Brianna sighed as she returned to her lab. Agency Zero had asked her father to go to Japan to investigate the incident, and the others were getting ready to go with them.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go; she felt she owed this new were-cheetah that at least. He had given his life to stop that Phoenix, and she wanted to at least pay her last respects.
As she opened the door to her lab, she was startled to hear her creations fighting amongst themselves.
“I wanna tell her!” yelled Peebrit.
“No, me!” yelled Peegi. “I’m the one who noticed it.”
“Was not!” yelled Peebri.
“Noticed what?” asked Brianna, causing the three Peebos to run right up to her.
“The were-cheetah’s alive!” they yelled out at once.
Brianna blinked. “What? And one at a time.”
“Well,” started Peegi, “I noticed that it plowed through one attack of fire like it was nothing. Even his clothes weren’t singed.”
Brianna nodded.
“And then I noticed that he held on to the Phoenix all the way into the canal,” said Peebri. “He wasn’t smoking or anything.”
“So he couldn’t have been burned up!” happily shouted Peebrit as she spun around in circles. “And if he wasn’t burned up...”
“Then he has to be alive...” muttered Brianna. It made sense. If he could take a full force fire attack that had to be in the thousands of degrees if Dao was correct about those attacks, plus hold onto the thing to take it down into a canal, then there was no way boiling water would have killed it, or even vaporized it.
Part of her wanted to smack her own head into a wall for missing the obvious. Of course they weren’t going to find a trace of him. After that, he would have bolted to make certain his friends and family were all right, or at the very least, hide to keep from being captured by someone like Pee-wee.
But a much larger part wanted to run straight to her father and Dao and confirm what she and her little ones had just deduced.
“Wow,” said Peebrit, “Mommy’s running fast. I’m going to chase her!” shouted the happy Peebo as it took off.
“Wait for us!” shouted the other two, taking off.
Herb sat on his throne, his wife currently off in her garden—she loved it so much, he’d never deny her time to spend with it, even with official business to tend to. “I must say that given the latest news, I’m quite surprised to see you here,” he said.
“No more than me,” muttered Kiima, her left arm in a sling, her head bandaged.
Herb nodded. A few hours ago, a party of Phoenix had descended onto his kingdom’s doorstep. And with his father away dealing with the Amazons over a treaty, it fell onto him to deal with the Phoenix request. “I take it then you tried to stop ... his ... actions.”
“We did,” said a heavily bandaged elderly man beside Kiima, named Jol. “But Lord Saffron would not be denied.”
“We lost thirteen warriors trying to contain him,” said Guf.
Herb nodded. “Why stop him at all? I thought you all would enjoy the chance to see Saotome suffer.”
“He was enraged,” said Kiima. “He didn’t care about secrecy, about keeping hidden from the landlings, or the possible results of his quest. It would have been easy enough to get Saotome to come here,” she continued, noticing Herb’s demeanor didn’t change. “But he was insane, slaying any of his own people he came across on his way out.”
Herb nodded. “And how did he get so strong? Last I heard, Saotome had both the keys, and one of the taps was destroyed.”
“We were able to restore the taps,” said Guf. “They didn’t need the keys.”
“Maybe that in itself was the reason for his madness,” muttered Jol.
“No,” said Kiima, her heart hurting from what she was about to say. “He wanted this ever since he had grown to speak a few words, his revenge consumed his birth. I only hope we can stop him after he sates it.”
Herb smiled a bit. “That won’t be necessary,” he added as Mint started up a television, a recent purchase his wife made that he was fast becoming attached too as well. “It seems that once again, your Lord bit off more than he could chew.”
As the assembled Phoenix watched the video, Herb noted that a few were stuck in disbelieving shock, a few paled, and some like Kiima turned slightly, crying at the death of their Lord. They were loyal and caring, even as he went mad.
Such a rare trust in family, even if the betrayal was obvious.
“A ... about our request,” said Kiima, her voice crackling as she struggled to stay in control over her emotions.
Herb nodded. “Your people may come into the Musk Kingdom as refugees. The lands in the south should fit your needs for the moment. I trust you will police your own people and keep ... incidents from happening? I rather enjoy the peace we’ve acquired these last few decades.”
Kiima nodded. “Thank you.”
Herb nodded. “I will dispatch workers and healers to accompany you both to the site and to help your people into the settlement.
“But hear me,” said Herb, standing tall. “If Saotome comes here looking for answers, you will give them. Just pray he doesn’t come seeking blood as well.”
Those that had paled before paled even further as they turned in left. After they were gone, Mint turned to Herb. “Are you sure he’s still alive?”
Herb chuckled a bit. “Oh, he’s still quite living, I’m sure of that. If he could survive a direct fire blast as well as hold onto that flaming bird, then he’s definitely alive. I’ve seen him get out of worse.”
“Excuse me,” said Lime. “But the Princess was wondering if her ‘favorite assistant’ could help her with her plants.” That said, Lime held up a pink gardening suit.
“I just had to give her that idea, didn’t I,” muttered the Dragon Prince, as he used a glass of water to assume his cursed form. Maybe this time we’ll actually garden and she’ll keep her hands to herself. She’s a bigger pervert at times than my Guard.
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(Posted Tue, 24 Oct 2006 10:28)
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