§§ Valkyrie §§ §§§ Legion §§§ ¥=¥=¥ ¤¤¤¤¤¤ Episode 3 ¤¤¤¤¤¤ ¤ Disaster on a Date! ¤ The chamber was a twisted mockery. That was visible to any observer, easily discerned just by the sheer emotion that it radiated. Blackened flowers laced the wrought-iron of the walls, statuaries of small animals with fangs and claws adorned the furniture. Sickly, dark shades of pink and violet coated the room, with glittering bits of amethyst glittering here and there. But it was clearly the chamber of a shogun for the Lower Kingdom, as well, with weapons piled neatly, great and ornate tomes on soulcrafting filling the bookcase overlooked by a snarling demon-rabbit. The room was profoundly distrubing on a basic emotional level - something that Anya, Shogun of Lies, had never ceased to be very pleased with. But as she stormed into the room, praising herself on exquisite architectural design was not on her mind. "Bastard," she muttered to herself as she kicked a sword across the floor. Anya threw herself on the bed, still visibly enraged, as one of her personal Dark Ones shimmered into view. "You are angry, mistress," the construct noted, stalking towards the bed. Anya scowled and looked at her Dark One - a black-skinned, white-haired woman, her eyes a light violet and her outfit an extremely revealing purple dress. Trimpet had always been one of Anya's favorites, simply by virtue of her nearly flawless track record. "I would not be presumptuous in assuming that it is tied with your fellow shogun and personal rival, Nikolai?" "Of course it's about Nikolai, you idiot construct," snapped Anya, tears welling. It had been many years, fewer of them than Anya would have liked spent in stasis, but still the wounds stung like they were fresh. She didn't mean to bite at Trimpet like that, but the Dark One knew that well, and simply backed off slightly as Anya blinked to clear her vision from the growing tears. "I hate that man so much, I can barely believe it. I must have my revenge on him. But -" She slammed her fists into the bed, words insufficient to express her utter exasperation. "He has failed three times now. First, he failed to stop that accursed fox. Then, he failed to kill the first Valkyrie when he had the chance. Now, he not only didn't destroy Elisia, he brought Valenia back, too! But Nidon keeps giving him more chances!" She scowled. "That arrogant -" Trimpet put her hand on Anya's shoulder. Anya knew full well that the woman was just a construct, but somehow it still felt reassuring to feel the hand on her shoulder. "The engines of the Lower Kingdom are powered up enough for extra portals to be opened, mistress. I do not believe Lord Nidon would notice one extra portal. If you desire, I can have one of your own servitors go through while Nikolai plots his next strategy." Anya looked at Trimpet, who was smiling, obviously rather pleased with herself. "None of the Valkyries have ever encountered something like your own personal servitors, certainly not from straightforward Nikolai. I'm certain that it will be chalked up as a success for you, mistress." "It... it sounds like a very good plan, Trimpet," replied Anya, wiping her eyes again. It sounded like better than just a "good" plan, truth be told - assuming Trimpet was right, then Anya would put both Valkyries out of comission, and she would definitely be allowed to exact her revenge upon Nikolai then. But Anya didn't want to give her Dark One too much credit. Trimpet had absolutely no need for an ego, and Anya wasn't about to give her one. "We'll target the Valkyries directly, and knowing your track record and plan of attack, there's little chance of failure." "Of course, mistress." Trimpet nodded, stood, and turned to leave, then stopped and looked back at Anya. "Do you wish for me to craft an appropriate servitor, or would you like to do it yourself?" A rage burned to the surface of Anya's mind, and she lashed out at her servant with a crackling blast of energy. "Arrogant tool!" she snarled, tears returning once more. "You know full well that I'm not able to craft servitors any longer! You of all people should know that!" The look on Trimpet's face was one of fear and shame mixed together, a far cry from the Dark One's usual demeanor. "Get out, and do your task! I do not desire your company any further today!" Trimpet got the message, and moved swiftly - but gracefully - out the door. Anya closed her eyes once more, forcing back the tears as her body shuddered slightly. ¥=¥=¥ Rick entered his room, sighed, and flopped on his bed from complete exasperation. "God," he muttered, trying to clear his head. The school year was rapidly approaching now, and he still hadn't thought of any way to get rid of Vivian and his less-than-desirable alternate form. Worse yet (if there was a possible worse), Lisa had been chewing him out for nearly an hour about him not calling her. It wasn't his fault that he tried to rescue a talking fox, was it? He sighed again, and rolled over to see Vivian staring him straight in the face. "Hello again, Elisia," said the fox, ignoring Rick's startled shout. "I trust that you're now off the phone for at least a little while so that you and I can begin to deal with more important things. We have a great deal of combat training to get through today, so you'll understand that I want to -" "Go away!" muttered Rick as he smacked Vivian with a pillow. Unprepared for the blow, Vivian staggered backwards and tumbled off the bed with an indignant bark. Rick sighed and whirled himself over to face the now- snarling fox. "Vivian, I have stuff to do. For starters, this is the first time in a long time that I've had a date with Lisa - who is none too happy about my absence the past couple days, which, I might add, is largely your doing. Second -" "A date? The world is being threatened by the minions of the Lower Kingdom, and you're worried about a date?" Vivian sprang up on the bed again, still visibly raging mad. "Elisia, this is hardly the conduct that is becoming of a defender of souls! You will have to desist from such infantile -" Vivian blinked. Rick had gone into his closet and begun to change into something a little more presentable, since he was still wearing his running outfit. "Elisia! Do not walk away when I'm talking to you!" "My name isn't Elisia, it's Rick," came the reply, as the doors to the closet were flung open and Rick emerged wearing black jeans and a button-down red shirt with the sleeves rolled up. "How many times do I have to explain this to you? I'm not Elisia. I might be stuck with the whole changing into a woman thing for the time being, but that doesn't mean I'm Elisia." He brushed his hair quickly, then headed for the door with Vivian obviously enraged. "I'm going down to meet Josh. You can come if you want." Vivian dashed down the stairs after Rick, furious. Rick knew and didn't care. The Lower Kingdom could wait for at least a little while, but he was going to go enjoy himself. ¥=¥=¥ Josh eyed Vivian nervously, for obvious reasons. He had only had to transform into Valenia once, but he certainly wasn't looking forward to doing it again. And as far as he knew, Vivian being around meant that there was the imminent need to transform back into Valenia. "Um... Rick, is there any reason you brought the fox?" "'The fox'? Is that how you think of me - 'the fox'?" Vivian bristled with anger, and Rick sighed as Josh cringed. "I'll have you know, young man, that I am far more than simply a fox! What foxes do you know that can talk, cast spells, gaurd ancient artifacts for -" As fast as he could, Rick grabbed Vivian's muzzle and held it shut tight as she whined loudly and scowled at him. "Vivian!" he hissed, gesturing around the park. She followed the sweep of his hand as best she could with him holding her mouth. "Do you want everyone in Southaven to know about you?" Vivian's eyes flashed with understanding, and the rage went away slightly. Rick let go, and she stayed quiet, although she glared at Josh. "No, Josh, I just brought her because I can't stop her. Nothing more. You don't have to turn into a woman now." It seemed as if Josh was deciding whether to smile or frown at Rick's attempt at levity, but he eventually decided on a smile. "You make it sound like you actually enjoy turning into Elisia, Rick. I always knew there was something about you -" Josh stopped, his gaze locked on something other than Rick. Rick followed the stare. "Sally Kissinger," noted Rick, internally berating himself for not realizing it earlier. Josh had been hot on Sally's trail ever since Freshman year, and it wasn't even unreciprocated. The boy simply had never bothered to ask her out, which baffled everyone - including Rick - who knew Josh for any length of time. Rick looked over to see Josh's stare still locked tight. "Josh, you have asked her out by now, haven't you?" Josh's face turned a bright red. "Well... um... not exactly..." He shrugged, beginning to sweat under the pressure. "I just never seem to have the right time to do it..." Vivian got an odd sort of look on her face, then padded over to Josh, resting her head on his knee. "Valenia, if you are so thoroughly enraptured by her, what is holding you back? Do you think she dislikes your company?" Josh sheepishly shook his head. "Then there is no reason not to ask her on a date. You're only young once." Rick nodded at Vivian's advice, then thought for a minute. "Vivian, do you how strange it sounds when you refer to him as Valenia?" he asked, blinking at the implications of the statement. "And on the same subject of dating, weren't you having a hissy fit earlier this morning because I had a date with Lisa?" Vivian sighed and scowled at Rick, and he shrugged and looked at Josh. "Ask her out, Josh. Lisa and I can make it a double date tonight. No problem with that." A conflict was playing across Josh's face as he debated both sides of the issue with himself. "I can do this," he muttered to himself, rising at length from the bench and walking across the sun-dappled lawn towards the tall brown-haired girl. She looked up as he walked over, a smile on her face. Josh swallowed hard and opened his mouth, hoping that what came out didn't sound too ridiculous. "Hi, Sally. How've you been?" "Pretty good, thanks," she replied, stepping a little closer. Josh felt his pulse race. "I saw the last concert your band was at - it was really good. You've got a lot of talent." From both compliment and anticipation, Josh blushed, and Sarah laughed slightly. "So, what brings you over here this morning? Is there something in particular you wanted to ask me?" Glancing over his shoulder, Josh saw that both Vivian and Rick were listening with ears pricked, and he sighed. "Well..." A lump caught in his throat, and he swallowed hard and tried again. "Well, Sally, I was just wondering..." Another lump, this time even more swelling. He blinked, glanced back at both Rick and Vivian, and swallowed again. "I was just wondering if you..." Fear and hope raced through him, and he could feel sweat gathering on his palms. "I... was... just... wondering if... you... liked the last concert!" He glanced back to see Rick fall forwards slapping his forehead and Vivian sigh as if she'd been deflated by his actions. He sighed too. Sally smiled, and took Josh's hand, which sent his pulse racing so fast that his heart threatened to burst from his chest. "I would love to go out with you, Josh," she said, causing both Rick and Vivian to perk back up as Josh blinked at her with wonderment. "I could hear what Rick was saying over there. He's kind of loud." Rick slapped his forehead again as Vivian scowled at him, but Josh was far from caring about either Rick or the fox at the moment. "You've got my number, right?" Josh managed a nod. "Just give me a call - I've got to run. I'll meet you later!" Vivian was smiling broadly at Josh as he walked back, with a look on his face that very much resembled a cat having just eaten a canary. "Well done, Valenia! You did sort of botch the middle part, but it all came out well in the end." She looked to both Rick and Josh. "Now that all of that is taken care of, it's high time we got to work on training the two of you!" She turned to start drawing diagrams in the dirt, as both Rick and Josh exchanged glances and started walking away. "First thing is to get Valenia trained in using heels - Elisia, you'll need practice too, although you seem to -" She glanced back and scowled, then ran after the boys. "Sorry, talking-fox-thing, but we're busy!" announced Josh, not seeming to notice the dark scowl on Vivian's face. "We've got dates tonight, so we both have to go get ready! I, for one, have to - gha!" His speech was cut short as Vivian tackled him to the ground, Rick looking on and noting that Vivian was surprisingly strong. "Valenia! I am ashamed at you!" Vivian was scowling down at the young man but still trying to be quiet enough to avoid raising suspcion, while Rick was stifling a laugh. "You're starting to sound like the change was more than just physical! Elisia, when is your date tonight?" Rick shrugged. "Around six. That was what we had agreed upon." He looked at Josh and repressed a laugh again, while Josh scowled back at him. "With all due respect, Vivian, we really should get ready for the date tonight as early as -" Vivian shook her head with a definitive air. "Absolute nonsense!" she pronounced, springing off of Josh. "Six in the evening is a long way off, and there is no way that the two of you are going to get off from training. There is a war going on against the Lower Kingdom." She looked at them with deathly seriousness. "This isn't a game, you know. We've been lucky so far, but the Lower Kingdom isn't pulling their punches. One false step..." Rick sighed and helped Josh up off the ground, understanding what was coming. If there was one thing that he'd learned from his father, it was to take life and death situations seriously, and to understand that people rarely exaggerated them. "All right, Vivian. Let's get started. Just don't make us turn into Valkyries right away, okay?" ¥=¥=¥ Josh staggered once, then fell forwards into the dirt, sending up a cloud of soil around him. His breath came out ragged, and sweat dripped from his forehead into the earth. "I can't go on," he hissed, clutching his stomach with one hand as he struggled to get back up. "I'm sorry, Rick. Get revenge on the Kingdom for me -" Rick leaned over and hoisted Josh up as he continued running. "Drop the dramatics, Josh, you haven't even done three laps yet!" He smirked as Josh sighed and started halfheartedly jogging behind Rick. This part of the training Rick could deal with. It had been annoying, having to deal with Vivian's long high-heeled combat session - especially with Josh falling over every few moves even without the heels on - but this was something that Rick could deal with without any stress whatsoever. It even made up for the fact that he'd missed his morning run the past two days due to the whole Valkyrie situation. Vivian padded softly alongside her two subjects, nodding approvingly at Rick. "Very good, Elisia! Only twelve more to go!" She looked at Josh with an odd mixture of pity and disappointment as he continued to lag rather significantly behind Rick. "Valenia, you're going to have to try a little harder at this. "This really is not my forte!" replied Josh, panting heavily between words. He stopped for a moment, wiped his brow, and looked at Vivian. "Look, I don't run, I don't jump, I don't wear heels, I don't fight, and I don't do anything else in that vein. What I do is sing. Do you have any part of this training set up to involve singing?" An odd sort of look drifted across Vivian's face, but it was quickly replaced by a look of bemused disapproval. "No," she replied flatly. "And you're still lagging far behind Elisia. Come on, twelve more laps, and then we move on to dodging. You've still got nine hours before your date!" Josh groaned as if Vivian had stabbed him, then resumed his halfhearted jog as Rick passed him. "Good, Elisia! Eleven more!" ¥=¥=¥ It was two o'clock when Rick and Josh finally managed to disentangle themselves from Vivian's rigorous training routine, complete with many disapproving stares from the fox. She continued to looke at them with a scowl as they flopped onto their bench in the park, both panting and exhausted. She seemed content to wait for the pair to notice her scowl, and they seemed fully content to ignore her. "My God, that was insane," gasped Josh, who had obviously fared the worse between he and Rick. "I don't think I've ever been this tired in my life." He looked down at Vivian. "I hope she doesn't expect us do this again next week." "Next week?" Vivian shook her head. "Hopefully, we'll be able to get this part of the training done this week. Next week I hope to go on to elemental manipulation, since there is going to come a time when you are going to need to be more subtle than your primary attack. By the end of the month -" "Done this week?" Rick sighed and collapsed sideways. Vivian was running them pretty hard, even by his rather high standards. "Vivian, you can't be serious. School's starting up again soon, and we need to go." He looked at Vivian as a thought occurred to him. "And no, we can't just pick up after school. I don't want to be training until nine at night." There was another scowl forming on the fox's head. Both Josh and Rick were beginning to not care much about her scowls. "You don't want to? The souls of innocent people are in vital danger, and your big argument is that you don't want to to go save them? That is absurd, Elisia! I have never heard anything so ridiculous in my life!" "For the last time, Vivian, my name is RICK!" replied Rick, sounding a bit louder than he had meant to. It wasn't that he didn't want to help her - he did. He knew that the situation was serious and that he was one of the few people who could actually do something about it. But that didn't mean that he could just sacrifice any hope of being accepted from now on. Didn't Vivian respect how hard he had worked just to fit in? "Sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out like that." Vivian sighed. "It's all right, Elisia." Rick sighed himself at her obvious discounting of his admonition. "I have been running both of you rather hard today, and this isn't a situation any of us are comfortable with. I don't have a choice about being your gaurdian any more than you have a choice about being who you are. But let's all try to be a little more flexible, all right?" She sprang away, glancing around. "You two go get ready for your dates. I'll scout around and see if I can pick up any scent of the Lower Kingdom." Another few leaps, and she was gone, out of their sight. Josh blinked. "Wow. That was kind of uncharacteristic." He looked at Rick, who didn't seem to think anything of it. "You don't think that she's mad at us, do you?" "Who knows?" asked Rick with a sigh, picking himself up off the bench with what could have easily been a Herculean effort. "I really can't read the moods of a fox, and I don't have much desire to. She'll be fine. Now let's take her advice and get ready." Rick began walking. Josh lingered a moment longer, still staring after Vivian, then got up and followed. ¥=¥=¥ It was a relatively nice restaurant - upscale, near the center of the city, which helped impress both Lisa and Sally. Neither Josh nor Rick had the heart to tell them that they'd used Rick's parents to get in - his dad still got the occasional bonus from his old employers. Sally had greeted Josh warmly, obviously happy to see him. Lisa had greeted Rick... well, Rick didn't exactly know how to put a label on it. The same way she always did, really, but somehow just a little different. He wrote it off to general awkwardness in life the past couple of days. It wasn't until halfway through dinner that the pain started. The sensation hit him like a ton of bricks - like he knew it would. He dropped his fork inadvertantly, doubled over for the same reason, but as he felt the agony racing through his frame, he recognized it as the transformation, and wished that it wouldn't happen now, not here. Lisa reached over, asking him, "Rick, are you all right?", and the pain in his gut redoubled as she touched him. "I'm - fine," replied Rick through gritted teeth, trying very hard to keep his composure. "I - just... need - some - air." Without waiting for a response, he bolted from his chair and moved to the other side of the restaurant as fast as he could, hoping to find an inconspicuous place to change. By the time he stopped rushing long enough to think, however, he realized the pain was mostly gone - still present, but only a distant rumbling. He blinked, confused. "Rick?" came a voice. It wasn't Lisa, and Rick had the sneaking feeling that he knew who it was. Turning, he saw Sarah standing behind him, hair swept back, wearing a light blue dress that Rick had to admit looked stunning on her. "Is something wrong? You just bolted over here like a bat out of hell." He glanced back at the table. Lisa was drumming her fingers, while Josh and Sally exchanged worried glances between bouts of animated conversation. Rick sighed. "Nothing, Sarah, just..." He stopped. He needed to get it off his chest at least a little. "Just feeling like a stranger in my own life the past couple of days. Like even my body is the body of somebody else." The moment after the words had left his mouth, he felt like an idiot, but Sarah smiled sweetly, and something in Rick seemed to warm. "Don't worry about it, Rick. We all have times like that. I used to -" She looked back at the table, and sighed. Rick looked down, and noticed that their hands were rather close. "You should probably be getting back. Lisa's going to be waiting for you. If you need somebody to talk to, you know where to find me." In a twirl of hair and dress, she was gone, and Rick walked back to his table. Lisa was waiting for him, fixing him with a withering stare. "Would you like to explain to me exactly what that was all about?" she snapped as Rick winced. "You say you need some air, then you go over and just talk to her while I'm sitting here waiting! If you'd rather be someone like her, go right ahead, say the word. I can go on." She turned away, a look on her face like that of a noblewoman forced to smell something unpleasant. "Lise, it's not that at all. I -" Rick reached over and grabbed her hand, but the instant he did he felt the pain shoot through him even worse than before. He felt his cells bending and twisting as he doubled over again, and he felt his chin start to change shape. "I'll be right back - I think I'm going to be sick!" Without giving Lisa a chance to respond, he dashed towards the restrooms, glanced for a men's sign, and ducked in, panting. He looked in the mirror for a moment, saw his face return to normal, and then turned around and saw Vivian sitting behind him. "Yaaa!" The fox ignored his exclamation and padded over. "Elisia? I didn't think you would be able to pick up on the servitor's eminations so fast. I had planned on staging something to draw your attention, but this works just as well, I -" Rick panted. The world was quickly going completely out of control. "Vivian, hold on a second. First things first, all right?" He waited, and at length the fox gave a nod of acceptance. "Okay. First of all, why are you in the men's room?" Vivian did the closest thing a fox could do to raising an eyebrow. "Elisia, this isn't the men's room. I constructed a bit of an illusion for precisely that purpose." Rick stopped and glanced around the room, then nodded and lunged for the door before Vivian jumped in front of his path. "Elisia! This is no time to be elusive! There's a servitor in this restaurant, and she's at your table!" That managed to provoke a response from Rick, albeit a blank stare and stony silence. Vivian took that as good enough opportunity to continue. "I didn't mention anything today, but when I said I was going off to scout, I had sensed Anya's presence in the city -" Vivian noticed that the blank stare on Rick's face was getting more dumbfounded. "Anya is another shogun, like Nikolai. Unlike Nikolai, her servitors do not use the engines of the Lower Kingdom - she directly takes the souls from a human and turns it into a servitor. Her servitors can lie dormant for years before activating, the host unaware of them all the while. They can usually evade even my detection skills -" "So somebody at the table is Anya's servitor?" asked Rick. Vivian nodded. The boy fought down an urge to sigh again - it was another date that was about to go sour, and Rick didn't look forward to that. But he knew that he had a job to do, and it also explained why he had felt the pain of the change. "I know who it has to be, then. Thanks for letting me know - I'll go take care of things. Sky Lightning Blade!" The electricity encircled Rick as pain engulfed him, but when it passed, Elisia stood with the sword in her hand. She dashed out the door, the fox close on her heels. Unbeknownst to Rick, Sarah emerged from her hiding spot inside one of the stalls. She stood for a moment, trying to sort out what had just happened, and then headed for the door herself. Although at the time, both she and Josh had decried the whole idea of "high-heel combat training", Elisia had to admit that Vivian did have a good idea behind it. She'd always been more capable in the heels than Josh, but this was the first time that she barely noticed them. Running past the tables, getting a few stares from the seated diners due to her garb and sword, she flipped up and over, landing squarely on the table, and pointed the tip of the blade at Sally. "You!" she snarled, glaring at the girl. Elisia knew it was Sally. It had to be. Even with the stare she was getting from Sally, she knew the servitor would pop out momentarily. "Josh, is this some sort of a sick joke?" asked Sally, eyes wide. Josh looked on with horror as well, then doubled over in pain. Elisia only had a split second to wonder why he was changing when Sally was still disguised before something hit her hard from the side, and she was sent crashing into a nearby table. She looked back at her table to see Lisa rising from her seat, black, ridged, wood-like armor encircling her arms in massive clawed gauntlets and tracing over her body. Elisia gaped, but kicked herself into action and rolled aside as Lisa lunged out with her arm, extending the clawed hand and shattering the table completely. People rose and began running for the door, and Sally jumped up, grabbing Josh and trying to pull him along. "Come on!" Even though part of Josh was screaming at him to go with Sally and let Rick handle this, he knew that he owed it to his friend. "I'll be out in a second. You go!" She paused a moment, then nodded. Josh glanced around as the pain shot through him, and felt the change start. Wincing and with his eyes tearing, he held out his hand and cried, "Sonic Cleaving Blade!" The pain tore through him again, but then Valenia stood, axe in hand, and glanced down at where Lisa's legs were moments before, but what was now a mass of weaving, twitching black wood that had covered nearly all of Lisa's body by now. Rearing back, and being thankful she could now balance at least a little in heels, she struck the stem hard, cleaving a deep gash and causing luminous white blood to spill out of the stem. Elisia staggered back to her feet as she saw the growth recede a little, and saw Valenia rearing back to chop the thing once again. Lisa had reared back an arm to take down the other Valkyrie, but Elisia moved as fast as she could think, spriging first onto the table, then onto Lisa's back and driving a sword into the thing's arm. More white blood spilled onto the floor, and the growth receded a little more as Lisa reared back and knocked both Elisia and Valenia away. "Valkyries!" shouted Vivian. "The servitor is using Lisa's life-force to keep growing! Valenia, you can seperate the two of them with your power!" Valenia clumsily managed to climb back to her feet - she hadn't done all that well in the high-heel training - and held back her axe. "Sonic Wave Crash!" she screamed, and the rainbow-colored field surrounded her body. She brought the axe down and hurled the force towards the servitor, focusing on her wave and trying to spread it around where she thought Lisa's actual body would be. The rainbow wave lanced out and struck the tree hard, shearing off the limbs around Lisa and sending her body crashing to the ground. The limbs around her withered and turned to dust, while the two massive clawed arms and the "stem" still hovered in the air, a glowing white orb in the center. "Elisia! That is Lisa's soul!" shouted Vivian. "It's what's powering the servitor! If you -" "I already know," replied Elisia, feeling some part of her respond to the hovering soul instinctually. She pointed her sword at it, and let the electrical force flow through her as she shouted "Heaven Force Strike!" Thunder burst through the windows and encircled her, and as she concentrated, she pushed the force directly towards the hovering soul, letting the beam of electricity strike it hard. The disembodied limb winced as the force struck it, then twitched as the soul flew back into Lisa's body. For a moment longer, the limbs gyrated in space, miniature lightning tracing across them. Then there was a white flash, and all that remained of the servitor was the dust lying around Lisa's inert form. Elisia and Valenia both managed to take a couple steps towards Lisa before the change tore through them again and their bodies twisted back to their male forms. Josh lay on the floor for a moment, looking as though he were about to vomit, but Rick went straight to Lisa, propping her up. "Lisa? Lisa?" Her eyes remained closed. "Vivian, how much longer until her soul returns to -" Although he'd only felt it a few times, the sting of a slap across the face was familiar to Rick. "What the hell is going on?" asked Lisa with obvious anger. "You run off to the bathroom, and the next thing I know, here I am! Is this your way of trying to turn me on?" Tears began to pool. "I wanted to have fun tonight, Rick, and you spoiled it." She shoved him away as she stood, and Josh quickly rose again to stop her. "Wait! Lisa! It's not like you think at all!" She stopped, and Josh swallowed hard. "You... you turned into this weird tree-monster-thing, and Rick and I tried to get you free, but it knocked us away until these two girls showed up and -" Lisa slapped Josh, too. "I THINK I WOULD REMEMBER SOMETHING LIKE THAT, YOU TWIT!" She was crying now, and stormed out of the restaurant as the residual electricity from Elisia's blast sent the sprinklers into action in full force. Rick looked at the floor dejectedly, now sopping wet, as the equally-wet Josh and Vivian walked over to try and help. "Rick?" Josh was worried - he wasn't even being looked at. Rick just stared at the floor. "Rick? Are you going to be okay? Rick?" Finally, Rick began to move slightly. He looked up at Josh and Vivian, a look on his face that neither could quite understand, somewhere between sorrow and happiness. "Y'know," he said, slowly, without any real intonation that would give a clue as to his emotional state, "maybe this double date wasn't such a spectacular idea after all." Vivian nuzzled Rick, and Josh patted him on the back as Rick sniffled slightly. Then Rick started laughing, quietly at first, then louder as the sprinklers came on harder. Josh started laughing too, and when Sally came in, wondering what had happened to Rick and Josh and if Lisa was back to normal, she found both boys rolling on the floor with laughter, and a fox standing next to the two of them with a look that could only be described as perplexed. / ¤**********{ e l e c t r o n i c t r a n s c e n d e n c e }-+†‹‡±_ø£'? /*/>>>>>>ø>>« Eliot Lefebvre, AKA Lost Factor, Stormcloud, Q! »<<ø<<<<<<\* ¥==ø==« Transfan, X-Fan, X-Phile, Trekker, Gamer, Otaku, and more »==ø==¥ ÷----ø--« ET Website: http://members.fortunecity.com/lostfactor »--ø----÷ *====ø==« Old Site: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/6381 »==ø====* *\>>>>ø>>« Contact: eltf@hotmail.com, Eliot.Lefebvre@uconn.edu »<<ø<<<