in such things. But Bo knew instinctively how dangerous Xavier was. Though he kept up the appearance of decorum.

"Yes...we shall...and thank you for the offer of a ride..." Albrecht responded politely, watching (with soul crushing exasperation, it should be added) as Sawa went googly-eyed. He did not have time for this. He needed a drink. A strong one, one of those little Atrisian apertifs that had the little pink umbrella, perhaps...

"Ni-Ne!? We have an exit!" Albrecht called out, breaking away from the pair to look for her, casting out his perception to find it quickly. He could feel the fighting intensify as he searched. The screams of the dying within the academy grew louder. He finally found Ni-Ne after about twelve minutes, she was staring at a blurry holographic schematic of a ship that she had not seen since a small child.

Midori's earlier words had been more on the mark than she could admit out loud.

The disappearance of her mother with all hands presumed lost had been the beginning of the end. Her family had retained prestige, but this had diminished their power greatly, being considered respinsible for the loss of an extremely powerful prototype warship like hardly anything else currently extant.

She stared at the technical schematics. Dreadnought and flagship with diplomatic functions, one large solar powered main gun, experimental offensive shielding, Experimental transparisteel armored frame. Experimental lightning rod defense system, some strange planetary siphon system.

"By the gods, it's not just a warship...its a super weapon..." Albrecht whispered, horrified. "The Emperor is mad if he believes the Republic would have allowed him to keep it..."

"My mother designed it..." Ni-Ne spoke slowly, deliberately, still staring only at the schematics..."I was very young when I first saw it...it was so large, so golden. The Emperor spent a good deal of his treasury having it assembled in space. She helped design it, after all...she was the best at it...and far more deliberate in her waging of war than I. Of all the swordsman in my clan, only my father outpaced her.

Ni-Ne turned to Albrecht, her face stony to look upon, despite being speckled with blood. Albrecht saw the stress in her eyes, and her movements. The way she tried to remain stoic.

"Do you think its possible she's still in command of The Sacred Ancestor?" Ni-Ne asked in a quiet manner before Sawa spared her (and him) of the agony of giving an answer.

Seeing Sawa distressed, Ni-Ne took out the datatape and went to comfort Sawa. Poor Sawa...what would become of her? Ni-Ne had asked she throw away her life of comfort to help a woman she barely knew. Given how easily she had done it, Ni-Ne wondered just how terrible Midori was that she would ditch her so easily. Had she really been happy at all? Of course much of her actions had a new light given how her mother had asked of her the same thing.

"Most of the bandit's best have been dispatched at the academy. I say we take this, fly back to their hiding place and force the remaining bandits to submit to us or die. If necessary, we get the Keisei to rally behind us..." Ni-Ne suggested, a hard look crossing her face as she beheld Sawa's breathtaking eyes.

There was banging on the fromt doors. Albrecht thought they had several minutes, tops. They needed to leave now.

"Xavier?! That offer of a ship is looking mighty fine, right about now!" Albrecht called out.

Ni-Ne was about to agree, when a strange sense of danger came to her...she turned, pulling out her sword as she watched multiple Yovshin enter, followed by Midori's sword wielding bodyguard. Who stared at Ni-Ne with a confidant smirk that aggravated the Blood Tiger in Ni-Ne. She palmed the datatape into Albrecht's hand.

"Go, all three of you. I'll catch up..." Ni-Ne assured them...

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa was looking at Xavier while he seemed to be leading the way but then she felt something from Ni-Ne... following after the jedi as she saw the ship and saw Ni-Ne trying to understand what she was seeing but then something was coming. SHe moved back and looked at Ni-Ne drawing her blade while Xavier remained in the back slightly shadowed and hidden but K1 came near her and produced a blaster and saw arm. Sawa was looking at the Yovshin came in and she breathed in deeply seeing Akiko... the bodyguard had remained behind but Midori she knew wasn't around.... her blade though was drawn. THe sword gleamed like milkyglass under a moon. She touched the hilt and it pulsed with energy to her... radiating the force as it felt warm to the touch compared to some of the older steel. SHe didn't want to kill people but she was looking at Ni-Ne who seemed to be getting darker with what was happening here... she needed to try and pull her back even if it meant she would do this to protect her. "Ni-Ne... we should go together.... I don't want to lose you."

 

[Nine Lives]

Albrecht was forced to agree with [member="Sawa Ike"] and decided to rein in Ni-Ne.

He called on the Force, reaching to the ceiling with both hands, watching cracks spread on the surface as Akiko and the other yovshin started to advance. Ni-Ne turned to him in surprise, even as the ceiling came down.

"We should have fought them..." Ni-Ne insisted. "The less witnesses reporting back on what we are doing..."

Ni-Ne's eyes slid nervously to Sawa for a split second...

"...and who is with us...the better..." Ni-Ne insisted.

"Li-Ves, there are other alternatives to fighting...and if you're going to be any kind of Jedi truly worth a damn...you're going to have to actually start looking for them!" Albrecht exclaimed, as the ceiling blocked off the path to Akiko.

"Now how do we get out of here, genius?" Ni-Ne asked, stomach sinking as she was cut off from Akiko and her yovshin. Sawa had been seen with her. Now Midori's bodyguard knew. Now Midori knew. There was no going back for Sawa. She was compromised. Damn Albrecht!

Albrecht rushed to a distant passage. He had scouted this place once years ago, breaking in on a whim just to see if he could. Kind of a maverick move but at least it wasn't Ni-Ne's stunt, getting a whole army of bandits to throw themselves to a meat grinder. Ni-Ne followed him through the marble halls of the records office, passing by shelves of dusty, forbidden texts that no one had read in decades. At least the Emperor's gilded prison was getting wrecked. Albrecht stopped at part of a turn into another series of silvery records chambers, kneeling down on the floor.

"This is how I got in the first time..." Albrecht trailed, hitting a hidden switch on a nearby wrought iron lamp. The floor parted with a hiss.

And greeting everyone below was a hoard of Yovshin already drawing their blades at the bottom of the ladder. Albrecht's eyes went wide, and he used telekinesis to force the passage closed.

"Okaaaaayyy can't go that way!" Albrecht exclaimed quicky continuing down the passage with Ni-Ne following. "New plan, follow me."

"That sounds an awful lot like your old plan." Ni-Ne commented, her words swimming in sarcasm.

"Oh hush!" Albrecht grumbled, winded as he sprinted down another passage, drawing his yellow lightsaber. The impacts against the building growing heavier. He stopped in one chamber and began cutting into the wall. Ni-Ne tapped her foot.

"Be patient..." he chided the headstrong Atrisian, patiently cutting into the wall and making a door, which he promptly Force Pushed out, the piece of wall falling parallel to the sheer face of Kagamiri's defensive perimeter into the forests below the mountainside.

Ni-Ne looked at him sourly. "Now what, genius?" she asked dryly.

Albrecht rolled his eyes, hitting a tracking beacon on his belt. Within seconds, the shuttle he had arrived to Kagamiri flew by, then settled by the entrance, its side hatch opening.

Albrecht picked a shocked Ni-Ne up with telekinesis, ignoring her angry protests and swearing as he chucked her aboard, his expression a classic troll face as he hopped aboard soon after, bidding everyone else to follow.

"What the hell!" Ni-Ne said angrily as she got up and dusted herself. "Was there really a need to chuck me aboard with your mind?!"

"Oh c'mon that was both funny and cool and you know it..." Albrecht replied offhandedly as he got to the controls, speeding them all away to safety, just as the Yovshin busted through firing blaster rifles at the departing ship as it flew off into the night.

Ni-Ne held up the holodisc to Sawa. "At least we have the plans...I only hope a weakness can be found...its not over yet..." she said to her, feeling guilt for the fact Sawa really could not go home now after being spotted by Akiko. If only she had been faster...

"Ni-Ne if I could perhaps tear you away from making googly eyes at the prefect..." Albrecht grumbled, dodging the Atrisians laser cannons, relatively primitive compared to what was available in the rest of the galaxy for this era. And this was before their eagle shaped starfighters came from out of nowhere and started to try and shoot them down also.

"I think we might have a bit of a problem!" Bo admitted.

"I thought you had chit figured out, genius!" Ni-Ne grumbled as she got into the cockpit co pilot seat.

"Give me a little leeway! I'm old! I only got maybe ten to fifteen percent figured out!" Albrecht grumbled back as he pushed the primitive shuttle to its limits trying to dodge the starfighters.

"They teach you anything about starfighters in that fancy academy of yours?" Ni-Ne asked as she used what minor understanding she had to deploy emergency flares when the sensors detected a missile.

"Yeah...don't get into fights with them if you don't have to!" He replied irritably. "Blast, this is why I hate flying!"

Meanwhile...

Maranon opened her eyes, rose from her meditative state, clad in the sheer nightwear she had on when Ni-Ne left earlier.

She sensed Xavier through the young Atrisian. Itd be so easy to let the starfighters do the work. But Maranon had a complexity addiction. Plus...itd be a waste of Ni-Ne, Sawa, and her old friend Albrecht.

Drawing breath, she closed her eyes, tapped the darkness, the hate for how she had denied and been denied all of life's pleasures early in life. Behind her a drawer to a nightstand embroidered with various gems and withdrew from it the skull of a human male, coated in runes inlaid with alchemized electrum. A nearby silver platter floated off a table of delicacies, the skull placing itself on the platter and floating to her. She took it, petting the skull of her first crush.

She focused, the skull enhancing her strength and range, the skies darkening, blackening with thunder.

She felt where they were, felt the determined pilots close to getting a lock.

Maranon called down the wind and thunder, and silently reached out with her mind, heavy lightning bolts starting to rain down across the starfighters. She could only keep this up for so long but it would hopefully buy them enough time...

Back in the shuttle, as Albrecht and Ni-Ne piloted for everyone's lives, he felt an intense darkness, something rippling with power across the horizon, and then the crack of lightning behind them. Ni-Ne felt it also, and her breath went stiff as she privately realized who it was. Maranon was...what the hell was Maranon?!

"You feel that?" Bo asked.

"Unfortunately, yes!" Ni-Ne answered as the starfighters chasing them doggedly weaved through the lightning strikes, conyinuing to fire.

"Sawa! Xavier! K1! Hold on!" Ni-Ne yelled as she strapped in.

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa was listening and she could feel something as they were moving through the passages and into the ship. Launching over there as Xavier stood tall and lept by himself crouching down and he looked hurt as she came over to try and help him get up. He rose up and stood there for a moment feeling something in the wind. THe shuttle was moving and the man wrapped an arm around Sawa to brace her when they were moving around the cabin. Ni-Ne was different she could see or something was happening and then it got a little darker as Xavier spoke with a look on his face. "Maranon." He said it and looked up able to feel it as it continued and he wrapped his arms around her as the ship was going down.

Pain... burning pain in her head as she woke up, then there was warmth and her eyes opened as she felt something wet on her head. Looking up she could see Xavier holding her and his tongue slid across her forehead where she felt pain for a moment. "Wha...." He looked down at her and held up a hand. "Shhh shhh." He waited for a moment and his dark eyes glowed golden as he was making her feel... strange and she could feel the pain dissipating when he moved shifting and she noticed how close she was to him and curled around his chest. Warmth rushed to her cheeks but he spoke. "You were wounded, I have some skills with healing... not as good as a jedi though."

He chuckled to himself and stood in the crash but Sawa had no idea where Ni-Ne was as she breathed in and then out. Her body was purple in some places but she was looking at the man and stood there looking for Ni-Ne as she moved to search and get to her. Her first instincts were to get to her and keep her safe. Moving to get the straps off and she pulled at her to drag and get her outside of the ship. Smoke and fire made her eyes burn, her teeth ground when she just held her next to her and spoke feeling something in the back of her mind. She didn't know about the force as much as Ni-Ne or the jedi maybe but she knew she didn't want to see her hurt and they had something to do.

"Ni-Ne you need to wake up, we have all of this to do and I need your help if we are going to succeed." She was looking down and Xavier had gone off, to find the jedi and help him out as he spoke. "We will need to get moving old man." He said it and could feel something but Sawa only felt a brush on the back of her mind. "You know what that was and if she is here... then we are not going to want to be in a group. The two of us can lead any search parties away a lot faster and easier while they go off to their task." He said it while moving and making chaos that would lead a different way. "Take your friend and complete your task, I'll handle any exposure with the jedi."

Sawa watched him heading off and she was looking towards Ni-Ne trying to get her to wake up with a nudge and she was trying to pour any force energy she could... any magics of Atrisia into the other girl as she pressed her forehead to her stroking at her cheek. Eyes closed and tears in her eyes, lips trembling before she kissed at her cheeks and forehead. "I know I am not strong enough to go ahead along. YOu are stronger but maybe this will work on that temper... I promise to always help you in this quest next time... I won't hesitate like in the academy... even this blade was pretty useless compared to your sword skills."

 

[Nine Lives]

The Jade City burned.

Ni-Ne stood, watching in horror, watching the bodies of men, women, and children drop in the streets from the intense blazes as mostly wooden homes burned.

"It all deserves to burn, child, rather than let it continue."

Ni-Ne found herself in the middle gore ridden villages and endless cremations from intense heat. She saw her father's castle, shsttered and burning in the distance. She turned, seeing the Dark, hooded figure with the serrated katana looming over her.

"I have seen Atrisia's legacy, and it is nothing good..." the figure, clearly a woman, rasped, pointing at Ni-Ne with the blade. "Future generations will take the lessons of Kitel Phard and use it to craft much worse. Mad Emperors, dark warriors who will corrupt the very soil of Atrisia with their deeds."

"And that justifies laying waste to my people?" Ni-Ne shouted at the creature.

"You must join me child. Only together can re rebuild it, free from the corrupting influence of imperial ways of thinking.

"No! I'll die before I let Atrisia die from your madness!' Ni-Ne shouted again, the smells, the sights nearly overwhelming someone who had never been in a packed battlefield. Ni-Ne barely kept her composure, wishing more than anything she had some way of destroying this creature, this spectre, that floated over the ruins that had not yet come to be. She saw more spectres in the shadows, red eyes and ninja like garb suddenly gathering.

"My army approaches, waiting and eager to visit our justice upon the Emperor for his treachery to us...and to you...you must join me, Ni-Ne. Together, we can destroy the Emperor and bring order to what we shall build from the ashes."

"I'll never join you!" Ni-Ne swore. "...Why would you even ask?"

The spectre paused, then it caught fire, erupting into a blaze as Ni-Ne backed off, terrified. The blaze grew to a great tornado of fire...and out of it stepped a woman in white. Ni-Ne's breath caught in her throat. She had not seen this face in years.

She looked as she did the day she left, dressed in her white body armor with a half-cape of midnight black, her hair dun in a tight, notted bun, her eyes sulphur however, not blue, as Ni-Ne remembered. She still had a well defined, and muscled figure though.

"You have grown strong daughter." O-Cho Li-Ves said encouragingly. "I always wanted you to join me in the Navy someday. But it seems you have found a more interesting vocation in the role of your father's personal sleeper agent."

(Clip of Bond Theme plays)

Ni-Ne didn't know what to say. She had suspected her mother had some role in this, but perhaps had not wanted to suspect how deeply. But such supposition did not matter now. What mattered was that O-Cho was behind it all, somehow.

"Soon I shall be among you, young Ni-Ne. And you will have to pick a side..."

Ni-Ne stared, gaze going steely, disgust curling her lip. "I won't be party to genocide."

"I prefer to think of it as a long overdue cleansing of tyrannical elements..." O-Cho replied sternly, holding out her hand. "You have no one left daughter. Your father is old and sick, and withers from the power that traps me. The Emperor will kill you and the only future you would find in outer space is one of lonliness and death. Join me, and together, it is we who shall and should determine Atrisia's future."

Ni-Ne approached, hesitantly, seeing the death, the destruction around her, the darkness and her mothers shadow warriors (Seriously, Ninjas?) and felt the raw terror of her situation. After a few seconds, Ni-Ne took her mothers hand, feeling O-Cho clasp it around her. Her mother smiled.

But O-Cho had forgotten one very important fact...

Ni-Ne Li-Ves had been raised by her father for the most part, and her father was a certified badass. (This was no exaggeration either: He actually HAD actual certification from the military at one point. Purely ceremonial, but taken as seriously as any other military honorific: Shimada Li-Ves had been simply THAT badass.)

It stood to reason that if her father was a badass then Ni-Ne was also a badass, albeit less experienced.

And as any true badass is likely to do when Tyranny tries to strongarm them...

Ni-Ne punched her mother in the Dream-Face. She heard her mother cry out, felt the cartilage break under her knuckles as she punched her mother in the face again and again, knocking her to the ground, feeling her own heart break a little with each blow as surely as she somehow knew she was breaking her mothers as the shadow ninjas swarmed all over her as she kept punching O-Cho, feeling mental blood between mental fingers...



Ni-Ne snapped awake in the arms of [member="Sawa Ike"] , coughing. She didn't remember the crash, didn't remember how she had ended up outside. Sawa was holding her. She had ruined Sawa's life. But Atrisia's doom etched into her mind a little harder.

Ni-Ne stirred, feeling some strange energy flooding her. Sawa was more mysterious then she let on. Ni-Ne looked around right as the last kiss left her cheek and rose, the craft was on fire. Xavier and and Albrecht were gone.

She heard a familiar beep and saw K1 emerge from the wreckage, part of the chassis around its photoreceptor torn away revealing the internals. It beeped something in droid that translated roughly into "I'm back."

How did an astromech droid suddenly become badass instead of merely terrifying with its weapons? Ni-Ne wondered as she cocked an eyebrow. She looked up at Sawa.

"They'll sweep the forest soon. We have to run!" Ni-Ne exclaimed, getting up. "Where's the old man?"

Meanwhile...

Albrecht ran through the woods, crouching low in the tall grass. Xavier had gone to another hiding spot. But Albrecht dared not move as Atrisian troops flooded the forest, bearing heavy blaster rifle prototypes with back pack mounted power cells in highly decorated red and gold Yovshin armor. The Emperor's personal troops, The Iron Hand had been called in, wielding the very best and latest offworld equipment. Albrecht was old, tired, and had broken two of his ribs...it was not looking good. Still, he had the Force, and he sensed it wasn't done with him...not yet.

Albrecht moved as one soldier drew near with a flashlight...and prepared to draw his lightsaber in case he was spotted. He sent Ni-Ne a telepathic message to run and that he would catch up.

Albrecht then attacked one troop, yellow blade flashing through his skull and a hail of heavy blaster bolts was sent his way. He hoped Xavier had a good plan...

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

She could feel Ni-Ne awaken and then she was looking at her as K1 came out of the ship... dented and holding his weapons at the ready but the little droid was sturdy... a dangerous one she could manage to work with. but she was looking at her and getting up. Standing around as the woman remained there. "THen we'll need to use whatever time we can." She was prepared to run but wasn't certain about what she could do... or if she would be able to carry Ni-Ne through the forest and the mountains. "He went with Xavier to distract and stall them so we can get away." She said it and was moving Ni-Ne to be supported so they could run as she looked up and out.

"Kay One... get us south." THe droid beeped and was moving as it started off along the ground and Sawa was moving with it to guide Ni-Ne and get the two fo them inot the mountains with the trails. COmpared to the forest with dirt the mountains were stone allowing them to leave less tracks and K1 was leading them towards the small enclave they had been at. THe little droid detecting it and some of the raiders who were limping back after the raid. Some had prisoners, some had loot but they had been mostly successful as Sawa saw it their small camp with the families there. Most of the raiders had been killed though and she expected there to be danger.

That wasn't to be, as soon as she could see it and see the others who were sitting around and tending to a few of the wounded or organizing what had been captured she got a better impression of what they had been found. The dark skinned woman who came before was standing near them as the droid led the way inside. "You have survived but I see no plunder." She clicked her tongue a few times but welcomed them back enough. THe leader she couldn't see... here... more she could only see some of the students who had been captured. Some of them were being put into collars and being made to carry bags. The camp was moving from what she could sell.

Sawa moved and was looking at K1 and Ni-Ne but there wasn't much they could do. No one seemed to be trying to take them and the Keisei they were needing had remained only in one of the buildings. Writing with her book before a few of the girls cowered with her. "We're back." The atrisian spoke looking at the three others and the Keisei looked up at her. "Yes I suspected you would return, they are breaking camp with the captured, this is the best time to slip away we are going to get." There was a look of acknowledgement and she had to think about Ni-Ne looking at her. "Alright we have to keep running."

The chaos if they were tracked this far would show a whole lot of paths heading away and Sawa was starting to get an idea for where they were based on the mountains. THe sun starting to rise as she could see further out and was leading the way as K1 beeped looking over everything. Its weapons retracted for the most part where they would hopefully be able to get lost and follow the river to the ocean.. from there she was certain there was a village or something they could use based on the history books. THe small group could move through it and Sawa was taking in the sights of the two who had joined them with the Keisei.

THe first one who had come with them was fair skinned,long black hair in a ponytail with her locks pulled away like curtains, her face was easily visible, from the soft, feminine curves of her cheeks, to her pouty lips and jade green eyes; a lovely-looking woman if she ever saw one. Sawa hadn't caught her name but the nickname for now of Jade would work. She was wearing a kimono, dream silk with cranes on it that wrapped around and the pink fabric was beautiful in the morning light as it came through. Her geta made little sound as she was moving through the area with them and the Keisei herself was making sure they were safe.

THe other looked just as stunning dusky-skinned with white hair, small lips and icy blue eyes. An impressive figure in the tighter dress and she looked like one of the slavegirls who had been being passed around by the main raiders. She was moving towards Sawa and the droid staying close as she kept a small pack of supplies. Sacks of water, some food, her slave outfit barely staying up with her running but Sawa moved taking off the outer layer of her kimono leaving the white inner set to be there on her shoulders. She was moving into the mountains further as the city came into the view. A city of the dead as the white marble stone gleamed in the light.

"Are you certain this will work." She was looking at it and trying to figure out a way as the Keisei nodded her head. "There is a way down towards the river below from inside but we have to get through it." Sawa was looking at the city and it was in the side of the mountain itself... massive and she knew it had been settled several times and each time the people disappeared no bodies discovered any of the times over the years but the Keisei were different.. they knew things it was said and were not as ignorant as some thought though they maintained their exotic nature. Sawa got them to the entrance and the carved doors were clean.. smooth and barely noticeable as the entrance.

"ALright then, we'll go in and try to get through." She was worried but they had K1 and the doors she managed to pry open as the sun hung overhead casting no shadows around them. THe buildings were bare... showing little sign anyone lived among the and the dirt still maintained. Like a pictures world rather then an actual place you could be and Sawa motioned for some of them to head towards one of the buildings. CLosing the doors to the city as K1 was set to scan the area around them and she could get a moment finally. THe two girl, Jade and the slave girl clung to each others in a corner as the Keisei brought out her book and was looking at something.

"We want to keep south and follow the city down into the river bed, from the reports no sunlight reaches down there so it is cold, wet and hard to navigate... but if we can get through there we will be able to reach the sea by going past the remnants of Jei." The ancient city that was considered decadent and immoral... well it was bad enough that when the unification wars came it was wiped from the world by the Unifier's hand compared to all of the places. Now it just sat as this forgotten wound along the river flooded and full of ghosts. Sawa looked at Ni_ne though and moved over to sit next to her offering some food and water.

"How are you holding up?"

 

[Nine Lives]

(WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAVE YOUR PROGRESS?)

(YES)

(PROGRESS SAVED)

Maranon smiled as her interference paid off, swishing her revealing nightwear around as she plopped a curvy, muscular body on a beanbag in her lavish surroundings. She felt Ni-Ne morose and grumpy and on the verge of tears from this distance. Why though was something Maranon was too far away to tell at the moment. But she would uncover why eventually as she always did.

Beyond [member="Sawa Ike"] and Ni-Ne, the only one Maranon really paid attention to was Xavier on Atrisia since her arrival. Maranon plucked a nearby flower from a pot, plucking at its petals.

"They love me...they love me...they love me...they love me..." Maranon whispered, plucking the petals off as she felt Sawa make the struggle to reach this place once more. Ni-Ne's unannounced strategem in getting all the bandits killed to decrease resistance to their own purposes in the long run had given her just as much of an opening as it had for Ni-Ne and Sawa.

"They love me...they love me...they love me?" Maranon ended her mindlessly repeated phrase as a question as that inner dart of doubt found its mark.

Meanwhile...

Ni-Ne had not really been in much of a position to help as wounded as she was, only able to follow Sawa and K-1 as the military dragnet to try and capture them grew larger. She could see the academy on fire in the distance as she ran, still not fully right in spite of being revived by Sawa. She would not allow herself to quit however. To quit was to doom Atrisia. To quit was to doom Sawa...not that she wasn't already doomed, it was just that 'her' doom...for her human self anyway...had not arrived.

Not yet.

The last of the Li-Ves followed who was now most assuredly the former prefect of Kagamiri through thick trees hearing the barking of search dogs in the distance. Ni-Ne had never truly known what it was like to be hunted before this night. It was the gritty, mysterious prequel to what a lot of her nights were to be like.

Thick grass gave way to mountain paths. Ni-Ne didn't really keep track of where she was led or how she got there being so drained and exhausted, pretty much on autopilot while Sawa led her to the ancient hideaway. Survivors from the raid on Kagamiri were beginning to show up from different routes, some with prisoners. Ni-Ne coughed a bit of blood and felt woozy. Don't give up, she thought. Keep going.

The next set of sequences passed like water, Sawa leading her to a building where some of The Keisei were. She kept getting flashes of the burning Jade City, her mother--

Ni-Ne did not know how to process it. She had always suspected that she might be involved but she simply had not wanted to truly consider it. Where had she been? How had she come to be like that?

What was father not telling her?

At the women's suggestion that this was the best time to flee, Ni-Ne only coughed a little bit before speaking.

"The soldiers will likely be here soon. We should flee..." Ni-Ne groaned, watching as two beautiful women with supplies began to follow them. Ni-Ne was in too much pain to admire their beauty as they treked to the ancient dead city once they had stolen away from the other survivors. Ni-Ne felt bad about the prisoners they left but they had bigger problems. Much bigger. She felt the fires that would murder Atrisia sweep over her skin momentarily during the journey...to a city of the dead. Ni-Ne listened but offered no commentary as they explained the way to get into the river as they entered the dead marble city itself, its clean streets pristine...too pristine. Sawa asked how she was doing and the red robed woman could only grunt a bit in pain before collapsing to a knee as her side gave out trying to walk the streets.

She hissed in pain struggled up, morning fog drowing out sunlight. She could not hear sounds from beyond the city walls.

"A right marvelous place to be certain..."

Ni-Ne wheeled around, spotted Maranon, wearing a tight, all white bodyglove, carrying her own supplies.

"You were following us?" Ni-Ne asked.

"You are so inexperienced it was simple to blank myself from your vision..." Maranon replied in an arrogant, deeply posh manner as she strutted up to Ni-Ne, whispering something under her breath and Ni-Ne stood, feeling her broken rib mend.

"More of your magic?" Ni-Ne questioned.

"It can be yours too, if you like..." Maranon teased, winking at Ni-Ne, who in spite of her exhausted state managed to blush a bit.

"Why?" Ni-Ne asked. "Why are you helping us?"

Maranon pointedly looked at the more powerful one, Sawa. If only she knew how Xavier lusted for her. How had he even noticed her? Regardless, where she was it was obvious Xavier would be. She would make excellent bait...

"Ohhhhh...no reason." She replied mischievously.

"Y'know, that makes us just 'not' trust you with how you answered right? It is patently obvious you have an ulterior motive..." Ni-Ne spoke, annoyed.

Maranon scoffed at this. "Ugh...its badassery, Ni-Ne, dear. You're just not getting either the full dose or the experience if you aren't acting mischievous..."

With a huff, Maranon flicked her fingers luxuriously through her hair. "Ugh...plebians...never met an actual badass, no patience for badass responses..."

Ni-Ne glowered at this but followed the Zeltron, though she kept her distance and tried to be on alert for threats.

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa looked at the one who had joined them and they had a small party here once again now... strange but she kept her arms around and holding up Ni-Ne as she was going about it. Her eyes searching, her mind racing but it was so clean here even after everything. Sawa didn't say anything about Maranon being here more she just moved into one of the buildings clearing some space as the Keisei helped her set down the other woman. Sawa went to one of the windows and closed it as well as the door to try and reduce everything that might indicate where they were or how they might be able to be seen.

The keisei was sitting there in a small seat for them, she had moved over to the window and she spoke. "We will have to rest, you need to heal up." She was looking at them and Sawa stayed there just holding Ni-ne close as she worked to pour energy and whatever warmth she could into her. She wanted her to be safe and there was a while lot that the two of them still needed to do. The keisei brought out some food with a nod at the two of them and the newcomer as she walked around a little, she had her instrument and she had her journal that was blank to the eye but for the keisei it was full of information.

Sawa herself though was looking at Ni-Ne and just breathed in when she leaned back. "We\ll rest and then continue on. Give it a chance to settle down hopefully rather then trying to keep outrunning them." The mountains and rock were better for well losing tracks since stone didn't leave much impressions and they were in a place few would willingly go if they didn't have to. Sawa thoughwas trying to get Ni-ne to release her sword long enough to relax and let the tension leave her body... she brought some food out for the pair of them and some water that she can drink.

 

[Nine Lives]

The Royal Soldiers moved through the woods, sticking spears in bushes, shining flashlights into darkened areas. They poured through the vast forest, dogs sniffing every disturbed branch. One ventured close to an old, lone statue of a Jei priestess...

(Sekiro Kill Ensues)

A yellow blade erupted from behind, slicing him in half. (GLORY KILL!!!) One of the warriors, armed with a minigun, who saw the fatal attack, screamed "SARRRR---GEANNNNT!" (Obvious Predator Reference: 70 XP) He yelled wildly as he opened fire, the minigun tearing open vast ancient tree trunks as he desperately tried to kill an invisible enemy.

The red and gold royal yovshin warriors opened fire in front of them and in all directions for a full minute. They stopped shooting only when they ran out of ammo.

A yellow lightsaber erupted from nothing and swished and swashed through their bodies without effort, bisecting them all.

Albrecht finally decloaked, holding his side. He was bleeding. A few grazes, but he would still need treatment. He didn't know where Xavier had gone.

But both Ni-Ne and [member="Sawa Ike"] were in terrible danger. He sensed something...powerful and terrible right alongside them. He closed his eyes, searching the Force for insight.

He saw her, deep within. A twisted mockery of a woman he had once known. Beautiful on the outside, but corrupt and vainglorious on the inside.

Maranon.

He had once respected the woman who was once Kerimi Avalon. Now she was a selfish sorceress and killing machine, corrupting two women newly discovering their force strength. Ni-Ne would be bad enough were she to be corrupted...but you at least had a reasonable chance due to relative inexperience...but if she corrupted Sawa...

Albrecht shuddered. Even in his waning years he could see the font of spiritual power in Sawa's soul. Coiling, barely awake...but large and wide in scope...if that font went bad. Sawa too was inexperienced...but that almost wouldn't matter in her case. If Ni-Ne was a sledge hammer, Sawa was a battering ram.

Albrecht, not sure if or when he would encounter Xavier, immediately began the trek to where he sensed Maranon's power...

What's your game, Maranon? What are you up to? Albrecht wondered as he went through the dark dense woods, limping as he heard the faint sounds of reinforcements.

Meanwhile...

Ni-Ne sat in the building Sawa had found, still deeply disturbed by the silence of the city. The Keisei were ferrying in more survivors but Ni-Ne did not like it. Too many people made too easy a target for the damnable Emperor.

Maranon sat crosslegged in one corner of an ancient and spacious marble white house silently observing everyone with a calculated smirk. Ni-Ne was jolted from the hypnotic effect of the Zeltron's presence by that of Sawa's voice saying that they should wait here. But the strange city and its unnatural silence and emptiness made Ni-Ne think that whatever gorey thing had happened to depopulate it to begin with was not gone. Maybe they were better off facing the Yovshin. The roar of primitive Atrisian atmospheric fighter craft overhead let her know the Emperor wasn't giving up.

Ni-Ne's grip on her sword loosened as she began to calm down. But she did not drop the crimson blade.

"My mother is going to try and destroy Atrisia..." Ni-Ne whispered to Sawa. "And I have no idea how to stop her."

"Easy. You kill her."

Ni-Ne looked at Maranon, who had suddenly decided to speak.

"You know exactly how to stop her...just...go at her with everything you have and kill her..." Maranon said, still smiling.

"What is she? You're obviously a witch of some sort. What is she?"

"She is an aberration in the darkness...I felt her reach into your mind..." Maranon explained. "My guess is she is drawing her little doomsday ship from deep space to this world. But if you want to know where..." Maranon trailed, whispering something unnatural to the fireplace and making it blaze brighter.

"Ask yourself...what is the oldest rule for enemies and allies?" Maranon asked.

"Keep your friends close...and your enemies closer." Ni-Ne answered, grip on her katana of blood steel tightening once more.

"What if your friend is also your enemy?"

"You keep them in the closest place of all...your own home..." Ni-Ne trailed before she stood up in realization.

"Oh chit..."

"Annnnnd the lightbulb turns on at last. Stunning progress, Li-Ves, just stunning..." Maranon joked.

"She's on Atrisia...but how?! When?!

"That..." Maranon suggested. "Is something you should ask your father..."

"My father..." Ni-Ne developed a look of genuine fear and then tried to run, only to be held in place by Maranon's telekinesis.

"You are no where near in a correct state of mind to try what I sense you were about to." Maranon stated.

Ni-Ne was immobile, though she tried to move.

"They will come for my father. If they release her by accident..."

Then the ship will still be far enough away that she will not be able to destroy Atrisia just yet...Sawa is right...you need rest." Maranon replied.

"I can rest when I'm dead!" Ni-Ne snapped. "Release me!"

Maranon shrugged. "You should take Sawa's advice..."

Ni-Ne developed a blank look on her. "I will take Sawa's advice..." she repeated mindlessly.

"That one is called Force Persuade...you're gonna wanna brush up on that..." Maranon said trollishly, smirking as Ni-Ne sat back down next to Sawa, who offered her food and drink. Ni-Ne dug into the rice and felt some hole in her stomach fill she ate more. Than some water.

"You have an uphill battle...whatever has made her so powerful is something she has been saturated in for a long time...perhaps it even explains your burgeoning power..."

"What could do that?" Nine asked. "What could have twisted her?"

"Your family seems the type to play chit close to their chest..." Maranon suggested, summoning a water bottle to her with her mind. She took a sip then spat it out.

"Oh gods, its tap water!" Maranon complained. "I hate tap water!"

"This isn't exactly five-star, witch..." Ni-Ne muttered as she ate.

"But even at one star you should at least have fresh water..." Maranon grumbled. "You know how hard it is to use magic to get rid of chlorine? Wait a minute...where did the Keisei even GET chlorinated water?

This musing was interrupted by a bandit survivor bursting into the room surrounded by Keisei.

"My liege, forgive us..." a particularly beautiful Keisei spoke to Sawa and Ni-Ne. "Bodies have been discovered in one house..."

"Ours?" Ni-Ne asked.

"No...something is wrong however..."

"What?" The last Blood Tiger demanded.

The Keisei bowed her head.

"My liege...they are all missing their shadows!"

It was Maranon's turn to do something important. She rose, calmly, the power she exerted almost like a static in the air.

"Show me..." Maranon ordered turning to Sawa and Ni-Ne. "I shall see to this...you two...I dunno...do your...thing...I guess..."

Maranon followed the Keisei out to investigate.

Ni-Ne snorted, taking a sip of water.

"She's not as sophisticated as she pretends..." the woman observed before turning to Sawa.

"We can't stay here...they're gonna hit my father's place. But I don't know what he's hiding..."

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa was listening to them, she was seeing and observing Maranon now hat she had a chance to really breathe and take in the sight of her and... this woman was odd.. on the one hand she appeared regal... she appeared to be like she stood among the top members of society... any society but Sawa had been in her family and they had known the royals for long enough to at least understand bravado. Maranon wasn't like her or Ni-Ne.. they had been raised in court, they had been taught how to react and move within it. She was looking at how Ni-ne changed though from wanting to leave to almost docile and turned her gaze to the woman.

Everything they were talking about, everything that was known for the situation and if that was where her mother was it could be even more dangerous. Everything that they had... everything that they might be able to do hinged on well being able to get to the location where the ship would be and destroying it... if they could take out its controller then no she had to think about this and they wouldn't get a second chance... traveling would already take them weeks to get through the canyons of the mountain and then across the ocean. Then it was going through a continent that seemed to only want to kill them.

"It will be okay." She said it as Ni-ne was eating and held her closer with a look on her face when she was thinking about it.... everything that had led them... here. She knew it sounded crazy... hell she barely understood it herself but she wanted this... to upturn and throw away possibly her life... to be onthe run from everything she had ever known because someone... this one had given her the chance to be better then just some handmaiden and watcher for the princess... She wasn't exactly that but no one else really knew that after all.She hadjust been there under Midori's thumb her well her plaything.

But Ni-Ne didn't want tha or at least had other things on her mind, she had purpose and she cared about Sawa... she seemed protective maybe or happy when she was near and holding her close while she ate the food there was something there. The electric touch warm in her fingertips despite the coldness of the room they were in. She could feel a knot forming in her lungs when she wanted to speak and her mind was telling her she couldn't confess feelings of love this early but she wanted to. It was like the stories she had heard of fateful meetings where princess and maidens would have their eyes meet and then they just knew.

Or at least she knew but she wasn't certain about it as Ni-Ne was very focused on things. Where she was moving around the others who came in... a bandit and the Keisei who were around as she moved with her attention shifting as she was about to speak. "Ni-ne..." She looked up at the bandit and the Keisei who was standing there and a look was on her face of mild frustration... not anger but more she was trying to have an important moment and again someone had to interrupt them. The bandit was talking about bodies and she was moving her hand to her blade as the droid came in whirring and whooping.

"What is it KayOne?" The droid spun around with his weapons armed and out to protect them as Sawa rose up gripping the blade in one hand and it from the sheath. She was watching it though when something brushed past her senses. Where she was going now but she could feel her senses expanded outwards when she was touching Ni-Ne... her mind felt a small pressure for a moment. Her eyes closed for a moment but she was looking at Ni-ne and spoke holding her hand. "Do you feel it?" She looked at her hand and didn't use her sword hand, more her off hand so they could both strike.

"You are stronger together." The Keisei was looking at them and spoke while she was standing there watching them and her face was still painted. The sounds around them were there now. something had been stirred and was awakening as she looked around. White pelts and massive fangs... arms where they were going and Sawa could hear howling now when she looked at the Keisei and spoke. "What have we walked into?" She said it though where she could look and the Keisei was watching them as she moved around with some of the other bandits who had followed them.

"I would say we have gotten into a colony... something no one knew about." One of the things roared and Sawa watched as a bandit tried to fight it only to get an arm ripped off and then beaten with it into a wall. There were more as K1 was attacking them and its flamethrower went off with a blaster rifle. She would have to thank her mother as the Keisei was moving and Sawa looked at Ni-Ne and Maranon... "There might be too many to fight and those things are massive Ni-Ne... we might have to run." She was looking and the little droid was clearing a path for them and the others before she was taking off with what they had.

Meanwhile in the fortress of doom, Sawa's mother was moving, her blade had blood dripping from it and yovshin had turned on her. The news was clearn... several had been declared traitors and others were rising to try and survive. She had received word about the attack on the academy, about an attack attempt at the palace of her family and while amusing it did raise some questions. Her daughter jiyoen had come and joined her to help her out... another was with the jedi where they could move around and suddenly she spoke as her husband appeared with golden armored yovshin.

"Husband." Her golden face mask gleamed with pale skin under the light, ancient and covering the scarred face she had from older attacks but she was still just as dangerous. The man stood there as the princess and sister fo the emperor remained in jade armor her station as she was set to be at one point the Jade Empress reborn but had been replaced. "Wife, we bring some news." Her husband moved forward though looking at her and embraced her with a kiss, their two children were there and he spoke. "Sawa wasn't at the academy, wereceived a message from Xavier and he said she with another fled into the mountains."

That brought some comfort to her and there was a sign of relief before she was moving more now. "Then we will find her." She said it and she had sent the droid when they got it with the directions to protect her and whoever she thought would prove an ally. "no we will not." That got a look fro her that many would normally run scared from but he stood his ground. "She has her mission and we have ours, the emperor has turned and tried to kill many of his most loyal. His madness is full blown and we are not certain what might happen if it is allowed to continue. We need to try and restore sanity to the empire."

The Jade Empress who stood there had remained quiet and still, like a statue but she moved forward speaking. "Please Unaga, we need to join together." She stayed there for a moment and brought her arms up to embrace her but she offered a hairppin. Two wings with a triple hollyhock emblem between them and script. "Please Unaga." Where they were looking though she placed it and was allowed to touch her. "I need my best friend, I need the investigator of people and events who can help stop the dangers here." She offered a smile and got a nod of her head from Unaga who remained there. "Very well."

Sawa was running, leading the way and trying o make sure Ni-Ne and the others were with them, into the buildings as the white marble was leading down the mountain. Another of the bandits with them was grabbed from the side and screamed before Sawa was looking at the Keisei who had gotten them down into the area around and below. The shadows were thicker, darker and it was clear no light reached down here except at maybe a small time of the day. The waters thick and black as they rushed by with cold spray. She was looking at it and stood there looking up as more screams came and could barely hear the ships overhead searching.

 

[Nine Lives]

Maranon was led to the house the Keisei had pointed out in this silent city of pale stone that was too quiet, even with the justification of having been abandoned.

Just what the hell had happened to this place? Maranon was used to strange by this point. It came with the territory. But since coming to Atrisia she realized this planet had a ton going on with it, even WITH Ni-Ne's momma-drama. The more she learned about Atrisia, the more she realized she knew very little. Atrisia was a mystery...she had seen evidence of tech here so advanced in its ancient crevices it could not have been made by the Atrisians, yet clearly was made by them at the same type. Its as if time and space were almost...schizophrenic on this world. She supposed she should not be all that surprised it had produced such powerful 'potential' like [member="Sawa Ike"] and Ni-Ne Li-Ves (Whose name made Maranon think of cats for some reason) She began to wonder if she had some extra purpose here, given by the Bogan. She did not obey the Bogan, as some did. To her, that would have been tantamount to obeying the will of the Force, which she had had quite enough of. She could never understand how some Dark Adepts could trade one slavemaster for another. She used its power certainly, but it wasn't her boss. Everything she did was her own choice. If the Bogan was trying to force her to do something, then she might enjoy disobeying it.

She put such thoughts aside as she entered the building and was led by the Keisei and survivors to the bodies.

They had been hiding out here for days, that much was obvious. She saw stacks of dried provisions and water in one corner of what looked to have once been a palace quality bedroom, though gone to pieces over the years, camping bedrolls rolled out. The lanterns and flashlights were non functional. Her limited experience (which also included fighting the language barrier at times) of Atrisia helped her at least get an idea of who they were. Their school uniforms betrayed that of Kagamiri. Escaped students...one man and one woman.

What fascinated her was how they lacked any shadow about them, no matter what angle she stood at. She signalled a nearby bandit survivor for his stolen flashlight. He tossed it and Maranon noticed he had decorated it with glass beads. It was a bargain quality flashlight, but to a man like him, whose culture was only just starting to move away from the horse as the preferred transport, and for whom the riches of space had only just started filtering in, this item was like a status symbol. Contact with the Galaxy had its benefits.

She shined the beam onto the bodies, and they still cast no shadows.

"What has happened to them?" One of the Keisei asked.

"A Force Drain...of a sort..." Maranon explained.

"What is a 'Force Drain'?" One of the Keisei asked.

Maranon grimaced. "A really unpleasant and painful way to be murdered." She answered.

Her senses picked up something. Something faint. The barest hint of malice in the air. Maranon concentrated a little more, her telekinesis sending a brick into her waiting hand and without any warning hurled it into a space in the corner of the room with her mind at the fastest speed possible.

The brick struck something invisible that leaked black blood and dropped, revealing a man dressed in all black robes, with a white Hannya mask with highly pronounced red fangs. He was armed with a Kusarigama and a Tanto.

The others immediately backed away.

"Shinobi!" The bandit who had given her the flashlight yelled before an invisible sword went through the back of his head, and another of the masked warriors stopped hiding their presence and went straight for Maranon with a deadly flying leap, who gave the shinobi a look that amounted to something along the lines of 'Wow, he's pissed!'

(Maranon snaps her fingers Thanos-Style)

Loose material, tiles, and a large chunk of the roof tore itself off to slam into her attacker, squashing him like a bug, that leaked smelly black blood and organs (I am inevitable: 2 XP)

Maranon had no time to be impressed with herself because the Shinobi she thought she had slain with a brick to the head tried to go for her skull, but the future queen was faster, and wheeled around, deflecting everyone of his attacks with her own knowledge of martial arts, specifically, her knowledge of Shattered Gate, her bodily energy channeled into Crane-like movements to channel destructive force into her blows with open palm strikes, which shattered ribcage and neck with audible sounds. But the Shinobi didn't seem to be going down. He attacked just as ferociously, even with his broken neck and Maranon realized he was like a zombie...you had to destroy the head completely.

It may have been easy to Maranon, but she wasn't so vain she didn't see the threat the Shinobi posed to the unwary or the less skilled. She had the advantage of being a former Jedi Master, and these Shinobi would have been considered masters by lesser fighters.

Maranon dodged the swipes of the chain end of the Shinobi's kusarigama, catching it and using it as a combat garrote, to catch the sickle part of his weapon as well as his wrist yanking him forward and leveling the strongest push she could, point blank into his skull, which erupted as bloody black chunks and geysers of black blood as the head came apart. (GLORY KILL!!!)

Maranon waited for some other stealthy attack but none came. She ripped off the remains of the hannya mask and ordered the frightened survivors outside, not because she was trying to save them, but because she would rather they catch the brunt of whatever other surprises were in store rather than her. And catch they did: as vicious, white furred beasts with fangs began striking from everywhere, descending from mountain cliffs and caves, each finding a new method of egress into the city.

"Well." Maranon noted with a bemused smirk as she watched the monsters start tearing into the survivors. "Guess we know what happened to this city' inhabitants..."

She looked at the sky, connected to it, and stretched out her hand, which was clenched in a fist.

The lightning erupted from the sky in blue-white bolts that struck and electrocuted one of the monsters, instagibbing it and causing the ancient white house it had been roaring atop of to burst into flames.

("Welcome To The Jungle" by Guns 'N' Roses plays)

Maranon calmly, casually walked through the fast deserting streets of the dead city, lightning bolts striking any of the beasts that got to close, the beasts themselves catching fire as they dropped dead on the spot.

"Now where, oh where, has Sa-to-the-wa-to-the-Ike gone?" Maranon wondered when she saw that the hut had been abandoned where they had been staying, not looking at another beast as it charged her, only to be struck dead by a lightning bolt from above.

She gathered a large amount of fallen debris with telekinesis, to use as missiles. She casually whistled, deciding to take her time as she chucked pieces of roof at lethal speeds at the heads of the beasts, not deliberately trying to hit anyone else in the process, but also not caring if they got hit either. Maranon was like that.

After managing an impressive toss into the skull of one of the furry beasts, she kept walking to where she sensed the two women...

Meanwhile...

Investigator Oba had been tasked with piecing together the aftermath of the attack on the academy, the security photos clearly showing Ni-Ne and Sawa participating in the attack on the academy, stealing the sensitive information of the State. He looked over the footage in his sparse, yet tastefully decorated office filled with bird statues in the corners of it.

Soon the call would go out...Ni-Ne and Sawa had committed an unfathomable act of treachery against The Emperor. Sawa's family had enough influence that they might get by, but Ni-Ne's was going down in flames with her.

"My Lord..." a voice called out in the room, which immediately darkened at the presence.

"Speak." Oba ordered.

"We are pursuing Ni-Ne as commanded. We have lost two due to an interloper."

"Who?"

"An offworlder with pink skin. She commands terrible sorceries."

"You command terrible sorceries as well."

"You compare boulders to mountains, my Lord."

"You will do better. You displease her mother with your apprehension."

"The Dark Sparrow Shinobi will not fail..." the voice in the darkness proclaimed quietly. "The Jade City shall burn, and all of Atrisia shall be cleansed of Tyranny, even if it shall cost the people everywhere everything, Atrisia will have no emperors."

"Indeed. Make it so. Capture Ni-Ne and bring her to her mother. The time to hide the presence of the Shadow Vampires is coming to a close." Oba ordered.

The room lightened at the presence of the invisible warriors departing, and the real traitor to Atrisia began the necessary preperations to raid her father's estate.

He had waited, they all had waited. For years. A disappeared student here, a missing official there. Only in the last days had they grown bold, leaving victims within academy grounds. To taunt the emperor that the wolves had been slaughtering his sheep underneath his nose.

Oba meditated on the Dark Side, planning on using the cover of the raid on the estate to revive the Mistress, O-cho Li-Ves. So much was at stake. So much planning. And then Shimada sends his daughter into the Academy. It was a move that had thrown Oba off. He hadn't figured out Shimada's strategy until it was too late. He was grateful the Mistress had not ordered Ritual Suicide for his failure. But now timing was absolutely essential. He must produce results for The Emperor. He must lure Ni-Ne out, even if he did not want to. The time to hide was almost over.

But not yet.

Oba rose from his desk, locked the door, and flicked a hidden switch under his desk. A wall to his left slid open, revealing the red and white Hannya mask of The Dark Sparrow Shinobi, and the serrated katana displaying the Dark Sparrow on the scabbard...

Oba kneeled in front of them and began to focus.

Meanwhile.

This planet would not spare them. It would give them no rest, despite them trying to save it.

Ni-Ne's sword was out, but she was still kind of weak, and could really only do so much, her connection to the Force still tenuous. The beasts seem to come from the cliffs above, rabid and hungry for the flesh of others. She got some of them, trying to follow Sawa to the path down the mountain out of this accursed city. She was too disoriented to really see where she was going at this point, or even remember if the route they were taking would put them closer or further from their objective. The survivors were being picked off by the creatures chasing them. The Doom of Atrisia, which her father commanded be ripped and torn, until it was done, spurred her exhausted body onward, barely strong enough to hold a sword, let alone fight. Still, she cut off the limbs of one of the beasts as they tried to snatch Sawa away.

But gradually, the natural rock passage they went through to avoid the assaults of the white beasts gave way to water sliding down rocks, the frightened survivors jumping at the sounds of primitive atmospheric fighters streaking the sky above them with trails. At the same time, Ni-Ne felt the coiled power of Maranon in the sky, her will like a blanket, striking dead all that approached. That the flirty Sorceress possessed such terrible power yet acted so snooty greatly confused Ni-Ne, who wondered whether it was to get people to underestimate her. If so, displays of power like that tended to subvert the purpose...

Ni-Ne did not yet understand that some people revel in their power.

Finally the path in front of them terminated in a sheer drop off the cliff and Maranon finally reached the band of survivors on the Mountain patb, completely unharmed.

"Hey, Ni-Ne, 'fore you take a plunge there, I think I found our shadow eaters..." the witch called out, tossing the weakened Ni-Ne the mask fragment. Ni-Ne caught it, stared, recognized the mask from child hood.

"This...this is the mask of The Dark Sparrow Shinobi, my mother's personal guard..." Ni-Ne trailed in surprise before her expression hardened.

"This won't be the last we see of them..." she spoke. "But we have bigger problems...like how do we cross this gap?"

Maranon sighed. "I'm like a bloody nanny, I swear..." she muttered striding past them. Some got a little more transfixed by how her hips swayed (Including Ni-Ne) than they should have despite nearly getting mauled by the creatures.

Maranon spotted a fissure behind where everyone had gathered. She focused, drew in a deep breath.

"Whatever any of you do, don't tickle me, it'll ruin my concentration..." Maranon instructed.

Maranon held out her hand to the fissure and snapped her fingers.

The fissure cracked behind them, and all the survivors huddle together next to Sawa and Ni-Ne as Maranon floated the platform of rock they were all on across the gap...slowly. Ni-Ne stared in awe at Maranon, becoming truly aware of just how powerful the Force was, at the same time feeling an intense sadness that someone so gifted could be so shallow and hedonistic. What had she been before this?

Ni-Ne watched the haughty smirk on Maranon's face, and felt a strange, quiet pity.

The floating platform of rock eventually reached the other side of the gap, gently resting on the other side.

Maranon huffed and Force jumped off the rock platform.

"We should keep moving. The Emperor obtained a satellite not too long ago, I worry he might have spotted the commotion..." Maranon advised to the others.

"We need to get into the city somehow...Sawa, where does this path down the mountain lead?" Ni-Ne asked weakly, sheathing her red bladed katana. The Emperor, once he understood the extant of her father's treachery, would tear apart both the city and the mountain to find them. They could not afford to slow down now.

Maranon, still in the front suddenly stopped sensing the faintest hint of a presence. She paced about, thinking, closing her eyes...and then her hand shot out, grasping the throat of an invisible enemy who un cloaked...

Ni-Ne's eyes widened as she saw who Maranon had caught.

Albrecht Bo's throat was in Maranon's hands, just as his lightsaber emitter was pressed under her chin.

"Albrecht, you old pickle! How long has it been?" Maranon asked as though it were just a pleasant run in. "Wow, you sprouted! You barely went up to my chin the last we fought."

"What are you doing here, Maranon?" Albrecht got out, even with

"Isn't it obvious? I'm immersing in the local culture, expanding my intellectual horizons, and of course, looking hot. Not necessarily in that order. What about you, dear? Pardon my saying but you look like you've been busy hiding in the bush. Lemme guess, looking for health power-ups?" Maranon teased.

"Sorceress! He's with us!" Ni-Ne called out.

"Oh I know. I'm not dumb. But he's 'such' a spoilsport."

"She is a fallen Jedi. A traitor to her own kind...she will lead you to darkness..." he gasped.

"I 'lead' no one. I talk to them, and they decide to go bad on their own." Maranon replied. "Just like Kerimi did."

"Kerimi killed herself, and all that was left of her was you." Albrecht snapped back.

"An improvement, to be sure..." Maranon said, dropping him.

"Well, Bo, fortunately we are now both in the same boat...no way our involvement will go undiscovered...how did you get here?"

"I found a craft..." he said. "Small frieghter. Ripped out the transponder."

"Delightful. Are they aware you stole it?"

"No..." Albrecht glowered.

Maranon turned to the rest. "Thoughts on where we can go?"

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Unaga and her husband with the Jade Empress had moved.. the fortress of her family was high in the mountains with kilometers of mostly impassible mountain trails they had fortified over centuries and secured. With a highly trained army of soldiers loyal to them and some of the finest trainers of yovshin... it wasn't a secret family wealth had paid for the finest materials and they were one of the few who had knowledge of space since the je'daii with force blades and enhanced armor. She moved and her mask gleamed in thee light as overlooking from the clouds she could see a marching army crashing itself against the fortress doors.

They were small but she could make it out as the yovshin under their command didn't run out of the gate. They had moved around the sides on narrow paths and used arrows in recoilless bows. mechanical and highly explosive things crafted by the fine engineers they had. Swords were the second parts as she knew how they were going to survive and the Emperor had contacted them... for barely using advanced transport they did have some developed communication systems for speaking to each other and she stood there with her hands behind her back. The hair pin was in but she didn't say anything or make it visible wanting to gauge his mood.

"Unaga what are you doing?" The man sat there looking at her and glaring as She raised an eyebrow under her mask. The scars that were there remembered from their youth as she spoke. "Nothing at all Emperor.... I am protecting my lands from the army you sent against us. A serious matter in this regard." She said it and her voice was restrained and calm as the man seemed to sneer at her, lips pressed tightly together and he looked almost cruel in his regard. "I sent them to make sure my enemies were eliminated, if you had perished as you were supposed to at the fortress of the dawn then this wouldn't have needed to happen."

She looked with narrow eyes but remained steady and resolved. "I see emperor, it is unfortunate you felt the need to turn on my family who has faithfully served you for countless centuries since before the first Jade Empress." She didn't lament or monologue more she was staying focused on it. "I will not march upon the capitol but you will find here and the white pearl are very similar in trying to attack them. We are old enough to remember many of the battles and have only used that knowledge to build and reinforce ourselves." Now she showed some pride as he seemed angered even more.

"You would stand against your emperor.... you would defy my orders." She said it watching and brought her hands forward to touch her sword. "If I must, your anger, your paranoia have been stoked to the point of attacking shadows... of seeing more enemies everywhere and it has turned your most loyal against you because you sought to kill them." She remained there watching him get more and more angry almost to the point he was spitting between clenching his fists. "Then you shall die like the rest." He said that and the transmission faded as it was replaced by others who had been listening in. Other generals from Atrisia and their lesser lords.

"It is unfortunate... no one has been able to reach him even the chamberlain has been killed... whatever madness has taken him is spreading. ou have the Murasaki clan." "and the Ubuno clan." "Masamune clan will lend its strength." The Jubei clan." The voices rang out and was more even joining in. The different ones who served under and had been trained giving their men to the army and to the Yovshin as Unaga looked at the Jade Empress and her husband. The woman moved to join her and stood there as the others finally stopped speaking to look at her. "I know this isn't easy and I can't say much else."

She was speaking and looking at them, she had as unaga knew been exiled by each of them and it had been on their honor that they served the ruler of Atrisia but she seemed cordial with each of them. "I remember all of you or your family... I don't want to sound false in this but I dislike many of you however I understand why it was done. My brother is ill and stopping him before he damages our world is more important to me then revenge on my family and my honor." She said it and stood there with Unaga who spoke watching them and moving her arm finally. She embraced the empress and just held her closer to show unity as the others nodded their agreement.

Jiyeon though had not fared as well, when the Yovshin and army came to attack the jedi group that was with her she hadn't been expecting it and they were beaten down. She looked at one of the yovshin who had been with them and Kulan was injured as he had a tanto through one shoulder with a look on his face after it had been patched up as she held him close o try and heal with the force. "Sorry Lady Ike." He said it and he was younger but she spoke with a look on her face. "It is alright Kulan.... I know you tried as best you could but we were not expecting this from them."

That got a look and the atrisian jedi padawan had allowed herself to take in where they were. Going towards the Imperial city served them in a few places a sshe knew many people who were there in the Imperial court... and she knew even more who were around and worked with her mother or owed her. Kulan would be taken care of hopefully but she still cared for him checking out some of the wound while her face burned seeing him bare chested and destitute of most clothing. His armor and weapons were taken so the armored greaves for his legs were bare leaving the barest hint of leggings.

He looked up at her and spoke. "My princess." He was having a lazy smile on his face and she frowned watching him. "That is a little to personal Kulan... but because of your injuries I will let it go. The medicine is quite strong I know." She said it and he looked up at her. "It is Lady Ike but I do care about ou... more then I should it is true but I would do anything to make sure you were safe if it required me to fight from one end of this world to the other and a chance to at least have you say my name will protect me from a thousand thousand men." He said it and she looked at him for a moment then at the wound. "So that is from the thousand thousand and one?"

Sawa was looking at Ni-Ne and then at Maranon as she watched it all and raised an eyebrow feeling the force now that she kind of knew what it was... Everytinhg that was happening was big and they didn't have much time as she looked down the mountain pathway deeper. "I am not certain... I just know which way we have to go and a little about the mountains here." She said it and K1 was moving along a path as he and she were going. "A craft could be helpful but it would be more obvious... these gorges are always locked in shadows and nearly impossible to see from above to the bottom."

She said it and was moving looking at Ni-Ne as the keisei who was with them carried her instrument for a moment and followed helping her and staying with her. While Maranon presented a lot of power she was also a lot more dangerous then what she wanted to do and the jedi being back here without Xavier wasn't a good sign. What might have happened was called into question for her in that regard before she was looking towards Ni-Ne and spoke in a low whisper seeing the Keisei and little droid who was with them. "I don't know what to do. I only know I want to stay and protect you so if you want to go with them."

Sawa was watching her though and there was another sound... the bandits they had brought with them were fighting back and some others had come.... she could see something and K1 seemed to whistle as the sound of something came from above. A heavy thud on the ground that shook the rocky platform and then she felt something in her stomach... a sensation of it dropping and rising as the rock slipped down and she could feel the air changing to something cooler then splashing when it impacted sending her forward and into the arms of the Keisei who had stayed with them. K1 was right there with her getting back up with one of the blasters to push himself back up.

Sawa looked up and she was trying to focus on the area but it was dark and she spoke. "Kay One lights." She said it and they were all moving around with Sawa shifting around to try and find Ni-Ne while she was looking at the Keisei with a hand on her shoulder to pull her up. She moved over to get Ni-ne and spoke away from everything and the deep gorge itself was showing a stream before she was moving to splash her face. She cleaned off some of the dirt and was looking at Ni-ne as she spoke. "I don't know what history there is betwen them but we don't need to be part of their games with each other."

She waited for it to try and see what Ni-Ne wanted to do but she had her blade, her pack and they could barely be seen down here with the shadows and cool air. Where she was moving now the prefect tried to move down folloing the water that would go through towards the exits and the Keisei knew where they were going kind of. "We can follow the river and it should come out near Jeia city that was destroyed but will let us find a road into parts of the older empires of Atrisia." She said it and was walking with her scroll and biwe as Sawa had K1 go in front of them and she moved to hold and support Ni-ne.

The deeper areas of the gorge was small but wide enough they could walk here two abreast until it opened p with rocks overhanging and revealing a river that started to get stronger and stronger. The pathway winding and carving through the rocks until it opened again into the sunlight itself. She looked up and it stung her eyes but there was nothing around them.. the growing plans giving a yellowish hue to the rocks and where it was ripe the plants were red and purple. Sawa moved over to it and pulled at the roots and bulbs to get it out but she knew what this was as she squeezed it to get some water.

"Here eat." She tore at it and opened the bulb to pull out a soft spongy material but it was edible and somewhat gummy. The moisture from absorbing river water and fattening it up so she would be able to eat and drink it. She could see in the distance the mountains opened into a bamboo forest, the greens were in bright contrast when she was moving around. Sawa could see more of it and the distant sounds of something came to her. An atrisian tiger stalking others who had escaped when it came out of the forest and its claws grabbed one of the women running away. The sound of cloth and flesh tearing before Sawa spoke.

"Run as fast as you can and as quietly." She said it but was watching the atrisian tiger as it started to drag its prey back and the keisei was following suit when Sawa started to move to the river and there was tied bamboo in the form of a raft but they wouldn't be able to use it for long or like many things as she jumped onto it and pushed off with the longer stick that was letting them get into the deeper water. The bamboo overhead providing cover as cherry blossom trees were scattered throughout creating a color scape that few of them would really be able to match or have seen often.

Sawa stood there where she was checking around. the waters to see if there was anything that might be well.... dangerous to them. The tiger roared but went back to eating as in the small valley they had more roars came. The mountains were massive in many ways so that they could move into the deeper waters away from them. Sawa was pushing the the sun in the valley revealed much much more in terms of trees and the waters opened up to another gorge that things were not following them. The stone itself smooth and she had a moment letting the Keisei sing in the mountains as they drifted along and she could try to rest for a moment.

She was checking out some of the wounds and bruises that she had removing her kimono and using her hair as a sort of cover as she submerged it in the waters and the chill in her hands when she took it out, dried it as much to get the water out and let it sit there in the sun for a few hours at least. She cleaned herself and the wounds looking over it while K1 used its sensors to protect them and she left some room for Ni-Ne to do much the same. They hadn't had much time to sleep since they had started... worse they still had along way to go as they were heading towards the gorges end.

The end of it was another valley that expanded outwards and was the end of the mountains. Thick carved statues of yovshin with swords raised, banks filled with sands and plants as some fo the creatures grazed along them. Sawa could see more as no one was visible and suddenly they were drifting through mist as she wrapped her kimono back around her shoulders with her sword. The keisei speaking. "These are the ruins of Jei, an ancient city dedicated to the fertility goddess and it was wiped out when they refused to bend the knee to the first Jade Empress so she let and directed the waters to sink it."

Sawa knew legends but coming here wasn't really recommended to try and explore given it was full of death and ghosts or any number of dangers with the deep waters. She stood up and they were being guided around it as the partially destroyed and submerged buildings looked ancient, gilded statues, fish that looked mutated and different as the mists clung high above them like a curtain. "We should be safe here for a time if we are lucky." Sawa said it but gripped her blade close while she was looking at Ni-Ne and rolled her shoulders using the blades hilt to push away from debris that was in the way.

 

[Nine Lives]

Ni-Ne watched as Albrecht and Maranon eyed each other.

Maranon sighed.

"This bores me. I'm done playing nanny for now." Maranon said, using Force Illusion to cover her retreat, to disappear.

Albrect snorted at this. "If so powerful you are...why flee?"

He turned to them. "Lets get the hell to the bottom of this fethed up place."

"Where's Xavier?" Ni-Ne asked, [member="Sawa Ike"] pretty much her main source of mobile support.

"I don't know where Captain Creepy is..." Albrecht replied going past them. "I've had an absolute devil of a time catching up to you."

The journey down was long and treacherous, and Sawa practically had to drag Ni-Ne, whose strength and energy was slowly fading with each failed attempt to rest. (They even got attacked by a big, nasty tiger, and it was only Sawa's quick thinking...for Ni-Ne was all but useless at this point...that allowed them to escape. That's when Ni-Ne's ears perked up at the end of a brutal journey. The half destroyed city of Jei. She'd forgotten about this place.

Her mother, in their darkest, most private moments, had always confessed how much she hated the imperial system. She had hoped contact with The Republic would modernize them away from the harsh, authoritarian system. But it hadn't. She would always site this city and its fate as a reason an empire was unsuitable for governance ultimately.

Ni-Ne suppressed her grumbling for Sawa's sake. Albrecht seemed deeply disturbed by his earlier encounter with Maranon and had not said anything since going to the end of this gorge and into these ruins. No way they would explore the city proper if they could help it. This was yet another example of Ni-Ne being hilariously wrong.

Pushing through the ruins, Ni-Ne lifting debris away, they soon came across the partly collapsed stone remains of a watch tower with a guard bunkhouse, free of the flooding of the rest of the area. She had to sit down, because she was so exhausted she could not walk any longer as camp was set up around it.

As soon as Ni-Ne saw a spare mat rolled out on the inside of the bunkhouse itself, Ni-Ne staggered over and collapsed onto it, out cold.

Nine hours later...

All she had dreamed about during her sleep was enjoying a picnic with Sawa. They had been wearing their best kimonos. Ni-Ne had fed Sawa eel and tofu and jelly beans. There was tea, and these soft little cakes and cookies. It had been wonderful. No doom of Atrisia hounded her.

Then she had woken up, sore everywhere. It was night and Albrecht had set up a fire in the remains of a fire place. The Ancient murals of the Atrisian dragon gods adorned the walls.

Ni-Ne felt a great hunger, and Albrecht was ready with a stew.

"Get your strength back..."

"Where is Sawa?"

"Not too far. Gathering supplies, I think."

The old man in the hood was silent a moment.

"You've taken your first steps into a larger world...but it wasn't a good idea to take them with Maranon."

Ni-Ne thought about that kiss Maranon had given her and suppressed a little grin.

"From this point forward, I will try to show you what I know, but you must show more patience then you have shown.

"Atrisia isn't going to save itself..." Ni-Ne argued.

"Do not let your desire to save your world twist you into something evil. The road to the Darkness is paved with good intentions." Albrecht warned crabbily.

Ni-Ne gobbled the stew in under a minute, not quite listening. "I've seen its doom. I know how bad it is. If I must offer my life to see it stopped, I will do it without hesitation."

Albrecht nodded.

"You have 'that' part of being a Jedi, certainly..." he joked, staring at the fire.

Ni-Ne left the guard house to look for Sawa. They needed to plan their way back into the city proper. First order of business would be to acquire better transport.

The half sunken statues and buildings greeted her as she left the partly collapsed building, free of the haze of exhaustion.

"Sawa?" she called out, needing to see the ex-prefect's face. Being held by her, carried by her here. It had meant a lot. Plus her hair smelled divine, what was her shampoo? Or was that perfume?

Ni-Ne wanted to hold her again, Doom of Atrisia or not, exile or not, because she was realizing this could not be done by just her. Sawa had been a rock, a force in her corner. Starry eyed in a way that made her gorgeous. Ni-Ne cursed her destiny. Both their destinies. She had a terrible feeling it would not end well for either of them. But she needed her. For as long as she could be around her.

Finally she spotted Sawa, ran over and hugged her.

"Sawa!" Ni-Ne gasped. "How are you? I'm so sorry I've been so useless the past few hours...I was spent. How you could keep going...did your mother feed you nothing but vegetables?" Ni-Ne asked, making one of her weak jokes. She was terrible at them. Maybe more terrible when it was for someone she really liked.

She wanted to actually take a break now. Even if only a few hours. If nothing else, she might share at least one meal with Sawa. She was still hungry.

"You wanna catch some fish?" Ni-Ne asked. "We can at least make sure everyone still with us can eat before we move on. I'm actually pretty good at it."

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa had been exploring while Ni-Ne slept. She took the time to learn what she could and there wasn't a great deal here... the submerged city was just that.... submerged and the waters black with the feeling of something that was off. Like a buzzing in the back of her mind where she was looking around. She could see some of the deformed fish that were swimming in th water and they were off.... sickly colored, gills and eyes all over. Some with two mouths and it was not a pretty site to behold while she was moving with her blade and poked one of them letting it release some sort of pus into the water that made it cloudy for a moment.

Then she heard something at first and turned her head. Ni-Ne was awake and she stood up looking at he girl who came to her... surprised at how much time had passed. She was looking at Ni-Ne when she arrived and wrapped her arms around her with a nod of her head. "Some food would be nice." She smiled while checking it out here.... "But ah not these things. I don't know what is in the water but it is toxic... or something." SHe pointed to some fo the fish and was checking out the rest of it as they had a small area more secluded. She had set it up so she could at least just process alone but it served for this purpose.

"We have some food left but this place is wrong.... I don't know how to describe it." She said it sitting there and just holding Ni-ne as everything seemed to quiet down. She didn't want to be here with all of this she wanted them to go back... to go back to when they were at school a handful of days ago and literally just making doe eyes in the gardens with each other. Climbing to the tower in the watergardens and overlooking them or having some peaches. She didn't want to be trying to save their world.... yes their world or part of some great mystery and fight... but she was and she had accepted that at least grudgingly.

She sat there and allowed herself to relax, to feel the tension leave her muscles and they had been running and fighting and trying to save the world... well she just wanted to relax here and focused more on Ni-ne as she got some of the food out and held it up. Taking a bite of bread and offering it to her. "Here eat." She knew they didn't have a lot of time but they also had to be careful if they weren't then they might be to exhausted to actually do anything when the time came and traveling as they were was going to still require a whole lot of nights like this... possibly in stranger places. "We'll set out with the light."

 

[Nine Lives]

When Sawa Ike pointed out the toxic waters and mutated fish, Ni-Ne sighed. She had wanted fish. She would have fought a God for a plate of sushi. The traditional stuff. Pickled rice, raw fish, the super hot sauce that burned your nostrils. But Sawa's bread was delicious. Particularly because it was Sawa feeding her the bread.

Ni-Ne whispered in Sawa's ear. "At least there is a Lily in this swamp, gorgeous..."

Ni-Ne then went to make a fire, gathering sticks and stones for a pit, and hitting some flint with a pocket knife.

The fire sparked and while Sawa sat, Ni-Ne inspected the shores. Even in toxic swamps sometimes one could find something of great value. She spotted something in the mud. Sensed it, rather.

She fished them from the mud with a knife. They were small, spherical, one colored red, the other, teal.

Ni-Ne was deeply attracted to the red crystal as it was the red color of the Li-Ves. She sensed a strange energy from them. She washed them off with a little water from her canteen and brought them back to the campfire.

She did not know it, but she had found kybers...

"Sawa! Lake Pearls!" Ni-Ne called out, slightly excited as she sat next to Sawa all too eager to be as close to her as possible to enjoy what time they had before the fighting started.

She gave Sawa the teal kyber while clearly coveting the red one.

She was looking at Sawa, taken with Ike's beauty more than ever. That princess didn't deserve her.

"Sawa..." she trailed, after five minutes of silence. You're amazing. Kiss me. Please."


Meanwhile...

It truly was a magnificent ship.

Its hull was stronger than nearly any ship out, there, yet near totally transparent with gold framing in most parts. Its command tower gleamed in the blackness of space, on its inexorable course to its point of origin, as yandere for Atrisia as Hela was for Asgard, or like Surtur was for Ragnarok in general. Or like Thor AND Anakin was for Padme, or like Loki was for New York or like Thanos was for the Infi--

(Narrator suffers nosebleed from too many Marvel references: 100 XP Loss!)

Anyway, as the great ship, loaded with enough weapons and personnel to burn Atrisia to the ground twice (and cook hot dogs!) crept through blackness, an ancient relic from beyond this plane beckoned, sending out a silent message...

Deep beneath the estate of the Li-Ves, besieged on all sides by the Emperor's wrath at its owner's treachery, its magnificent walls ablaze a deadly threat to all of Atrisia's existence stirred. Her arms, out stretched in the vast lake of black fire, twitched. Her ailing, estranged husband, currently savagely ripping and tearing through Ashigaru armed with Blasters as his throne room burned

("Olivia Pearce" by Mick Gordon plays)

The young, beautiful warrior opened eyes that were pools of black with gold, glowing dots at the center. By will she floated over the fire and floating body parts to the exit tunnel.

In case the Mick Gordon music wasn't a hint, it was at this point things went completely insane.

Her hand stretched out over the Black Fire and a black, unusually long serrated katana and white kimono and hair sticks flung themselves out of the fire and into her hand. She dressed, and then proceeded up the tower, her sword, the Dragon's Teeth, one of the first Phrik Alloy swords ever made, hidded in a white sheath.

Her daughter had rejected her. She did not understand the misery Atrisia had suffered, would continue to suffer, under the Dynasties. The pain of being rejected by her only living child stung worse than any sobering truth about Atrisia.

O-Cho Li-Ves had seen the truth of this in the Maw, A small fragment of the Black Fire, on that dead world had shown her the truth. Shown her the future, given her the gift to drink the shadows of others. Her Dark Sparrow Shinobi had joined her in Living Damnation to save Atrisia. If only her daughter would...

O-Cho maintained a stoic facade. Internally, though the Dark raged in her, she was weeping and heartbroken.

There were alarms ahead. She must have tripped sensors. She did not care. Ni-Ne refused to stand with her. A wave of her hand opened the hidden entrance above her. To her outrage, the Palace was burning, under artillery bombardment. The floor beneath her shuddered, and the boom of shell impacts was almost deafening.

She had woke at a most inopportune moment. The Emperor's troops marched on the Li-Ves estate, and seemed intent on burning it to the ground. If only her husband had not imprisoned her, or thought her insane when she had secretly returned, returned to prepare Atrisia for its reckoning.

To be saved, it had to be burnt to ash and regrown anew.

She frowned as she came across the dead yovshin of her husband. The magnificently red and yellow garbed Yovshin of her former emperor before he had betrayed her in his paranoia, their faces hidden by golden kabuto and menpo masks, stood over them, vibrokatanas drawn and gold in color with a red hilt.

O-Cho maintained her severe demeanor not even drawing her sword.

"This is an outrage. On what grounds does the emperor march upon my family's castle?" O-Cho questioned, her tone delicate, feminine, soft, as though she were merely greeting someone at the front door. This alone should have been setting off the Yovshin's Badass Alarms in the back of their head, but they figured she was just a house servant in shock until they saw the katana. Then the Face registered.

There was a reason she had been given command of The Sacred Ancestor. This was because she was one of The Atrisian Space Navy's top Officers. She had written whole sections on some of the naval tactics they were still using today.

No one forgot the face of The Blood Tiger Admiral.

"O-Cho Li-Ves! Impossible! You were lost in deep space!" One of the Yovshin exclaimed in total shock.

"You have no idea what's possible..." O-Cho trailed.

"Look at her eyes!" another exclaimed.

Her serrated katana slipped out of its sheath, evil looking and gleaming, reflecting the fires on its glossy obsidian surface.

The Yovshin rushed forward.

"How rude. Not even an answer..." O-Cho trailed as their blades came within range.

Her serrated katana flashed through the air with a severe whoosh, ripping into the armor without effort of the first, whose attacks she lazily parried before running him through. The other two lasted a little longer but O-Cho was a legendary swordfighter. That skill had not by any means diminished.

She drove one man's sword into the other, ripping into his neck, hacking into his skull. (GLORY KILL!!!)

The one survivor lasted eight strikes attacking from all angles, before O-Cho beheaded him.

O-Cho spotted six more breaking in and drawing their swords and dashed towards them, slashing at high speed at their own attacks, swords sparking and breaking at hers, running through one, gutting three others, and then brutally cutting down one more, gripping the only survivor by the neck and opening her mouth, bearing steel gray fangs.

The Yovshin screamed as darkness exited his body and into her mouth. When he fell dead, his body lacked a shadow.

In the burning throneroom, Shimada Li-Ves, hooded and red, shuddered as he finished off an imperial ashigaru with a chainsaw from hearing his wife in his head.

Husband...

 

[Sawa Ike]

Sawa was surprised twice... first by the crystal that had been given to her... her fingers touching it and it was still warm to the touch... from Ni-Ne... no it was warm anyways. A lingering feeling that was in her hands as the thumb of her finger roved over it. The texture of it was smoothly cut and whoever had done it was skilled it was obvious. Being here even with the poisoned water and everything chasing or trying to kill them... at least she had good company. Then there was a second surprise as Sawa looked at her and Nine Lives had spoke. "This is the way." Her voice came out under her breath as she moved forward towards her and the frayed nerves in her body remained there.

She moved... she didn't feel her feet on the ground but she had moved quickly closing the gap in what felt like a single heart beat that thumped in her ears. The blood was rushing throughout her and a spike of excitement and fear.... this wasn't Midori... she wasn't Midori who was cruel and prideful... she didn't just demand it she had asked her and they had done it before but it had been unexpected but never outright... this. She had a spike of fear in her mind that she might not be able to do it properly.. that she might not know how to be gentle or... her mind was racing and she was getting ahead of herself as she opened her arms and wrapped them around Ni-Ne.

She could feel her and looked up at her. She was much taller then Sawa by almost a foot, her arms like thick muscles from wielding a sword and knowing how to fight. Sawa moved her head going upon the tips of her toes and she lightly pressed her lips against the olive skin. She could taste the faintest hint of salt and warmth. The sun was there... the dew from the waters here in this cursed swamp clung to her and Sawa moved her head as she tilted it upwards tracing her lips in lightly touching kisses along the length of her throat. Pausing for a moment as the pulse in her neck went under her lips and she continued on and up. The strength of her jawline and her cheek.

She caught the scent of her hair.. the thick black hair with the underlying scents of jasmine and rain... the warmth of her and Sawa closed her eyes letting her mind trace and memorize every inch that she was touching... her mind taking it all in and creating a visual of it as she finally found her lips and pushed. The barest amount of pressure to just seal them together... She moved her hands up as she shifted and used them to trace the small of her back all the way up to the shoulder blades and her feet came up off the ground. Something brushed against her like a breeze but it wasn't cold it was against her hair and she was slightly spinning around.

They were floating... turning around slowly when Sawa had her hands there on her back and she could feel her heart beat from the back of Ni-Ne's chest... she could taste her lips and she drank deeply of it all... she didn't know if this was love or happiness.. she didnt know if this would be something that ended tomorrow or decades from now with the two of them laying there old and grey haired together. She only knew this moment... this feeling and she could feel more... her eyes remained closed but it was like a burst of energy was there letting her feel Ni-Ne in her mind.. she was able to feel the area around them and it was stillness... silent.

Time seemed to pause as she was there and Sawa finally pulled her lips away opening her eyes to look. A quick flick of her tongue along her lower lip as she chewed it nervous of what might happen and then spoke. "I think you are beautiful as well." She said it and her voice came out husky like she didn';t have air in her lungs to speak but she wasn't hyperventilating. She was allowing the moment to guide her and brought her head to the curve of the swordswomans neck and remained there as she shifted her hands to wrap around Ni-Nes lower back and felt her feet dangling there finally. "Did you pick me up?" She asked it and didn't look down but was surprised at how light she felt unburdening all of that.

Meanwhile

Unaga had worked to ensure everything was being taken care of the emperor was slipping mroe and more. Her husband and the sister of the emperor had gone to confront him so it was up to her to hold down the fortress... well several of them. They had worked with the military and she stood there now in front of several of them. her yovshin were standing behind her and they faced off against their own brothers in arms now as Unaga spoke. her pale skin with the golden armor made from aurodium and jeweled metal. "Stand aside." her workds came out as she was looking at them and a few couldn't meet her gaze but they weren't bloodthirsty.

"No by decree of the Emperor you are to be executed for treason." She looked at the captain who was there and knew his lord well enough. She stayed there and didn't flinch when their blades were being held out... her hand motioning for her yovshin to stay. "If that is it then, I would have your lord preform my execution... surely an honorable death is not beyond a request?" She said it with a look and got nods as one was sent to retrieve and Matsudaria came several moments later. The tall man was renowned for his swordsmenship and dedication to the ideals of the world... honor was something she had always seen from him even when it got him in trouble in court.

"Lord Matsudaria." She said it and bowed her head as he stood there. His jar'kai blades on his side and he looked at her. Unaga stepped forward and he didn't draw his blade even though two of his men did. He brought his hand up so quickly and backhanded one of them to the ground with a thunderous clap of metal on flesh the atrisian was certain her had broken several teeth or bones. The man remained down there though and bowed his head as he brought a blade out finally and held it. The golden hilt of it and the jeweled metal blade shined with a mirror finishthat let him see Unaga's face reflected. "Do you remember this blade?"

"I do, it is the one I gave you when you came of age within the court. Your first sword for going into the military." She said it and had a tight lipped smirk that he had managed to keep it all this time... more so that he had used it when while she knew the blade was built solid it was also older. There were finer blades a man like him could have gotten made that were less well lightweight and better fitted to him. "I did, it was a gift from the most beautiful woman... you stood there with your armor and gave this to me. I thought one day I would be able to marry you and become higher position, become a famed warrior but it was not so. You were wed to a man I respected and while I might have been disappointed I never hated him."

She looked at him and spoke with her hands at her side. She didn't touch the blade but she watched him. The golden half mask obscuring her face and covering the scars that she had received but it was not something to be afraid of. "I am marching my me to join my husband and the Empress... I know you mus do what you can but he has gone to far this time. Surely you have seen his madness is taking hold... if he continues he will tear the lands apart hunting for shadows." She said it and moved forward towards him. "If you believe you must... then you are going to have to kill me... you are all going to have to kill your brothers, your friends."

She said it and was moving forward again towards the yovshin and Matsudaria as the man stood his ground and held the blade out and ready. For a moment it seemed he was going to do just that... stop her advance but he paused and the blade was held limply at his side as he and the other Yovshin stood to the sides and began to let them pass. Where she was looking forward and his voice came. "Stand down, we have been... misguided. The emperor has begun to lose control and goes after his family, after his own people the ones who are most loyal... our vows to serve him when he would betray us are void. THose who wish to return home and take no part are welcome to go without judgement for this is a trying time."

They marched, the army turned and now turned away from serving their lord as they were bringing the soldiers towards the other armies at the capital. From across the planet different armies had well turned.... the emperor had sown so much discourse among his people that they wanted a change and whatever her daughter was working on at the academy... well this would hopefully buy them some time to get through and distract from whatever movements they were making." Unaga just had to manage to convince whoever was at the gate to stand aside as the people of Atrisia were united against a single person.

 

[Nine Lives]

("The Old Blood" by Mick Gordon plays)

It was Ni-Ne's second kiss.

It was not under ideal conditions. No romantic beach, just a swamp, survivors from the past hours of culling, and a cranky Jedi waiting somewhere.

It was still utterly electrifying to Ni-Ne.

Everything vanished around her as Sawa Ike kissed her. Ni-Ne held her, and cursed the gods for putting her and Sawa in this position. Unlike the kiss from Maranon, which was admittedly incredible, Sawa's wasn't just incredible, there was a warmth to it that called out to Ni-Ne.

Ni-Ne and Sawa's mind merged, and this merge allowed Ni-Ne a glimpse of people she would not meet for thousands of years.

She saw them fighting. Maple Harte, Laertia Io, Syd Celsius, Vera Mina, Darth Themis, as well as Maranon and even herself, albeit a version of her twisted by vampirism. All of them in an ash choked battlefield fighting The Amalgam, all caught in freeze frame.

She was shocked by this as Sawa pulled away, and Ni-Ne saw not the innocent prefect she had opened her heart to, but the seductive Darth Shojo, and that shock served to completely drive the Force Vision from her memory, and back to that Kiss.

The strange sorceries of The Force chose to speak in that instant, warning of danger.

Ni-Ne managed to pull Sawa out of the way of a Shuriken at the last moment, blade drawn in the same instant to deflect it, and she was blocking the way between her and a warrior caste she had not seen since childhood.

They were dressed the same as tgose Maranon had slain earlier, except these ones were armed with a weapon like the one Albrecht used, connected by cords to belt mounted power sources.

Dark Sparrow Shinobi. Mother's personal guard. Personal Assassins. She herself was familiar enough that one had once stood guard over her as she slept.

"Lady Li-Ves. Your mother has sent us to retrieve you. Come with us." They ordered.

"You threw a fething shuriken at Sawa!" Ni-Ne growled. "Your asses are chopped salmon as far as I am concerned!"

"You have inherited Lord Shimada's temper. It is of no consequence..." they said, activating deep purple lightsabers.

"Sawa, run! Get Albrecht!" Ni-Ne told her crush, who she was slowly becoming yandere for. "I got these two.

They darted forward at the same time she did, her sword crashing against the protosabers, sending sparks everywhere as they began to fight.

Ni-Ne soon realized she was slowly being worn down. Mother's Shinobi had not possessed this training before. Now they did. Where had they acquired it from?

Ni-Ne's skill gradually began to be flanked by the two saber fighters, their fluid, but focused attacks having much more mobility in attacks. Ni-Ne grew alarmed as the tip of her blade was cut clean off, then the rest of the top half, the cortosis weave finally being overwhelmed after vicious attacks.

Ni-Ne fell back, guarding with half a blade to protect Sawa, who she adored...

 

[Sawa Ike]

Sawa couldn't believje what was happening... she was seeing things on her vision.. eyes half closed and her arms roving a little... then something caught... her breath being stolen for a moment as she felt something in Nine Lives mind that shocked her... but then it quickly passed and she was back into it. Then Nine was on the ground defending them from someone attacking and Sawa hadn't felt them or anything she was just feeling herself moved to the side and a sudden lack of anything solid under her... Sawa grasped at the air and looked down as the black waters were getting closer and closer as she crashed into the surface in a belly flop and wasn't certain about it.

She felt the chill of the water as sh went into it and floated there for a moment while pain radiated across her stomach and the surface of her body. She could feel the chill of the water creeping around her... she could feel it sliding across her skin and as she touched the bottom... the grass that was there was silky and grasping. Wrapping around her before she was feeling a burning sensation in her lungs.. wanting to scream but she could feel something cold and dark in the water that was moving as two red orbs were watching her it felt like from deeper in the waters. Sawa pushed it out of her mind as her lungs were screaming and she kicked up breaking the surface of the waters.

She gasped as the rush of air frilling her lungs came to her... the power of it and she was watching Ni-ne fighting someone on the edge of her vision before she scrambled to the shore and the chill in the air became a shiver. Sawa could feel her hair plastered to her body and she rolled into the sand and grass while looking for Ni-Ne finally and her breathing was ragged to try and she grabbed her blade letting it gop to her hand when she rose up quickly wanting to snarl.... "Someone is going to pay." Then she heard Ni-ne telling her to run and find the jedi master as she was moving quickly to go and find their allies in this quest.

 

[Nine Lives]

Ni-Ne was soon forced to fall back on her martial arts training to dodge the lightsaber. The Shinobi were relentlessly focused on her attacking her from all sides, overwhelming her, inflicting nicks and burns with their lightsabers. She was soon badly weakened, forced to retreat. Then one just started strangling her with The Force.

Ni-Ne was helpless, unable to break the merciless, murderous grip of The Dark Side. What abilities Maranon had revealed were useless. Ni-Ne gasped for air, having been soundly thrashed and actually defeated for the first time since this all started. To think, only a few days ago she had been some noblewoman that secretly doubled as a reserve killing machine for a her clan. This was very much the role her daughters Vera and Westenra would eventually occupy.

Now she was nothing but shark chum...

"Surrender. We do not wish you harm, but we will do it to serve your mother's will." One of The Shinobi spoke.

One screamed as a yellow blade erupted through his chest from behind. He fell.

Albrecht had come. Ni-Ne was dropped to the ground in a coughing fit as Albrecht engaged the remaining one, who'd possessed a ghostly, lethal speed that confounded her during the fight. Albrecht wasn't though. Albrecht had ripped and torn until it was done for many a year before meeting this Shinobi. If the Shinobi was a level 12 , he was easily at level 21.

She had rarely seen anyone save her own parents fight as ferociously as Albrecht did, each blow a counterblow. Each feint a deadly part of a deadlier strategem, slowly cutting his foe off from retreat until finally he was beheaded.

Ni-Ne fell unconscious again.

Two Hours later.

Ni-Ne shot up in a make shift bed at the camp, panting.

"Is Sawa alright?" Ni-Ne asked as she potted Albrecht at the corner of a shack they were in, meditating.

"That was brave of you...but foolish." The Jedi Master chided. "You were not ready to face so much as one Dark Sider, let alone two. But yes, Sawa Ike lives.

"Had to do something before they hurt Sawa." Ni-Ne spoke. The burns and cuts were gone. The pain remained.

"I'll say this much for you...you always try and put your money where your mouth is..." he muttered half admiringly. "I used to be like you in that sense."

"What happened?" Ni-Ne asked.

"I fought Maranon for the first time. After that, I realized it was better to let deeds do the talking."

He held up her red crystal. "It called to you, didn't it?"

"Yes."

Albrecht sighed. "I was afraid of that. Ni-Ne, this is a dangerous time for you. You will be tempted by The Dark Side of The Force."

"Does it have cookies?"

"No, that's just a myth. I only encountered one time where that happened..." he muttered. "Anger, fear, hate--even if righteous, carries a price upon your soul. Eventually, it leads to amoral behavior."

"You warned me earlier."

"It is a warning that always bears repeating. Now, center yourself. Close your eyes and meditate on your failure here."

Ni-Ne grumbled but did as he asked, thoughts drifting back to Sawa...