Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, they are owned by Tecmo, and probably a bunch of other companies to. I am not making any money off of this so don’t sue me I don’t have any money anyway.

This takes place after the Blue skies episode, I hope that you like it. E-mail me with feedback at hanielg@hotmail.com because my mailbox is lonely.

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Genki stared at his food he just wasn’t hungry. He would have given anything for one of his mother’s home cooked meals just a couple of days ago. He missed his friends Holly, Moushi, Golem, Tiger of the Winds, Hare, even Suezo. He had wanted to go home but now he was home sick for the world he had left, he didn’t want to be here, sure he had friends here and his family was here but he just felt empty inside. Genki excused himself and quickly went to his room. He jumped onto his bed and lay there staring at the ceiling. “What’s wrong with me, I should be happy, sure I was happy for a while but now I just feel empty.” He slowly dozed off. “Genki!” He woke up with a jolt, or so he thought. “Genki!” It was Holly, but it couldn’t be, he was back in the old world and she was still, his mind came up with a blank, where was she anyway? “Genki!” He opened his eyes and saw Holly; She was kneeling on the ground crying. He stared and tried to go to comfort her but then he noticed he couldn’t move he tried again desperate to be able to move. “Help!” All of the sudden he was in a black void, only one thing entered his mind, he wanted to go back, but he knew he couldn’t. He heard a voice. “Have you tried to come back?” Then he woke up in a cold sweat, he looked at his alarm clock. Only two hours had passed since he had retreated to his room. He looked back up at the ceiling and thought about the dream he had dreamt, he noticed that he had felt a longing when he saw Holly kneeling on the ground crying and he could identify with her feelings. In the course of half an hour she had lost all her friends. Suezo, Moushi, Hare, Tiger of the winds, and Golem had all been killed and he had simply disappeared. He knew he had to get back’ but how? Then he remembered what the voice in his dream had said and what Holly had told him while he was at the junkyard. Now he knew what he had to do, he would prepare for a long journey and then he would come up here and use the same technique he had used to meld Hare, Tiger, Golem, Suezo, and Moushi, with the Phoenix to find a way back. With that resolve he went and started to pack.

******

He had packed, two lighters, a box of matches, a collapsible bucket, a outdoor cooking kit, a folding shovel, a weeks worth of food, a sleeping bag, a water purifier, a book of edible plants, a folding fishing rod and tackle, a cloak with a hood, some more clothes, a camping knife and Swiss army knife, some items needed to maintain his hygiene, and his blades. He put all this in a large back pack, except for the cloak, which he wore and went to his room wrote a good-bye letter to his mom, and sat cross legged on the floor, he closed his eyes and started to concentrate, he saw a light, he opened his eyes and saw that he was glowing suddenly there was a bright light and then only darkness.

*****

Genki felt sore all over, for a second he was afraid to open his eyes. When he opened his eyes he saw that he was in a meadow with short grass and many flowers, beside him was the beginning of a path, in front of him was a forest with many oaks, willows, maples, and other deciduous trees. A bit in front of him to the left of the path was a large boulder that was slowly beginning to crumble and had flowers and grass growing on it. He got up and something fell off of his cloak, he looked at it, it was Holly’s magic pendant! His heart leapt, he was for sure that it had been destroyed when Moo dissolved it. Why was it here? He put it around his neck and started down the path.

*****

Genki had been walking for a while, he wasn’t sure how long, one of the things that he forgotten to pack was a watch. Oh well, too late for that, wasn’t like it would have done him any good after the battery ran out. The path seemed pretty straight and level, so he stopped to put on his blades. After he got them on he continued at a much faster pace. The scenery wasn’t changing much when suddenly the forest thinned out and he came out at the edge of a town he saw a sign that said it was called Junt. There weren’t many people around. After he came into the town a bit he started seeing more people. He went into a store he saw at the side of the road where he got a compass, a map, and a canteen. He decided it was a good time to ask a couple of questions. He came up to the man stocking the shelves. “Excuse me, how long has it been since Moo was defeated?’ “Around a month, Why?” “I just lost track of time. Have you seen or heard of a girl named Holly or a Pixie traveling with a squadron of dragons?” “I don’t know anything about a girl named Holly but I saw a Pixie traveling west to a town where I heard that a Moushi fell from the sky.” “Could you show me the road that leads to the town where the Moushi fell from the sky?” “No problem.” They walked to the other end of town. When they reached the edge of town they came to a dirt and gravel road. “Take this road until it forks, then take a left, that will take you to Hermburg, that’s the name of the town where the Moushi appeared.” “Thanks!” “Good Bye” “Bye” With that Genki turned around and headed towards Hermburg.

*****

Genki had been walking for hours when he spotted a cart with a broken wheel. The driver was sitting on the ground leaning on the Baku, which had been pulling it. “Need some help?” Asked Genki. “Sure could, my wheel snapped, and I’ve been stuck here.” “Okay I’ll help you.” Both of them went to work and an hour later the wheel was fixed and the cart was ready to go again. “Are you headed to Hermburg?” “No, I’m headed to Cammor.” the cart driver replied, “but if that’s where you’re headed I’ll be happy to drop you off at the fork that’s halfway there.” “Sure”

Two hours later they arrived at the fork. Genki got off of the cart. “You’re halfway to Hermburg now, it should only be a day or so before you arrive there.” “Thanks, see you later!” “Bye” Genki went a bit further and then set up camp as the sun started to sink low in the sky. As he sat by the fire and ate his supper he heard a whoosh and saw something land behind him. He turned around and saw Pixie and Moushi. “Moushi!” Yelled Genki as he ran up to Moushi and hugged him. “Genki!” “I thought that you were dead!” “I thought so to but I woke up on the ground a bit from here. The major and his family took care of me. Then Pixie picked me up.” “Great! Pixie do you know where the others are?” “Only Suezo.” “What about Holly?” “No.” “Do you know how it is that Moushi is still alive?” “Well apparently when the Phoenix and the Moo destroyed themselves they rectified as much of the damage they had caused as possible, the five monsters that had melded with the Phoenix where restored and dropped at various places. The same with Moo the body and mind he took control of to regain his power were restored and put somewhere. We where searching for Holly’s father and the rest of the five when we ran into you. How did you get here?” “When I got back home I had a dream where I saw Holly and I had a feeling that I just had to return. I packed and then went into a trance like I was in when I had to assist Moushi, Hare, Golem, Suezo, and Tiger of the Winds to meld with the Phoenix. I saw a bright light and then everything went black. When I woke up I was in a meadow at the beginning of a path with Holly’s Magic pendant on my cloak. What you told me explains how I got it back after it was dissolved.” “That’s cool,” said Moushi, ‘Maybe we can use it to find the others.” “Well we can try.” Said Genki. “Let’s sleep here tonight and start searching for the other tomorrow” “Good idea good idea Pixie. Good night everyone!”

“Genki!” He was having the dream again. “Genki!” He opened his eyes and saw Holly crying. Like always he tried to go comfort her but he still couldn’t move. This time something different happened though. Holly’s father came to her when all of the sudden A crowd of people came rushing toward them and dragged away Holly’s father. Then he woke up, it wasn’t morning yet and there where still a couple of hours left before daylight, so he went back to sleep, the rest of the night was uneventful. He woke up with a cramp in the small of his back. He had forgotten about that aspect of traveling large distances on foot and sleeping outside in a sleeping bag. Genki got out of his sleeping bag and saw everyone else was already up. “Morning, sleepyhead!” “Morning Moushi!” He made some breakfast and then everybody ate. Then they prepared to leave. “Pixie could you carry Moushi overhead and I’ll blade underneath you.” “No I think it would be safer if you were to take Moushi.” “What do you think Moushi?” “I want to go with Genki.” “Okay, where are we headed Pixie?” “I was thinking that we should go to Cammor, Suezo showed up there the way Moushi did in Hermburg.” “Isn’t that the where the right fork leads?” “Yes.” “Great, then I know exactly where to go, Moushi hop on too my back, you’re gonna have to ride piggyback on the way there.” “Okay.” “Pixie, could you carry my backpack?” “Sure” After everything was set they headed off to Cammor.

Genki collapsed onto the ground as pixie landed a few feet in front of him. They had made great time that day, and where around half way to Cammor. They set up camp and Genki began cooking supper. “I wonder if I can use the magic stone to help find Holly and the others.” “Not sure.” Replied Pixie. “You won’t know unless you try.” “Good point.” Genki pulled the pendant out from under his shirt and started concentrating, the pendant rose into the air and started glowing. “What now?” “Try thinking of someone that you want to find.” “Okay Moushi.” He thought about who he would like to find and decided on Holly, he started concentrating, thinking about her, slowly the stone moved to the right and came to rest pointing south-east. “That’s where Holly is, lets try for Golem.” Genki repeated the process with Golem, Hare, Suezo, and Tiger. With all of them it continued pointing the direction that it did with Holly except for Suezo whereas it pointed parallel to the path. “Well guys, I think that we should get Suezo and then go after Holly and the others.” “Good idea.” Said pixie. “Chi!” Moushi chimed in. “Great, the foods ready so lets eat and then get to bed.

They were on the road again, it was noon, and everyone was silent. Genki was thinking about the nightmare he had been having and had had again last night. This time it had changed again. Like usual Holly had been crying, only this time when her father came he had the Pendant sign branded on his arm and the mob of people was following him. Holly had cried out for that her father stop, then he had woken up. They were about to stop for lunch when they ran into Suezo. “Hi Suezo!” “Hiya Genki!” “Where you headed?” “I was going to go get Moushi from Hermburg, but I see that you already got him.” “Yeah, I was going to find you and then go after Holly and the others, since I’ve found you I might as well check on where Holly is.” “How ye gonna do that” “I got the magic stone when I came back to this world.” Genki took out the Magic stone and used it to search for Holly. She was straight to his right. “We have to go East to catch up to them.” “Them?” “Oh, did I forget to tell you, the others are with Holly. Anyway before we set off lets have some lunch.” “Sounds good to me.” Said pixie. They made lunch and ate before setting off and traveling two hours before stopping for the night. Genki had the nightmare again only this time Holly’s father was nice at first and then became bad. The next day was uneventful, and they traveled a large distance. The Direction towards the others did not change, but no one knew how far away from the others they were. That night Genki’s nightmare did not change but stayed the same. The next day they finally found the others. It was early in the morning and they were travelling across a hilly landscape with a light green grass and gently blooming flowers when Moushi spotted some people up ahead. Genki saw that it was Hare, Golem, Tiger, and Holly. Overjoyed he ran ahead shouting, Holly looked up and started running toward them, Holly and Genki met as the others approached them from both sides, Genki swept Holly into his arms and held her close as she put her arms around him. “Genki, I thought you were dead, you fell off of the dragon and disappeared. I thought I would never see you again!” “I was taken back home to my own world. I couldn’t stand it with out you and the rest of my friends so I did everything I could to come back and I made it. As soon as I had everything I needed I started looking for you and the others. I’m so glad that I finally found you!” “Hi Genki!” Hare said as he came up to the hugging couple. “Glad to be back with Holly?” “I am glad to see you back.” Said Golem sitting down and picking up Moushi. Tiger walked up to Holly and Genki and said, “Welcome back Genki, we all have missed you.” Genki released Holly and took her Hand in his. “It’s great to see you guys again, I’ve spent a lot of time searching for you.” He puts one of his hands inside his shirt and pulls out the pendant. He places the pendant around her neck. “Would have been a lot harder if it hadn’t been for Holly’s pendant. I don’t know how I got it but it really helped me find you.” Pixie prepares to fly away. “Hey Pixie wait!” “What Genki?” “I was thinking we should celebrate that we have all found each other, you really helped I think that you should be here.” “I don’t want to intrude, I owed you a favor.” “You wouldn’t be intruding,” Holly said, “we would really like it if you stayed for a bit.” “Yeah!” Everyone agreed. “Ok,” Pixie said, “but I have to leave tomorrow. “No problem.” Said Hare. “Well, lets start getting some food ready!” Suezo exclaimed.

Holly stared at the food that they had spent so much time making. The celebration was almost over and she had hardly eaten anything. She just couldn’t believe that Genki was back. She had missed him so much, when he fell off of the dragon she had been sure he was dead. She had had horrible nightmares whereas he would come to her in his dreams and blame her for his death. They never did find his body though he had just disappeared. She looked into the fire, she was mesmerized by the gently dancing flames, she couldn’t understand why Genki’s death had bothered her so much more than the deaths of her other five friends. It was probably partially that Genki’s death had been sudden and unexpected so there was a bigger shock, however when Moushi, Hare, Suezo, Golem, and Tiger had given up their lives to defeat moo it had made her sad, when Genki had disappeared she had just felt empty and lonely as if life had no meaning. That still didn’t explain why losing Genki had been so different. She felt someone touch her shoulder, she instinctively knew it was Genki. “You seem upset Holly, you’ve hardly eaten at all and you’ve just been sitting here looking at the fire the entire time.” She turned around and looked up at him, he took a seat beside her on the log she had been sitting on. “Could you tell me what’s wrong?” “When I lost the other five I was really sad, and when I lost you to I felt empty and without purpose. When I found out that I could go find Dad, Hare, Suezo, Moushi, Tiger, and Golem, I didn’t feel as sad but I still felt like I had no purpose and was just walking in a horrible dream. The only time that feeling went away was when I first saw you running down that hill to meet me. I feel happy now but I feel really sad to and I have no Idea why. Genki put his arm around Holly’s should, not sure of what else to do, Holly leaned into him and put her arms around him. He started running his fingers through her hair, not sure what to tell her. He remembered what he had gone through in the last couple of months. Then he decided to just talk to her about things that had happened to him after Moo had been defeated. “I know how you feel, when I got back to my world I felt depressed and like life wasn’t really worth living. On the way home I went through a junkyard where I had a vision of you and the others, and you told me to cheer up and not worry about you the others and your world and be happy that I was back to my own world. I was happy for about a three days and then I made a realization. I felt like a sleepwalker, I was completely detached from what was happening. I finally saw that I was nothing without my friends and most importantly, without you. I kept having these dreams about you where you were crying and I really wanted to help you and I just couldn’t move and at the end of one of those dreams I discovered an important fact. I had not tried to come back. I got ready for a long trip, and then I just concentrated and showed up in this world. I started looking for you and found Moushi and Suezo. When I actually found you it was different then when I found the others. I guess it’s just all the emotions catching up with me cause now I feel horrible.” “I guess it is probably the same with me.” “Maybe we just need a good nights sleep, tomorrow we can go look for your father.” “That would be nice.” “In that case good night Holly.” “Night Genki.” Genki went to his sleeping bag, he wasn’t sure why but something felt incomplete like he had forgotten to do something important. “What could I have forgotten?” he thought to himself as he started dozing off. “I guess I’ll just have to find out later, it might be nothing. He fell asleep.

“Genki!” He looked up. “Genki!” There was Holly, she was crying. He tried to go to her but he couldn’t move. “Help!” It was always Holly’s voice calling to him but she never looked up and her lips never moved. Holly’s father came out behind her, he knelt down beside her and tried to comfort her. All of the sudden an identical copy of Holly’s father came out. He and Holly’s father began fighting. Holly’s father lost and the man looked like him came up to Holly and hit her. Pain hit him like a tidal wave, he felt like someone had taken a bulldozer and was driving it around on his insides. He went to help Holly again, this time he could move, he reached her and tried to touch her but she looked up at him in fear and ran away.

He awoke with a jerk. “What’s your problem Genki? For the last eight minuets you have been rolling around muttering stuff!” “Shut up Suezo, I’ve got to do something.” He pushed past the large yellow eyeball and made his way to the other side of the campfire to where Holly was sleeping. He sat down beside her and looked at her. She looked so happy and peaceful when she slept. Suddenly her face contorted into a mask of anger, sorrow, and fear. She stated crying in her sleep and moving restlessly around in her sleeping bag. Then she began muttering, he bent down to hear what she was saying. All he could discern was, “Father no!” and “Genki help me!” He took her shoulder and began lightly shaking it. “Holly wake!” he whispered in her ear. “Wake up!” Her eyes shot open, she franticly looked around. “You were having a nightmare and talking in your in your sleep.” She shivered in the cold. He went over to his backpack and got out a blanket, he returned to her and unzipped the zipper to her sleeping bag. He bent down and helped her up, and then he put the blanket around her shoulders and led her to a place by the fire where they both sat down. The fire was getting low, so he tossed on a couple more logs. “Buzz off Suezo.” He said as the eyeball snuck up behind them to eavesdrop. He began to talk to Holly as he poked the fire. “What was the nightmare about?” “I’m not sure, but I was really scared.” I’ve been having nightmares too. It’s always the same thing but a bit different. It started out with you siting on the ground crying and me not being able to move. Now you’re sitting on the ground crying and I can’t do anything when your father shows up and comforts you, after that a mirror image of your father appears and seems to kill your father and then he hits you. I feel this huge amount of pain and feel like my insides have been put in a blender. Then I can move and I run to help you. That’s always when I wake up.” He shivered despite the warmth of the fire as he remembered the dream. Holly took his arm off her shoulder and then took the blanket and put it around him to. He reached down and put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. “All I can remember from my nightmare is that it is dark and I’m crying, in some of them I might be screaming. In a couple of the later ones someone comes to comfort me but then leaves, today after the person leaves someone hit me.” “That’s really weird, because when I tried to wake you up you kept saying, “Father no!” and “Genki help!” The funny thing is that in my dream I always hear you saying Genki, help, and today father no.” “We’ll have to figure it out later.” “We’d better get some sleep.” “Well good night.” “Sleep well.” As Holly turned around, it dawned on Genki that there was something he was forgetting to say. He turned around and put his hand on her shoulder. He looked at her eyes. “There’s something that I have to say” “Go ahead.” “I have no idea what it is.” He said with a puzzled look on his face. “Maybe you’ll think of it tomorrow.” “You’re right.” He turned around and crawled into his sleeping bag.

Genki felt someone shaking him, he wondered what time it was. He opened his eyes they were met bye Holly’s brown eyes. “Did I oversleep?” “Definitely.” “I’ve really gotta start sleeping trough the entire night without waking up cause of some nightmare.” “That would be nice.” “Oh well, have you had breakfast?” “No Hare is cooking it right now.” “Crap, even Suezo cooks better than him, and Suezo is a big eyeball with a mouth.” “Don’t worry about it.” “I’ll try not to.” “Figure out what you were gonna tell me yesterday yet?” “Still don’t have a idea.” “The food is finished!” Hare screamed. “Well let’s go eat Holly. “Might as well.”

When Holly had asked the pendant where her father was something weird had happened. The pendant had continuously traveled between two points as if her father were in two places at once. They had opted to go to the one on the right and had made good progress in the last couple of hours. “Hey guys, lets stop for lunch!” “Good idea Genki, but I think that we should eat only a little since we are beginning to run low on food.” “I agree Tiger.” Genki stopped and opened his backpack, he rummaged through and took out a bag of apples, a loaf of bread, and some things to put on the bread. Everyone ate a sandwich and then ate an apple while continuing on. After a few more hours they arrived in a small village, they continued until they reached the town-square. People who saw them averted their eyes and got as far away from them as possible. “I wonder what’s wrong with them.” “No idea Golem.” Said Tiger. “Let’s just keep walking guys.” “Why Hare? You scared?” “No Tiger, I just think it would be a good idea to keep moving” “Fine.” As they neared the center of the square they saw a man standing in the center of the square saying something. As they got closer they started to hear what he was saying. “They are evil and need to be destroyed. They caused a lot of trouble and many deaths. All of the monsters must be killed!” Holly stared at the man who was talking, she took Genki’s arm and clutched it as if her life depended on it. “Genki, that man is my father!” “It can’t be. He’s acting nothing like the man you described to me.” “It looks like him.” “Let’s leave and follow the pendant to the other one.” “I hope it’s really my father this time.” Before they could leave the man spotted them. “Hey you!” He said pointing at them. “Come up here!” The people who had been listening to the man talk parted to clear a path for them. As they came up to the man he looked at all of them at turn his eye finally coming to rest on Holly. “Holly, what are you doing with those freaks!?” He asked angrily. “They are not freaks they are my friends.” “Get rid of them!” “No” “Yes, you will do as I say, I am your father!” “That’s funny, because you act nothing like him. Anyway, you haven’t seen me for years, I think you should be acting a bit differently.” She turned around. “Let’s go look for my father guys.” The man that looked like Holly’s father leapt off of the stage and struck her in the back of the head, Genki saw it happen and became enraged. He ran up to the man and focused all his energy into one blow, punching the man in the stomach. The man staggered back as all the air escaped his lungs in a big whoosh and then fell to the ground. He turned around and went to Holly, who was sitting on the ground as if in a trance with tears running down her face. He helped her up and helped support her and they left the town and got as far away as possible and turned toward the other area that the Pendant had directed them to.

*****

Genki looked at Holly who was siting beside him on the boulder. She had not said anything since the incident in the village they had been at two hours ago. “Hey, snap out of it Holly.” She looked back at him blankly. He looked at her pleading. “Come on, we’ve stopped for the night, at least lay out your sleeping bag and eat something.” She got up and prepared a spot to sleep by the campfire and then got some food. Then she just sat staring off into space. “What are we going to do about Holly’s condition?” “I’m not sure Golem.” “Why don’t you try talking to her again Genki?” “I’ll try Moushi.” He went over and sat down beside her. “Your food is getting cold, you might as well eat it.” Silence. “That wasn’t your Father, you know that right?” “I’m not sure, it looked like him.” “Maybe he did, but that doesn’t mean a thing.” “It still hurts though.” “I know.” “Why did he have to be like that, why couldn’t we have found my father on the first try?” “I don’t know, but there was a 50/50 chance of going the wrong way, the next one is definitely going to be your Father.” “I hope so.” “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure it will be.” Holly finished her food and got up, Genki did likewise. “Thanks for talking to me, I needed to have someone tell me things were gonna be alright.” “I couldn’t stand seeing you upset, I had to do something.” “Thank you anyway.” He smiled at her and embraced her, puling her next to him. She returns the hug smiling happily letting all of her fears and anxieties go. “I don’t know what I would do without you.” She said before going to her sleeping bag to rest. Genki smiles and does the same but has a nagging feeling at the back of his mind that he forgot to do something.

*****

That night he didn’t have any nightmares so he was up early. He fixed breakfast and after everyone ate Holly once again consulted the pendant and they set off again in the direction it indicated. They traveled the entire day without incident and the next also on the third day however they finally found Holly’s father. They had been traveling for days over gently rolling plans and were surprised when they came to the edge of a forest. As they came closer they saw that there was a cabin. In front of it was a man who looked exactly like the man from the village, he was chopping wood. “Hello sir.” Genki said as they came up to him. Genki felt Holly take his hand as the man looked up. He squeezed her hand in reassurance. When the man looked up they saw his face light up with joy. “Holly!” He exclaimed. He ran up to them and swept Holly up in his arms. “My daughter where have you been?” “Father, is it really you?” “Of course it is why wouldn’t it be.” Genki walked up to Holly’s father. “Well we ran into a man who looked just like you also claiming to be her Father but he acted nothing like you.” He blanched. “I can explain.” “Really?” Holly said. “Yes, you and your friends come inside, I’ll explain.”

To be continued . . .

*******************

Next chapter: Part 2 Answers and Realizations- Genki finds out why he could use the pendant, why there are two of Holly’s father, and what he has been forgetting to do.

As I said on the top, please write with comments and criticism at hanielg@hotmail.com I need some advice and I haven’t been getting anything except for loan offers, sweepstakes, and porn lately and I would like a change.

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, though I wish that I did. They are property of Tecmo, etc. I’m not making any money off of this so don’t sue me, you wouldn’t make anything anyway. If anyone can tell me the name of Holly’s father? I have no idea what it is.

Telepathic communication- [ ]

`- Look at bottom for definition

Part 2- Answers and Realizations

“Could you start explaining how there are two of you?” Asked Genki.

“Gladly.” Replied Holly’s father. “When the Phoenix and Moo as you probably already know they tried to rectify as much of the damage they had done. The part that most people who where involved don’t know is that the evil that had taken possession of Moo after he began absorbing peoples hatred did one last thing before being destroyed. It used the last bit of its energy to split the body of the person Moo had originally taken control of and manifest itself in one of the halves. That of course was the side that you met earlier, I am the other side. Anyway, it decided to warp the person’s personality and memory to a point whereas it would cause the most damage. It knew that the way it could do the most damage was a full-scale war between humans and monsters. In order to achieve that it had to warp the personality so that he would believe that all monsters where evil and that humans were in all ways superior to them. Once it had that done it just ceased to exist outside the manifestation of itself in the body and mind it had created from my own. When the components of their bodies and souls were spread across the area we where dropped in different locations, if it had not been for that I would have killed him by now. Since I was unable to do that I had to wait for someone with the abilities needed to defeat my twin, now that the all of you are here the people I needed have arrived.”

“How do you know that father?”

“I know that you have the abilities needed, you because I know that you can activate the pendant, Genki I know has the power because the abilities that will be needed for this task are the ones that were needed to fuse your five friends with the Phoenix.”

“Sir, I can also activate the stone, it is what I used to find Holly.” “That is good Genki, it means that you already have a large amount of control over your abilities.”

How did we get these abilities?” “That is an important question and because I was melded with Moo I know the answer. At the time of the great war the Pendant people decided that if they were to survive they would not only have to genetically engineer stronger Monsters but also stronger humans. They choose a genetic strain of humans which is very rare because all the traits which accompany the abilities a recessive. However when a person has at least 54% of the genes where the only the recessive trait shows thereby meaning that only if it is homogeneous does it effect the person. However if it does effect the person it allows the person to use most of the brain. Because of this ability to use parts of the brain that people usually can’t access brain telepathy and telekinesis. If a person is trained to use these abilities he or she can become very powerful. Because the Pendants knew this they tried to isolate those genetic traits so they could become as powerful as the beings that they had created. Before they could finish the experiments though, they were destroyed in the war. Holly has her abilities due to the aforementioned experiments, you however Genki have your abilities because he was one of the rare one in a billion cases whereas there were enough of the genes were isolated to allow you to use your abilities.”

“Could you teach us how to use our abilities?” Asked Genki.

“I am not sure.” Replied Holly’s father. “ The genes skipped my generation except for one person and he did something stupid and was killed, so I have no idea ho to use them or train people to use them. A person who knows a lot about the pendants might be able to help though.”

“There is a Monol that we met.” Said Genki.

“What about Colt.” Asked Holly.

“I don’t know, Monol is much better at telling people about the past.”

“Why don’t we just get both?”

“Good idea.”

“I think Hare is finished with the stew.” Said Holly’s father.

“Then we’d better set the table.” Said Holly.

“I’ll go get bowls.” Genki went and put bowls on the table as Holly put spoons on the table. Hare brought in a kettle of stew. Everyone came to eat except for Golem who only ate rocks. Everyone agreed that the stew tasted good though Hare would not say what was in it. Everyone was soon finished and almost everyone went off to bed, however Holly, Moushi, Genki, and Holly’s father stayed up.

“Why don’t both you tell me how you found each other again.” Said Holly’s father.

“Good idea,” agreed Genki, “I still don’t know what happened to Holly after I returned to my world.”

“I’ll tell you what happened. After Genki was swept off of the dragon and disappeared I went to nearby town where Suezo had appeared a bit before I arrived. The people there had already heard what had happened and we where treated as heroes. After I stayed there a week I went to search for the others. First I found Golem who had been living in a canyon around two days travel from there. I stayed there overnight and then moved on, I found Hare working in a casino. We moved on from there and traveled for three days and then ran into Genki, Suezo, Moushi, and Pixie. Both of you know what happened from there on.”

“Your turn Genki.”

Genki repeated his story starting at the pint where he fell off the dragon and was taken back to his world. When he was finished Holly’s father sat there for a few seconds and then began asking questions.

“When did you start having the dream Holly?” He asked her.

“I started having it one week after Genki left”

“How about you Genki?”

“Same time.”

“What about when they ended.”

“I know when Genki’s ended and I know mine ended at the same time.” “Did you feel in any way different when you found each other than when you found the others?”

“Completely, different.” Said Holly.

“Definitely.” Added Genki.

“How did you feel?”

“I can only speak for myself but I felt a feeling of relief, like a part of me had been missing and I was complete again. Only thing is that I felt tired and a bit sad.” Answered Genki.

“I felt similar only all of the sudden I felt really sad afterwards.” “Anyone notice?”

“Well Genki came and talked to me, when he was finished I felt better and somehow I knew that he for some strange felt better too.”

“I suspected this but I wasn’t sure at first, now I know for sure. The only thing that explains all of the things that you experienced. The two of you probably have a telepathic link, that means that you can sense each others emotions, see each others dreams and if you concentrate you could probably talk to each other telepathically.”

“Are you sure?” Asked Holly.

“Try it some time when there aren’t to many distractions around and you have some time.” Said Holly’s father.

“I wi . . .!

Moushi had fallen asleep and had fallen off of its chair and knocked Genki off of his chair to.

“You’d better get to sleep to guys.” Said Holly’s father.

“Okay, lets get to sleep Holly.” Genki picked up Moushi and put on a bunk, which was in one of the cabins four rooms then he got ready for bed and crawled into his sleeping bag. That night was uneventful and he was up early, he looked around and saw that Holly had just begun to stir, everyone else was still in bed. He got out of his sleeping bag and packed his things and prepared everything to leave. He left the room where they had spent the night and went to sit in front of the fireplace. He heard a noise and looked up, it was Holly, she still looked a bit sleepy she sat on the chair across from him. He thought about what her Father had said about them maybe being able to communicate telepathically. “Maybe I’ll test his theory.” He thought to himself. He concentrated on her and tried to think of something to tell her. He mentally repeated the sentence he had chosen while thinking of Holly. He looked at her and then distinctly heard her say “Good morning to you to” in his mind.

“Holly is it just me or did we just talk to each other mentally?”

“Sure seemed that way.”

“Cool.”

“Guess father was right about the psychic link between us. Maybe he was right about our other abilities to.”

“We’ll have to find out.”

“I’m going to go pack my stuff to so that you will be ready to leave.”

“I’ll help you.”

They left the room and went to the room were they had slept and rolled up Holly’s sleeping bag, then they packed the rest of her stuff and took there backpacks out to the door. After that they fixed themselves breakfast, ate, and then sat down to wait for the others.

[“Hey Holly, lets go outside for a while.”]

[“Sounds good to me.”]

Genki stood up and went to the door, he held it open for Holly to go through. He went through after her and gently closed the door.

“You two are up early.”

“Morning dad.”

“Morning Sir”

“Why are you out here so early?” Asked Holly.

“Like coming out here early to watch the sunrise. Why are you up so soon?”

“We where up early and didn’t want to disturb the others, so we decided to come outside for a while.” Replied Holly.

“We just ate breakfast and got all of our things ready to go.” Added Genki.

“Leaving already?”

“We want to find the answers we need so that we can defeat the evil version of you.”

“That’s a good idea Genki. You should leave a bit later today, there is a man that comes through here once a month that I buy my supplies from, you could get some more supplies from him before you leave.”

“Ok we’ll wait.” Said Genki.

Holly’s father went back inside. Genki and Holly sat down beside each other on a bench beside the woodpile.

[“Do you think that we should tell my father about the fact that we can communicate telepathically now?”[

[“I don’t know, he your father I think you should decide.”]

“I guess so.”

“I guess so to what?!” Did I miss something?!”

Holly and Genki turn around and see Suezo standing in the open door looking at them.

“Were you spying on us?” Asked Holly.

“No I was coming out the door to call you in and I saw you two and I just didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Sure.” Genki replied.

“Just come in guys, we are having breakfast.”

“We already ate breakfast.” Said Holly.

“Shut the door and come inside Suezo!” Screamed Tiger from inside. Suezo turned around, and went in, angrily slamming the door.

[“So Holly, what do you think?”]

[“I think that we should tell him before we leave.”]

[“How about right after they are finished eating breakfast.”]

[“Sounds good.”]

Holly and Genki went and sat back down on the on the bench beside the woodpile. They both sat there in silence both lost in their thoughts. Holly looked at Genki she wondered what he was thinking. “Maybe I can find out,” she thought to herself. She concentrated on his presence and finally broke through. “I wonder why she is looking at me funny like that, though she does look kind of cut when she does that.” Holly blushed a crimson red, she noticed that she had been staring at him for a long time.

“Are you all right?” Asked Genki. “You look kind of flushed.”

“I’m fine!” Holly said hurriedly, but it is kind of windy out here.”

“Yeah, we might as well go back in now.”

Genki held the door open for Holly as they both went back inside where the others where just finishing breakfast.

“Want some breakfast?” Asked Suezo as they walked in.

“We told you before, we’ve already eaten.” Holly said.

“Oh yeah, I forgot that.”

[“Hey Holly, do you think that we should tell him now?”]

[“Might as well.”] “Father.” Holly said, Holly’s father turned around.

“Yes Holly?”

“Remember how you said that Genki and I are probably psychically linked?”

“Sure do.”

“We figured out how to communicate telepathically this morning.” “Wow that was fast.”

Genki grinned and put his hand behind his head. “I’m gonna have to be more careful what I think from now on. We might be reading each others minds by accident without the other person noticing.”

Holly sweatdrops, “or maybe on purpose” she thought to herself.

“Something wrong Holly, you look kind of funny.” Tiger said.

“Nothing is wrong with her,” Hare said, “she always looks funny All of the sudden Hare cowers with fright as everyone turns to him glowering angrily.

“Who asked your opinion!” Tiger shouted.

“You trying to insult me?” Holly screamed.

“Shut up yelled!” Genki yelled

“Chi!” Moushi added as if for emphasis.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to insult your girlfriend Genki.”

“She’s not my girlfriend! Now apologize!”

“Okay, okay Genki, don’t have a cow. Holly I’m sorry I insulted you.”

“Apology accepted.”

“Sheesh, what’s the big deal.” Hare grumbled.

“Anyway, as I was saying,” Genki said, “I have to be more careful, we might end up picking up each others thoughts by accident.”

“Well if you practice you might have very good control of your thoughts, maybe you could even use the telekinesis.”

“I’ll practice every night what about you Holly.”

“We can practice together.”

“Great.”

“All of you should all prepare to leave later today.” Holly’s father said.

Holly and I are ready to go.” Genki said.

Hare walked over with his stuff and said, “You can pack my stuff to.”

“Mine to!” Suezo added.

Soon everyone else had dumped their stuff by Holly and Genki’s feet and had gone outside to hide.

“You might as well get started then.” Holly’s father said as he walked out the door.

Holly and Genki stood there looking at the pile of junk at their feet sighed and then began to pack everyone’s stuff.

*****

“Your guide is coming!” Holly’s father yelled as a vehicle with a man and a young Hare sitting on his shoulder in the front seat. It was being moved by some kind of motor.

“Hey! That looks like Jim!” Genki exclaimed.

“Sure looks like him.” Suezo said.

“You would know.” Hare commented.

“What’s that supposed to mean!” Suezo shouted.

“Nothing.” Said Hare as he turned around folding his arms. It would have probably broken out into a fight if Jim had not reached them at that moment. Holly’s father came out of the house.

“Hello Jim.” Said Holly’s father as he came out the door.

“Hi,” said Jim, “I see that you have some friends with you, in fact ones that I have met.”

“Hi Jim!” Greeted Genki. “Have you gotten a new boat yet?”

“Oh hi Genki long time no see, I have new boat docked at the river.”

“Cool!”

“As long as I don’t have to go on it!” Said Golem.

“So your large friend is still afraid of water.”

“He can’t help that.” Holly said. “He is made of rock, and he sinks like one too.”

“And his head is made of rock too.” Suezo muttered to himself only to be swatted into a tree at full force.

“Oh well, guess some things don’t change.” Jim said.

“Not really.” Said Genki.

Everything reverted to an organized chaos as the plans for the next few weeks’ travel was arranged. Finally everything was planned, and a few thousand gold passed hand as preparations for the journey were made. After lunch was prepared and eaten Holly consulted her pendant and they set out on the direction that it had said would lead them to Colt whom they had decided to search for first early that day by flipping a coin. They said good-bye to Holly’s father and headed toward the river where Jim’s boat was stored which would take them the direction they needed to go faster than going on foot, they had left the car because not everyone would fit in. They made it by that night and set up camp for the night. After everything was set up for the night and they had all eaten Holly and Genki went to practice their telepathic abilities and hopefully telekinesis. They both sat down cross-legged beside each other facing the fire. They both concentrated and opened communication.

[“Hi Holly, can you hear me?”]

[“Loud and clear Genki.”]

[“Great, I wonder if we can hear each others thoughts without broadcasting them to each other?”]

Holly blushed slightly, “Why can’t I get over the incident this morning?” she wondered to herself.

[“What’s wrong Holly?”]

[“Nothing.”]

[“I can sense your emotions Holly, I felt a weird lurch at the pit of my stomach which I have no explanation for, and I felt a strange twist in your emotions at the same time, so I know it was one of your emotions.”]

[“It’s nothing.”]

Holly felt a strange feeling as if someone was prodding a finger right between her waist and her chest, then she heard Genki chortle lightly.

[“That’s all? You accidentally picked up a stray thought this morning and your worried I’ll be mad if I find out, that’s it?”]

[“You aren’t upset at all?”]

[“No, try doing what you did this morning, I want to see what happens, but if you would let me I would do the same thing at the same time.”]

[“No problem.”]

She opened her mind to him and felt him do the same, all of the sudden she felt his very essence flood he mind, he felt strong and protective but with a happy and loving part also, she felt it enveloping her. She felt like she was in a weightless, warm, room and like she was completely safe, she felt warm and relaxed and could feel his every thought like the eddies and currents in a tranquil lake. She was still in contact with her own body but somehow knew that if she tried she could feel his also. She simply let herself be carried along.

It was as interesting feeling, she felt warm and caring but very sad to, it was like swimming in a lake in the moonlight, and the lake was cool with patches of warm and cold every here or there. Her mind felt like was ebbing and flowing back and forth around him. He decided to do what he had come here to do.

[“Holly, can you still hear me!?”] Genki mentally shouted.

[“Even better than before.”] He heard her voice as if she was thinking in his head.

[“Should we do what we where planning to do?”]

[“I don’t know.” ] He felt the doubt in her reply.

[“You don’t have to”]

[“Thanks, maybe some other time, this was kind of overwhelming.”]

[“I understand.”]

[“Okay.”]

He felt her begin to withdraw as he did the same, he felt a great sense of loss as it happened. He wondered if she felt the same feeling as if her insides were being ripped apart.

[“Hey Holly, lets try telekinesis before we stop.”]

[“Good idea Genki.”]

He looked around for a good thing to try to move. He saw some stones lying at the edge of the campsite. He sent her a mental picture of the rocks.

[“Do you think those will work?”]

[“Lets try it Genki, you take the one at the very right and I’ll take the one on the very left.]

He agreed with her and concentrated on lifting the rock, which she had chosen for him, after a few minutes his floated slowly off of the ground, he looked over and saw hers do likewise.

[“Holly, let’s try putting them in the fire with our telekinesis.]

[“No problem.”]

After a short struggle he saw his rock float to the fire followed closely by Holly’s, when they where both above the fire Holly and Genki both dropped them at the same time sending a shower of sparks up into the night-time sky. This probably would have caused some commotion but the only other people up at the time were Hare, Jim, and the small Hare, which accompanied Jim. The `leveret and Hare seemed to be having a discussion and Jim was just gazing absently into the flames. Genki stood up as all the muscles in his body protested and he saw Holly wince also as she stood up and knew that her muscles where doing the same thing.

“I feel like I have been sitting here for hours!” Genki exclaimed.

“Same here!” Holly added.

“I think the reason for that is that you have been sitting there for an hour and a half.” Jim told them both.

“That long!” Holly gasped.

“Yep.” Confirmed Jim.

“In that case I’m going to bed. Good night everyone.” Holly said as she went to her sleeping bag took of her shoes and vest, crawled in, and went to sleep.

“Well that was fast.” Genki commented as he sat down by the fire and looked at Holly’s sleeping form with a strange look in his eyes. “Yes, she seemed exhausted.” Jim said.

“I shouldn’t have gone so fast, if the mind meld didn’t take most of her energy the use of her telekinesis probably did.”

“So that’s how you moved those rocks.” Jim muttered.

“Did we forget to tell you? Holly and I have a psychic link and all these psychic powers we are going to be practicing them a lot while traveling, we may need them.”

“Why, didn’t you already defeat Moo?”

“Well yes we did but her father was the body that he originally took possession of so when he destroyed himself he split his body in two, one was holly’s father and one was the evil destructive force that took control of Moo near the end of the battle. And we are trying to find as much information on the pendants and our powers so that we can stop him.”

“I’m just curious Genki, but could you tell me everything that happened after I saw you the last time?”

Genki agreed to do so and repeated the story to Jim in full detail, with little interruption. When he was finished he found his eyes once again resting on Holly’s sleeping form.

“You like her don’t you?” Jim asked.

“Of course,” Genki replied, “she’s one of my best friends.”

“No, I mean that you love her.”

Genki stared into the fire. “I don’t know.” He replied and then to himself more than anyone else he repeated “I don’t know.”

“Well, if you figure it out, don’t tell me tell her, she should be the first person to know if you do. I’m going to bed now good night.” Jim got up and went to his sleeping bag and went to sleep, Genki stayed up a bit longer staring into the fire lost in thought before he went to bed. When he finally went to bed he just lay there thinking about what Jim had said and searching himself for the answer top the question, he must have dozed off because when he opened his eyes again it was morning.

*****

Holly woke up, she was sore all over, she would never have guessed that someone could feel that sore just from sitting down. She got out of her sleeping bag and saw that only Genki and Golem where still asleep and that breakfast was already being made. She went over and woke Genki for breakfast then she sat down beside him and ate.

“I thought that Hare would be the last one still asleep.” Tiger remarked.

“He was also the last next to last one awake one.” Genki defended Hare.

“How would you know?” Tiger asked.

“I was the last person awake that’s how.” Genki answered.

Holly looked at him curiously and almost by reflex started probing his mind about why he was up so late only to quickly withdraw embarrassed at the fact that she was trying to violate her best friend’s thoughts.

“Why where you awake?” Tiger asked.

“I was thinking and couldn’t get to sleep.” Genki answered.

This time Holly restrained herself before she even started searching his mind. The discussion would have gone on much longer if Hare had not woken up, he joined them to be greeted by Tiger saying something about his laziness. Genki, Golem, and Jim went down to the river and got the boat into the river, Hare and Tiger stopped their constant bickering as they got onto the boat, and then turned on Golem who was sitting in the middle of the raft refusing to move. They traveled uneventfully for days, much of the time was spent fishing and talking, Genki and Holly spent a large amount of time practicing their psychic abilities though they did not try a full mind meld again the entire trip. Despite this they became very good at telekinesis, they could now move large objects using telekinesis and had tried pushing the boat into the river in the morning but failed badly. They had however become quite adept at moving large amounts of water, which made making either of angry pure stupidity since they where constantly near an almost inexhaustible source of water. After a week or so of traveling they finally got to a point whereas they would have to go on land the rest of the way. After a day of travel they stopped for the night.

“I wonder how much longer it will be before we finally find Colt.” Genki wondered as he sat down on a log that they had dragged up by the fire.

“You sure seem eager to find her.” Suezo said.

“He is eager to find her.” Holly thought to herself. She had bad feeling. “Why wouldn’t he be.” She thought to herself. “She pretty, she’s smart, she’s funny, why wouldn’t he be happy to find her.” She felt horrible. “Why is this bothering me?” She wondered. “It’s not like he’s my boyfriend or anything so I shouldn’t be worried about who he likes.” She snapped out of it as Genki replied. “I just can’t wait till I find the info I need so that we can get back to a normal life, whatever that will be.”

“Good point.” Suezo said.

“Holly, we have to practice telekinesis and all the other things.” Genki said getting up. “Would you like to try a mind meld again today?”

Holly felt a nervous lurch in the pit of her stomach. She knew this would come someday. She didn’t want him to know all the things she thought about him, herself, or anyone else, at least until she figured them out for herself. “No, maybe later.” She replied surprised that her voice sounded so calm despite the turmoil she felt inside.

“Okay.” Genki replied.

That was it. She was surprised she expected him to react differently, but then again he probably understood that there was a good reason for her refusal. They went and practiced, then they had dinner. After that everyone went to bed. They next day they finally found who they had been looking for. Around ten o’clock they came to a town where Jim decided that they should stop for supplies. They went into a store where they ran into Colt who was at that time buying a shovel and was at the back of the store. Genki, Jim, and Suezo walked up to her.

“Hi Colt, are you still researching the pendants?” Genki asked.

“Genki! What are you doing here?” Colt exclaimed.

“Looking for some information on the pendants, we hoped that you could give it to us.” Genki replied.

“Why do you need it? Moo has already been defeated.” Colt replied. “I’ll explain later.” Genki replied. “Right now the others are getting supplies and I going to go help.”

“The others?”

“Well that is usually implied by WE”

“No I mean are there others than that man and the Suezo.”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“All the other people that I was with last time plus Jim, which is that man, and a young Hare.”

“So you’re still traveling with that Holly girl?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

“No reason.” Colt went and paid for the shovel, then they went to an outdoor restaurant where Holly and Genki explained what they needed to know and why. Colt leaned back in her chair and put her hands behind her head.

“I’m not sure that I can tell you the information that you need but I can take you where you can find it.”

“Great!” Genki exclaimed. “We’re finally getting somewhere. Could lead us there Colt?”

“Sure. Let’s set out tomorrow.” Colt said.

“Sounds good to me.” Jim said. “I’ll accompany you to where she is taking you and then leave when you get the info.”

They finished their meals and set up camp outside of town. Colt told them to get back to the river so they could take the boat since it would be faster. They got up the next morning and set out making it to the boat the next day. They set off down river the next day and made good progress. After a week of travel they made it to the ruins that Colt said would contain the information they needed. They camped by a partially collapsed ruin and built a fire after dinner Tiger and Hare sat there arguing, the leveret and Suezo sat talking, Colt was writing in her notebook, Mochi and Golem sat talking, and Genki and Holly stared into the fire lost in thought. Holly looked at Genki. “Why am I so upset?” She thought to herself. “Nothing is wrong. I should be happy we are getting closer to achieving our goal.” She looked back at the fire. “It might be Colt. She and Genki are getting along so well.” He looked over at Colt. “Why should that bother me?” She wondered. “Its not like I’m in love with him or anything, is it?” She looked over at him and saw him looking back.

Genki looked down and blushed. “Why do I keep looking at her? Now she’s seen me. This is horrible. She probably hates, unless we’re practicing she puts a wall up, I can’t even sense her emotions anymore.” He looked at her again and then quickly looked away again. “This wasn’t working, these last few days had been hell, I acted like everything was okay but I still feel horrible inside, it’s like Holly is shunning me. Why does her putting up a wall hurt me so much.” He looked at her again. “Jim was right I do love her, I had just never realized it, but how would I tell her? He got up and sat down beside her. “Could you please take down that mental barrier Holly? It really hurts for you to shut me out.”

She looked up at him. “Why?” She said taking away the barrier. He put touched her chin and turned her eyes so that he was looking into them.

[“I love you Holly.”] He told her. She looked back at him as if paralyzed then threw her arms around him all her defenses breaking down, all of her pent up feelings came bursting out at him as she clung to him crying. He ran his fingers through her hair and put his head on her shoulder crying silently.

“I love you too Genki.” Holly said.

He knew that he had missed her even though she had been there all along. He looked her in the eyes and kissed her gently. He closed his eyes and felt her do the same. He broke off the kiss and pulled back.

“She looked down. “I’m sorry Genki. I’ve been stupid I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

It’s okay, I know that I’ve hurt you to and I am sorry to.”

Holly smiled at him. “Apology accepted.”

Genki felt her joy flood him he looked at her smile and knew that she was finally happy again. “Likewise. Come on we’d better get to sleep Holly.”

They both got up and went to their separate sleeping bags. Everyone except Colt claps happily as Holly and Genki. Colt looks down on the ground between her feet.

I was so sure that I would be able to get Genki as my boyfriend.” She sighed. A bit later everyone went off to bed to sleep before the long day that they knew would come the next day.

There it was chapter two, nice wasn’t it. Now it’s time for the preview of the next chapter.

Evil enters: I still haven’t gotten the evil party involved, why not, I had some other stuff to explain so that the plotline would go smoother. Send comments, criticism and flames to hanielg@hotmail.com

Leveret- Baby Hare or Rabbit

Here it is, it’s chapter three of me fic! (People cheer, clapping.) I have made a few changes, but they aren’t big ones. I feel something coming on, Oh no stop, not that!!! Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters though I would like to. No one sue me, I don’t have any money anyway. Also, I found out that Holly’s fathers name was Yosho when I was halfway through this chapter and changed that. And lastly! (Sighs of relief.) Telepathic communication is now underlined with a dotted line. Thanks!

Chapter three: Enter Evil- what is a story without conflict? Gay, so now I’m adding lots of evil people to try to beat up on our heroes.

Genki felt warm, he didn’t want to get up. Someone was shaking him.

“Go away.” Genki said waving his hand in the air. “I want to sleep more.”

“Chi!” Mocchi exclaimed. Mocchi went over to Holly. “Wake up Genki! Please Chi?”

Holly sighed and started to get up, then she decided against it and decided to try something else.

“Genki get up now!!” She shouted at him telepathically.

Genki jumped up and glared at Holly angrily. “Don’t do that Holly! It hurts a lot!”

“Sorry Genki.” Holly said. “But you weren’t getting up.”

All of the sudden Genki ran up to her and tackled her out of the way as the wall she had been standing in front of collapsed. Holly looked over his shoulder to see Hare and tiger lying on top of the rubble out cold.

“Golem thinks they were fighting.” Golem said as he looked down at them.

“Whadaya expect!” Suezo said. “They’re constantly fighting.”

“Chi!” Mocchi exclaimed angrily.

Golem went and dragged Tiger and Hare off of the rubble then Genki hit them both with a pail of water to wake them up.

“What do you think you were doing!?” Genki shouted. “You could have killed someone, you should stop fighting like that.”

“We weren’t fighting.” Hare replied. “Well we where at first but then the we where coming back for some breakfast when the wall blew up.”

“Why would the wall just blow up?” Holly asked incredulously. “There’s no reason for it to do that.”

Just then the young Hare, Jim, and Colt came over the rubble carrying a mangled piece of machinery.

“What’s that?” Genki asked.

“This is the bomb that was planted to blow up the wall to kill the people sitting in front of it, what did you think it was?” Colt replied.

“Not that obviously.” Genki replied. “Who do you think set it?”

“I’m not sure, but if I where you I would get the info and then get out of here as fast as possible.” Colt replied.

“We were planning to do that anyway.” Holly interjected.

Colt turned around and gestured for them to follow her. “Great, I’ll show you where to go.”

Everyone followed her as they came to the remains of a large door that framed a dark hallway.

“Chi, I remember this place.” Mocchi said.

“Golem does too.” Golem said. “I don’t want to go in there.”

“If any of you are easily upset don’t come in here, except for Holly and Genki who would have to go either way.” Colt said.

All the monsters stayed outside though Tiger wasn’t upset but just wanted to “make sure that they weren’t attacked again. In the end Genki, Jim, Holly, and Colt went in and all the monsters stayed behind.

*****

“It’s really dark in here.” Holly said.

“Are you scared?” Colt asked.

“No.” Holly answered. “Though I did want to warn you that there’s rock in front of you.” Holly said, however just before she got it out there was a grunt in the dark. The cave lit up as Jim held up a torch Colt was sitting on her butt in front of a rock with her eyes watering.

“That really hurt.” She gasped as she got up.

“That looks like it would hurt.” Holly said.

“Well at least we have a light now.” Said Genki. They regrouped and started back down the dark corridor, they came into the room that they had been in the last time they had been there. This time they where prepared for when the machinery came to take the pendant and they simply let it take it. Colt went up to a computer monitor set in the wall. She put her hand on the screen and a keyboard popped out of the wall. She typed away for a while and then stepped back.

“Here’s the info you need.” Colt said.

Holly and Genki came up to the monitor and looked at it.

“Well it doesn’t say how to use the abilities but it does list them.” Holly said.

Colt got out her notebook. “Tell me what they are. I’ll write them down so we won’t have to stick around here to long.”

“No problem.” Genki said and started listing them. “Telekinesis, telepathy, accelerated healing/regeneration, and different ways to use the above listed powers such as mental domination, telekinetic blasts, shields, and regeneration of others. You have those Colt?”

Colt pocketed her pen. “Sure do, let’s get out of here.”

Everyone went outside after Holly retrieved her pendant, when they came outside they where blinded by the sunlight. When everyone could see clearly again they went back to the camp. They packed up everything that was not destroyed by the bomb.

“Do you have the information that you need?” Jim asked as they began heading back to the river.

“Pretty much.” Genki replied.

“Great, I’ll take you back to where you started at and then continue my supply route.” Jim said.

“Lets stop at that town for the night and stay in a hotel this time, when we get there please?” Holly asked.

“Everyone will have to pitch in on the room cost.” Jim said as he turned toward the river. “But we should be able to do that.”

“Sounds good to me. I would like to sleep in a bed again.” Genki added.

“I’d love to join you guys back to your fathers but there’s something I have to do.” Colt said. “I’ll back to the river with you and then go on down river, but I think that I could meet you at Yosho’s house if you could show me where it is.”

Holly took out a map and marked a spot on it. “This is where my fathers cabin is,” she said as she gave it to Colt.

“Thanks.” Colt said as she folded the map and put it in her backpack. Let’s get going.

They reached the river later that day, and set up camp, Holly and Genki tried the telekinetic blasts and shields but not the mental dominance or healing the due to the fact that they due to the fact that they had no willing volunteers.

The next day Genki once again attempted to push the boat, this time he succeeded in his endeavor. They said good-bye to Colt and then traveled up river until they reached the spot where they had gotten off to go to the town where they had found colt, they made it there by nightfall.

“We’re finally here!” Holly exclaimed happily, as she looked at the huge hotel they would be staying at.

They went in and got three rooms. In the end Hare, Jim, and the Young Hare got one, Suezo, Golem, and Tiger got another, and the third went to Holly, Genki, and Mocchi. They met downstairs for dinner. After they ate they went upstairs and played poker in the room Hare was staying in. Hare won almost every time but despite Tigers accusations that he was cheating they couldn’t find anything wrong. Around the second game Holly went of to bathe, when she came back Genki went and took one of his own. When Genki came back everybody was finished playing and was going back to their rooms.

“Why did I bother coming back here?” Genki asked exasperated.

“Probably because you were planning to play some more poker.” Holly replied.

“That would probably be it.” Genki opened the door for Holly and Mocchi and then came in after them.

Holly went and happily jumped onto the bed the right. “They’re really soft.” She said as she bounced back and forth between the two beds.

“Chi!” Mocchi exclaimed as it began bouncing between the two beds also.

Genki couldn’t help himself anymore. “Wheee!” He yelled with glee as he joined them.

They heard someone knocking on the wall as Suezo yelled, “Keep it down over there!!”

Genki stopped on the bed to the left while Holly and Mocchi stopped on the one on the right. Genki looked over and saw Holly crawl beneath the sheets while Mocchi lay at the foot of her bed. “That sucks.” He thought to himself sulkily.

“Your jealous of Mocchi arntcha?” Holly asked him telepathically.

“Not really, I mean kind of, umm, hehehe. . . ” Genki stumbled lamely as he blushed furiously.

“That’s okay if you are, fact is I’d rather be sleeping with you.” Holly said.

Genki’s heart leapt strangely.

“But what if the others walk in what do you think they would think?” Holly asked.

“Well if we’re careful and get up early. . .” Genki tried to argue.

“Then what’s the point?” Holly asked. “Anyway, we’ve been up a long time and we haven’t had a good nights sleep for most of the trip so I seriously doubt we would wake up early.

“But.” Genki said almost involuntarily.

“Just get to sleep Genki.” Holly said.

“Fine.” Genki said with a hurt voice even though he knew that she had wanted to sleep together as much as he had. He curled up under the blanket and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Genki was in a dark room, he was so cold, and he was lying on his side. “Screw this.” Someone thought in his head. He got up and bumped his leg into something, there was a crash and an immense pain in his left calf, and he wanted to touch it and look at himself to check if he was himself, but he couldn’t control his own movements.

Genki came to drowsily, he never wanted to get out of bed. He was warm and comfortable. He moved closer to Holly and held her gently . . .

“Holly?! Holly!? Wake up.” He gently shook her shoulder while calling to her telepathically. Finally he received an answer.

“What’s wrong?” She asked groggily.

“When did you sneak over into my bed?” He asked her curiously.

“Oh, I’m in your bed. All I remember is this weird dream where I get up in a cold dark room, bang my knee and move to another bed. She replied.

He reached under the blanket and touched the leg he and bumped in his dream. She winced as he did so.

“Well, maybe it wasn’t a dream after all.” Holly said nervously.

“Especially since you said, “screw it” when you got out of bed and cussed a bunch when you banged you leg.” He said.

“Ok, so I came over here on purpose but I was cold, and lonely, and you where over here.” Holly replied.

Genki pulled her closer and held her next to himself gently. “I was planning to do the same thing.” He smiled “But Mocchi stopped me.” He kissed her on the fore head, then he put his hand behind her head, dug his fingers into her soft hair, pulled her head closer and kissed her on the mouth. When they broke up the kiss he lay there holding her until he drifted off to sleep.

*****

“Morning lovebirds!” Hare said as he sat down on the side of their bed. “Time to get up!”

Genki opened one eye. “Hare, shut up and leave.”

“No” Hare said. “I’m supposed to wake you up at nine, and that’s what I’m gonna do.”

“So it’s nine?” Genki asked. “In the morning?”

“Yep.” Hare replied.

“To early.” Said Genki. He picked Hare up using telekinesis and tossed him out the door and then used telekinesis to close the door.

Hare landed at the feet of five expectant monsters and one human.

“Any luck?” Golem asked.

“Chi?” Mocchi said questionably.

“None.” Hare replied, he just tossed me out.

“It’s what I expected from you anyway.” Tiger said.

“You’d never be able to wake up Holly or anyone else for the matter.” Suezo added.

“Yeah!” Hare shouted angrily. “Well you try.”

“Sorry.” Suezo said. “I have a will to live.”

“Maybe if Jim were to go in, Genki respects Jim.” Tiger suggested.

“No.” Jim refused. “It would be invading their privacy. Let’s go set some breakfast and wait for them downstairs.”

Everyone agreed and followed him down the stairs, they had breakfast and returned just as Holly and Genki came down the stairs to go have their own breakfast.

“Morning guys!” Genki said cheerfully as he walked by. See you in half an hour.”

Everyone went upstairs to pack and then came back down. Genki and Holly where waiting for them ready to go.

“Let’s get back to the boat by noon.” Said Genki as he put on his blades. He came up behind Holly and picked up, then he bladed ahead of them toward the river.

“He’s got a lot of energy.” Said tiger, sweatdropping.

“So they probably slept the whole night, that’s a relief!” Hare exclaimed.

“Good thing they didn’t hear that.” Jim said.

“Why’s that?” Hare asked. All of the sudden he was lifted of his feet and went flying into the wall behind him so fast that it was hard to follow.

“You might have made then angry.” Jim said, ignoring Hare as he walked on.

After that no one tried to make any jokes about Holly and Genki and they made fast progress making it back to the boat by noon.

They were about to push the boat into the water when Holly stopped them. She pointed at the captain’s cabin and saw that there was a box leaning against it.

Jim shook his head. “I didn’t leave it there.”

Holly picked it up using her telekinesis, it reached the water and Genki hit it with a weak telekinetic blast. The bomb blew up with a hug explosion showering everyone in the immediate area with water.

“Touch sensitive bomb, guess they wanted to make sure we where on the boat when it blew up.” Jim said.

“Yeah, but who’s been setting them?” Genki wondered.

“Obviously someone who wants to kill us.” Holly said then she all of the sudden created a shield around herself and Genki, a knife hit it in front of Genki face a fell to the ground. Genki looked up into the trees angrily to see someone jumping away from branch to branch. Genki picked the man up and pulled him back to the clearing, when the man reached the ground, Holly and Genki went up to him and tied him up.

“That would probably be the person who was setting up the bombs.” Genki stated.

“Jim walked over and looked down at the man. “I would think so.” He said.

Holly walked up to Genki, put her arm around his shoulder and leaned against him. “Well Genki,” she said, “at least we can practice mental domination, after all we need top know what his mission was and who sent him.

“We’ll work on him on the boat.” Genki said as he went to help push it in.

After the boat had been put in they got everyone on they started working on the assassin. It turned out that the evil version of Yosho had sent him to kill Genki and bring Holly back to him. When they where finished with the assassin they tied him up and dumped him on the shore and then continued on the way home.

*****

Our assassin “friend” was lying on the shore, night was starting to fall, crickets chirping, frogs croaking, the wind gently blowing through the leaves, as it became darker our “friend,” lets call him Broom Hilda, just because it is the name of my pet Vine. (I have a cactus named Edward to.) Anyway, Broom Hilda was lying on his side on the riverbank getting increasingly more agitated when all of the sudden a man appeared out of nowhere.

“Hold still!” He said in a menacing voice. The man put his hand on Broom Hilda’s forehead and sat there for a while. A few minuets later he spoke darkly.

“You have failed me, both as a spy and as a assassin, you almost killed my daughter twice, and I have none of the information that I needed. You disappoint me.”

Broom Hilda’s screams echoed through the night, then silence ensued.

*****

“I wonder whatever happened to that guy that tried to kill me?” Asked Genki as he leaned back against a tree with his arms behind his head.

“Why would that matter to you?” Asked Jim.

“I have never been responsible for anyone’s death before and I hope not to be, even if he tried to kill me.” Genki replied.

“Well,” Jim said as he pulled a foldable chair up and sat in front of Genki, “I have seen the things that are happening, and if you are to stop the minions of Moo’s evil you will have to fight and probably kill someone.”

“I don’t want to have to.” Genki said.

“It’s war Genki, people die in wars, you’re going to have to face that.” Jim replied.

“I know.” Genki said sadly.

Jim got up out of the chair and went to start a fire and make some food. “Take advantage of the happy days you have Genki, you never know when they will be over.” He called over his shoulder.

“You’re right, but then again it’s not the first thing you’ve been right about.” Genki said. He smiled wistfully looking over at Holly.

“You told her?” Jim asked.

“Yes.” Said Genki.

That’s good, I don’t think that the two of you can afford to hide things from each other.” Jim turned around and got back to work as everyone else continued their routine.

*****

Genki’s eyes shot open, something was wrong. He ran over to Holly’s sleeping bag she was still there, she was sleeping and had an annoyed looking frown on her face, she muttered some thing in her sleep. Genki shook her until she woke up.

“Something is wrong.” He said as she opened her eyes. “Did you feel something?”

“No.” Said Holly groggily as she sat up.

All of the sudden both of them stood up straight as someone tried to get into their minds. Genki threw up a shield around Holly’s mind.

“GET OUT” He screamed telepathically. There was a shout and a crash as someone fell out of a tree. Everyone was up in an instant searching for the origin of the disturbance.

“Look at this!” Hare screamed.

Everyone gathered around, there was a trampled spot on the soil and blood on the ground upon closer inspection. There was no sign of the intruder. After getting volunteers to watch for intruders during the night everyone except for the watch went to sleep.

*****

He touched his ear, there was still blood leaking out of it, he had gotten sloppy. That’s what came from trying something without being well enough informed. He had underestimated their abilities. He crept closer to the camp. There was a Tiger watching carefully so he had to stay farther away then he would have liked. He went into a tree so he could get a good view of the whole camp. He looked down and saw that Genki’s sleeping bag was empty, he started nervously and a twig fell to the ground.

Tiger looked up alertly but saw nothing wrong. He sat down and continued watching.

He sighed with relief he hadn’t been seen. He looked back down he continued scanning the camp. There was Holly, and Genki. He frowned, they were sharing a sleeping bag. He tried to look into Holly’s mind but was immediately blocked by Genki and Holly’s combined defense. He pulled back, they didn’t seem to have really noticed him. He tried again this time more carefully, he could not sense where her mind ended and his began.

“So their minds are fused.” He muttered to himself.

He went back to work. He looked for a weakness in their defense, he found one and tried to break in, he saw Genki move. He looked closer and saw that Genki was frowning in his sleep. Genki pulled Holly closer to himself, Holly readjusted her arms so that her hands where under her head and continued sleeping.

Tiger looked up, he had been hearing a lot of noise, he listened carefully, nothing. He lay down and continued watching carefully.

“You’re getting sloppy.” He thought to himself. “They have progressed farther and faster than I thought, if I can break through their defenses I can see just how far, they have come.” He went to the weak point he had found, he worked at it gently, steadily, slowly. He finally broke through. He gasped, joy flooded his mind, and pure, innocent love. He felt deeper and found a tinge of sadness, he saw himself, only not himself. The person he saw looked like him but had a completely different personality. “This is who she considers her father.” He thought to himself.

Holly stirred uncomfortably below, Genki dug his fingers into her hair and pulled her closer. She smiled and settled down.

He started, he had found their power, it was immense. He had definitely underestimated them. He also knew that he could not get rid of Genki and take Holly back, his death would destroy her completely. He looked down angrily.

“Good-bye daughter.” He said and teleported away.

He was looking out of the window, with a glass of wine in his hand, he stared at the stereotypical moat around his cliched fort. Why was he feeling so strange, he had found memories he didn’t know he had. He crushed the wineglass in his hand, he winced as he felt the broken glass cut into his palm. He looked down at his bleeding hand, the pain reminded of his humanity, then as he watched his hand healed beneath his eyes. He closed his hand, there was no pain anymore. The door opened behind him.

“Excuse me sir. There is a representative of a local city state here to see you.” A servant said as he bowed to him.

“Tell him I will be right down.” He replied. He sighed and turned around. He swept down the stairs, he saw a squat man at the bottom of the stairs.

“Greetings sir.” Said the man. “We would like to offer you our full support in your campaign.”

“Thank you.” He said. “We appreciate your help.”

“Only humans deserve to inhabit this planet. We are superior.” The fat man grinned.

He smiled and went back upstairs, he looked disgustedly down the stairs and then ran and emptied the contents of his stomach into. “How could I do these things, encourage these people like this. I have to stop them before it gets to far.” He heard a sound behind him.

“You are a traitor to our cause, you must die.” Said a voice behind him. He was hit in the back of the head and everything went black.

He felt pain, large amounts of it. He heard shouting and jeering. He heard chants of “Traitor” then he felt a pain in his stomach, over and over until his healing abilities could not keep up, the bonds that held him snapped as a evil escaped him. His blindfold slipped off and he saw the squat man from the fort grinning merrily at him as the power that had left him entered him. He looked down, his insides where escaping through his stomach. He heard a whistling sound, the last thing he saw was the blade that parted his head from his shoulders.

******

Holly stiffened and fainted, Genki saw the vision that she had and barely caught her. A wave of nausea over swept him. He lay Holly down as gently as possible and ran to the side of the boat gagging. He leaned over the edge until the dry heaves subsided. He had seen Yosho disemboweled and decapitated in front of a cheering crowd. He went to Holly’s side and revived her with water from the river. She burst out in tear as he held her. The others came to see what was wrong but neither of them had recovered from the morbid vision they had seen. Genki recovered first, he helped Holly up as he got up himself. She smiled wanly and thanked him. They went and sat down and told the others what they had seen.

“That’s very strange.” Hare said as he paced around. “I think that we should get home as soon as possible.”

Jim nodded in agreement, all of the sudden the baby hare that accompanied Jim everywhere cried out a warning of rocks ahead. Everyone rushed to their stations to defend the boat. After a long battle with the rocks and current they finally made it to deep open water, and continued their Journey.

*****

Yosho looked up in shock. He had seen a vision of his own death or the death of his counterpart. He was working on clearing some land and turning it into a garden he could use next year. He continued his work grimly hoping His daughter and her friends would come back soon.

*****

Jim grinned. After five weeks of travel they were finally back where they had finally done what they needed to do and returned home. He looked ahead, once he dropped them off he would continue his supply route. The others where lagging behind, all of the sudden Holly burst ahead running happily toward the cabin which her father called home. Her father who was working in the back of the cabin on his garden ran to the front when he heard the commotion and embraced his daughter in a bear hug as she finally reached him.

“Your alive.” Holly said happily. She pulled away and stepped back as the others finally made it to the cabin. Genki walked up and looked at Yosho carefully.

“You’re definitely not the man we saw killed in our vision.” Genki said slowly.

“No.” Said Yosho. “It was my counterpart killed. Apparently Moo left too much of his memory complete. He threw off Moo’s control when he saw what he was doing and the power it gave him left him, my counterpart sent me all of the information before he died. You probably saw some of that.”

“I thought that you didn’t have any of the abilities we have. Why were you able to pick up the message and why was he able to send it?” Genki asked.

“I may not be psychic but I am very receptive to telepathy. As for my counterpart, Moo enhanced his mind and body so that he could use the abilities that I can’t.” Yosho replied.

“Oh.” Said Genki. He looked around and saw that he and Yosho where the only people outside. Hare opened the door and looked out.

“Come in guys!” Hare shouted. “We’re making some food.”

Genki went inside followed by Yosho they ate and then discussed the information they had found, and their journey leaving out a few parts. After they were finished with that Jim and the young Hare left and continued their supply route, and the people remaining at the cabin played a few card games while Genki went to help Yosho make a garden. Eventually Golem came and also helped. They finished a large section by dusk and went back inside tired and sore. They ate and then prepared for bed.

Genki crawled into the bottom bunk as Mocchi climbed into the top. He winced as another muscle complained. He stared, not only did his body ache, his mind felt numb. Never before had he used telekinesis that much and that long. He had been ripping large rocks out of the soil and moving them to border the garden all day, he hadn’t known how strenuous shoveling dirt could be either. Someone lifted the blanket, and he felt someone begin to gently massage his back, arms and shoulder.

“Hi Holly.” Genki said as she continued on his left shoulder. “You should get to sleep.”

“I know.” She smiled. “But I don’t feel tired.”

“I feel exhausted.” Genki said as Holly moved on to his lower back, when she was finished with that he slid back against the wall that the bunk was pushed up against. He lifted the blanket and pulled Holly underneath it.

“I love you.” He told her telepathically.

“Love you to.” Holly replied snuggling closer to him.

“I don’t care how often, but it will always make me happy when you say that.” Genki said.

“Same here.” Said Holly.

He held her gently and eventually drifted off to sleep.

*****

Holly felt sunshine on her face. She opened her eyes and saw Genki’s sleeping face in front of hers. She smiled happily and gently touched his cheek, Genki’s mouth twitched and he moved his hand to cover hers. “How long have you been awake?” She whispered to him.

“Around an hour.” He replied quietly. She grinned. “Aren’t you going to get up to help father?” She asked.

“We finished most of it yesterday so I really wouldn’t have to do much of anything.” He smiled jokingly. “But if you insist I leave no problem.” He acted as if he where getting up only to be pulled back down by Holly.

“Don’t leave yet.” She said, mock pleading. “You owe me a good morning kiss.”

Genki smiled and kissed her, they heard someone in the doorway clear his throat. Genki kissed her just a bit longer and then looked up to find Yosho in the doorway.

“Morning lovebirds!” Yosho said cheerfully.

“Good morning father.” Holly replied. Holly and Genki walked band Yosho started to say something.

“We haven’t done anything like that.” Holly said. Her father started saying something else.

“We aren’t going to either.” Genki added. As they continued walking.

“Okay.” Said Yosho surprised at their immediate response.

He followed them to the kitchen where they ate breakfast. After that they went outside to lift the last boulder which was also the largest. Genki and Holly agreed it would be a good time to practice telekinesis, psychic shielding, and telekinetic blast. Genki and Holly both poured power into a shield around them and then concentrated on lifting it.

*****

Kato had been traveling for a year with the tainted cat brothers. He did not know why but he looked up just in time to see a huge boulder fly into the sky and explode, he ran to the place it where floating above followed closely by the tainted cat brothers. He reached a clearing with a cabin and a garden, he saw two people standing in the clearing surrounded by a transparent barrier that was absorbing the impact of the rocks and putting down at the bottom of the shield. He stared closer. He recognized them. It was Holly and Genki! He saw the shield come down and went to greet them. Holly looked up and saw them, she must have said something because Genki turned around.

“Hi Kato, tainted cat brothers.” He said without looking up. “Why are you here?” Genki asked a he bent down to pick up a shard of rock.

“we where escaping a platoon of the cleansing.” Replied Kato.

“Is that the group that is trying to rid the world of monsters?” Asked Holly.

“Yes.” Said one of the tainted cat brothers gravely.

“They have been pursuing us because we pose a threat to them.” The other continued.

Yosho came out of the cabin. “I will shelter you until they pass.” He said while holding the door open for everyone to pass though.

After everyone entered the cabin. They discussed what had happened and they learned that the counterpart of Yosho had been executed as a traitor a few days ago. They also learned that the new leader was named Edward and possessed the same abilities the old leader had. They were going to eat a quick lunch when there was a knock on the door. Genki went and opened it. A young man around his age was standing there with a message.

“I am here as a representative of the cleansing. We who have taken it upon ourselves to clean the earth so that Humans, who are the superior race may live without the monsters which now also inhabit the earth. We will commandeer any equipment, which we find necessary to our venture, I and three other men will come and search your property for vital supplies.” The man turned around and left.

Genki thought about capturing him but was stopped by Kato.

“Wait until he comes back.” Kato said.

Genki nodded and went back inside.

Jim, Genki, and Holly waited by the door while Kato and the tainted cat brothers hid and prepared to ambush the men in case they could not be convinced to leave. After a few minuets of waiting the man returned.

Jim opened the door.

“I am sorry but we cannot give you anything, we have no supplies to spare.” Said Yosho.

“That is fine. The leader of the group said. “Send your son and daughter with us. We need more fighters and we can always use another servant, anyway morale is low so your daughter would be well received.”

Genki looked at the smiling soldier completely, eaten up by a fury, which had started at the pit of his stomach and consumed his whole being. He raised his hand and said menacingly, I would not serve your disgusting army or let you take her from me!” He smiled grimly. “You will die if you and your entire army do not leave.”

“First, I don’t have control over what the army does second, what are you going to do about it.” The cocky soldier smirked. “This!!!” Genki screamed as he released a huge telekinetic blast causing the soldiers in front of him to fly backwards, the trees in front of the cabin became splinters floating in the air as the force swept over them. The hill behind them became level land as the shockwave he had created traveled across the plains and swept through the enemy camp. When it dissipated there were no structures standing for half a mile in front of the cabin, at a width starting at 100 yards but slowly increasing until a quarter of a mile wide. The remaining soldiers that where still alive lay on the ground stunned.

Holly looked at the destruction, she did not want to do things like that she thought looking at Genki who was crying gently, she could feel waves of guilt coming from him. She would not use her abilities for destruction but for defense and for healing.

“You must learn to control your power.” Said Kato as he came up behind them.

“Teach me.” Said Genki as he knelt down on the ground still in shock at the destruction he had caused.

“Me also.” Said Holly. She did not want to destroy. But she knew she would have to be disciplined in her power.

“Very well.” Kato said.

End of chapter.

What do you think? Anyone? Someone? Anyway, if you have some suggestions, flames, or complements e-mail me at hanielg@hotmail.com or gahrn@lelola.com I’d love to hear from you!

Next chapter: Training and Discipline- Genki and Holly train under Kato and the tainted cat brothers in order learn to learn to control their powers.

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters but I’m to unoriginal to think of my own plus I like the story that this is continuing. Anyway, the characters in this story belong to Tecmo and a bunch of other companies, any characters I make up are mine.

Remember, telepathic communication = Dotted line

Part 4

Kato looked at his pupils. Genki and Holly were sitting in front of the tainted cat brothers, it was amazing how fast the two of them where learning. Holly had become good at defensive techniques such as shields, mental domination, and teleporting, she had also learned how to quickly regenerate the wounds of others and her own. Genki on the other hand had quickly learned all of the fighting techniques he had to teach. After he learned the fighting moves he would use his abilities to improve them. There was little he could teach them, they where in control of their powers and constantly learning new ones. He went over two the four.

“That is enough for today.” Kato said.

Everybody stood up, they went and got something to eat. Kato cleared his throat to get the others attention. The others looked up.

“I would like to say that there is not much more that I can teach Genki and Holly. You want to stop the cleansing, bright?”

“Yes.” Holly replied.

“Good, I can take you to a regiment of the resistance, which is an army fighting against the Cleansing. Would you like to get your friends before you leave tomorrow?” Asked Kato.

“Yes.” Said Genki.

“Good.” Said Kato. We will sleep here tonight and return to Yosho’s cabin to get the others.”

Everyone crept off to bed to get to sleep in order to prepare for the long day ahead. Genki smiled happily as he went to sleep. They had been out here for three months now. He couldn’t wait to see the others again. He couldn’t wait to see Mocchi again. He turned around the sleep that would come and the dreams he and Holly shared every night.

“Good night Holly.” Genki said.

“Good night Genki, I love you.” Replied Holly.

“Love you to.” Genki said smiling. He heard her settle down and did likewise as he went to sleep. He woke up gradually, right at sunrise, as he had trained himself to do. With out looking he knew that the others where starting to stir also. He got up and started a fire, it was his shift to take care of breakfast. He was a good cook and so was Holly, though he had to admit that Holly was better than he was. They had been thought how to identify edible plants, and how to hunt and clean animals, though Holly disliked killing anything. She was a healer but she would fight if necessary.

“Good morning Genki.” Said Kato as he came up to the fire. “Are you ready to leave?”

“Yes I am completely ready to go.” Replied Genki.

“Very good.” Said Kato as the others joined them.

They ate breakfast in silence and then set out to the cabin of Yosho likewise. After a few hours of travel they finally arrived. Genki reached the door and knocked, a few moments later the door was opened by Hare.

“Hiya Genki!” He said. He turned around and screamed into the cabin. “Hey everyone, They’re back!”

There was a rush as a crowd of people came to the door.

“Welcome back everyone!” Yosho said, “how did the training go?”

“I would like to know that.” Said Tiger.

“Great to see you again Holly!” Yelled Suezo as he rushed out of the door.

“Chi!” Screamed Mocchi as it rushed out the door, Genki picked the small penguin-like monster up and hugged it.

Golem came lumbering around from the back. “Hello everyone.” He said as he dropped a pile of wood beside the door.

“We have a lot to catch up on.” Said Yosho. “Come inside. We’ve added three more rooms since you left so it should be more comfortable staying here.”

Everyone went in, Golem carried in some wood.

“We also added a second fireplace in the center of the house using all the stones that you removed from the garden. So all of the rooms are heated directly by one or two of the fireplaces, I drew up all of the plans, I am thinking of drawing up plans for a second story, and better plumbing.” Hare said with pride in his voice.

“Sounds Great!” Said Holly as they entered the main room, which contained the original fireplace.

They sat down by a large maple table with sturdy oak benches.

Tiger grinned. “Thanks to Genki losing his temper we didn’t have to cut a single tree, we simply cut up the ones at the edge of the zone that was hit by his blast near the cabin.”

“At least something good came out of it. Anyway, I’ve learned how to control most of my abilities my abilities, and I’ve learned a bunch of new ones, so has Holly.” Said Genki.

“Yeah,” said Holly, “I learned how to heal, regenerate, teleport, and improved on my old stuff.”

“I really can’t heal.” Said Genki. “But along with all the other stuff she said, I learned how to integrate all my abilities with physical attacks.”

“Cool! Said Suezo. “Could you help me with my teleport?”

“I’ll try” Said Holly.

“We found out a bunch of weird stuff to, for example, we actually share dreams.” Chuckled Genki.

“Uhm. . . “ Said Hare.

“We can control all of our brain, though that is really the only messing with the basic functions we do.” Said Holly quickly.

“Sheesh!” Said Suezo. “That had me worried.”

“What do you mean? Chi?” Mocchi asked innocently.

“I don’t understand either.” Added Golem.

“I’m sure someone will tell you when you’re older.” Chortled Tiger.

This caused wide spread laughter around the table, except for Mocchi and Golem who sat there looking puzzled.

Yosho arrived with bowls and a kettle of stew. “I wasn’t prepared for your arrival, but Suezo saw you coming when he made Golem angry. So I made a bit extra.” He said chuckling.

They ate and then talked about the things that had happened in the last three months. There had been people looking for the platoon form the army of the cleansing that had disappeared but all they ever found was the completely flat area in front of the cabin which was hidden under a camouflage net made by tiger and Mocchi, using plans Hare had made.

“How did you know how to train Holly and Genki?” Yosho asked.

“I have spent most of my life training others and to control their abilities. After a while, I learned to recognize other people abilities and teach them how to use and control them.” Replied Kato.

“Makes sense.” Holly father said.

Not much else could be said about the training. Kato finished and put down his spoon.

“I would like to ask you if you would like to come with me to join an opposition against the cleansing.” Asked Kato. “Holly and Genki will be going with me to meet up with them in around a month, we would like to know if you want to join us.”

There was a hushed discussion between the others, and there was an anonymous decision to join them. They would help add to the cabin before leaving though and Yosho would stay behind, so they would have a place to return to when it was over. They finished and went off to continue preparing for winter.

Holly went to a nearby village with Genki through the woods. They both went and got jobs to earn money in order to pay for winter clothes and seeds to plant in the Garden the next year. They both found jobs in a store, helping stock the shelves and various other small things. After a while they all worked themselves into a daily routine.

The month was over in very little time, and they went to meet the army. They traveled for a week when they finally met up with them. Half of the army consisted of monsters and they saw many old friends there. Kato lead them to the center where they met up with a tall man whom bowed to Kato.

“Greeting commander.” Said the man gravely. “We were beginning to wonder if you would even return.”

“I can see why colonel. However I have found two people who would be a great help to our cause. Did you hear about the platoon of the cleansing that disappeared?” Kato asked.

“Yes.” Said the colonel.

“Allow me to demonstrate what happened.” Come everyone.

He led the colonel and many other officers, including pixie and some others they had met on their Journey. They went to boulder around the size of a two-story building a bit away from the army.

“Holly, Genki, shield us and pick up that boulder, Genki I want you to blast it once it is in the air.” Kato commanded.

Holly and Genki complied, the boulder was obliterated as Genki telekinetic blast rammed into it, the shield the two had created rippled as it repelled shards of stone that hit it.

“That is where it went.” Kato said calmly as the last bits of rock settled around the shield.

Genki and Holly dropped the shield and stood still.

“Impressive,” Pixie said, “why did you destroy them?”

Genki blushed as he looked down embarrassed. “They tried to force me to join and they made a comment about Holly coming in handy along with other girls to help low morale, I thought about it a second and then I lost it. I let my rage fly at them and kind of wasted everything for around half a mile in front of me. They where in the way.”

Kato chuckled. “He luckily realized he had to learn to control hi abilities and so did Holly. He is very good at fighting, and she has strong defensive and healing abilities. Not only that, they are psychically linked and therefore work very well as a team.” Kato said.

The colonel smiled and put out his hand. “I for one would like to be the first one to welcome you."” He said.

*****

Holly, Genki, Mocchi, Suezo, Golem, Tiger, and Hare marched together. Every now and then others would join them for a while but left again. Every night Genki and Holly would go to Kato to train with weaponry. Holly turned out very good with throwing knives and Genki average at everything that was being taught. Everyone had been issued a small tent but when they went through a Genki and Holly sold both of theirs to get one big one. There was a meeting among the officers and they decided to stay near the city. That night they where allowed to go onto town.

“Genki! You coming?” Yelled Hare as the others headed to the city.

“Yeah, I’ll catch up.” Genki went into the tent to get his money, Holly was already in there, she was putting two more sheaths on the belt that held her dagger and put two throwing knives on it. She let Genki pass and he got everything he needed. They got out of the tent.

“Let’s try teleporting.” Holly suggested.

“Sounds good.” Genki agreed.

Holly concentrated until she saw where the others where by reading Suezo’s mind. She sent the image to Genki and they teleported there.

“Don’t do that!” Tiger yelled angrily as the two appeared right beside him.

“Sorry.” Said Holly.

“You have to admit though it is more efficient.” Genki added.

“You’re starting to sound like Hare.” Growled Tiger angrily.

“At least I’m not starting to look like him.” Chuckled Genki.

“Shut up!” shouted Hare having overheard much of the conversation.

“I have to agree with Hare on this one.” Said Suezo. “All we need is two of him, and we’re doomed.”

Hare turned around. “You too!” He screamed.

“You want to make something of it?” Suezo screamed.

Just as the two where about to tear each other to shreds Holly lifted them both up using telekinesis and spun them around until they where to dizzy to walk, let alone fight. They reached the town, and everyone scattered. Holly and Genki where left to wander around.

“What do you think we should do now?” Holly asked Genki.

“Let’s go to that outdoor Café we saw in the middle of the square when we came for the tent.” Replied Genki.

They went across the square and sat down outside the Café, they faced the square and waited for someone to appear to take their order.

“You know what’s funny Genki?” Asked Holly before answering immediately. “We’re at a café and I hate coffee.”

“So order something that doesn’t have coffee in it.” Genki replied.

A waiter came outside. “What would you like?” He asked

“I would like A cappacino and a piece of spice cake.” Said Genki.

“And I’ll have a cup of apple cider and a piece of coffee cake.” Added Holly.

The waiter repeated their order and left to get it.

“I thought you didn’t like coffee.” Genki said.

“I don’t.” Holly retorted. “But I do like coffee cake.”

“Whatever.” Genki muttered.

Their orders arrived and they sat talking while eating and drinking, when they finished they paid and walked off.

“What now?” Asked Genki.

“I’m not sure.” Holly replied. “There’s a lot more to do in places like this in summer and winter, but really nothing in fall.”

“If there isn’t much of anything else to do we might as well head back.” Said Genki.

They went across the square again, when they came across a group of people blocking their way.

“Hey you! Are you part of the army camped outside of town?” Asked their leader.

“Yes.” Holly replied.

“Well, you aren’t welcome here, armies like yours cause to much trouble.” Said the man.

“We were leaving.” Genki replied. “So get out of our way.”

All of the sudden there was a bang and the air in front of them rippled signaling the presence of a shield. Genki looked over at Holly who was looking into a dark alley near the edge of town. “Assassin.” Genki calmly stated.

“From the Cleansing.” Asked Holly.

Yes.

“Incase him in a shield so he can’t use any weapons.” Genki said to Holly telepathically.

“Righto.” Replied Holly.

A man came floating out of the alley, unfortunately for Holly and Genki He was resourceful and pressed a gun he was holding into the shield until he had forced the tip through and pulled the trigger.

There was a grunt behind them as someone crumpled shoulder bleeding profusidly. Holly went and began treating the wound, dropping the shield. Genki reacted instantly and fired an extremely focused telekinetic blast at the man. The man lurched in a strange manner and looked at his chest, he opened his mouth and a trickle of blood out, he fell over on his face, dead.

Genki grimly walked up to the corpse. Genki turned him over and searched the body for identification. All he found was a strange tattoo of 8 overlapping triangles with a circle in the center.

He got up as Holly finished treating the person who was hit and they walked out of town and headed back to the camp.

“I wonder where he got that gun. Do they make them here?” Asked Genki.

“Not that I know of, we’ll have to find out later.”

They came back to camp and reported what had happened. Kato said they should be more careful because the cleansing probably knew more about them then suspected. Then they trained for half n hour and returned to their campsites to go to bed.

*****

The next day they made good progress and started finding signs of the cleansing, when they stopped for noon, a dragon landed and told them a large section of the cleansing was resting half a mile ahead. Genki and Holly decided to go check it out, they both teleported a bit in front of the army and scanned it to see how many there where.

“Do you feel that?” Holly asked Genki.

“Do you mean those minor powers in the ranks?”

“Yes.”

“We should be able to deal with them, let’s return tonight and take out the minor psychics before we attack the army.”

“Good idea Genki, we should report this find to the officers though.”

They teleported back to the camp and went to the general and told him the news. A meeting was called and it was decided to gage their strength by sending out a small force to ambush the army. Tiger and Hare much to their dismay were sent out with a squad consisting mostly of Hare Hounds, and Genki and Holly were sent with their troops to gage the power of the power of the psychics. They left shortly after noon and hid behind a hill. When the army marched by they sent down a hail of arrows. They then rushed down the hill and attacked the left flank. Genki sensed some of the psychics aiming weak blasts at them, he replied with a huge shockwave then they retreated having suffered only minor losses, then, Holly and Genki teleported in and out taking the wounded and dead back to camp.

“How did the mission go?” Asked Kato as Holly, Genki, Hare, and tiger came into the general’s tent.

“We suffered thirty casualties but only ten of them are deaths, the rest are minor wounds. The cleansing is ill prepared for attacks and would probably be defeated easily.” Tiger reported.

“What about the psychics?” Kato asked.

“They do not have very good control over their abilities and should not present to much of a threat to us.” Replied Genki.

“Very good, in that case it will be unnecessary for you to go eliminate them before tomorrow attack. I want you to go rest so that you will be well rested for tomorrow’s attack. There will be no training tonight.” Kato said. “You are dismissed.”

All four of them filed out.

“What do we do now?” Asked Genki.

“Not sure.” Replied Holly, why don’t we go do something fun.

“Like what, there really isn’t that much to do in fall.” Genki replied.

“Well, there are those mountains in the west. Why don’t we teleport to the foot of them, hike to the top, and have a picnic.” Suggested Holly.

“Sure but what about the others.” Genki pointed out.

“We have things to do, right?” Said tiger stepping on one of Hare’s feet.

“Sure do!” Hare hurriedly agreed.

“Great!” Said Genki cheerily, he turned around and went to get some food to take along. “What was that all about?” He muttered to Holly as they walked off.

Hare watched then walk off. He turned angrily to Tiger. “I wanted to go with them!” He yelled at him.

“To bad, you would have just ruined it, they need relaxation, not constant bickering.” Replied Tiger.

“What makes you say I would bicker?” Hare yelled back.

“What do you think you’re doing right now?” Tiger replied.

Hare stalked off seething, angry at loosing the argument.

***** A man walked into a well-lit room and came up to a desk with a squat man sitting behind it.

“Sir, I have come here to report the outcome on my mission.”

“Very good, how did the mission work out?”

“The decoys worked perfectly, are you ready to release the genetically engineered fighters?”

“Yes.” Said the man smiling. “The will teleport out tonight.”

“Thank you sir.”

*****

Genki smiled to himself as he looked down the mountain. He looked at Holly who was standing ahead of him on a trail they had found leading up the mountain.

“Race you to the top!” Holly shouted down to him.

He smiled to himself, it was nice to spend time alone with her. He began running up the slope, she was still far ahead of him so he used his abilities to make himself seem lighter and jumped up the mountain toward her, he closed the distance quickly and finally caught up, he ran in front of her and grabbed her arm.

“Gotcha!” He said.

“No fair!” She said mock indignantly.

“Relax.” He grinned. “Anyway, I was carrying the food.”

“Okay, we’re almost at a good spot.” Said Holly.

Genki looked up. There was a meadow full of late blooming flowers on the side of the mountain facing the valley, it was surrounded by conifer trees and had a small stream flowing down at the edge of the meadow. They broke out of the forest and into the meadow. Genki smiled.

“Wow, this is a really nice spot!” Said Holly as they came near the center.

“Sure is.” Said Genki as he lay out a blanket and started getting some of the food they had packed out. He sat down and was soon joined by Holly. They ate and then sat looking at the beautiful view. Genki put an arm around Holly. She moved closer to him and fell asleep. He lay back on the blanket and also dozed off.

Holly shivered in her sleep and woke up, she looked around and saw that they where sleeping outside on a mountain. She woke up Genki he looked up at her sleepily.

“What is it?” He asked.

“We’re still on the mountain.” Holly replied.

“Oh.” Said Genki. He helped her pack everything up and they teleported back to camp. They went into their tent and crept into their sleeping bags and fell asleep.

*****

Two men disappeared and then reappeared with eight soldiers. The commander smiled, the plan was working perfectly.

*****

Genki woke up with a start, he looked over at Holly and saw that she had just woken up to.

“What do you think is wrong?” Genki inquired.

“I’m not sure.” She replied. “But I think that we should check the enemy camp.”

“Good idea.” Said Genki.

They both disappeared and reappeared at the edge of the enemy camp, just in time to see ten men appear out of thin air.

“We’d better report this.” Holly whispered.

They both teleported to Kato’s tent to tell him, only to find a throng of people already there.

“So I take it you’ve also figured out that the troops we saw where decoys?” Genki asked.

“Yes we have, we are going to retreat before we are attacked by the gathering troops.” Pixie informed them gravely.

“Let Holly and I do something to slow them down.” Genki said turning to Kato.

“What are you planning to do?” Kato asked.

“We could take out a huge chunk of their troops to make them have to regroup and then teleport to join you.” Holly said.

“Very well, but Tiger of the Winds and Pixie will stay to gourd you until you are finished.” Kato beckoned for them to leave the tent.

Genki and Holly packed their thing and went to a hill overlooking the valley where the cleansing had camped, they both sat down beside each other and began accessing as much of their power as possible.

“Genki, you hit them with the strongest blast you can make and I will make a shield around them to contain it.” Suggested Holly.

“That sounds like a good plan.” Genki agreed. “Let’s prepare both the blast and the shield.

They both sat there for hours just when the sun began to rise, Genki gave the signal he was ready, there was a whoosh as the shockwave pushed all the air in front of it along with it, the force hit the enemy camp. A clap of thunder sounded as air rushed into the resulting vacuum, Holly formed a shield she had been preparing for hours around it, they formed a brightly glowing dome, as the shield gave way, Genki put his hand on Tiger and Holly held Pixies hand and they teleported away.

They both landed in front of Golem, Suezo, Mocchi, and Hare. Genki and Holly smiled wanly and then both passed out.

*****

A man surveyed they crater around him that was once a quarter of his army. How could two children have done this? He had sent his two most elite, best-trained soldiers with psychic abilities. He cursed and disappeared.

*****

Holly woke up, to be hit with a wave of pain, she sat up, moaning. She surveyed herself, she was wearing some kind of robe, and she could feel that she was wearing underclothes underneath, but nothing else, she found nothing wrong. She looked around and saw that she was in the tent where the wounded and sick where treated. She was on a bed that was around waist high, and narrow. She saw that it was pretty much empty except for herself, Genki and five soldiers who had not recovered from the wounds that they had gotten in the raid she and Genki had been part of earlier. She saw that the flap covering the entrance was moving. Kato, Suezo, and Mocchi came in.

“You’re finally up!” Suezo exclaimed.

“Keep it down, we don’t want to disturb anyone.” Kato said.

“Sorry.” Suezo said, a bit put aback.

Holly looked at them tiredly as they walked up to her.

“How do you feel?” Kato asked gently.

“I can’t find anything wrong, but I’m hurting like crazy anyway, and I’m exhausted.” Replied Holly as she slid off of the bed, the sterile white sheet that had covered her slid to the floor with a soft whoosh.

“That’s understandable, both of you used up almost all of your energy one week ago when you took out a quarter of the cleansing’s army out. You recovered faster because you focus more on the part of the brain that deals with repairing damage to the body, also you used less energy.” Kato said.

Holly cringed as her bare feet touched the floor. She began walking toward Genki’s bed where Mocchi already was, when she heard Genki whimper. A wave of pain hit her and she was brought to her knees by it. Suezo was at her side in an instant as she got down on her hands and knees and hung her head in pain.

“What’s wrong?” Suezo asked.

“I’m not sure.” Said Holly, the pain faded and she got back up.

“You should get back to bed. You are still weak.” Kato said as he helped her up and escorted her to bed. He helped her into her bed and she lay down. She listened as they all said good-bye and returned them, and then lay back down. She turned her head, and looked over at Genki, she wanted to go to him. She got out of bed after she was sure that everyone had left and went over to Genki’s bed. A man came in and saw her.

“What are you doing up?” The man asked.

“What do you think? Why don’t you just get me a chair, that would be a lot more helpful.” Holly retorted.

“No you should be in bed.” The attendant said.

“What are you going to do? Tie me up? Just get a chair. It’s not like you’re going to stop me anyway.” Holly said firmly.

The attendant shrugged in resignation and went to carry out her orders. He came back to see her leaning on Genki’s bed wincing as if in pain, though nothing was visibly wrong with her. He put the chair down behind her, she looked up at him and smiled.

“Thanks.” She said as he went to check on the other people.

Holly sat down on the chair, got back up, moved the chair closer, and sat back down. She looked at him, he was lying on the bed, a small frown permanently on his face. A white sheet was tucked up to the middle of his chest. His arms where lying limply at his sides, his fists where clenched at his sides. Holly reached down and took one of his hands. She gently started to uncurl his tightly clenched fist and put her hand in his. She felt a pain in her hand and she felt Genki’s hand begin to cramp. She looked at him with concern. She felt his hand clench hers tightly but then relax again. It was hard to believe that it had taken so big of a toll on him. She hated to see him hurt like that, she was too tired and weak to do anything to help yet, she knew she would have to recover more. She felt very tired. She put her head on Genki’s chest and closed her eyes. She listened to the quiet beating of his heart and then almost without knowing drifted of to sleep.

*****

Pixie walked toward the tent where Genki and Holly where. She had been surprised when she had learned that they had elected to stay behind and try to stop the enemy army. It was also hard to believe that nor the two had so much power and how much of it they had used despite the consequences. She walked in to check on them. She saw that it was pretty much empty except for Genki, Holly, five wounded soldiers, and a man making rounds ensuring that everything stayed clean. Pixie looked over where Holly was supposed to be, she started. Holly was somehow gone. She searched the room for Genki and found Holly sitting at his bedside sleeping, with her head on his chest. Pixie shook her head in amazement. She was surprised that Holly had been able to make it in her condition.

“Excuse me, is there something you need?” Asked the man who had been checking on the patients.

“Yes, could you help me move the empty bed over there?” She asked.

“You’re the second person asking me to move furniture today, why do you need it done?” Replied the man.

“Well, Holly is about to fall off of the chair, so we might as well put her on something else.” Pixie said.

“You mean the girl over there?” The man inquired, pointing at Holly.

“Yes.” Pixie answered.

“Okay.” The man said once again knowing that if he didn’t help the person would do what they where asking him to help him do anyway. They slid the bed over just behind Holly and Pixie lifted her off the chair. The attendant moved the chair and then pushed the bed underneath Holly, and against Genki’s. Amazingly, Holly had kept a tight grip on Genki’s hand throughout the process. Pixie left the two and the attendant left also after making one more round.

*****

Genki tried to move, but nothing would respond. He was cold. He could feel a source of heat right next to him, but he couldn’t get close to it. He couldn’t feel his body, he struggled to try to cut through the smothering fog that seemed to cover his mind. All of the sudden he could feel his body. He tried to open his eyes, but just the movement of those small muscles brought a wave of pain washing over him as every muscle that would have been used protested the movement. He stopped moving for a short time and then tried moving his limbs. The pain was immense, he felt terrified at his inability, to do anything. He resigned to lying there cold, trying to draw comfort from the presence he felt close to him.

*****

Genki woke again. He was not sure how much time had passed since he had last been awake. He debated whether or not to attempt to move again, but the question was answered as he shivered with cold, the shiver accompanied by a wave of pain. He concentrated and was finally able to open his eyes, he blinked and felt the muscles that he had used begin to loosen. He began moving his arms and legs. He moved his protesting neck to look down at himself. He was wearing a pair of boxers, and a loose T-shirt. Outside of the muscle pain nothing else was wrong. He saw that his left hand was clutching tightly on to one of Holly’s hands. He looked at Holly’s face and saw a pained expression on it, he saw her lower lip shake, as if she where cold. He moved closer to her and put an arm around her while clutching the hand he was holding on to close to his chest. He slipped his blanket on top of hers and then pulled her close. He wriggled underneath both blankets and next to her warmth. He released her hand, which she put, against his chest. He held her lightly shivering body close to his own and felt her shaking stop. A wave of exhaustion swept over him and he fell asleep.

*****

Holly opened her eyes and for the first time in over a week saw Genki looking back into hers. She took her hand off of his chest and touched his cheek. He smiled back at her.

“Good morning, or whatever it is right now.” Said Genki.

“Same to you.” Holly replied smiling.

“How long have I been here?” Genki asked.

“Not sure.” Holly replied. “At least a week is all I know.”

“Why don’t you know?” Genki asked.

“I just woke up a while ago, after I woke up I came to see you and I must have fallen asleep. When I woke up, here I was.” Holly asked.

“Oh, how are you feeling?” Genki asked.

“I’m feeling fine, are you feeling better?” Inquired Holly.

“I felt pretty crappy for a while but I feel great now.” Answered Genki.

“You used to much energy, and that’s why you felt so bad, but the good news is that you wiped out a quarter of the cleansing’s army.” Holly said.

“That would take a lot of energy. Why didn’t it effect you as much, you made that shield.”

“I didn’t put as much energy into the shield, though it did contain most of the blast it shattered near the end. Said Holly. Plus, I spend more time using the part of the brain that does healing and things like that so I healed faster. At least that’s what Kato told me. She added.

“That would make sense.”

They where silent for a while, simply drawing energy from each other’s presence, after a while Genki’s stomach began audibly growling.

“Let’s get something to eat, I’m hungry.” Genki suggested.

“Sounds good to me.” Said Holly.

Genki pushed off the blankets and got up, he helped Holly down and they walked out of the tent they had been in.

“We’ve got to find our backpacks, I would like to wear actual clothes.” Genki said. Holly agreed and they mentally searched the camp until they found Suezo, they teleported there and found him with the others.

“You wouldn’t happen to be able to show us where are backpacks are?” Inquired Genki.

Everyone stared at them in silence. Then a cheer broke out and everyone rushed to meet them.

*****

Holly and Genki sat on a bench in front of a huge blaze as they packed away plate after plate of food. Everyone looked at them trying not to laugh.

“Man I feel like I haven’t eaten in a week!” Genki explained as he shoveled down a bowl of rice.

“Same here!” Added Holly, who was matching his speed despite the fact that she was usually a slow eater.

“Funny that you would say that.” Hare said.

“Why is that?” Asked Genki between mouthfuls.

“Well. . .” Hare trailed off.

“Why are you guys looking at us so funny?” Asked Holly as she finished off some cake and sat back contented.

“The truth is you haven’t eaten for a week. But I’m still surprised that you could pack away that much food in such a short time.” Tiger said.

“What!? We didn’t eat that whole time?!” Exclaimed Holly.

“When you came back you both went into a coma-like state and all we really could do was give you a place to lie down.” Said Hare.

“Oh” Holly said.

All of the sudden someone came rushing into the campsite.

“Have you seen Genki or Holly?” Asked a nervous Centaur. “They just disappeared, Kato sent a few other people and I out to find them.”

“We’re right here, what’s wrong?” Asked Genki looking up from huge sub sandwich he had made and had half eaten.

“Oh, there you are. Why didn’t you tell us you where well again?” The Centaur asked.

“We wanted to get some real clothes on and something to eat, so this is where we came first.” Holly said.

Genki finished the sandwich and grinned. “That’s much better.” He looked at the Centaur. “We’ll go to Kato now.”

They got up and walked to the commander’s tent. After Holly and Genki had walked in the Centaur left.

Kato looked up from the table that was set up in front of him. He saw Genki and Holly well and smiled.

“Hello it is good to see both of you up again.” He exclaimed.

“Hello.” Holly and Genki replied.

You did a great job when you went to stop that portion of the cleansing’s army. Not only has the cleansing lost a quarter of its forces, it has been forced to pull back and regroup. You will still be weak for a while and I think that you and your friends should go and get some rest while you have the chance. Go somewhere that you know you will be safe at because likelihood is that the cleansing will increase its efforts to get rid of you. I will call you with special mission for you and your friends when I need you.” Kato said.

“Thank you sir.” Replied Holly happily.

“Yes, thank you.” Genki Added.

“You are welcome. When I need you to do something, I will send Pixie as a messenger. She will deliver the message and then return here. You are dismissed.”

Holly and Genki went and told Mocchi, Suezo, Hare, Tiger, and Golem the news. They packed, said their good byes and left for home.

*****

The evil, which had taken control of Moo, walked out of the planning room in Edwards’s body. Edward had been a weakling but his body served its purpose. It grinned. Holly and Genki where weak now, he would have to redouble his efforts to swat the pests while he could. He smiled as he thought to himself. The underground lab under the pendant city they had found was the perfect center of operation. He could create a powerful weapon that looked like a human but had the strength of an entire army within the course of three months using just one of the many specialized machines down here. He looked at the glass tube that contained the tiny blob of tissue, which was integrating itself into a framework of cybernetic modifications as it grew. In three months his ultimate weapon would be ready, and then he would make more, and more. If those idiots at the resistance thought that they where winning he would soon prove them wrong, but first, Holly and Genki had to die.

End of chapter

Whew, that was a doozy, and I still have a lot more to add, hope that you like it so far. Write me with flames, fanmail, or anything else that you want to send at hanielg@hotmail.com or GAHRN@lelola.zzn.com Thanx.

Next chapter: Hey, it’s Winter!!!- Find out what to do with a bunch of dead assassins. Plus Christmas in the monster rancher world.