"Will Shampoo now turn back to normal?" Shampoo asked the healer hopefully as they were exiting the farplane.
"I can't say it for sure..." Mia replied. "I have to make some tests. But now, that the hostile presence has vanished, we can at least look for a solution without being afraid of losing you."
"Shampoo really hope so," the furry amazon sighed.
"You should stay in Guadosalam for a little while," Mia advised. "So I can research your... exceptional condition further."
Shampoo felt uneasy. She wasn't afraid, but all by herself in this creepy town... She'd have preferred to join Ranma on his quest.
Kasumi smiled. "If you like, I'll keep you company, Shampoo."
Shampoo looked at the eldest Tendo girl with thankful eyes.
"You want to stay here?" Akane asked in surprise. "Don't you want to come with us?"
"Perhaps we'll find a way to rejoin you when Mia-san's research is complete," Kasumi said. "Besides... I'd really see mother again..."
"I understand," Akane smiled. "You knew her better than Nabiki and me... and being able to see her here is really a great gift..."
Suddenly, their conversation was being stopped by a deep groan behind them. Startled, everyone turned around.
The ghostly figure of an elder Guado man was slowly staggering out of the farplane. Mia gasped. "Lord... Lord Jyscal!"
"He's an unsent," Auron realized. "He doesn't belong here. Yuna, send him."
Auron groaned and dropped onto his knees. But, as everyone was looking at the spirit of Jyscal, no one really noticed...
Except for one...
"Lord Jyscal..." Yuna whispered. The spirit looked at her with sorrowful eyes and stretched out his hand.
"He is Lord Jyscal no more," Kimahri said. "Send him now, Yuna."
Yuna raised her rod and spun it around. The image of Jyscal shuddered and slowly faded.
Several Guado who were in that area gaped at the place where seconds ago, the image of their former leader had been.
Auron stood up. "Let's talk about that later. We should leave for now."
And while they returned to Guadosalam, Shampoo could only think: 'Why did Auron feel pain? Was not even a fiend, only image... Is something wrong with him?'
She decided to ask him sometime.
----
"How... could someone so important as Lord Jyscal die and not be sent," Wakka pondered. "That doesn't make any sense."
"It's not like I understand all of this spiritual stuff," Ranma said. "But perhaps he was send, but decided to stay behind."
"You know, that kinda makes sense," Rikku agreed.
"It means he died an unclean death," Auron stated.
They returned to the manor. "Ill go see Maester Seymour," Yuna told the others. "Please wait here."
Mia smiled at Shampoo. "I'm returning to my room and start the research. Promise to join me later, okay?"
Shampoo nodded. "Shampoo promise."
"Okay, it was a pleasure meeting all of you," Mia said. "Goodbye." And after the others bid her farewell, she returned to the healer's room.
----
Seymour entered the laboratory of his servant Goba. "Well, well. Back on your little playgrounds, I see? Any reports?"
Goba shook his head. "No, mylord. I wasn't able to contact the Alpha Fiend until now. But I got the idea for another, brilliant invention..." He held up a flask with a shimmering, blue liquid inside. "Behold: My greatest masterpiece yet!"
"Tell me, what does it do?" the maester asked impatiently.
"You remember how the test subject called the place where she received her curse 'Jusenkyo', right?" he chuckled. "Well, this liquid is enriched with the magic I found in her body, and I managed to change it. Observe..." He made a small gesture with his hand, and the liquid rose out of its flask. It formed a small ball and floated around Goba's hand.
The insane Guado scientist giggled. "This is the prototype of a new kind of fiend I came up with. I call it: The Jusenkyomorph!"
"And what abilities does it have?" Seymour asked. Until now, he didn't seem that impressed.
"Look closely at these two animals, mylord..." He pointed to a little rat and a frog, both enclosed within cages. The gel-like fiend floated over to the rat and engulfed it completely. It didn't let the rat go, but waited. When it floated out of the cage, the rat was gone.
"He absorbed the animal completely," Goba explained. "And now..." This time, the Jusenkyomorph floated over to the frog. It didn't absorb the amphibian, it only surrounded its small body for a little while. But when the fiend released its prey... it had turned into a rat.
"You see?" Goba happily exclaimed. "By absorbing a living being, the fiend is able to inflict a victim with a curse, similar to the one the experiment had. And not only that: It is able to 'store' multiple versions of these curses and can choose which curse it should inflict its victim with."
"Interesting," Seymour muttered. "But forgive me if I ask: Why should we inflict anyone with one of these silly curses if the fiend can absorb them anytime, effectively killing them? I want death, Goba! Not changes!"
He left the lair for his meeting with Lady Yuna.
Nervously, Goba waved the floating mass of liquid back into the flask and put it away. It was a brilliant invention in his eyes, but his lord made the decision. Pity though...
Suddenly, a sparkling light floated up to his shoulder and reformed into a tiny, four-legged, cat-like shape.
"Master," it squeaked in a tiny voice. "Forgive me, I failed you..."
The rotund Guado could only blink. "Alpha Fiend? What by the farplane happened to you?"
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(Posted Tue, 25 Jul 2006 15:18)
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