Phoenix Resolution

part 2

            They could hear the sounds of battle long before they reached the centre of town, sounds of stone smashing against cement and the crunching of metal as the monsters destroyed everything in their path. I can't believe I'm doing this, Ken thought to himself as he and the entire team raced along on the heels of the strange woman. Is she really the backup that Hakase talked about? Or am I leading us into a trap? Then again, why would she tell us how to destroy these monsters if she's a Galactor? He was still turning things over in his mind when the woman skidded to a stop.

"Sayo!" she yelled. Ken followed her gaze, which was turned upwards. Way up. Something with dark wings was flying toward them; Ken could hear the flapping as it neared. "Sayo!" Katarina yelled again. "Down here!" Ken saw it slow down, legs dropping down as it landed in front of her. Human legs, without question. It was another girl, looking even younger than Jinpei. She too, was wearing a birdstyle uniform, the body a bright yellow, while the boots and gloves were deep purple. The helmet was also purple, with bright yellow for the eye slashes. The beak-like visor was also yellow, and hooked slightly, although not as much as Ken's or Joe's, and not as long as Jinpei's. But the wings, that was the real shock. They stretched far over her head and the feathers, a dark iridescent purple that bordered on black, distinct and glistening in the sun. Ken froze several feet from the pair and his team stopped near him. He was still close enough to hear the strangers speak, however.

            "How's it going?" Katarina asked the child. "How many are there?" The child didn't answer, but her hands suddenly went up and she began making a rapid series of gestures.

            "What's she doing?" Ryu quietly asked no one in particular. Ken started to say that he had no idea, but Jun interrupted him.

            "It's sign language."

            "Sign language?" Ryu repeated.

            "At least, I think it is," Jun continued, as if she hadn't heard him. "But, it looks like there's something wrong with her hands, she's not making all the signs right."

            "You know what she's saying, then?" growled Joe.

            Jun nodded. "She's saying something like, there's dozens of them and.... someone... is getting worried.... I don't know. She's signing too fast for me."

            "That bad, is it?" came Katarina's voice. The child was nodding at her. "Here, Sayo, take a couple of tire irons, they're a bit smaller. Go ahead and tell Viv that we'll be there as quick as we can. And don't give into them whatever you do!" The little girl rolled her eyes at that last comment, an expression that had "no kidding" written all over it. She grabbed the tire irons from Katarina and turned and ran a few steps away from her, before her outstretched wings caught the air and lifted her from the ground with a couple of strong strokes.

            "Wow! I wish I had real wings to fly away like that." Katarina looked over her right shoulder at Jinpei, who was still watching the girl fly away between the buildings.

            "Be careful what you wish for," she muttered as she sprinted away again.

            Ken wanted to ask her who the child was, and how such a young girl was wearing a Kagaku Ninjatai uniform, but she was already far ahead of him. She rounded a corner to the right and vanished from view. Joe swore under his breath as he rushed past Ken after her, only to stop dead as soon as he reached the corner. Ken gritted his teeth, knowing that whatever had brought Joe to a halt had to be bad.

            The city centre had some time ago been made into a large park, a spot of green grass and trees in amongst the skyscrapers. The team found themselves facing that now, but instead of birds and kids playing, there were a couple dozen golems. The playground had already been destroyed, the jungle gym crumpled into a ball of metal, slides torn apart and several of the big trees had been ripped out by the roots. Indeed, one of the monsters was in the process of tearing out another tree, only to swing it wildly at the winged figure who was hovering a few feet above its head. The man dodged the branches easily in a flurry of flapping wings. Everywhere Ken looked, it seemed, there were more winged figures harassing the golems. He could see Sayo as well, as she smashed the head of one of the golems with her tire irons. It wobbled and fell to the ground as the child pounced on it and began beating the head in to get at the incantation in its mouth.

            "Scatter," he ordered the team, "but keep your eyes on each other." Immediately the team headed in different directions, except for Joe, who remained beside Ken.

            A figure in black and scarlet darted over Katarina's head. "Hey!" a female voice yelled, deep and husky, just like Katarina's and just as surely female. "Where the hell have you been? You decide to take a tea break or something?"

            Katarina grinned. "Bitch, bitch, bitch. Here, catch," she yelled as she threw one of the heavy crowbars at the woman in black. The woman caught it with no trouble, and dashed down to strike at a golem who had just pulled the teeter-totter out of the ground. The creature dropped the teeter-totter in an attempt to grab the woman, who simply fluttered beyond its reach, only to drop from the sky again and hit it again, her boots connecting with its shoulders. The golem grabbed her ankles as it fell backwards, taking her with him. This did not seem to faze her, however, as she kept swinging the crowbar until she got both of its arms broken off and then turned her attention to the head.

            "Hey!" came another voice, just over Ken's head. He looked up to find the one who had avoided the tree hovering above him. "You gonna throw me one? We're dying out here!" the young man yelled with a grin. The uniform was Kagaku Ninjatai again, only it was gold in colour, with dark crimson boots. The helmet looked like Ken's with the blue beak visor, but gold like the rest of the body suit. The wings, too, flashed gold with red tipped feathers. Ken just starred, suddenly distracted by the feeling that he knew this person. The face and the voice were creepy in their familiarity, but he couldn't place them. It was Joe who suddenly threw a crowbar, sending it flying toward the man like a javelin. The stranger caught it easily, and yelled a "thanks" over his shoulder as he flew off again.

            Ken saw another figure in blue and grey flash overhead. "Here!" he yelled as he threw his extra crowbar at it. "Cool!" called a female voice as the figure caught it. "Look out! One's coming at you," she added as she darted away. There it is again, Ken thought as he turned his attention to the golem who was running at him, arms outstretched, that feeling like I know her, that I know that other one, too. Knowing that Joe was still standing to his right, Ken made a dash at the monster's left leg, throwing all his speed and weight into the strike at its knee. Predicably, this unbalanced the thing, giving Joe a clear shot at its head. The condor took it, leaping high into the air, a crowbar raised well above his head, only to swing it down to connect soundly with the jaw as Joe descended back to earth. The lower part of the jaw snapped off and a rectangular piece of white paper fluttered out. Ken wheeled around and snatched it before the monster could collect itself. Just as the strange girl had said, there was something written on it in what appeared to be Latin. He watched for a moment as the golem picked up its broken jaw and fitted it back into place, as it began to gather its legs under itself and get to its feet. As it was still kneeling, Ken tore the paper neatly in two, causing it to freeze instantly. As the bright colour began to leach out of it, Ken stuck the paper into his pocket. Hakase will know what it says, he decided.

            Jinpei had followed Katarina when Ken gave his command to scatter. Still unsure whether she could be trusted or not, he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, at least for now. She saved me from that golem, so she can't be all bad. He watched as she leapt up to take a swing at the shoulder of another golem, at least seven feet tall. Jinpei copied her, hitting the other shoulder as the creature turned to go after Katarina. There was a loud, metallic twang as steel connected with the hardened clay. The thing's not real smart, Jinpei thought as it turned its attention toward the boy, thereby giving Katarina another chance to attack it from behind. She leapt again, the crowbar high in the air when the monster suddenly wheeled back toward her. Before she could react, it grabbed her by the ankle and whipped her over its shoulder, sending her body hurtling toward the shadow-draped wall of the nearest building. Jinpei gritted his teeth and squinted his eyes, waiting for the sickening sound of Katarina's body hitting the wall.

            Only the sound never came. After a few seconds, Jinpei opened one eye to find the woman already on her feet, stalking back toward the golem with strong, purposeful strides. "Right!" she said to whoever happened to be listening. "That's it! You're goin' down, clay-fer-brains!" She charged the thing again, even though it was poised in a footballer's stance, crouched slightly and arms out, ready for her. Jinpei, suddenly realizing that he'd been forgotten about, took the chance to attack the golem from behind. Just as Ken had done, he went for the exposed legs, hitting it at the bend in the knees. Much to his surprise, the left leg broke off completely and huge cracks sprouted from the back of the right one. The golem listed to one side, staggering like some lame giant. Katarina grinned as she moved in for the kill.

            Ryu was having more luck on his own. The sledgehammer worked well against the clay monsters, the handle being just long enough for the owl to smash the heads without the acrobatics needed by the rest of the team. His massive strength perfectly suited to smashing the clay statues, his only problem stemmed from remembering to pause long enough to retrieve the paper from the crushed mouths and tear it up. Ryu almost hated to admit it, but he was starting to enjoy himself. It was a relief, to be facing things that weren't living human beings, things that didn't bleed when you killed them. It was almost like a training exercise and Ryu couldn't help but smile to himself as bits of clay flew away from the head of the nearest golem to bounce off his visor. He was bending down, pushing away the bits of golem, looking for the incantation amongst the rubble when there was a rumble right behind him. Ryu glanced over his shoulder to find yet another golem practically on top of him. Damn it! He hadn't heard it coming, and with the fallen one starting to collect itself already, the great owl found himself without anywhere to go. He tried to get the sledgehammer to his shoulder, but the thing was much too close to get a decent swing at it. Ryu braced himself.

            There was a deafening crack, and Ryu watched as a huge fissure suddenly appeared at the top of the creature's head and raced down between its eyes. A flash of silver sprouted out of the split and a massive dark form rose up from behind, looming over the monster's shoulder. Ryu tried to back up, nearly tripping on the still prone form of the fallen golem. There was a loud crunching followed by a pop as one side of the head suddenly broke off at the neck and slipped away. The body pitched forward to land with a crash and a dust cloud on top of its fallen companion, right at Ryu's feet. The owl found himself starring at the gleaming blade of a massive battle ax, which the bearer had twisted to the side in order to split the head. Standing behind the ax, eyes narrowed in concentration was an enormous man wearing a Kagaku Ninjatai birdstyle uniform, a uniform that bore a resemblance to Ryu's own. The helmet and the visor were shaped the same, although the visor was bright yellow rather than Ryu's violet. The colours too, were different, stark white with black boots, gloves and collar. The man's very real feathered wings stretched up above the shoulders and slightly out, bright white feathers tipped in black. For a long moment both owls starred at each other before the white one stepped forward to retrieve the incantations from the stricken monsters, smashing the head of the one Ryu had attacked open again with the heel of his boot. He tore both spells in half with his teeth and spit the paper away.

            He met Ryu's eyes. "Sometimes the best way to fight these things is a tergo," he said finally.

            "What?"

            "It means, ’Äòfrom behind'." There was a pause. "You're welcome, by the way." He was still grinning as he spread his wings and lifted himself into the air. Ryu was left to watch as the white owl headed off into the fray again. Oh-kay... that was strange. The great horned owl allowed himself a shake of his head before he, too, went back into the battle.

            For her part, Jun was having less success. The golems, with predatory instincts, seemed to sense some unseen weakness in the swan and had singled her out. She quickly found herself being accosted by three all at once, and although she kept striking the heads with the tire iron she had, she had no sooner smashed the jaw of one than the other two rushed at her, forcing her to keep leaping out of the way, giving the damaged one time to heal itself. This had been going on since the team had split, and she was starting to tire. She crouched down, with two in front and one just behind, thereby giving herself a second or two to catch her breath as she decided on her next move. She finally settled on her yo-yo, flinging it at the one in front and to her left, the short steal spike in the bottom of the yo-yo sticking into the monster's neck. It reached up to pull the thing out just as Jun twisted the ring on her finger that the yo-yo's wire was connected to. Instantly, a massive electric current shot down the wire and into the bomb the centre of the yo-yo. She was rewarded when the monster's head exploded, sending pieces of rubble flying in all directions. She then leapt away and to the left, narrowly avoiding the murderous grip of the golem behind her. She started to back up, both monsters following her, their dull eyes seemingly fixed upon her. What do I do when I run out of yo-yos? She turned her attention to one that had been behind her, sending another yo-yo bomb hurtling toward its throat. No sooner had the weapon struck than the monster reached up and tore it loose, crushing the yo-yo with its left hand. Nevertheless, Jun twisted the ring again and watched as the explosion took blew most of the monster's left side apart. The head had remained intact, however, so it only took a few seconds for the thing to start pulling itself back together. Before the dust had cleared, the undamaged golem moved in to charge Jun, trying to put itself between her and its injured comrade.

            The swan braced herself, one hand on another yo-yo bomb, teeth gritted as she took aim at the charging monster. She thought she heard Ken calling, but his voice seemed so far away; too far to understand what he was saying. She drew her arm back, fingers clutched tightly on the yo-yo when the golem's chest suddenly exploded before her eyes. She squeezed the yo-yo again, her right arm still drawn back as she watched as a large arrow head shape erupt from the thing's chest. It was attached to a heavy chain, which at that moment began to wrap itself around the creature's neck. Jun looked up to see a young man in a gold birdstyle uniform, his very real wings flashing in the sun as he hovered above the creature. He yanked back on the chain, sending the golem off balance and pulling it backwards to land with a loud crash on the pavement, smashing itself to pieces.

            "Look out behind you!" he yelled to Jun suddenly as he descended toward her.

            Jun wheeled around, and flung her yo-yo bomb directly at the mouth another golem who was rushing at her. A twist of the ring, and its head exploded.

            "Nice shot, Mum!" laughed the young man. Jun turned to stare at him as he retrieved the paper incantation from the rubble, his back to her. She could see each feather of his wings, the longer flight feathers tipped in crimson, the rest were bright gold, almost metallic in colour. Long, very black hair, the same colour as Jun's, hung down between the wings to the waist, running down his back like a night-time river. As he turned back toward her, he touched the paper to one of the red tipped feathers of his left wing, instantly causing the paper to burst into flames.

            Jun starred at the face as the young man grinned at her. The gold helmet with its bright red eye slashes with their false blue bird eyes; even through the distortion of the blue visor, she could clearly make out his features.

            This man could have passed for her brother. She could see the resemblance in the shape of his eyes, the curve of the dark brows, the shape of the face; all were more than familiar to her. While not exactly the same, there was no question in Jun's mind about the face she was looking at; it was her own face, almost perfectly.

            Almost, for the grin was not hers, that wicked, impish grin that spread across his face. Nor did the sleek frame and long legs belong to Jun, and yet these features, too, were familiar to her. That grin, the body, even the line of the jaw, these were Ken's features, appearing in this strange creature who stood before her.

            He must have seen her shock, because the dark eyebrows drew together in a frown as he moved closer to her. He was quite a bit taller than Jun, easily clearing six feet, noticeably taller than Ken. "Are you OK?" he asked as she starred up at him.

            Abruptly, his words came back to her. "You...called me ’Äòmum'," she said finally, her voice barely a whisper. He had to lean down to hear her clearly. "You called me ’Äòmum'," she said again.

            The man began to laugh. "What else should I call you?"

            Jun stared at him, unable to answer, barely able to breathe. She just starred at him, at that face that was almost, but not quite hers, but not quite Ken's, either. Even the laugh sounded similar. He was looking away from her, gathering up his chain and looking to his flying companions. "Looks like we've cleared out the last of them," he said, with relief in his voice. Then he frowned. "I don't see Sayo anywhere.... Oh. There she is... Kyra's with her. Looks like everybody's OK." He turned back to Jun, meeting her eyes again with a smile. "We'd better go before Viv wears herself out battering every one of the golems to dust for the hell of it." He offered Jun his arm and she took his elbow mechanically, her eyes glued to him as he lead her toward the centre of the park where the others were slowly gathering. "She will, too," he continued, cheerfully. "Are you sure you're OK?" he asked when she didn't answer. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

            Jun nodded and finally found her voice again although the words came out in a horse whisper: "Who are you?"

            "What?"

            "I said, ’Äòwho are you'."

            He let out a bark of laughter, a sound that would never have escaped Ken. "What are you talking about? You know who I am!"

            "No. I don't. You.... you look like me, but...."

            He gasped at that, the humour falling away from his face like a mask. "You mean that Nambu didn't tell you about us?"

            "No."

            "Oh my God!" He looked up again, eyes searching as he hurried toward the group,

unwittingly dragging Jun with him. "Viv!"

            A woman in a black birdstyle uniform with scarlet boots and gloves looked up. "Yo!"

            "Viv, we've got a problem!"

            She scowled and as Jun and the stranger got closer to her, Jun could see how she stood with her straight back and arms folded across her chest, a pose that Jun had seen Joe adopt many times. "Problem? All the golems are dust, no one's bleeding to death on the pavement... no problem." The voice sounded like the other stranger's, Katarina. Sounded identical, in fact.

            "No," came another familiar voice, this time from Katarina herself, who had just joined the group with Jinpei in tow. "We do. Seems Nambu wimped out on us." Jun was relieved to see that Ryu, Joe and Ken had arrived in time to hear Katarina's words.

            Vivianna's head snapped around. "WHAT??"

            Jun heard a rustle, as the child Sayo and another woman, dressed in light blues and greys landed just behind her. "Hey," said the newcomer breathlessly. "What's wrong?"

            Vivianna was facing Ken. "You mean to tell me that Nambu didn't tell you that we were coming?"

            Ken shook his head, as the enormous man in white and black loomed up behind Vivianna. "Not exactly," Ken added as Vivianna groaned aloud. "He said that we could expect some back up in dealing with the golems, but that was it."

            Joe was giving Katarina and Vivianna a murderous stare, standing beside Ken, the condor's hands spasmed into fists. Even from a distance, Jun could feel his tension and anger, his total distrust of these strangers. She couldn't blame him, she wasn't sure herself if these people were some twisted Galactor mind game and her training told her to be careful, to be on her guard.

             And yet....

            And yet, there was something about the man in gold that stilled the fear in Jun. She was no longer holding his elbow and found herself sandwiched between the man and the woman in blue. Jun got another shock as she looked at this other woman. Again, she saw features that bore a striking resemblance to Ken, even more so than the man's. She had Ken's stance, his tilt of the head, the shape of his eyes, even his nose. Jun could even see that the eyebrows were the same chocolate brown as Ken's. Jun should have felt uneasy, she should have felt trapped there, between two strangers, she should be braced to defend herself.

            Only she didn't and she wasn't. She felt comfortable between these two people of about her own age. She felt.... safe. No, she told herself severely, turning her attention back to the real Ken, standing just a few feet from her. I can't let myself be distracted by the fact that they look like him. I can't let down my guard because of my feelings for him. I can't....

            Still, there was a quiet, niggling little voice in her head that kept telling her: You're safe. Safe. No fear. It's OK. You're safe here.

            Vivianna, by contrast, was hardly quiet in her anger and distress. "How the hell could he not tell you anything?" she was demanding of Ken, as if he had something to do with what Hakase had or had not told the team. "What is he thinking? I mean, I thought this man had brains!"

            "Now, wait a minute...!" snapped Ken.

            "Perhaps he did what Don Quixote did," suggested in the man in white and black, "he read from dusk until dawn and from dawn until dusk until his brains dried up and blew out his left ear."

            The man in gold snickered quietly by Jun's side but Joe lost whatever minor shred of composure he had left. "If you think we're going to stand here and let you insult Hakase like that...!" he roared.

            "Cool it!" snapped Vivianna with the voice of someone who expected to be obeyed. "No one's trying to insult anybody. It was just a joke, so lighten up. Look," she continued to Ken and the others, ignoring Joe for the moment, "clearly there's been a screw up somewhere, so let's just figure out the best way to deal with it, OK?"

            "Fine," snorted Joe. "You can start by telling us who the hell you are."

            The woman in blue chuckled at that. "Oh, sure Joe. As long as you don't have any plans for the next few weeks. It shouldn't take much longer than that!"

            "That'll never work, Kyra," said the man in gold. "They won't believe it without some kind of proof, and Nambu has all of it."

            "Miko's right," added Katarina. "There's just no way to properly explain who we are and what we're doing here without the proof. They won't believe us, but if Nambu explains it, they might, just might believe it."

            Sayo went to Vivianna to tug at one of her black wings. "What do we do now?" the child signed to her.

            "Good question. Anyone got any suggestions?"

            "I suggest we let Nambu handle it," answered the one in white. "He did agree to explain everything, did he not?"

            "Yeah," said Miko.

            "You're saying that you've spoken to Nambu Hakase?" Ken demanded, glaring at the white owl.

             "Well, I suggest that we drag the whole bunch of you back to base, preferably in hand cuffs, and sort the whole mess later!" Joe's voice was strained. Jun couldn't remember ever seeing him so angry before. She watched him, watched his shoulders shaking with anger and marvelled that the condor had somehow restrained himself from attacking these strangers. Katarina and Vivianna were both watching him as well, although they totally ignored his comment.

            For his part, Jinpei had moved away from Katarina and placed himself beside Ryu, eyes darting to each face in turn. Jun noticed that he seemed passive, distant, as if he had sworn no allegiance to either side and was simply waiting to see who would win the debate. He's probably waiting to see what Ken and Ryu will do, Jun decided.

            "I believe Vivianna and Katarina made those arrangements, but, yes, I've spoken to him. We all have," was the white owl's answer. Joe stiffened even more, and Ryu was frowning to himself.

            "I'm really starting to wish that Hakase had told us whatever it is. It would have meant less arguing," Ryu mumbled to Jinpei, who nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

            "I agree with you, Ryu," said Katarina. Ryu looked up, surprised that she'd heard him. "I also agree with Kai. Nambu did tell us that he would take care of this, so I don't see any reason to let him off the hook. Let him do it. And, I think I know a way to make sure that he does just that." A wicked grin had spread across her face beneath the violet visor.

            "How?" Ryu's voice was tense, suddenly.

            "By giving you proof that you're not the victims of a mass hallucination, that's how," she reassured him. "Here, guys," she added to her companions, "each of you give me a feather shuriken." Vivianna pulled out a feather from one of her wings, the tip an electric blue that stood out sharply from the black.

            "Not those ones. The other ones."

            "Oh." Vivianna reached into her pocket and pulled out a steal feather shuriken that looked just like one of Joe's, except that it was bright scarlet red and handed it to Katarina, who added her own black shuriken to it. Every one of the strangers pulled out their own, the colours matching their uniforms and handed them to Katarina.

            She turned to Ken. "Here," she held out her left hand and let the steal feathers flutter down into Ken's open palm. "Give those to Nambu, so he'll know we were here." Ken was starring doubtfully at the brightly coloured feathers. "Don't worry," she added with a grin. "I swear that they're not bombs or anything!"

            Joe snorted. "We have your word on that, do we?" he asked contemptuously.

            "Actually, you do." As she spoke, she reached up and made a cross over her heart with her right pinky finger.

            "OK, OK," called Vivianna. "Enough with the verbal boxing. We've done what we were supposed to do. Let's leave the rest for now. I don't know about the rest of you, but I skipped lunch, so I'm ready to eat a horse! Let's go!" Indeed, the day had skidded away from them, and the sun was starting to set, causing the shadows of the buildings to lengthen and darken as it died. Vivianna took off at a jog, her wings spread wide as they caught the air, a couple of strong flaps and she was airborne, calling "see ya!" over her shoulder. The others followed suit, calling "so long" and "later" to the Kajaku Ninjatai as they one by one took flight.

            Miko paused, looking down at Jun with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry," he told her. "It'll be fine... I promise." He even winked as he moved away, grinning at Ken as he took to the air. "We're on the same side, you know!" he called back to the eagle as he flew off. Jun and the others watched as nearly all of the strangers flew away, disappearing around one of the buildings.

            All except Katarina. Katarina, whose indigo wings, while the same colour and shape as Joe's, looked a bit longer. Leather cape-like wings that hug limply from her shoulders. She was standing there, watching her friends fly off, her face totally unconcerned, her arms folded across her chest.

            Joe started to chuckle, a nasty sort of chuckle, made even more so by his gruff, deep baritone voice. Katarina just looked at him. "Your friends are idiots," Joe finally told her.

            "Oh? You think so?"

            "Of course. They've all flown away and left you here alone with us. You, the one who doesn't have wings and can't fly. They've left you behind."

            "That's right," said Ken. Everyone was starring at Katarina, who hadn't moved.

            "And?" she asked, finally.

            "And," grinned Joe, "do you really think we're just going to let you walk away? If you know us at all, you know that we've dealt with dozens of Galactors at one time and won. You're alone. You don't have a chance in hell of getting away." He began moving towards her as he spoke, stopping just a couple of feet away from her.

            Kat had begun to grin before Joe had finished speaking. "Aa, and you think you're going to take me back to the Crescent Coral base by force, do you?" As she spoke, she turned and slowly walked a few feet away to stand in the lengthening shadow of one of the buildings. Once there, she stopped to face Joe again.

            "That's the idea." He was moving towards her again, stopping just outside of the shadow.

            Kat snorted. "It won't be that easy. You've got to catch me first." Jun could see her grinning, a wicked smile that almost looked nasty.

            Joe was grinning as well, a similar nasty grin on his face. "Oh, I don't think that will be a problem."

            "Oh, really?"

            "Really." Joe lunged towards her. As soon as he moved, Katarina seemed to shrink. He stopped short as she simply sunk into the ground in front of him, vanishing completely in a matter of seconds. Joe gasped. Ken and the others rushed forward. "What happened?" Ken demanded.

            "Where'd she go?" asked Ryu.

            "Oneechan," said Jinpei, "I'm kinda scared. Was she a ghost?"

            "Don't be silly," Jun scolded out of habit. "There are no such things."

            "AHEM!" came a voice from the left. Everyone watched as something dark began to grow out of the shadows further along the building wall. The dark blob grew until it was over five feet, only to start to fall away like water. As it fell, a now familiar figure began to emerge from within it.

            She was smiling at them as the darkness fell away from her. Her arms were still folded. "See?" she called to them. "Told you it wouldn't be that easy."

            "How?" Jinpei asked.

            "Easy. It's just a little something you don't believe in.... magic."

            "Bullshit," spat Ken.

            "Kuso," growled Joe.

            "Aa!" Kat laughed. "That's always your stock answer, your favourite word! ’ÄòKuso'!" She grinned. "Never mind, you'll see. Anyway, I'm off. I've got a lot to do tonight and I want to eat before I get started. Ciao!" She turned on her heel at the last word and walked towards the shadowed wall. Everyone watched as she simply walked into it and disappeared.

            The Kajaku Ninjatai stood there, starring at the wall, looking after the woman who was no longer there. Joe started to swear again, but Jun wasn't listening to him. She watched Ken, who, after a few moments, opened his hand to stare silently at the brightly coloured feather shurikens in his palm.