The President of Amijdal considered himself a patient man, but there were certain times when one didn't appreciate being made to wait. Now was one of those times. Maximillian Charest was currently meeting with General Carter and three of his top-ranking military advisors regarding the situation in Rokugan, but his mind was somewhere else entirely. There was only one person in the world who could tell him the words that would put his mind at rest - that the Emperor was dead.

An abrupt knock echoed from the door. The uniformed advisors glanced over their shoulders at the sudden interruption. General Carter didn't appear to notice or care as he continued describing satellite reports of troop movements in Rokugan.

"Come in," said the President, who had been eagerly expecting the messenger.

The door opened and a black-uniformed security officer stepped into the chamber. He saluted the President and stood at rigid attention beside the door. "The Commander wishes to speak with you, President Charest," he announced.

The President nodded, folding his hands atop his large mahogany desk. "Good," he replied. "Gentlemen, if you could excuse us, General Carter and I need to take this call."

"The Commander?" Admiral Pivens looked confused. "Which Commander? Commander who?"

"Admiral, I don't ask for your secrets," the President gave a tight smile. "Now, if you please, a moment is all I need and I can return to addressing your concerns."

The three advisors nodded and quickly rose. As they filed out, Carter remained seated, watching the President impassively. Though his faced showed nothing, the old General had no doubt been waiting for the Senpet Commander's call as impatiently as Maximillian himself.

"Line four, secured code, sir," the messenger said after the three officers had departed. The President nodded in reply as he picked up the phone. The messenger saluted and exited the office promptly, closing the door behind him.

"A new day dawns," Charest said, pressing the speaker button so Carter could hear as well. The President felt somewhat silly giving the coded greeting, but it was a necessity.

"The sun never sets," Athmose replied, giving the previously arranged countersign.

"Greetings, my friend," the President said.

"It is I," Athmose replied simply. Though the line was secure, he knew better than to refer to himself by name. His mission was too important, too secret.

"What is the status of your mission?" Maximillian asked. Media and intelligence reports had already given the President a fairly good guess what the answer would be, but he hoped the experienced Senpet officer could shed new light on the situation.

"Aborted," came the reply. "As you probably know, things have taken a turn for the worse. We have retreated to a safe distance and are watching events as they develop."

"What of your target?" General Carter asked.

"Current location and status are unknown," Athmose answered. "Though we believe he was responsible for the recent disturbance."

"So has the threat been removed?" Maximillian asked, his gaze fixing on Carter. The General's look was not encouraging. Like Charest, he had been a soldier long enough to have an instinct for danger, and that instinct told them both that the trouble in Rokugan was only beginning.

"Negative," Athmose replied, confirming Maximillian's worries. "The threat the target currently poses is unknown. The situation has changed beyond my ability to predict what will happen next. I believe the best option at this time is to wait, and collect intelligence."

"Do you have the means to collect intelligence?" the President asked, his tone uncertain. Athmose and his men were relatively unfamiliar with Rokugan. As soldiers, they were excellent. As spies, they would stick out like sore thumbs.

"We have made contact with a sympathetic underground movement," Athmose replied. "Already we have a few answers, though the data is somewhat confusing at the moment."

"I see," Maximillian replied.

"I will try to maintain contact as soon as the situation develops," Athmose replied.

"We wish you good luck, my friend," Maximillian replied.

"I think we will need it," Athmose answered. The Senpet Commander closed the connection, and the President slowly hung up the phone.

"That was not encouraging," General Carter said simply.

"Did you expect it to be?" Maximillian answered. "We knew when we saw the reports of Otosan Uchi's destruction that something strange was going on. Now we'll just have to wait and see how things develop."

"The declaration of war still stands, Max," General Carter said. "We could move our armies in and settle this."

"And possibly make a bad situation worse, Bill?" the President replied. "You saw what happened in the city. The Rokugani barely managed to destroy that creature, and they know what they're doing. If we move in and attack them, what happens when the next oni comes?"

"And what happens to Amijdal if they send the next oni here?" General Carter replied.

President Charest took a deep breath. "I wish I knew the answer to that, Bill. I really do."

The city of Otosan Uchi was thick with the rubble of collapsed buildings. In one area in particular, a shopping mall and a small office building had once stood. Now both buildings, and the highway that passed above them, were memories. Now the buildings couldn't even be identified except by someone who had lived or worked here. Now there was nothing.

Almost nothing.

A small scratch sounded from the base of one rubble heap, a scratch that had slowly increased in volume over the last forty hours. In time, the scratch increased to a scrape, and from that to a rhythmic crunching. The surface of the pile began to shift, slightly at first, then very noticeably. After a some time, an area of broken stone the size of a small car pitched back and forth from the movement of something beneath.

Finally, the stone crumbled away and Kaibutsu exploded from the earth.

"Hurt," Kaibutsu said, rubbing head. One of his horns had been broken and a large bruise painted the left side of his face. "Hurt a lot," he nodded. The ogre turned and kicked at the rubble heap for causing him so much pain.

The ogre's stomach growled. He hadn't eaten in two days, ever since he had been buried. It seemed as if his distraction worked, though. He couldn't see any of the other ogres or goblins anymore. The places they had been standing were covered with broken rocks. Apparently they hadn't managed to survive or dig themselves out as Kaibutsu had.

"Ha," Kaibutsu snorted. "Kaibutsu won."

"Ha," Kaibutsu added. "Kaibutsu champion!"

The ogre hopped onto a particularly large chunk of rubble and held his arms out triumphantly. He imagined the cheers of an audience that wasn't there, the accolades of friends and fans he would never have. After a few moments, he tired of pretending and hopped down.

"Oh well," he shrugged. "Okay to dream, right?"

Kaibutsu looked around for any sign of Inago Sekkou, though he knew he wouldn't find any. His friend was too quick and clever to hang around, plus he probably thought that Kaibutsu was dead. By all rights Kaibutsu should have been dead. He expected to be dead. Of course, this area used to be a haunt of the Locust Clan - that was why Kaibutsu and Sekkou had come here in the first place. Dumb luck had allowed the ogre to stumble across the office building, which he recognized as an old entrance to the Locust Tunnels.

Specifically, it had been an entrance to a Locust ammunition dump.

The ogres hadn't known that. They also didn't know that there was a hidden bomb shelter in the mall across the street.

The ogre smiled. "Kaibutsu sneaky."

His stomach growled again. The ogre came to the conclusion that no matter how sneaky he was, he needed to find something to eat. He trudged off down the street, looking for a grocery store or a restaurant. He stumbled over an abandoned convenience store and made his way inside. The store was dark and nobody was inside. Many of the shelves had been overturned and the cooler doors in the back were broken in a spider-web pattern.

"Messy," Kaibutsu said. He gingerly stepped through the debris so he wouldn't get any food on his boots.

After a few minutes of searching, the ogre turned up three cans of peaches and a can of sardines in the back. He also grabbed a few packs of gum off the floor and a three liter bottle of soda that had been overlooked. He also discovered a pair of petrified pretzels in the pretzel warmer, which he added to his hoard. He carried all of his treasures to the front of the store, set them on the counter, and waited several minutes.

"Hello?" Kaibutsu called out plaintively, hoping someone would come and help him.

"Hello?" he waved a bill from his pocket. "Have money! Want to buy food."

The ogre's shoulders slumped as he realized that no one was going to check him out. He wouldn't be able to pay for his food. He turned to take the stuff back to the shelves where he had found it.

"Kaibutsu hungry," the ogre moaned as he put the canned peaches back on the shelf, straightening a fallen display case as he did so. "Kaibutsu like peaches, too."

Abruptly, the ogre came to a realization. He didn't need to pay the checker, and he didn't need to leave the food here. Instead, he took a pen off of the counter, and wrote a quick note apologizing for taking the food. With that, he left his five hyakurai bill on the cash register and trudged back outside.

"Mmmm," Kaibutsu said, sinking his fangs into the top of the can of peaches and tipping it back to drink the juice. "Good peaches."

He proceeded to unwrap each stick of gum in turn and put them all in his mouth at the same time. The ogre sat on the curb and chewed widely as he sighed in satisfaction. Taking another drink from the can of peaches, he looked around the broken skyline of the city.

"Oni gone," he concluded. "City broken. Too bad. Otosan Uchi pretty. Kaibutsu feel bad for city. Hope everybody got out okay."

The ogre removed the ball of gum from his mouth and replaced it with a whole pretzel. The pretzel was tough - almost as tough as the peach can, and the ogre barely chomped it down even with some soda to soften it up. The ogre looked dubiously at the other pretzel, then threw it at the wall across the street. It left a dent.

"Ick," Kaibutsu said, turning to the can of sardines. He carefully picked the key off of the side of the can. After spending several moments trying to figure out how to work the device, he gave up and bit off the end of the tin. Dumping the fish down his throat and smacking his lips, he considered his next move.

He couldn't find Sekkou. Sekkou would be hiding by now, and Kaibutsu wasn't nearly as clever as Sekkou. That was too bad, because Sekkou was his best friend. Kaibutsu hoped he would find him again someday.

He thought about Jiro next, but he had even less an idea where to find Jiro. Jiro was probably with his samurai friends by now, and his samurai friends would be scared of Kaibutsu. No sense getting into that kind of trouble.

Nope. For better or worse, Kaibutsu was on his own.

But where would he go? What would he do?

Then the ogre felt it again. The familiar tugging at his mind that he had felt two nights ago, the pull of a kindred spirit. He felt something going on to the north, and to the west. Very far away to the north and west, but that's where it was. Something very big was going on there.

"Well," the ogre concluded as he emptied the next can of peaches into his mouth. "Guess that where Kaibutsu going next."

With that, the ogre promptly put the ball of gum back in his mouth. He stood, tucked the last can of peaches in his pocket for later, and headed off down the street with his jumbo soda bottle cupped in one hand.

"Hiruma Tanaki, second child of the cousin of the Hiruma daimyo..."

Zin sat the edge in the garden of the Temple of the Elements, staring into the deep waters of a green pond. The words of the Kashrak echoed through her mind.

"I can give you back the person you once were. I can help you..."

Zin remembered the dark Naga's final moments, when he had tried to speak to her. She had slain him without hesitation. What had he been preparing to say? A final shout of defiance? An apology? A clue about her past? Or had he merely been casting another spell? She would perhaps never know...

"Zin, are you all right?" Sumi asked, approaching her from the temple with a concerned frown.

Zin looked up and gave a wan smile. She cocked her head to one side, her gaze awkward due to the thick bandages that covered her left eye. Her pearl magic had saved her right eye from the Kashrak's poison, but the left would never see again.

The young daimyo of the Phoenix wore the same light plasteel armor she had worn during the destruction of Otosan Uchi, with Ofushikai tucked under the belt. Her hair was tied back in a messy ponytail, and her round face was covered with grime and dirt. At the other edge of the garden, Shiba Mojo looked on but did not interfere. He was content to merely keep a watchful eye over his daimyo.

"You look like you have been busy," Zin said, standing and clasping Sumi's hand in both of hers.

Sumi smiled awkwardly at the Naga custom, but took Zin's hands warmly. "There are still survivors trapped in many of the buildings," she replied. "The Masters and I have more work than we can handle. Matsu Gohei is still out there searching. I swear, the man is like a machine. The battle may be over, but it's almost as if we didn't win at all..." Sumi's voice trailed off.

"I know the feeling," Zin replied. "Kashrak is gone, but I failed to fulfill the Qamar's commands. The Blade of the Pale Eye was lost." Zin pulled one hand away to rest on the Blade of the Bright Eye, the weapon she used to end the Kashrak's life.

Sumi frowned. "What does that mean?"

Zin shook her head. "I do not know. The Akasha has been cleansed, that much I know. Already, I can feel my people begin to awaken. But is the Kashrak really gone? I do not know." Zin released Sumi's hands and stepped away, staring into the surface of the still pond once more as she clasped her arms about herself.

"His body was destroyed in the blast that consumed Munashi's summoning circle, Zin," Sumi offered. "The Seekers crews searched the area. They found some remains that weren't identifiable, and could be the Kashrak."

"It does not matter, Sumi," Zin sighed. "Do you think the Kashrak needs a body to perpetrate evil on the world?"

Sumi was quiet for a moment. "We were able to identify your friend," Sumi said. "The man you were carrying when we found you? It turns out he's Ichiro Chobu, the son of the tetsukansen-implanted Badger daimyo who tried to assassinate the Emperor. He's wanted by the police in connection with several robberies and murders."

"I don't really know him," Zin shrugged. "He was just in the right place at the right time, and he saved my life. How is he?"

"Not good," Sumi said, shaking her head. "The doctors say that he's in critical condition. We're getting him the best care we can find. It's kind of ironic, actually. He helped you kill the Kashrak, but he probably wouldn't have been in town if it hadn't been for the tetsukansen, which Kashrak helped create."

A Phoenix soldier in dark orange armor quickly approached the pair and waited to be acknowledged. Mojo appeared at Sumi's side, watching the newcomer carefully. "Konichiwa, Shiba-san," Sumi said, noting the mon on the man's armor. "May I help you?"

"Sumi-sama, Lady Zin," the soldier said, "I bring news from Neo Shiba. A contingent of my family have arrived and wish to meet with you."

Sumi's eyes narrowed. "Tell Shiba Gensu if this is another one of his political games, I'll turn his blood into dirt," she snarled. Mojo's hand reached casually for his void-pistol.

The soldier blinked in surprise at Sumi's open threat. "I was not sent by Shiba Gensu, Sumi-sama," he said quickly. "I was sent by my lord Shiba Sato; we have brought doctors and relief workers to aid Otosan Uchi."

Sumi looked at Zin and Mojo. "Shiba Sato? Isn't he the one..."

Zin nodded. "Yes, the one who aided us. He helped us in Neo Shiba."

Sumi nodded pertly at the soldier. "Show him in."

The soldier nodded and quickly departed. Several moments later, he returned at the side of an extremely elderly man in a wheelchair, sipping from a cup of soda through a straw. Pushing the wheelchair, Sumi and the others recognized the young yojimbo, Shiba Jo.

"Shiba Sato," Sumi said, walking forward to greet the old man. "I am Sumi, daimyo of the Phoenix Clan. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

The old man's eyes met Sumi's and the straw fell from his mouth. His eyes widened and his lip quivered. His gaze flick to the Ancestral Sword of the Phoenix, tucked beneath her belt and he immediately fell into a deep bow. Jo looked down at the old man with a worried expression.

"Sato-sama?" the yojimbo called out in concern.

Sumi noticed that Sato's hands were shaking, and knelt by his side. She touched his face whispered a short spell of healing to calm the man's nerves. When Sato looked at her, tears streamed down his wrinkled cheeks.

"Sato-san?" she said to him. "Are you all right?"

"I-I'm sorry, Sumi-sama," the old man said, his lips quivering as he struggled to speak. "I... I don't know what to say..."

Sumi looked at Shiba Jo and the other soldier in confusion, but they looked as baffled as she.

"My lady, I apologize for my tears," the old man said. "All my life I've been sworn to protect you. And this... this is the first time I have had a chance... I'm sorry, my lady, but you do an old man's heart good. You'll bring the Phoenix back together. I can see it in your eyes..."

Sumi shook her head slightly and smiled at the old man. "I'm no different from the others. Zin told me about you, and your career is well documented. You've worked for many Phoenix daimyo in the past, served them, protected them. I'm merely another lord in a chain of many you've watched come and go."

Sato chuckled. "Yes, I've seen a lot of Phoenix daimyos, my lady. A lot of stuffed shirts that didn't stand for diddly without the Soul of Shiba." As he went on, his voice became thick with emotion. "After all this time... the Soul has finally come home and found someone worthy to carry it. Sumi-sama, I am at your disposal. You just tell me what to do, and I'll do it."

"I thank you, Sato-san," Sumi said. She didn't know what else to say. The importance of who and what she was had not truly and fully hit her until that moment. This man, a soldier with a lifetime of experience and wealth greater than nearly anyone in the world, was ready to do anything for her. "I thank you, and the Phoenix thank you, Shiba Sato." Impulsively, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. The old man smiled broadly, one hand trailing up to touch his face.

Sumi stood, cleared her throat, and composed herself. Sato quickly wiped his tears away with a plaid handkerchief. An instant later, the five Phoenix were immediately at attention once more, concealing all signs of the emotional display with practiced ease. Zin looked on, wondering again why the Rokugani took such pains to hide their feelings from one another. Is this something that Hiruma Tanaki would have understood? Is this another answer the Kashrak could have given her?

"Sumi-sama, I have grave news," Sato said, his voice even and controlled. "Shiba Gensu is dead."

"Dead?" Sumi replied. "How did this happen?"

"An unfortunate altercation between the Shiba and an illegally held prisoner," Sato replied, rising one eyebrow.

"Kenyu?" Zin asked.

Sato tilted his head slightly. "Involving the Iuchi, yes. More directly involving the enormous Naga that rescued him from the Neo Shiba prisons."

"Szash," Zin sighed. "By the Bright Eye, no."

Sato looked pointedly at Zin. "It was his own fault, Zin," the old man replied. "The legends state clearly that Naga have little tolerance for duplicity. Gensu should have known better than to confront Szash. Only one way that could have ended, and that's the way it did end."

"What about Gensu's followers?" Sumi asked. "Neo Shiba must be in an uproar."

"To say the least," Sato frowned. "I'm afraid the situation is even worse than when Gensu was in charge. There have been riots in the city. The citizens who supported Gensu turn against those who support your claim. Shiba Katsumi, Gensu's former aide de camp, is now your most vocal opponent. Though she's not as subtle as Gensu, she's very passionate, and has a rabid following. It was all I could do to convince the Shiba to allow me to extend aid to Otosan Uchi. That's how bad it has become."

"That's pathetic," Mojo snapped, interrupting the conversation. "I can't believe our family would act that way, Sato-sama. Haven't they seen the news footage? Haven't they seen what's going on here?"

"It's funny you should say that, Mojo-san," Sato answered, giving the yojimbo a shrewd look. "As it's quite possible you're the only one stopping it from getting worse."

Mojo looked at Sumi, then back at Sato. "What are you talking about?"

"You," Sato nodded, pointing at Mojo around his soda cup, "pilot of the famous Phoenix War Machine. Don't tell me you haven't seen it on the news. You were the last one standing, after all the other War Machines fell. Even after Kyuden Hida fell. You were the one that maneuvered the oni into position so the Crabs could finish it off. You're a hero, and you're a Shiba. Add to this the fact that you're a public supporter of Sumi. You could tip the scales here, Shiba Mojo. You could end this whole thing."

"Mojo?" Sumi replied, looking at her yojimbo.

Mojo shifted uncomfortably. "Listen, I didn't take this job to get involved in politics..."

"Some men have greatness thrust upon them, it's said," Sato said. "And it doesn't hurt that you're photogenic."

"Yeah, well it seems the world has been doing more than its share of thrusting as far as I'm concerned," Mojo replied with a sigh.

Sato laughed. "I feel that way myself most of the time, lad. Don't worry, I've got it all figured out. You only need to do one thing. It's quick, it's simple, and it'll put this all to rest."

Mojo looked at the old man carefully. "What do I have to do?" he asked.

Sato grinned. "Swear fealty to Sumi."

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "She's already my daimyo. She has my loyalty."

"Yes, but since she abdicated the Isawa name, she's a daimyo with no family," Sato replied.

"I did that for a reason," Sumi said quickly.

"Yeah, I know," Sato said. "You've got a temper."

"Sato-sama," Sumi said, her tone warning.

"That was no insult, Sumi-sama," Sato held up a defensive hand. "I wouldn't follow a daimyo without fire! Unfortunately, the Shiba won't follow a daimyo with no name. And what's done is done. If you took a name back now, you'd look weak. So, instead, Mojo takes your her name. He become Sumi Mojo. That'll show all of those Shiba who worship the ground he walks on how important it is that we shut up, get in line, and listen to what the Soul says."

Mojo coughed. "Can I do that? Just invent a new family name? Is that legal?"

Sumi shook her head quickly. "No, you can't," she replied. "Only the Emperor can create a new name."

Sato nodded. "Princess Ryosei is currently acting as Empress. And rumor has it that she's very close to a young Phoenix boy. Do you really think she would deny you this if it would bring the Phoenix back together?"

Mojo's brow furrowed. "You're devious, old man."

Sato shrugged. "I do my best. At any rate, I'm right behind you if you do this, Mojo. Two seconds after you become Sumi Mojo, I'll swear fealty as Sumi Sato. Your name will smooth over a lot of rough road, and my money should handle the rest."

"And I would be Sumi Jo, if you'll have me, Lady Sumi," Shiba Jo replied.

"And Sumi Kaizen," added the other guard.

"And thirty other assorted Phoenix in my employ are ready to do the same," Sato finished.

"No," Sumi stated decisively, her face a bright red with embarrassment. "I'm not going to let you take my name, if the only reason you're doing it is to make another move in some political game."

"Sumi-sama, no disrespect intended, but how do you think family names are formed?" Sato replied. "The Yasuki were formed to sweep the Crane's red-headed stepchildren out the back door. Don't even get me started on the Hitomi family. Families are formed for political reasons, but that doesn't change a thing. Every one of my men ready to take your name are willing to die for you, Sumi. Myself included. I took one look at Shiba Mojo and saw that he was the same. Now. Are you telling us that you would have us die for you, but you would deny us all the chance to live for you? To take your name and make it something that unites the clan, the way we should be?"

Sumi looked at the ground and closed her eyes for a moment. Even with the Soul of Shiba's guidance, it seemed that she had much to learn about being a leader.

"Life is learning," spoke a voice from deep within her. "It is often what we fail to see, rather than what we see, that makes us wise."

"All right," she said, looking up. "If Princess Ryosei agrees, then I'll do it. I will give you my name."

Sato nodded. "Right, then. Next order of business. We've got a pair of refugees seeking political asylum from Gensu's followers. I wasn't sure what to do with them, so I took them along with me."

"Kenyu?" Zin called out, excited. "Szash? They're here?"

"They're waiting outside the Temple," Sato nodded.

"Can I see them?" Zin asked.

Sato looked up at the Naga girl and blinked innocently. "Not in here, you can't. They're outside. You have to go out there to see them. Do I have to figure out everything for you people?" Sato smirked. Zin punched him fondly on the shoulder as she darted past toward the exit.

"Ow," Sato rubbed his shoulder as he watched her go. "That Naga's stronger than she looks..."

The Qamar looked at her reflection in the surface of the great, clear pond. Her scales had darkened from the touch of the Akasha's Wound. Her skin was now a lustrous black, the edge of each scale honed to a razor's edge. Her fingers were like knives; her merest touch could leave a wound. Her hair had become a mane of wiry dark green; her eyes glowed pale yellow with the power of the Akasha. Her appearance was not how she remembered herself. In fact, none of the awakened Naga looked much like they had before entering the sleep. The Akasha's Wound had changed them all, transforming each into a unique and often frightening creature.

At her side, the Shashakar was lost in thought. Like most Cobras, he had been hideously mutated even before the Akasha's Wound. Now, strangely, the disease seemed to have righted the jakla's grotesque appearance. His skin was now a smooth, pale green. His features were even and handsome, with a full head of dark black hair. The Wound had also restored his youth; the Shashakar looked as if he had only recently hatched from the egg. The Qamar knew, however, that her mate's image of youth and health was a lie. The changes wrought by the disease inflicted terrible pain on the Shashakar's body. His muscles often stiffened and would not respond to his control. He had been near death; if Zin had taken another week to fulfill her quest it is likely the Shashakar would have died.

With the Kashrak destroyed, the Shashakar's condition had improved but the Qamar could still see the pain in his eyes. He rested upon the coils of his tail, meditating upon the perfect beauty of a pearl nestled between two fingers. The waters of the pearl bed glistened upon his pale skin, so recently had he awakened. The Qamar wanted to reach out to him, to let him know that her love would bear them through the pain left by the Kashrak's corruption. She could not. Her touch would only bring him more pain, her razor fingers would slice his perfect flesh. She sighed and turned her thoughts to the battle ahead.

"When will it end?" the Shashakar asked plaintively. His voice was musical, unfamiliar, but the tone that resonated through the Akasha could be none other than his own.

"Our battle is never over," the Qamar said. She attempted a reassuring smile, but found that the hardened scales of her face would no longer allow such an expression. "Our people made our choice when we first chose to stand as enemies of the Foul."

"But is the battle worth it?" the Shashakar asked, his eyes flicking to meet his mate's. "What have we gained? The world spins on regardless of whether we live or die. We call ourselves pure, call ourselves enemies of the darkness, but there is a darkness within us as foul as any human's. Look at our son. Look what he has done. Look at what we have become, because of his corruption." He gestured toward the pool of clear water beside them, tossing the pearl back to its home. The surface rippled and shifted to display images of dozens of recently awakened Naga. All of them were mutated in one fashion or another. Some of them were hardly recognizable as Naga at all.

"Perhaps we were too proud, my Shashakar," the Qamar said mildly, her green eyes focused upon the water. "We turned Kashrak away instead of giving him the help he required. The pain he brings is punishment for our arrogance, our lack of compassion."

The Shashakar sighed. "Have we not done enough for the cause of good?" he said morosely. "Are we not allowed even one moment of weakness? Even one mistake?"

"I suppose not," the Qamar answered. "The Naga live or die as one."

"And now we are expected to take up the standard and charge into battle again," the jakla replied. "Even weakened as we are. Not a moment of rest."

"We have slept for a hundred years, my love," the Qamar said with a wry tone. "I for one, am through resting."

The Shashakar looked at his mate and chuckled lightly. "You know what I mean," he replied. "The last ten decades have hardly been restful."

"Qamar. Shashakar," a third Naga called out as he entered the chamber without prologue. The greeting was simple, but in the language of the Akasha all the respect required for these two powerful leaders was contained within their names.

The newcomer was male, a powerfully built Asp. His skin was emerald green with dark striations of deeper brown. Rising on the thick coils of his tail he was easily ten feet in height. He wore a great saber sheathed at his belt and a bow and quiver of arrows on his back. He was dressed from the waist up in armor as black as obsidian. Merely by glancing at the stern cast of his features one could determine this one's destiny - this Naga was a warrior.

This was the Shahadet, leader of the legions of the Akasha. He was one of a handful of Naga that seemed physically unchanged by the Akasha's Wound, though both the Qamar and Shashakar could sense the great pain he felt through the ether of the Akasha. It was clear that the Shahadet had some lingering symptoms of the Kashrak's corruption, but it was also clear that he did not wish to discuss them.

"Shahadet," Qamar said, turning to acknowledge the mighty warrior. "How proceeds the preparation of the legions?"

"Everything is coming along well," the Shahadet replied with a small nod. "After our long sleep, many of the Asps are eager for a chance to battle the Foul. Those of the other bloodlines are less eager, but still willing. Only the Constrictors have shown any reluctance to return to battle."

The Qamar looked surprised to hear this. She was of the Constrictor bloodline herself - a rarity for one of her position, but then she was an exception to the rule in many ways. Though the Constrictors were the largest and most physically powerful of the Naga, they did not possess the savagery or lust for combat of their Asp brethren. Their role in the Akasha was spiritual. They were Vedics - priests and caretakers of the Naga communal soul.

"The Constrictors do not wish to fight?" the Qamar asked. "Did they give any reason?"

The Shahadet's brow wrinkled in annoyance. "Perhaps I am not explaining myself clearly," he replied, gesturing with one hand as he slithered forward on his thick tail. "It is not that the Constrictors do not recognize the danger. It is simply that most of the Constrictors seem broken in spirit. The Wound has caused more startling and bizarre mutations in their bloodline than in any other. The abominations that they have become -" The Shahadet paused, looking quickly at the Qamar as he sensed her displeasure. He looked away. "Great Qamar, you must know that I intended no insult," he said quickly.

The Shashakar rose on his coils, almond eyes narrowing in fury. "You call the great leader of our people an abomination and claim that you mean no insult? You stumble on your own words like a human! Asp, I have a mind to-"

"Shashakar, please," the Qamar said, her calm voice soothing the angered jakla. "I know what I have become." She held out her arms to display her dark, razor-sharp skin. "The Akasha's Wound will never heal. We have been transformed into abominations, one and all. It is the nature of the Naga to fear change, and seek stability. Now the Kashrak's touch has transformed us from creatures of balance to incarnations of chaos. Is it any surprise that many of us have lost hope?"

"With all due respect, Qamar, the choice is not ours to make," the Shahadet said, the clipped tone of his voice indicating his impatience as clearly as the hum his soul broadcast through the Akasha. "As long as the Foul exists, we must fight it. It was the Foul that did this to us. To cease our struggle now is to surrender to darkness."

"Which makes the task no easier," the Shashakar replied morosely. "The world has changed in the last century, but we have changed more. How can we fight when we do not know ourselves? When we cannot recognize each other?"

The Qamar rose from where she reclined near the glimmering pearl bed. The Shahadet's eyes widened momentarily; he had not even realized she had been sitting. The twisted influence of Kashrak's Taint had caused her to grow enormous, even larger than most Constrictors. Rising on her coils, she stood head and shoulders taller than even the great Shahadet.

"We could return to our sleep," the Qamar said, her voice filled with sadness. "We could sleep forever, content in our dreams of what once was and will never be again. What would that accomplish? What would we gain? Think of the human girl who came to us, who became the Zin. After her time in the pearl beds, she no longer resembled her own kind. Her memories were shattered, her former life lost. She could have abandoned us when she learned the weight of the task that had been given her. She could have denied her destiny, refused to face the Kashrak. Even yet, what did she do? She defeated the Kashrak, and freed us all from death. I have learned much from Zin. I have learned that the easiest thing one can do is die, but that so long as there is life, there is hope. When I awoke, and saw my hideous visage in the surface of the pond, I wished to die. But when I think upon the terrible burdens Zin bore, the obstacles she faced and triumphed, I realize that we must follow her example. We are the Naga, children of the Bright Eye and the Pale. We must go on. There is no other path."

The Qamar's words echoed through the cavernous chamber for minutes after she had spoken. When she looked up once more, she saw the eyes of the Shashakar and the Shahadet upon her. The Shashakar's eyes were calm, for once, clear of the pain that wracked his body. The Shahadet's eyes were full of something else. Pride.

"My Qamar," the Shahadet said, lowering his gaze respectfully. "If you could share the words and feelings you have shown us with the rest of your people, I think that many of our problems would soon fade."

"I shall speak with the Constrictors," the Qamar agreed.

"Many thanks, my Qamar," the Shahadet answered, folding his hands together and pressing his knuckles to his forehead in a gesture of respect.

"If you please, there is another matter I would like to discuss," the Qamar said. "The one who awakened us, the guardian called Quezar. He claimed to have news regarding the new champion of the Foul?"

"Indeed he does, great Qamar," the Shahadet nodded. "He says that he received an open challenge from a representative of the Foul," the Shahadet sneered, "a human monk named Koan."

The Qamar tilted her head curiously. "The same Koan who-"

"Yes," the Shahadet interrupted tersely. "The same."

"I think I would like to know more of this," the Qamar said.

"Right away, great Qamar," the Shahadet replied.

Mirumoto Chojin stepped through the scorched doorway of what had once been his apartment, a sad crease to his aged features. Togashi Meliko stood at his side, watching the old Dragon carefully. Half-melted armor and broken weapons lay scattered about the rooms. A large hole was blasted in the floor, remnants of the earlier combat with Yogo Ishak.

"It's not so bad, Chojin-sama," Meliko said, a cheerful note in her voice. "It looks like some of this stuff can still be fixed." She moved quickly to a nearby suit of blackened armor, lifting the kabuto gingerly in both hands. "Heck, this doesn't even look damaged. I bet a lot of your old stuff is still in fine shape. Fire can't hurt good old fashioned Dragon nemuranai, right?"

Chojin moved past her, walking slowly as he looked around the apartment. He no longer wore the heavy armor that had seen him through the invasion of the Dragon safehouse and that terrible night that followed. He was now dressed in a striped, button-up shirt and a pair of brown khaki pants. His wispy white hair was combed back on either side. He didn't look like a master weaponsmith any more. Now he just looked like an old man.

"The weapons don't matter," Chojin said with a sigh. "Hisojo and the others evacuated most of the good stuff already." He sighed as he stared at the corner of the apartment. A broken, burnt-out television set stood there, before the charred frame of a couch. He pressed one hand to his side, wincing as he straightened the bandage beneath his shirt.

"Chojin-sama, are you all right?" Meliko asked in concern. She took his arm in both hands, ready to steady him if he fell.

"Meliko, please, I'm not a porcelain doll," he said gruffly. "I've survived much worse than those goblins gave me."

"I'm sorry," she said, stepping away. "It's just that you seemed like..."

"I know," he nodded. "It's not the wound that bothers me. It's the memories. Before the other night, I'd lived a long time in this place."

Meliko grinned impishly. "Hisojo said that all you did was sit around, eat potato chips, and watch soap operas."

Chojin rose an eyebrow. "What of it? I fought the Hidden Dragon's battles for forty years. I think I earned the right to a retirement. Sitting around eating chips and watching soap operas was like a dream. Before the other day, I thought my days of fighting were behind me." He sighed, glancing down at his wounded side. "Guess I was wrong. Here I am, fighting and bleeding for the Hidden Dragon all over again."

"And complaining," Meliko said, darting past as he swatted at her playfully.

"That's what I do best!" he snapped.

Meliko skipped over to the corner of the apartment and knelt beside the broken television. She whistled as she inspected the shattered appliance. "Looks pretty bad," she said.

"Eh, nothing I can't fix," Chojin said, walking over to look over her shoulder. "New picture tube, some wiring, should be as good as new."

"No, that's not what I meant," she said. "I mean this is a really old TV. I didn't even think they made them like this anymore. It looks like it's heavy as a bathtub."

Chojin huffed. "Hey, in the old days, you paid for quality? You got quality. That's a fine model. They haven't improved on it. Well... except for those Dojicorp flatscreens. Those are nice. Damned expensive, though."

Meliko chuckled. "Well maybe you can buy one with the insurance money?"

Chojin looked surprised. "Hey," he nodded. "You're right! Those people owe me a pretty penny. Of course, they're probably bankrupt by now what with the shape the rest of the city's in. That would be my luck."

"Your luck?" Orin Wake laughed from the doorway. "After that escape we made the other night, I know you're not complaining about your luck, old Dragon." The bearded gaijin folded his arms and leaned against the doorway.

"Hi, Orin!" Meliko said happily, still kneeling by the television.

"Hey, Meli-chan," Orin said, smiling broadly.

"Old Dragon?" Chojin turned, cracking his knuckles as he scowled at Orin. "The proper term of respect is Chojin-sama, you big dumb gaijin."

Orin laughed again. "Good to see you're feeling better," Orin answered.

"When did you get back in town, Orin?" Chojin asked.

"Just now," Orin replied, entering the room and stepping forward to clasp the old Dragon's hand in a fierce grip. "Figured you would be here."

"How are the others?" Meliko asked, poking around in the broken television with a scrap of lumber.

"Hey!" Chojin snapped. "Leave that alone! I'm going to fix that!" She stuck her tongue out at him.

"They're fine," Orin answered with a grin. "We dropped them off at a refugee center in North Hub. I think Gyukudo's probably taken over the place by now."

"What about Ishio?" Meliko asked. She stood up and kicked at a broken sword stand.

"He's much better," Orin answered. "Athmose's medic is taking good care of him. Maybe later you can compare scars, Chojin."

Chojin shook his head. "I think I'll pass, thanks. The Senpet is still in town?"

"He's nearby," Orin nodded. "He hid Thoth in some hills north of the city."

"He's an idiot," Chojin concluded. "I'd be hightailing it back to the Allied Nations if I were him. Rokugan's no place for a Senpet."

Orin frowned. "I know, but he seems pretty worried about what happened in the city, and Massad's ravings concern him even more. He's decided to stick around to find out what's happening, and see if he's needed."

"Tell him to take it from me," Chojin sighed, peering through the ragged hole in the floor to the basement. "An overdeveloped sense of honor just gets you into trouble."

"And I thought I was the cynical one," Orin snickered.

"Don't underestimate Chojin," Meliko said, peering out a window at the far side of the apartment. "He's the grumpiest old man alive."

Chojin glared at her, but then shrugged. "Yeah, I guess she's right. So what's the talking head raving about today?"

"Massad keeps raving about the Day of Thunder," Orin answered. "He talks about how the Champion of Jigoku is on his way, and the floodgates of evil will be opened. Apparently he's biting a lot, too. One of Athmose's men almost lost a finger."

"Ew," Meliko winced at Orin. "That's so gross. Why don't you guys just take that thing and throw it in the ocean or something?"

"Not a good idea," Chojin shook his head. "The undead have a way of turning up. I think Orin did the best thing, keeping that Jackal's where we can keep an eye on it."

Orin nodded. "Athmose said that Massad had grown back a spine and shoulder girdle yesterday morning."

"He's growing his body back?" Meliko asked, shocked.

"Well, he was growing his body back," Orin answered. "Then Athmose took his saber and-"

"Spare me the details," Meliko begged, holding up her hands. She looked vaguely ill. "Sorry, but undead creep me out."

"Don't mind Orin," Chojin remarked. "All those gaijin are desensitized to gore and violence."

"It's all those mindless video games you Rokugani export," Orin said. "They warped my fragile mind."

Chojin opened his mouth to reply, when his face suddenly became serious. His eyes focused on something just past Orin, in the hallway. Meliko looked at the old Dragon, then glanced in that direction as well. She nearly dropped the katana she'd scavenged from the debris.

"Chojin?" Orin said, confused. He looked over his shoulder at the doorway.

An enormous man in armor of green and gold stood in the hall, larger than the doorway itself. At his side stood a petite, beautiful woman in robes of red and green. The man's armor was immediately familiar.

"Lord Hoshi?" Orin said. His voice held an odd mix of relief and disappointment.

"No," the man replied. "Not Hoshi. Not exactly."

"We remember you, Orin Wake," Kyoko said, stepping into the room and looking up at the gaijin. Her eyes were strange, seeming to shift from one color to the next in the space of a moment. Some unfathomable wisdom was locked away there. She rose one hand to touch his cheek and smiled faintly. "We remember you well."

"Then you have the advantage, ma'm," Orin replied, bowing politely.

"Excuse me, but have we met?" Meliko snipped, stepping quickly to Orin's side. Her own eyes seemed to glint red as she stared at the woman.

The woman looked at Meliko with a mild expression, taking no offense. "I am Agasha Kyoko of the Hidden Dragon. This is Mirumoto Rojo. We are the caretakers of Lord Hoshi's wisdom and power."

"Rojo?" Chojin remarked with some surprise as he crossed the apartment to examine the armored man. "Is that really you in there?"

"Konichiwa, Chojin-sama," Rojo replied happily, bowing to the old Dragon as well as he could in the relatively small hallway. "Yes, it is I."

"You've grown," Chojin said, nodding at Rojo in astonishment.

"I have changed much," Rojo agreed.

"Each clan has a War Machine," Kyoko said, looking over her shoulder at Chojin and Rojo. "Rojo is ours."

"Well, congratulations," Chojin nodded, looking uncertain what to say next. "Er... can you take that armor off or are you stuck in it?"

"It's complicated," Rojo replied, stepping back into the hallway to speak quietly with Chojin.

"You say that you possess Hoshi's wisdom?" Orin asked. Kyoko returned her attention to the gaijin. "Is Lord Hoshi truly dead, then?"

"Unfortunately," Kyoko nodded. "We are his legacy."

"Well, thank the Fortunes," Orin sighed. "I guess you're here to take back leadership of the Dragon, then. Not a moment too soon."

"Eh?" Kyoko looked puzzled. "Why would we take back what Lord Hoshi has given? We are here only to provide advice and strength, not leadership. Objective rule of the Dragon is what brought us to troubled waters before. What the Dragon need now is a mortal leader. Lord Hoshi saw no one better than you, Orin Wake. Why would we negate his decision? You are doing a fine job."

"You're not here to relieve me?" Orin asked. "Then why did you seek us out?"

"This is a Hidden Dragon safehouse," Rojo answered. "We didn't come here looking for you at all. I think this is what you could call a 'coincidence.'"

"You believe in coincidences?" Chojin asked wryly. "This is truly a new day for the Dragon."

"Though it is indeed fortuitous that we encountered you, Orin Wake, we did not seek you," Kyoko added. "We came here seeking another."

"Another?" Orin replied. "But there's no one here. This safehouse is abandoned."

"Abandoned," said a voice from deeper in the apartment, "but getting more crowded every minute."

The door at the far end of the apartment and Kitsuki Hatsu stepped into the room, followed by three bald tattooed men dressed incongruously in dark t-shirts, heavy jackets, and jeans.

"Orin. Chojin-sama. Meliko. Kyoko. Rojo," Hatsu bowed to each of them in turn. "It is good to see all of you. These are the Brothers of the Day, Hitomi Mayonaka, Hitomi Shougo, and Hitomi Asahi."

"Hatsu!" Meliko said happily. "How's Akkan?"

"She is fine, Meliko-chan," Hatsu answered with a smile.

"I thought you had returned to Togashi Mountain," Orin said, stepping forward to shake Hatsu's hand. "What brings you to Otosan Uchi?"

"I came here, specifically, to pay my last respects to Otaku Sachiko," Hatsu replied, accepting the gaijin's curious greeting with grace. "I came to Otosan Uchi, however, for more pressing reasons."

"Hatsu had a vision," Hitomi Mayonaka added to the detective's statement.

"Something terrible is on the horizon," continued Asahi.

"A conflict that will make Oni no Yoritomo's birth pale in comparison," Shougo finished. The third tattooed man's gaze seemed unfocused, as if he were stunned or not entirely paying attention.

"A vision?" Orin looked uneasy. "Not again. Not more Dragon gibberish. Hatsu, I thought of all your clan you were supposed to be the one with a good head on your shoulders. Now you're having visions too?"

"It's a bad habit, I know, but we all have our faults," Hatsu replied, accepting Orin's barb with a crooked smile.

"What have you seen, Hatsu?" Agasha Kyoko asked. Her voice was fearful, as if she was uncertain if she truly wished to hear his words. Behind her, Rojo shifted his weight on the balls of his feet and turned his attention away from Chojin. He seemed to be preparing to enter combat.

"I have seen Jigoku," Hatsu replied.

Kyoko nodded, understanding. She turned to Rojo, who met her gaze with a silent frown.

"You've seen Jigoku?" Meliko repeated. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not entirely certain," Hatsu said. "But I think that events are swiftly coming to a head in this city. The Day of Thunder is coming, and I want to be prepared." He turned to Rojo and Kyoko. "I noticed you when I saw the battle against the oni on the news, Rojo. The reporters didn't seem to know who you were, but the other War Machine pilots must have known."

"Yes," Rojo answered. "We have revealed ourselves to the leaders of the clans. At this point, we can help them more if they know the Hidden Dragon's secret."

"I agree," Hatsu replied. "Where are the leaders of the clans now? Can you take me to see them?"

"Of course," Kyoko answered. "In fact, I think that Kamiko and Yasu would be relieved to know that you are well."

"Good," Hatsu replied. "I need to see the Emperor right away."

"He is not well, and he is under close watch," Kyoko replied. "It may be difficult to arrange a meeting."

"Well, do what you can."

"You will not learn much," Kyoko said slowly, her eyes downcast. "The Emperor's soul is troubled. He teeters between Yoma and Jigoku."

Orin scratched his beard for a few moments, as if considering a difficult decision. Finally, he turned to Hatsu. "Kitsuki, if you're going, I'm going too. I need to see Kameru. Lord Yoritomo. The Emperor. Whatever he's calling himself these days."

"Orin?" Meliko asked, surprised by his decision.

"Kameru didn't have many friends," Orin said. "But I counted myself as one of them, once. Maybe I can help him."

"Nothing else seems to have altered his condition," Kyoko nodded. "Perhaps at this point anything is worth trying."

"But what about us?" Meliko asked Orin, looking at Chojin then back. "Where do we go?"

"Surely you can take care of yourselves for a little while."

Chojin nodded. "I can use my radio to contact Ishio and find out where he and-" he glanced at Hatsu and Kyoko, "and the others are waiting."

"The others?" Hatsu remarked curiously.

"Friends we met during the attack," Orin answered.

"Secrets," Hatsu mused. "So much for the new honesty of the Hidden Dragon, Wake."

"Fine, then," Orin scowled. "We've got a Scarab full of Senpet invaders, a Daidoji who escaped the Palace Dungeons, and a zombified talking head we're holding prisoner. They're hiding in the hills outside of town. Secret exposed. Happy?"

Hatsu blinked. "That answer's not quite as enlightening as I would have hoped."

"I think I'm understanding why you Dragons are the way you are now," Orin smirked. "But remember: you asked. Now let's go see the Emperor."

Saigo sat back on the ugly lavender couch and thumbed through the pages of a video game magazine. The magazine was seven months old and most of the articles were out of date. All of the games that interested him he had already bought and finished months ago, but it was a better read than the wildlife, entertainment, and fashion magazines that also floated around the hospital waiting room.

Saigo wondered vaguely if he even owned any video games any more, or anything else for that matter. He hadn't been home in over a month, since the day Tsuruchi Kyo shot him. He didn't even know if his apartment was still standing, or if any of his stuff was still there.

He sighed deeply. He had read the magazine cover to cover during his time waiting at Phoenix Mercy. He had even read the letters page, a sure sign he had nothing better to do than waste time. He eyed the entertainment magazine on the far table momentarily, considering giving that one another try. Luckily, a Mantis guardsman paused by Saigo's couch to hand him a paper cup of hot coffee and a sandwich wrapped in cellophane.

"Thanks, Saburo," Saigo nodded to the guard.

"No problem," Yoritomo Saburo replied, sitting down beside the prophet and unwrapping his own sandwich. The halls of Phoenix Mercy were filled with armored samurai from every clan, gathered to guard important individuals who had been injured during Oni no Yoritomo's attack. Not the least of these, of course, was the Emperor. Saigo had gotten to know many of the Emperor's guards during the last two days. Most of them were wound pretty tight, standing at attention all times with weapons ready as if they expected Oni no Yoritomo to rise again. Saburo was more easy-going than most, though he took his job seriously. Saigo liked him right away.

"Anything good in there?" Saburo asked, nodding at the magazine.

"Eh, it's old," Saigo frowned. "They've got a big preview article for Last Dance 8, though. It's pretty funny because they're all excited about it. Man, did that game suck."

Saburo looked surprised as he chewed his sandwich. "You didn't like that?" he replied. "I thought it was pretty good."

"Are you kidding?" Saigo replied. "It was crap. It didn't hold a candle to LD5. That one was the best."

"Well, yeah," Saburo huffed, as if Saigo were stating the obvious. "That's a pretty high standard, though. That was, like, the best game ever. Still, that doesn't mean LD8 wasn't a good game."

"They totally ruined the setting," Saigo replied. "They added in all that stupid technology so it hardly resembled the other games. I mean, the characters are driving cars and stuff. Plus, the new magic system was just terrible. It took me forever to even understand what was going on. I sold it after two weeks."

"You sold it?" Saburo looked up. "Man, you should have hung on to it. I only rented it. I couldn't find a copy. I'd have bought it off you."

Saigo looked at him for a minute. "I didn't know you then, Saburo."

"Yeah, but you can tell the future, right?"

Saigo rose an eyebrow.

Saburo laughed, a braying donkey-like laugh.

"Okay, you're making fun of me now," Saigo concluded.

Saburo just took another bite of his sandwich and continued to make donkey noises under his breath.

Behind them, the doors of one of the hospital rooms opened. Saburo glanced back quickly, deposited his sandwich and cup on the table, and stood at attention as Doji Kamiko stepped into the hall. Saigo quickly rose as well. Her eyes were red and watery, and her expression was grim.

"Is he any better?" Saigo asked, though he already knew the answer just by looking at her.

"He's worse," Kamiko replied. "He's awake, but all he does is ramble about Jigoku and Ambition."

She looked very sad, and very tired. Saigo cleared his throat nervously. "Um... did you dye your hair again?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Kamiko rolled her eyes up at her head of snow-white hair. "No," she said sarcastically. "It grew from brown to this overnight. You think maybe I should see a doctor?"

"Sorry," Saigo said, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "Pretty lame subject change, eh?"

"It's all right, Saigo," she smiled. "I know you're trying to help, and I appreciate it. Come on, let's go downstairs. I need to get something to eat." The young Crane champion turned on her heel and strode quickly down the hallway. Saigo nearly had to run to keep up with her.

"So Yoritomo keeps mentioning ambition?" Saigo asked. "He was doing that when we took him from the palace, too. What's up with that?"

"He's talking about the Bloodsword, Yashin," Kamiko nodded solemnly. "Munashi replaced the Ancestral Sword of the Crane with the bloodsword just before my father attacked the Emperor."

"What happened to the Ancestral Sword of the Crane?" Saigo asked.

"A mystery for another time," Kamiko answered. "At any rate, the bloodsword must have ended up in Kameru's hands after Yoritomo VI died."

Saigo nodded. "He had some sort of sword when Ryosei and I confronted him in the palace. I could sense that there was something wrong about it."

"Probably a good thing you didn't touch it," Kamiko said. "I was influenced by Ambition for a brief time; I wouldn't wish that on you, Saigo."

"So he's cursed by a bloodsword and has that mask-thing stuck to his face?" Saigo whistled. "And I thought I had a lot of people living in my head."

"The doctors and shugenja don't know where to start trying to help him," Kamiko said. "They're fairly sure that if they remove the mask, he'll die."

"Maybe the Crabs have something they can do to help?"

"Yasu already offered a few suggestions," Kamiko sighed. "Most of which involve pointing an Oni-Stomper at Lord Yoritomo's head and pulling the trigger."

"I'm guessing that's why you've stopped talking to him," Saigo replied.

Kamiko nodded. "He's a barbarian." She walked on quietly for several more moments. "I just pray to the Fortunes that arrogant Seeker isn't right. There must be something we can do."

"Hm," Saigo replied. "I'd offer suggestions, but, well, I'm sort of dumb as a cardboard box."

Kamiko laughed and glanced at him as she kept walking. "No you're not, Saigo."

"Oh, you don't know me," he nodded. "It's true. You could ask my friends, if I had any. I guess you could ask that Saburo guy. He's only known me two days and he already makes fun of me."

"You have more friends than you know, Phoenix. The Princess speaks very highly of you."

"She does?" Saigo asked brightly.

Kamiko shrugged. "All I'm saying is keep it up and you might be giving me orders some day. The Emperor's brother-in-law technically outranks a Clan Champion, you know."

Saigo paused for a moment, then hurried after Kamiko again. "Wait a second. She's not really talking about stuff like that, is she? Like, marriage stuff?" There was a slightly fearful tone in his voice.

"Calm down, Phoenix," Kamiko replied playfully. "Surely a prophet knows that you can't run from your destiny."

"Man," Saigo replied, glancing at the floor.

"Anyway, back to the matter at hand," Kamiko continued seriously. "Maybe if we had Ambition we could at least get some answers, at least break part of the curse on Kameru. Where did you last see the sword?"

"Ambition?" Saigo replied. "Yoritomo buried it blade-first in the floor back at the Diamond Palace. I'm guessing it's probably in Oni no Yoritomo's spleen or something."

"Hm," Kamiko nodded. "The Seekers are still disposing of the oni's corpse. I'll pass word on to them to keep an eye out for any glowing blue swords."

"Do you really think finding Ambition will help?" Saigo asked.

"Couldn't hurt," Kamiko answered. "Besides, it's a better idea than leaving the sword out there were someone else can stumble over it, right?"

"Hey, Tcha'th, come check out what I found!" Hida Kano shouted across the mountains of rubble.

The little white Ratling poked his head out from behind several large boulders. A long scrap of silk was folded carefully in his hands. "Can't!" he shouted back. "Found-found some paintings! Still in good shape! Very old! Gots to run-run them back to the transport 'fore they get dirty!"

"Those can wait," the Seeker shouted back. "This is really cool."

Tcha'th sighed and looked down at his burden. A samurai in brilliant red and black armor with a great flaming katana dueled another human in dark black. A jade throne stood between them, and a little girl in blue silken robes hid in the background. It looked old.

Oh, well. Kano was in charge here, if he didn't care, Tcha'th didn't care. The Nezumi didn't have any use for an old painting anyway. Tcha'th twitched his whiskers, shrugged, and threw the thing over his shoulder where it landed in a puff of dust. He could come back for it later if Kano changed his mind.

"What?" the Nezumi asked, hopping up the heap of rubble to land next to Kano in a single bound.

"Look at this," Kano said, holding up a chunk of rock. Part of a fresco was visible on the surface. A samurai in grey armor with a tetsubo lay on the ground, pinned by a samurai-ko in purple with a naginata. "It's Hida and Shinjo."

Tcha'th stared for a moment. "Hida who?" he asked.

"Hida!" Kano repeated, thumping the Hida mon on his armor with one finger. "The first Hida! The one who founded the Crab!"

"Oh!" Tcha'th nodded in understanding. His whiskers twitched again as he studied the painting. "Hida get beat-beat by girl?"

"Never mind!" Kano snapped, setting the piece of fresco on the ground again. "Check out these tile fragments." He kicked the shiny green rocks on the ground. "If this is the painting I think it is, and these tiles are what I think they are, then I think we're in the Emperor's chambers."

Tcha'th shifted from foot to foot. "Tcha'th should bow?" he asked.

Kano laughed. "You think we should bow to a pile of rocks, Tcha'th?"

The Ratling shrugged. "Don't know. Samurai funny that way. Never hurt to ask."

"Whatever," Kano replied. "Anyway, take a good look around here. If you find anything that looks valuable, set it aside so we can return it to the Imperial Family."

"Right-right," Tcha'th nodded and scampered higher up the wall of rubble. The Nezumi's balance and coordination were perfectly suited to the uneven terrain. Kano watched the creature move about with amazement; the Seeker could barely take two steps in the wreckage of the Diamond Palace without stumbling.

Hida Kano sat down for a moment, studying the pieces of broken fresco. In the distance, he could hear the groan of construction vehicles as other sections of the demolished palace were sorted and carted away for study. Kano couldn't believe that the whole palace had been a living thing no more than two days ago. He had only arrived in town yesterday, and only had the news footage - and the wreckage of the city itself - as evidence. Part of him was disappointed that he hadn't been there to help his fellow Seekers in such an important battle. Part of him was relieved that he didn't have to face the oni himself.

Higher in the pile, Tcha'th looked down on his Crab foreman, tail twitching in distaste. He was just sitting there, doing nothing. Humans were so lazy, like they had all the time in the world. If there were no Nezumi, no work would get done. Tcha'th scratched his ear absently with his hind foot as he struggled to remember why he even bothered to try. It's not as if he'd get promoted if he worked hard. To the humans, he was just another rat in overalls carting debris.

The Nezumi's eyes suddenly narrowed as he caught a glint of something in the rubble. He scampered over to see what it was. There was definitely something shining in the rubble, something metal buried under a large stone. Tcha'th grabbed the edges of the stone firmly in his forepaws and heaved, bracing himself with his tail. The stone reluctantly shifted, and the Ratling quickly looked down to see what he had found.

It was a sword. A shimmering samurai's katana. It looked sort of like the one in the painting he had found, the one the red-armored samurai carried. Tcha'th glanced back down at Kano. Kano would get angry if he saw Tcha'th touching a katana, but what the Seeker didn't know wouldn't hurt him. The young Nezumi impulsively picked up the weapon, just to feel the weight of it in his hands.

The handle was quite warm, and the blade was a shiny white. Almost blue. The glitter of the sword was quite pretty-shiny, and Tcha'th found himself getting lost in the bright sheen. The sword was so warm and shiny that it almost felt like something alive...

"Not quite what we were seeking," spoke a voice in Tcha'th's head. "But you will do for now."

Tcha'th looked around quickly, trying to figure out where the sound of the voice had come from. Had Kano been speaking to him? No, Kano was still looking at the ground, trying to put the silly painting back together. Maybe he hadn't heard the voice at all. Maybe he was imagining things?

As Tcha'th watched Kano play with the chunks of broken fresco, the Nezumi felt the resentment build inside. Why did he have to listen to Kano? Someone who couldn't even do his own job without a Nezumi's help? If Kano needed his help so much, then it should be Tcha'th wearing the Seeker armor and Kano shoveling rocks. That would be the right way to do things. Wouldn't it?

Yes. Definitely. Tcha'th was meant for something better.

Of that much Tcha'th was suddenly sure.

"Tcha'th!" Kano shouted out without looking up. "What are you doing up there? Did you find anything yet?"

"Found something," Tcha'th said, staring into the gleaming blue blade of the sword. "Found something very nice-nice."

"Well bring it down here and show me," Kano ordered.

"Okay," the Nezumi replied, rising to a precipice just above the Seeker's head and lifting the blade high. "You ask-ask for it."

Tcha'th was suddenly feeling very ambitious.

Matsu Gohei cursed loudly and drove one armored fist into the cracked wall. The two soldiers on either side of him gagged. One turned and ran back toward the open air. The other just covered his mouth quietly with one hand and shook his head in disbelief. Three slumped corpses lay in the chamber before them, a woman holding two children. They were painted in a ghastly light by the pale yellow glow of zokujin eyes.

Knjrglt, the zokujin, looked back at Gohei. Its alien face was unreadable. "Their spirits have gone to Yoma," he said simply. "I am sorry, Great Lion, but we are too late."

Matsu Gohei nodded gravely, wiping his mouth and chin with one hand.

"Gohei-sama," called a voice from above. "A message for you. It's urgent."

"I'm on my way," Gohei called back, his voice rough. He turned to the soldier beside him. "See that the bodies are taken away and given a decent burial. Identify them if you can, and add them to the list of casualties."

"Yes, sir," the soldier said, saluting briefly.

Far too many casualties, Gohei thought. Not enough survivors. Not by far.

Gohei returned the salute and climbed back through the rubble-strewn tunnel to the surface. A squad of eta with folded body bags trooped past, headed into the subterranean tomb. Kitsu Tono awaited Gohei at the level of the street. The thin, nervous little man's silken robes were covered with dirt and grime. A thick bandage covered his left hand.

"You called for me?" Gohei demanded. A soldier handed Gohei a canteen and Gohei drank from it with a nod of thanks.

"Kitsu Jurin has made an important discovery in the journals, Gohei-sama," Tono replied.

"Good for her," Gohei nodded. He walked past Tono, toward a group of soldiers standing around a seismic monitoring device the size of a mailbox. A small clutch of zokujin meditated in a circle nearby, rejuvenating the earth magic they would need to dig for the next group of survivors.

"Do you not wish to know what she has found?" Tono asked.

"If you're going to tell me, tell me," Gohei snapped. "If it was so damned important, I assume the Crabs and Crane would already be mobilizing. As I can see they are not, I'm assuming this is another waste of my time."

"With all due respect, prophecy is not a waste of time, Gohei-sama," Tono said stiffly. "Jurin has already determined that Saigo's journal predicted much of what has already happened. Meda's coup, Munashi's infiltration of the Masters, even the rise of Oni no Yoritomo were predicted. It even seems to predict that the Naga will awaken soon, as well, something that has been corroborated by the Zin. However the Stormbreaker managed to silence Saigo so early in this crisis, it was a great injustice in many--"

"I realize that," Gohei retorted, turning and scowling harshly at the shugenja. "My men and I have been digging for survivors for the last fifty hours. We're exhausted. We're hungry. We're demoralized. We've had precious little success. I just spent the last three hours digging after a cry for help sixty feet underground. Those cries stopped an hour ago. We just uncovered the chamber and found nothing but bodies. I know that what Jurin is doing could prevent something like this from happening again, but I also know that there are people still alive in this blasted corpse of a city, and my time is better spent saving them. Now what's so damned important?"

Tono was quiet for a moment. "I apologize, Gohei-sama. I spoke out of-"

"Forget the apologies, Tono-san," Gohei cut the air with a curt gesture. "Just answer my question."

"Ah," Tono nodded. "Jurin has found predictions in both Saigo and Kenjin's journals that coincide with the fall of the Oracles which Jared Carfax described to us. She believes that the Day of Thunder cannot occur until one Oracle remains. Carfax must meet Yogo Ishak, and one of them must die."

"Is Ishak this Champion of Jigoku that they keep muttering about?" Gohei asked.

"Jurin believes that depends upon whether or not Carfax kills him," Tono answered.

"Fair enough," Gohei nodded. "So all we need do is protect Carfax until we are ready to face the Stormbreaker?"

"It is uncertain," Tono replied. "The Dragons claim that they have faced Yogo Ishak before, and that we could not stop the Dark Oracle of the Void even if we wished. Regardless, Bayushi Oroki placed an honor guard of Enforcers on the Oracle when he heard the news and has not let Carfax out of his sight."

"Oroki," Gohei growled. "Place twelve of our best bushi protecting Carfax as well. See to it personally, Tono."

"Yes, Gohei-sama," Tono replied with a bow.

"Is there anything else?" Gohei asked. "I must return to my work."

"Yes," Tono replied. His voice quavered slightly. He sounded afraid.

"Well?" Gohei prompted. "Out with it."

"There was a particular prophecy in Saigo's journals that Jurin found rather disturbing," Tono replied. "It told of what would happen on the Day of Thunder. 'The last to fall to Hantei shall be the first to fall to Jigoku. The warriors will be lost to bloody madness at their lord's command.'"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Gohei asked.

"In the tournament to determine the first Emperor, Akodo was the last to be defeated; he lost to the first Hantei."

"I know that," Gohei shot back. "But what does this have to do with me? Am I doomed now because some Phoenix hallucinated that I would destroy my troops?"

"Saigo's predictions have been very accurate thus far, my lord," Tono answered weakly. "I am only saying that caution-"

"I am always cautious, Kitsu," Gohei snapped. "What do you suggest I do? Step down? Refuse to lead the Lion into final battle because I fear a fortune teller's mumbling? And what if that very act is the madness the Isawa is speaking of? What then? Tell me. What then? How can I know for sure if this prophecy can even be avoided?"

Both men were quiet for several moments. The Lion bushi and zokujin nearby looked over at the pair, startled by Gohei's sudden outburst. A quick glance from the Lion daimyo quickly returned them to their work.

"Tono," Gohei went on, more quietly this time. "I only know one way to lead and that is by following my instincts. I am not discounting your warning. I am not ignoring it. However, I cannot possibly let it alter my course of action without compromising my command and that will be an injustice, to the Lion and to Rokugan itself. Fortunes, I don't even have a course of action right now outside of saving as many disaster victims as possible." Gohei looked away, down the shattered street, toward the miles of broken buildings and toppled highways that remained to be searched.

"I understand that, my lord," Tono nodded soberly. "I am sorry that I questioned your integrity in any way."

Gohei turned and faced Tono. For a moment, the shugenja thought that Gohei was going to attack him, or insult him at the very least. That sort of behavior had come to be expected of the brash Lion daimyo. Instead, Gohei only nodded. "No apologies necessary, Tono-san," he replied with unexpected courtesy. "As of this moment, I want you to remain by my side at all times."

"My lord?" Tono asked, stunned.

"I need your advice more than ever," the Lion replied. "You are shugenja. You have an affinity for magic and a greater understanding of the forces of destiny than I. I can't afford to pay heed to this prophecy, but you can. If you sense that I'm steering my clan toward doom, don't hesitate to tell me."

"Gohei-sama, I don't know what to say," Tono replied. Tono had only served Gohei for a relatively brief time - though longer than most of his advisors - but he had already learned that compromise did not come easily to the Lion daimyo.

"Then say nothing," Gohei answered coolly. "Until the time is right. Now that you are here, grab a shovel and lend a hand. There is much digging to be done."

The three men stood at the height of one of the few remaining highways, looking out over the remains of the city. Even after two days, thin plumes of grey smoke rose where the fires still burned, but the sky was clear. The sun gleamed over the wreckage of the once great flying fortress of the Crab and the broken corpse of Oni no Yoritomo.

"This isn't over," Hida Yasu said quietly as they looked down upon the ruins of Otosan Uchi.

"It's never over," Hida Tengyu replied, standing at his son's side.

"It's over for the Kyuden," Kaiu Toshimo replied, scratching the stubble on his chin as he looked down from their high perch. The old engineer's face was twisted in pain and concern; the Kyuden had been his greatest creation, and now it was destroyed. For Toshimo, it was very much like watching one of his children die.

"We will repair it," Tengyu said confidently. "We will find a way. That's what we do."

"Not in time," Toshimo said with a shake of his head. "We won't repair it in time. When we need it most, it won't be there."

"What are you talking about, Toshimo?" Tengyu asked.

"That black cloud," Toshimo answered. "The Kuni finished their analysis of our initial readings, before it vanished from our sensors. They say that it's a swarm of kansen - the same sort of spirits used to create tetsukansen."

"How many?" Tengyu asked.

"Millions," Toshimo replied.

Yasu grunted bitterly. "My patrols tracked that cloud for two days, and couldn't find any sign of it."

"It could have passed into the upper atmosphere," Toshimo acknowledged. "They would be nearly impossible to track there, until the Stormbreaker needed them."

Tengyu growled. "This is a hell of a way to end the millennium."

"Agreed," Toshimo nodded. "Well, I need to return to T'Chip and my crew. I need to see how far they have proceeded with the repairs on Ketsuen." The old engineer bowed to both of them and departed, carefully making his way down the cracked stretch of highway to the Mako that waited for him.

Yasu and Tengyu remained where they were for a long time, quietly watching the city below. An eerie silence had fallen over Otosan Uchi. The background noise natural for a city of that size was gone. Only the rattle of equipment from the rescue crews or the whir of the occasional passing helicopter suggested that anyone remained in the city.

"So what comes next?" Yasu asked, turning to his father.

Tengyu looked at his son. "I really don't know," he replied. "I think you're right, though. This isn't over. As bad as things have been, they're about to get worse."

"So what do we do?" Yasu asked, shaking his head slightly. "When is the battle over? When can we stop fighting?"

Tengyu paused. "Yasu, how old were you when you joined the Seeker Academy?" he asked.

Yasu looked surprised at the question. "Fourteen," he replied. "Four years ago. I lied about my age on the application. I think they let it slide because they didn't want to piss off my dad. He's kind of a hard case."

Tengyu shook his head slightly. "Eighteen years... Where does the time go?" he asked, sounding slightly regretful. "Yasu, you know that I'd have been there-- "

Yasu looked away. "I know, dad, I know," he said. "I wish things could have been different, too. That's just not the way things are for people like us. Family comes second, right?"

"No, it doesn't make it right," Tengyu answered, one hand balling into a fist over the hilt of the Ancestral Sword of the Crab. "What purpose is there in fighting if you don't take any joy in what you're fighting for? Yasu, I should have been there. When your mother died..."

Yasu looked at his father. "You were there, dad. You were there the whole time. Why do you think I turned out the way I did?" Yasu held out his arms to display the heavy weapons and battle-scarred armor covering his body.

Tengyu looked surprised. "What, are you saying that you became a Seeker to impress me?"

Yasu laughed out loud. "Hell, no," he answered. "I'm not that stupid. No, I became a Seeker cause I knew you were out there fighting for us. I figured the best way to get you back home was to go out and fight the war myself, and finish it. Then maybe things could be normal." Yasu paused for a moment, reflecting. "I guess that's a pretty stupid way of thinking, huh?"

Tengyu looked at his son, and looked back out at the city. "Not at all, Yasu," he said, pride in his voice. "Not at all."

The Phoenix Clan believed that calm patients were healthy patients, and designed their hospitals with this in mind. Phoenix hospitals strayed away from sharp edges and dark, depressing colors. They were built and decorated with the intent of keeping the patient as calm and happy as possible.

Soshi Isawa disagreed with the Phoenix experts, but then Isawa disagreed with the Phoenix on many things. Isawa's clinics and treatment centers, located deep beneath the streets of the city in the Scorpion Quarter, were grim and foreboding places. Isawa believed that a hospital should resemble a tomb. The patient, once inside, would be immediately reminded of the fate that awaits for those who do not recover. Once exposed to such an environment, the patient will either quickly heal or quickly die. Either way, his illness ceases to be a problem for the rest of the community.

Bayushi Oroki knew this, for he knew Isawa well. The man was mad, there was no doubt, but he was also good at what he did. The man was a genius in the field of tetsukami prosthetics. If it were not for him, Bayushi Zou would have been left a useless invalid by his encounter with Oni no Akeru, and the Scorpion War Machine would never have been built.

Tonight, Isawa's skills would be put to the test once again. Oroki mused upon this as he passed through the darkened hallways of Isawa's underground clinic. The place was filled to capacity; after the great oni's attack it was one of the few functioning hospitals remaining to care for the countless individuals injured in the disaster. Oroki moved with a purpose, slipping through the crowd like an eel, disturbing no one as he passed. He rounded a corner and approached a pair of large doors covered with restrictive warnings. Paying them no mind, he pushed them open with one hand and passed into the empty hallways beyond.

Oroki's expensive leather shoes clicked on the floor, echoing through the empty halls. Dim fluorescents flickered to life as he approached. Nearly all of the lights in Isawa's laboratories were motion activated. Not only did this conserve electricity, but it served as an effective method of warning the mad Soshi when visitors were approaching.

At the end of the hall, a small desk stood before a pair of large, black doors. A tall man in a sharp black suit rose as Oroki approached. He wore a blood-red tetsukami visor of Isawa's design as his mask. His ramrod-straight posture and expression of sour disapproval would have marked him as an Enforcer even if the suit did not. One hand rested within the man's jacket as a matter of course, no doubt clasping whatever weapon he kept concealed there.

"I am here to see Soshi Isawa," Oroki said as he continued to approach.

The Enforcer said nothing, but began to draw his hand from his coat.

Oroki gave an exaggerated sigh, though inwardly he was impressed by the bodyguard's attention to detail. "When a fool is told a proverb, it must always be explained," he recited.

The Enforcer nodded, tucked his weapon back into its holster, and drew his empty hand from his coat. "He is waiting for you, Oroki-sama," he said, bowing and holding open one of the doors.

Oroki returned the bow with a slight nod of his head and entered Isawa's private laboratories. The room was large and filled floor to ceiling with all varieties of arcane machinery. Even Oroki, who considered himself an aficionado of technology, wasn't sure what all of the equipment here did. Much of it was of Isawa's design, or of Phoenix design appropriated secretly by the Soshi. In Soshi Isawa's mind, there was no difference.

The hiss and pump of life support machinery broke the silence of the laboratory. Oroki circled the corner of a large clutch of machines to an open space in the center of the lab. A hospital bed stood there, looking slightly out of place. Its occupant was a horribly disfigured man, his body covered with scars and injuries. Dozens of machines were hooked to his body in various places, supplying him with vital fluids or simply keeping him alive.

"Zou," Oroki whispered. "How is he?"

"Alive. That is... the most positive thing that can be said." The hunched form of Soshi Isawa emerged from the darkness beneath a cluster of machinery. His long black hair stuck out at odd angles and his customary goggles whirred and swiveled. A dim green light glowed in one lens as tetsukami sensors studied Bayushi Oroki. The little scientist bowed deeply. "I... apologize that I could do no more... for him."

Oroki returned the bow. "It is impressive enough that he lives, considering what happened. You have done well, Isawa-sama."

Isawa smiled slightly. "I am not... the one responsible," he replied. "Zou had the... presence of mind to... disengage before the oni struck him... It seems he realized that a... large robot would make... a more inviting target... than a lone figure... Never underestimate an Enforcer. "

"What is his status?" Oroki asked.

"He lost a leg... and a great deal of blood," Isawa said, moving to Zou's side and gazing down at his patient intently. "He sustained great... internal damage... A collapsed lung... a punctured kidney... a shattered spine... Yoma's doors may yet swing wide for our friend... Bayushi Zou."

"He must live," Oroki said. "See that he lives, Soshi Isawa. We need him."

Isawa looked up at the younger Scorpion. "Oroki you sound... concerned," he said wryly. "Are you sure you are... feeling well?"

"Am I not allowed to be concerned for my yojimbo?" Oroki replied.

Isawa grunted. "I was not... aware that Bayushi Oroki had any... friends," he answered.

Oroki paused for a moment. "Zou's current condition has forced me to re-evaluate a few things."

Isawa looked puzzled. "Why?" he asked. "This is nothing you have not... seen before. You were not so concerned when he lost his... arms."

"Not so," Oroki answered. "It would be acceptable if Zou were stricken down in defense of the Labyrinth, fighting for the Scorpion. To see him destroyed by something irrelevant..."

Isawa laughed sharply. "A six hundred foot oni is... irrelevant? Explain..."

"It was someone else's problem," Oroki spat with a wave of his hand. "The Scorpion Clan, as usual, did everything in our power to prevent such a thing from happening. It was those fools in the Lion, Crane, and Mantis and their damned political games that brought that thing to be. It was someone else's fault. Even yet, Zou stepped forward to fight the oni when he was needed and gave others the opportunity they needed to destroy the beast. And what had his altruism gained?"

"The city," Isawa said.

"A dead city," Oroki answered. "He merely allowed the rest of us to survive to carve its grave marker. Can you fix him? How quickly can you revive him?"

Isawa frowned. "I do not think you... understand our situation..." he replied. "This is... not like the... last time. Before, Zou only lost... his arms... Now, he has sustained... severe damage to several... of his internal organs and his spine... It may be years... before he ever recovers..."

"You have days," Oroki replied. "Can this happen?"

"Impossible," Isawa sneered. "Why... such a rush? What... do we need of Bayushi Zou... that another Enforcer cannot ably provide?"

"The Day of Thunder is coming, Isawa," Oroki said. "It is a time of prophecy, and I have a prophecy yet to fulfill."

"Do you care... to share?" Isawa asked. "If you wish to make... such... unreasonable demands of my time, I feel that I... deserve no less."

"So be it," Oroki said. "Let us both be confused, then. 'The White Scorpion shows the way to the true path and to the dark path. The White Scorpion has a heart of darkness, and may destroy them all'"

Isawa pulled at his upper lip with two fingers for several moments. "That is... unfamiliar," he replied. "Is it... Uikku? One of the... Asako, perhaps?"

"No," Oroki replied. "It is Isawa Saigo's."

"The Princess' pet prophet?" Isawa remarked with some surprise. "How did you... gain access to such a... important individual?"

"Saigo made the prediction before any of this happened," Oroki said. "I knew of his talents before Ryosei knew he existed. I had thought at first that the prophecy referred to Shiriko, and that her ascension to daimyo would destroy our clan. It turned out such was not the case, especially since she died during the Locust attack."

Isawa nodded. "And... Zou? You think he may be... this White Scorpion?"

"Possibly," Oroki answered. "But I no longer believe this White Scorpion is a danger to us. When the prophecy says that he may 'destroy them all' perhaps Saigo meant the armies of Jigoku? Zou certainly showed himself to be capable against the oni."

"And the heart... of darkness?" Isawa asked. "The true path... and the dark path? What does... all of that mean?"

"Zou has led a complex life," Oroki answered. "He was a thug in the streets of Ryoko Owari when I found him, and became the most deadly Enforcer I have ever seen even before your adjustments. His experiences with Akeru may give him some knowledge of this 'dark path,' not to mention the fact that he is one of the few people I know who has ever managed to keep a secret from me."

"A... secret?" Isawa asked, suddenly interested.

"It is irrelevant," Oroki asked. "Now, the matter at hand. Is there any way to restore Zou? Any path by magic, technology, or other avenues left unexplored? Is there anything? Anything at all?"

Isawa looked at the crippled body of the Enforcer for several moments, then looked at the wall of machines, deep in thought. Finally, he turned to Oroki once more. "Oroki-san," he said, his voice suddenly quiet. "What do you know about... the Shinobi Project?"

"Not much," Oroki replied. "I know that it caused the death of my uncle, and that it is one of the best kept secrets of our clan. Why? What do you know of it?"

"Much," Isawa said with a slight smile. "The question is... Oroki-san... how much are you prepared to know of the Shinobi Project?"

"I'm listening," Oroki replied.

"Then listen well," said a voice from behind him.

Oroki turned quickly, irritated that he did not detect the presence of another within the room. A stocky, muscular figure stepped from the darkness. He was dressed in the dark green of an Emerald Magistrate, the mon of the Boar Clan emblazoned upon his shoulder.

"You are the Emerald Champion," Oroki said carefully. "Heichi Tetsugi."

"That is how you would know me, yes," the man reached toward his face, and there was a sudden ripple of light as the man pulled his mask away. In moments, the illusion faded. The man who had once been Tetsugi was now dark, severe man dressed in armor of red and black. A brilliant golden sword was sheathed at his side.

Oroki blinked. He recognized the man immediately, though he did not believe it. "Bayushi Dairyu-sama?" he whispered. "Uncle, they said that you were dead."

"They were wrong," Dairyu replied.

"They always are," Oroki chuckled.

"I think the time has come for us to share information, nephew," Dairyu said.

"I'm listening..." Oroki said.

"Wow, this place has seen better days," Iuchi Kenyu remarked. The young Unicorn pressed his face up to the window of the parked helicopter and stared at the ruined skyline of the Diamond City.

"You humans are adept at stating the obvious," Szash replied. The Constrictor was coiled uncomfortably in the back of the helicopter. With no proper safety harnesses available, Sato had compromised by filling the back of the vehicle with thick fire blankets. It gave Kenyu the vague impression of a giant snake sitting in his nest, but he kept that to himself. Szash hated flying, and was upset enough already without Kenyu mocking him.

"Hey, give me a break," Kenyu retorted. "Otosan Uchi is one of the wonders of the world. I'd always wanted to see it, but as much as I've traveled I hadn't ever gotten around to coming here. Now... well now it's gone. I guess that sort of shows you what happens when you hesitate, right?"

"Kenyu, you have earned my respect," Szash growled, "but when you continue to sate your urge to fill the air with the sound of your own voice at all times, it strains our friendship. Please. Be quiet and let me think."

"Oh. Er... okay."

Szash nodded and returned to his meditations. Kenyu folded his arms in his seat and concentrated on trying to be quiet. Was he really that talkative? Kenyu considered himself insightful. He didn't say anything unless it was important. Was he really annoying? Maybe Szash was just ill-tempered. He probably had a lot of stress in his life. That was it. Kenyu felt sorry for him. Maybe when all of this was over, he'd invite the Constrictor to join him in his travels. Maybe that would break him out of his foul mood.

Of course, it would be hard to find a motorcycle for a Constrictor.

Kenyu put the thought out of his mind for the moment, and returned to watching the Temple of the Elements. A sudden flurry of activity near the door drew his eye. A group of Scorpion bushi seemed to be arguing with a man in a white suit who was trying to leave the temple against their wishes. The man seemed to be ignoring their complaints and headed directly for the helicopter. The Scorpions followed him.

"Who the heck is this guy?" Kenyu asked, nodding at the window.

Szash leaned over and peered out for a moment, then sat back again. "He is an Oracle," the Constrictor replied.

Kenyu looked at the Naga. "How can you tell that by looking at him?"

"We have been through this before, Kenyu," Szash replied. "I would rather not discuss the details."

"Do you know which one he is?" Kenyu asked, glancing out the window and back at Szash. "Water? Fire?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Szash snapped, sounding slightly irritable.

"Hey, give me a break," Kenyu replied. "You're the one with the magic Oracle-detecting power. Like I'm supposed to know how it works if you don't explain it."

"Well now you know," Szash hissed.

"Whatever," Kenyu replied, and looked back at the window.

The man had now exited the courtyard and was headed across the street toward the helicopter. Shiba Sato's guards were trying to head him off, holding out their arms politely and trying to direct him elsewhere. Kenyu and Szash were still wanted in Neo Shiba, so the guards had orders to keep their presence here quiet. The Oracle looked intent upon reaching the helicopter, but there didn't seem to be much he could do to shove his way through Sato's armed guards. The Scorpions were watching the Shiba carefully, as if uncertain whether they should settle the matter and move the Phoenix so the Oracle could pass through.

"Humans," Szash said, shaking his hands as he watched the spectacle. "The Elemental Dragons give you a gift and you fight over it. Why am I not surprised?"

"Hmm," Kenyu thought for a moment, then pushed open the door of the helicopter and hopped out.

"Kenyu, what are you doing?" Szash hissed from behind him. "We are supposed to remain here!"

"I'll be right back."

The Unicorn made his way across the street to where the Shiba guards were facing off against the Scorpions. Kenyu stepped up behind them, folded his arms, and cleared his throat in what he hoped was a dramatic fashion. You didn't get to meet an Oracle every day.

"Iuchi-san," one of the Shiba said, looking back at him in surprise. "You are supposed to remain in the helicopter!"

"Nobody knows me here," Kenyu shrugged. "What are you doing with this guy?" He nodded at the man in the white suit. Kenyu could see now that he had stark white hair as well. Kenyu thought the Oracle must be a Crane but as when turned around his features were clearly gaijin.

"This gaijin was causing trouble," the other Shiba said. "Just go back to the helicopter, Kenyu-san. We can handle this."

"Causing trouble?" the gaijin huffed, offended. "For your information, gentlemen, I am--"

"He's an Oracle," Kenyu finished.

The two Shiba looked at the gaijin in surprise. The Oracle looked at Kenyu with even more surprise.

Kenyu stored that memory away with a certain amount of satisfaction.

"Are... are you sure?" one of the guards asked.

"Of course I'm sure," Kenyu answered. "I'm the Keeper of the Lands, aren't I?"

The Scorpions and Phoenix exchanged equally confused glances. The Oracle took advantage of the moment to step through their lines next to Kenyu "You must be Iuchi Kenyu," he said, offering his hand with a smile. "Very pleased to meet you at last. My name is-"

"CARFAX!" roared Szash from the helicopter.

Carfax looked past Kenyu at the enormous Constrictor spilling out of the Shiba helicopter. His face froze in terror. "Oh, dear," he said.

"Szash?" Kenyu said, looking back at the Naga. "Are you okay?"

"Jared Carfax!" Szash roared again, slithering toward them. "I had assumed you'd be deep in the pit of Jigoku by now. Shall I rectify Jigoku's oversight?" The Scorpion guards immediately drew their pistols and pointed them at Szash. The Phoenix drew their own weapons, uncertain of who to point them at.

Kenyu stepped between Carfax and Szash, wondering vaguely if he was making the right decision. "Hey, there, big guy," Kenyu said. "I thought you said you didn't recognize this guy?"

"Not until I smelled him!" Szash spat, stabbing one finger at the Oracle "This man is Jared Carfax, the most underhanded, cutthroat, untrustworthy human I have ever had the misfortune of meeting!"

"Oh," Carfax mumbled under his breath. "That must be Szash."

"I take it you two know each other?" Kenyu whispered over his shoulder.

"It's a long story," Carfax replied, stepping behind the Shiba guards, now staring at Szash in surprise and terror.

"Out of my way, Kenyu," Szash said, looming over the relatively tiny shugenja. "This does not concern you."

"Hey, calm down Szash," Kenyu said. "We just got into town. Do we really need to get into trouble by killing people? Again?" Kenyu noted more guards emerging from the Temple of the Elements, forming a line before the temple as they struggled to determine how to handle the situation in the street. The Scorpions kept their weapons trained on the Naga.

"I do not intend to kill that man," Szash replied, red eyes glinting. "Death would be a gift compared to what I have in mind."

"Szash, you've got this all wrong," Carfax said with a nervous laugh. "What I did was done out of friendship. In the long run it was for the best!"

"You LIED!" Szash roared. The big Naga grabbed Iuchi Kenyu's collar in one hand and lifted the Unicorn easily to the side as he continued to advance on Carfax.

"Szash, stop it!" Kenyu struggled fruitlessly to dislodge himself from the Naga's grip.

"Two decades I wasted following your commands!" Szash roared. "You promised you would find a way to heal my loss, and yet you did NOTHING!"

"Now, let's be fair, here, Szash," Carfax answered. "What exactly did I promise you?"

"Szash!" Kenyu shouted.

"I know what I will promise YOU!" Szash growled, shouldering one of the Shiba to the side as he lunged for Carfax.

"Don't make me do this, Szash!" Carfax warned ominously.

"Hold it right there, Naga!" shouted the leader of the Scorpions.

"Szash, STOP!" Kenyu shouted.

And Szash stopped.

Everything stopped, except Kenyu.

Szash was frozen, claws inches from Carfax's face. Carfax stood where he was, looking up at the Naga with a queasy grin plastered on his face.

"Glad you finally decided to listen to me," Kenyu grunted, pulling his collar free from the Naga's grip and dropping to the ground. He noticed that Szash's hand was still frozen in midair, where the Naga had been holding Kenyu.

Then Kenyu noted that the Shiba bushi Szash had knocked aside was frozen in midair, two feet above the sidewalk.

"Bright Otaku," Kenyu breathed, straightening his shirt. "How did I do that?"

Kenyu noticed once again that Szash was only a hair's breadth from slashing Carfax across the face. The Unicorn quickly circled around behind Carfax, paused a moment while he considered what exactly he should do, then grabbed the gaijin around the waist with both arms and picked him up.

"Oof, you're heavy," Kenyu grunted as he lugged the Oracle to one side. "You gaijin eat too much beef." Kenyu carried Carfax several feet to one side, then set him down in the street. The Oracle wobbled and started to tip over, and Kenyu quickly grabbed his arm and balanced him again.

Kenyu noticed the Scorpions pointing their guns at Szash, then looked at the big Naga. He briefly considered whether their weapons had any chance of harming Szash. He didn't see any tetsukami weapons, meaning that they probably didn't. Still the bullets would hurt him, Szash would get angrier, and that would just make the whole affair worse for everyone. He quickly removed the weapons from all of the guardsmen's hands, setting them neatly in a trash can nearby. Walking back, he noticed with amazement a bullet hanging in midair where it had just emerged from a now-absent pistol.

Kenyu grabbed the bullet between two fingers, then hissed in pain as the hot metal burned his fingers. Wrapping the edge of his long shirt around his fingers, he tried again, plucking the bullet from its current trajectory and throwing it over his shoulder somewhere.

"That oughtta just about do it," Kenyu nodded, looking around. "Oh yea, almost forgot you," he nodded at the Shiba bushi falling to the ground. He walked over to the helicopter, took a bundle of fire blankets out of the back, carried them over to the guard, and set them on the sidewalk beneath him.

Kenyu clapped his hands together and looked around. "Er... okay," he said out loud to himself. "What do I do now? I don't even know how I did this in the first place. Um... go?"

Szash crashed face-first into the sidewalk, unbalanced by Carfax's sudden disappearance.

"Thunder!" Jared Carfax shouted. A sizzling bolt of white energy lanced into the empty street three feet in front of him.

Confused curses erupted from the Scorpions as they realized their weapons were missing.

The sound of a bullet ricochet echoed down the street, followed by the sound of broken glass.

And the Shiba landed on a pile of blankets.

"What in?" Szash snarled, rising onto his coils again.

"I missed," Carfax commented. "How did I... wait a moment."

"You," Szash said, turning quickly to Kenyu. "How did you do that, Kenyu?"

"I don't... I don't..." Kenyu paused, wavering slightly on his feet. "I don't... I don't feel so good." He caught a glimpse of Zin emerging from the Temple and heading toward him. He tried to smile at her, but couldn't. She looked concerned. Kenyu's vision got a little blurry.

Iuchi Kenyu collapsed.

Shotai's had seen better days.

The front windows were either riddled with bullet-holes or entirely gone. The furniture that remained was mostly broken. Some members of Toturi's Army had found some of the stolen chairs in the sewer tunnels nearby (presumably carted there by goblins) and brought them back home. A huge pyre of blackened goblin and ogre corpses was visible in the intersection, left behind by one of the many eta crews now cleaning the city.

Even yet, to Toturi's Army, Shotai's was home. Many of the ronin and heimin in the Army didn't have any place else to go, nowhere that mattered. Now that the city was no longer in danger they had returned here. For them, Otosan Uchi wasn't dead. Now, in fact, it needed them more than ever.

A huddled group of ragged, exhausted men and women sat gathered around a table in the middle of Shotai's Diner. All of them had been working since the end of the disaster to find survivors, treat the injured, and exterminate the remaining vestiges of the Shadowlands invasion. None of them could remember more than a few hours of sleep in the last two days. The meal they now shared around a broken table was the first real food most of them had eaten since the evacuation.

"Too many people," Ginawa said, taking another bite of his sandwich. "Too many good people hurt. Too many dead."

Dairya looked at his friend from across the table. "Some of us made our own beds," he replied.

"Yeah, but a lot of people didn't," Tokei answered. Tokei's hands were shaking as he lifted a mug of tea to his lips. "You wouldn't believe some of the stuff Godaigo and I have seen at the clinic. It's enough to make me start drinking again."

Hiroru shot the grizzled shugenja a look.

"That was a joke," Tokei hissed. "Damn it, I'm not an idiot. I know how much we need to keep our heads together."

"How is Godaigo?" Dairya asked, frowning and shaking his head as Akiyoshi offered the crippled ronin another spoonful of eggs.

"Sleeping, finally," Tokei answered. "Fortunes bless him, he deserves it. I think the man's been running on caffeine pills since the evacuation."

"Why don't you get some rest yourself?" Ginawa asked, looking at the tired old shugenja carefully.

"I can't sleep. I tried," Tokei answered, closing his eyes for a moment. "The spirits are in an uproar since the city nearly became the new Festering Pit. I'd bet there isn't a shugenja in a two hundred mile radius who can get a decent night's sleep anymore."

Ginawa nodded. "Kamiko says that the Asahina are having the same problems. I don't think we're out of this yet."

"Have they gotten any further with Saigo's journal?" Akiyoshi asked him. "Have they figured out what's going on?"

Ginawa scowled. "They don't know anything. Even Saigo doesn't know anything. He can't make sense out of half the stuff in his own journal. It's damned frustrating. Add to that the fact that the clans are up to their necks trying to get organized and get the city under control, and the fact that those tetsukansen implants are still out there, and you've got a recipe for chaos." Ginawa took another deep drink of his tea and stared off into the distance, his gaze far away.

"Something on your mind?" Akiyoshi asked him, her pretty young face tightening in a frown. "You look worried."

Ginawa was quiet for several moments. "Kamiko's taken over as acting daimyo of the Crane," he said. "She's got her cousin working with her, and he's a good man, but after the whole business with Munashi the whole clan is frightened, disorganized. She doesn't know who to trust, who to rely on... She's... she's asked me to return to the clan... To take over my nephew Eien's position as security chief and director of the Crane military. She's even given me a suit of Dojicorp armor and a new daisho. I can either choose to put them on and report for duty, or not. No strings. My decision."

"Wow. Dojicorp security chief. Step up from 'gang leader,'" Mikio remarked.

"Is it?" Ginawa replied sarcastically. "You haven't been to Dojicorp these days."

Dairya looked at Ginawa calmly. "Did you say yes?" he asked simply.

Ginawa paused again, considering his reply. "I didn't say anything," he said. "I told her I would think it over. Right now, she needs me. The Crane needs me, but you guys need me too. Toturi's Army needs to stay together."

"Well, I hate to break this to you, old friend, but we survived without you," Dairya replied. "To put it bluntly, we're just what Mikio said. A gang. There are dozens of us, at best. Maybe hundreds of people depend on us. The Crane are a Great Clan. There are millions of people depending on them. If they should crumble now, there's a lot more at stake. The Crane Clan didn't turn their backs on you; Doji Meda did. And now he and that bastard Munashi are both dead."

"What are you saying, Dairya?" Ginawa asked. "That I should quit the army and go back to being Daidoji Jinwa?"

"You were a Daidoji!" Hiroru exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "I knew it! Mikio, you owe me ten hyakurai.

Ginawa glowered at Hiroru.

"All I'm saying is to try to put things in perspective," Dairya said. "You joined the Army because you could help people here. A lot more people need your help now, Ginawa. You have an opportunity to do a lot of good."

"And I guess it's no concern to you that if I go back, the Army will have an important ally inside the most powerful corporation in the free world?" Ginawa asked.

"The thought never crossed my mind," Dairya replied dryly. "Some choices are easier than others, though. Wouldn't you agree?"

The door of the diner opened with a scrape of broken glass and Genju Jiro stepped inside. A pair of Toturi's Army members walked in behind the boy, nodded to Ginawa and the others, and seated themselves at a far table. Hiroru quickly righted a fallen chair and offered it to Jiro.

"Where have you been, Toku?" Hiroru asked. The ninja was one of the few members of the Army that still used Jiro's assumed name. "Haven't seen you since the city got demolished."

"With my mom, up in North Hub," Jiro answered, taking a seat. "I've been trying to get in to see my brother, but the guards on the hospital are pretty thick. They won't even let me in. To them, I'm just another heimin kid."

"Well, Tokei's been working at Phoenix Mercy," Ginawa replied, nodding at the shugenja. "Any word on my brother, Tokei?" Shotai approached the table to drop a mug of tea and plate of fried fish in front of Jiro. The fat ronin hovered nearby to listen to the conversation.

Tokei shook his head slightly. "No change," he answered. "He's still comatose."

"Jigoku," Mikio cursed, drenching his plate of pancakes with syrup. "Daniri's lucky he even survived! That damned oni knocked him through three buildings! I wouldn't worry about your brother, Toku. If he's tough enough to stand up to that, I think he can survive anything."

"I hope he wakes up soon," Jiro said.

"We all do," Ginawa agreed. "But I agree with Mikio. It's only a matter of time before Daniri is back on his feet."

"Making terrible movies," Hiroru added.

"I thought you were a fan of Daniri's movies, Hiroru," Akiyoshi said. "The video rental place called last week about your overdue copy of Prisoner of the Senpet."

Hiroru gave Akiyoshi a withering glare. Akiyoshi smiled.

"I just hope he wakes up soon," Jiro went on, ignoring both of them. "Gohei and the others won't even see me, and I don't even know where Mitni went after the evacuation. She probably took advantage of the confusion and snuck away."

Dairya turned slightly in his body cast to look at Jiro. "Why do you want to talk to Gohei, kid?" he asked. "And who is Mitni?"

"Inago Mitni. A Locust we ran into while we were trying to escape the city," Jiro explained.

Hiroru blinked. "Why were you hanging out with a Locust?"

"Didn't have much choice," Jiro answered. "We sort of stumbled onto something that made it look like a good idea for us to work together."

"And what was that?" Ginawa asked, sipping his tea again.

Jiro paused for a moment. "We discovered who the Stormbreaker is."

Ginawa coughed tea all over the table.

"Wow," Mikio commented. "I thought people only did spit takes in movies."

"What?" the old ronin retorted. "You can't be serious?"

Jiro nodded. "I am. Ikoma Keijura stumbled over the answer right before he was killed during the Locust riots. He e-mailed the information to Daniri."

Tokei scowled suspiciously. "To Daniri? Why would he send something like that to Daniri? I didn't think that they were close."

"It's complicated," Jiro answered. "The same informant that revealed the Stormbreaker's was the one who blew the lid off my brother's true identity. Apparently one had a lot to do with the other, and I think Keijura sent it to him as a sort of apology. Hey, I don't pretend to understand how Lions think, all right?"

"Funny thing, that," Mikio said, "considering that you are a Lion."

"Maybe technically, but I'm just another runt kid to the guards at the Temple of the Elements. If I could get a chance to see Matsu Gohei or Hida Yasu or one of the others then they'd recognize me and hear me out, but I just kept getting told that they're too busy."

"If you're serious about this, then you should have come to us sooner, Jiro," Ginawa said sternly. "I can get you a meeting with Doji Kamiko, and she can get you an audience with whoever else you want."

Jiro nodded. "Thanks, Ginawa."

"So who's the Stormbreaker?" Dairya asked bluntly. "I need to know not just because we need to stop him, but cause I've got money riding on this."

"Dairya," Tokei interrupted. "This information cannot be given lightly. Jiro should be careful about who he tells, shouldn't he?" The shugenja looked at the others for support.

"Bull," Dairya said flatly.

Tokei looked surprised. "Isn't this the sort of news that could cause a panic?

"Look around, Tokei," Dairya said, glancing right and left as well as he could in his cast. "I think panic would be a step up right now. If the Stormbreaker's powerful enough to level a city, then the safest thing Jiro could do is tell anybody and everybody he comes across, make this knowledge known. Maybe once we know where our enemy is coming from we can stop something like this from happening again."

"Fair enough," Ginawa nodded. "So who is it? Who's the Stormbreaker?"

And Jiro told them.

"Here we are, Doctor," Mirumoto Etsuya said, pulling the van over to the side of the road and gesturing at the mountain range on the horizon. "Togashi Mountain, home of the Hidden Dragon."

Doctor Kuni Zuiken breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought perhaps I would never see it again."

"Why are we going to Togashi Mountain?" Hinako asked from the back seat. She held her sleeping daughter in her arms. The small box containing the baby crow sat on the floor nearby. The three other Dragons who had saved them in the airport sat in a row directly behind her, listening and watching quietly. One of them sharpened his wakizashi quietly. Another slept, pillow propped against the window. "Isn't that where that televangelist lives?"

"Hoshi Jack is indeed our neighbor," Etsuya replied with a nod. "But we're quiet neighbors. He hardly notices us. In fact, I'd wager that he doesn't even know that we're there. You see, we're not headed for the mountain itself, but for the caverns beneath it."

Hinako shook her head. "I still don't understand what's going on. You people say that you're Dragons. Are you with the Kitsuki, then? Some sort of branch of the police?"

"Nothing quite so official as that," Zuiken replied with a chuckle as Etsuya put the van back into gear. "History recalls the Dragon Clan's demise in the blaze of the Fire Dragon over a century ago. History is wrong. The Dragon are alive and well. My name was once Agasha Zuiken. I am only one of many secret operatives among the populace of Rokugan."

"Why are you hiding?" Hinako asked.

Zuiken took a deep breath. "A complex question. Traditionally, the Dragon have always stood apart from the rest of society. As strange as it may sound, we function best when we are aloof, free from entangling alliances. With the advance of technology, the world has become a smaller place. It was increasingly difficult for us to maintain our neutral position. It clouded our vision, and prevented us from stopping the events that eventually led to the Shadow Wars. By simulating our own destruction, we corrected these mistakes. We regained our clarity, and moved to a position where we could watch against threats to the Empire with impunity."

"So what do you do?" Hinako asked. "If you're hidden, what are you hiding from?"

"Many things," Zuiken answered. "The forces of darkness. The Empire itself. Some might even say that we are hiding from ourselves, as our anonymity does not come without cost. It can be rather difficult to be honest with oneself when the face you show to the rest of the world is a lie." Etsuya gave Zuiken a curious look, then returned to driving.

"Why are you interested in us?" Hinako asked. "Why is the bird my daughter found so special?"

Zuiken thought about how he would answer that question for a long moment, stroking his thin beard with one hand. "There are several important things that must come to pass before our duty is fulfilled," Zuiken replied at last. "Symbols. Events. A handful of prophecies. The crow is an important symbol to us, as Shinsei once traveled with a crow."

"You think Karasu may have something to do with Shinsei?" Hinako asked.

"Perhaps," Zuiken replied. "Perhaps not. After all, Hoshi Jack has already revealed himself as Shinsei. Perhaps Karasu is just a remarkable little bird that has nothing whatsoever to do with the Day of Thunder. Then again, the forces of Jigoku seem intent on harming you. Think of the oni that attacked your home. Remember what happened at the airport. Even if the crow has nothing to do with Shinsei, it is clear that the Shadowlands wishes to harm you. For that reason alone, the Hidden Dragon will protect you."

"Indeed, Hinako-chan," Etsuya agreed. "If the powers of Jigoku want something, then it is our duty and pleasure to stand in their way. Do not fear. I swear by my swords that while you remain with us, we shall keep you safe."

"Thank you," Hinako agreed. Aihime stirred in her sleep, and Hinako kissed her forehead. Zuiken looked back at the two of them, smiled, and returned to watching the road.

Strange. The skies seemed dark over Togashi Mountain. Perhaps a storm was on the way. Zuiken imagined that he saw a dark shadow pass over the mountain itself. An instant later, it was gone. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes with two fingers. He was getting far too old for an adventure like this. He hadn't slept in a day and a half. Now his eyes were playing tricks on him. Well, this trip was almost complete.

As soon as they returned to the Factory and reported their findings, he could finally rest.

Hiruma Hayato steered whistled idly to himself as he steered his Mudcat all-terrain vehicle into the ruins of Oni no Yoritomo. His eyes widened and he slammed his foot on the brakes as he saw what awaited him there.

The last thing Hayato had expected to see was a riot. About forty of the workers were brawling at the edge of the work site, bludgeoning one another with fists, shovels, and anything else they could find.

"What in Jigoku is going on here?" Hayato demanded, pulling up beside confused looking Seeker standing at the edge of the fighting.

"Not sure," the Seeker replied. "It looks like the Crab workers and the Nezumi are fighting."

Hayato glared up at the man as he leaped out of the side of the Mudcat. "Why aren't you doing something about it?"

The man looked a bit sheepish. "I got friends on both sides! I don't know who to help!"

Hayato scowled. "Back me up, then," he said as he drew the shotgun from its sheath on his back. Cocking back the weapon he turned and fired three shots in the air. The fighting suddenly stopped, and everyone turned to stare at Hayato.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen," Hayato shouted. "I am Taisa Captain Hiruma Hayato, sent here to monitor your progress by Lord Tengyu himself. Either you stop this crap right now and tell me what's going on or I'm going to settle it for you. Is that understood?" He pointed his shotgun at the crowd. At his side, the other Seeker clumsily drew his weapon and did the same.

"Seekers attack Nezumi!" shouted a nearby Ratling, pointing a lead pipe at Hayato. "We just defend ourselves!"

"Don't trust those rats!" shouted a Seeker holding a bleeding rag to the side of his head. "One of them attacked me!"

"Which one attacked you?" Hayato demanded, lowering his weapon.

"They all look alike!" shouted another Crab.

"Why you racist-" snarled a big Nezumi, picking up a cinder block in one hand.

"Drop the block, Nezumi-san," Hayato said, pointing the gun again. "You really don't want me upping the ante here. I'll aim for your tail. You'll live, but think of the nickname you'll have."

The Nezumi dropped the cinder block, whiskers trembling.

"Now," Hayato said, turning to the bleeding Crab. "Who the hell are you and what was the name of the Nezumi who attacked you?"

"My name's Hida Kano. The Ratling's name was Tcha'th."

"Call us Nezumi, you racist!" snarled another Nezumi.

"I'll call you whatever I want! Your friend cut off my ear!" Kano howled.

Hayato sighed and fired his shotgun in the air again. "Listen to me, all of you. This is getting us nowhere. We're allies. There's no reason to be fighting. Hida Kano, anyone else who's hurt, come with me. I'm going to get you medical attention. The rest of you, get back to work or I'll go get Fuzake T'Chip to settle this. He's a Crab and a Nezumi and he's got zero tolerance for this sort of crap. I guarantee you he won't be as nice as I am. Got it?"

The assorted Crabs and Nezumi nodded and mumbled their assent. The two mobs began to drift off, casting disgruntled glances at one another as they returned to their jobs. Hayato stood where he was and waited until thing seemed stable again before he turned to Kano. The scout sighed as he watched the riot disperse. Even though the fighting was over, there were some definite bad feelings stirred up between the Crab and Nezumi here today. However this had started, it had started at the worst time. Hayato sheathed his shotgun over his shoulder and approached Hida Kano.

"You said he cut off your ear?" Hayato asked.

"With a katana!" Kano nodded, taking a bloody paper bag from his pocket. "I've got it right here."

Hayato sighed. "Get in the car. And tell me more about this Tcha'th."

Tcha'th stood perched atop the ruins of an abandoned building, katana in hand. His mind reeled. He could hardly believe that he just did what he did. Everything was a blur. Why had he attacked Kano like that? The guy was a jerk, but he wasn't that bad. Now he was going to be in a lot of trouble.

In his hand, Yashin thought nothing of the Ratling's troubles. The bloodsword was concerned with one thing only, and that was returning itself to its rightful owner. It would use this poor creature to transport itself back to the Emperor's hand.

And what would it do then? A good question. It seemed, for all intents, as if the Emperor's part in this had already been fulfilled. He had given his name to the oni, and the oni had been subsequently destroyed. Now it was just a matter of time before the Mask of Fu Leng killed Yoritomo VII and ended his story. Even yet, Yashin was... curious. There was something about Yoritomo VII that made him different from all the others who had wielded the bloodsword throughout the centuries.

Yashin could not determine what that was, just yet, but it was determined to put itself as close to the Emperor as possible until it could find out.

"Tcha'th should go back, apologize," the Nezumi mumbled to himself. "Tcha'th not think-think clearly. Maybe not get enough potassium? Tcha'th eat some bananas. Go back. Apologize. Fix up bad-bad feelings between friends."

Yashin returned its attention to the Nezumi. No point in letting his new wielder gain a sense of conscience. If this rat brought the bloodsword to the Seekers, they would recognize it for what it truly was. By the time Yashin managed to escape again, the Emperor would be long dead and the Day of Thunder would be a memory. The bloodsword extended its influence into the poor Nezumi's mind again, and pulled. There wasn't much ambition in Tcha'th's mind, to be sure, but there was enough. Yashin was quite adept at fanning embers into infernos.

"No," Tcha'th said with a hiss. "This not catastrophe. This be opportunity. Chance for Tcha'th to go out and find something better-better for all Nezumi. Don't need Seekers. All kinds of important people in town, working just like peasants to fix city. All Tcha'th need-need to do is find important samurai and prove-prove self... Then Tcha'th be important."

It was a weak leap of logic, really. It wouldn't stand the test of time, but Yashin didn't care. He only needed the Ratling for a few hours. Once it had fulfilled its purpose, the bloodsword didn't care what happened to poor Tcha'th.

"But who?" Tcha'th mumbled to himself. "Who important enough to risk so much for?"

Yashin helpfully supplied the Ratling with the Emperor's current location.

"You all right kid?" said a voice through the haze.

Iuchi Kenyu's head was pounding and his mouth was dry. He could feel his eyelids scrape against his eyeballs as they opened. The muscles in his arms and legs felt as if he had been beaten with a stick. The young shugenja grunted in pain as he sat up and peered about. He was lying in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room. Some figures were standing at the other side of the room, but his vision was too blurry to make them out. An older man with sunglasses, a purple bandanna, and two day's growth of stubble smiled down at him around the toothpick in his mouth.

"Good to see you back in the land of the living, kohai," Iuchi Razul nodded.

"Sempai Razul-sama?" Kenyu answered, sitting up and blinking several times to clear his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I work in this town," Razul laughed. "What are you doing here, kid? You've got a lot of people worrying about you."

"Kenyu," Zin said, stepping forward and sitting at the edge of the bed. She took one of Kenyu's hands with both of hers. "Are you all right?"

"I am now," he said, smiling at her.

"Kenyu," Szash rumbled. The huge Naga slithered forward to loom over the bed.

"Szash, listen," Kenyu said quickly. "I didn't mean for you to fall in the street like that. I don't even know what happened at all. I--"

"You have my thanks," the Naga said, clasping his hands together and pressing his knuckles to his forehead. "My temper might have cost me my life, had you not stepped in to settle matters. However you did what you did, you have my gratitude, Unicorn."

Kenyu didn't know what to say. Even Zin looked surprised to see such humility from Szash.

"So what happened outside?" Kenyu asked. "Did Carfax cast some sort of spell on me?"

"Bah, Carfax," Szash grunted. "That man would be pressed to find water in a lake."

"Travel magic," Razul replied. "Some hard core travel magic. That's what that was."

"Travel magic?" Kenyu asked. "Sempai, I'm not sure I know what you mean."

"Our people spent a long time in the desert," Razul replied, sitting back in his chair and crossing one heavy boot over the opposite knee. "We mastered gaijin sorceries that warped time and space. Teleportation, enhanced speed, that sort of thing. Came in handy, too, as a lot of times we found we weren't that welcome and had to make tracks fast. After a while, that sort of thing gets in your blood, and gets passed down. That's what happened to you, Kenyu. You inherited the travel magic in spades. I've never seen it as powerful as you've got, but that's definitely travel magic."

"It looked like time stood still," Kenyu said.

"Sort of," Razul replied. "Actually, time stayed the same. You, on the other hand, were moving faster than sound. Just for a few seconds, but it was long enough. I bet you've got the king of headaches from the sonic boom. I can get you some tetsukami earplugs for that, just in case you need to do it again."

"But I don't understand," Kenyu shook his head. "Everyone always said my magic was weak, that I wasn't talented. Even you said that. How could I do something like that?"

"We thought your magic was weak," Razul answered. "Turns out, you're just very focused. Your magic is built for speed, Kenyu. Just be careful how you use it or you'll burn yourself out. Think of how you feel now, and that's only after a few seconds."

"So what do I do now?" Kenyu asked.

"Now?" Razul replied as he stood and patted down his leather coat with both hands. "Who cares? Take a nap. Stick around. Make paper-clip necklaces. Doesn't matter to me; I've got enough stuff to do without baby-sitting duty, too. You gonna keep an eye on him, Zin? The Phoenix seem to think he needs a watchdog."

Zin nodded. "I think I can take care of him, yes," she replied.

"Cool," Razul nodded. "See you around, kohai." The Iuchi daimyo turned and left the room, stumbling over Szash's tail. "Dang it, Naga, watch where you leave those things," he mumbled.

"Clumsy Unicorns," Szash muttered once the Unicorn was gone.

"Kitsuki Hatsu, Orin Wake," Kamiko said, bowing to the Dragon and his companion as they stepped through the doors of Phoenix Mercy. The pair were escorted by a dozen Crane and Mantis bushi.

"You know me?" Orin asked, surprised.

"I know of you," Kamiko replied. "Lord Yoritomo used to speak of you often."

"He did," Orin replied, not certain what to make of that.

"It is good to see you again, Kitsuki-san," she said, smiling politely at Hatsu.

"Kamiko-sama," Hatsu replied with his own bow. "Saigo-san," he turned and nodded at the familiar prophet standing to one side. "I thank you for agreeing to see me."

"Did you think I wouldn't?" Kamiko replied archly. "As if I have so many friends I can afford to turn them away."

"You seem to be doing well, all things considering," Hatsu replied. "I see that a little over a week you've gone from refugee in the backwater hovels of Toturi's Army to Champion of the Crane."

"It's hardly been an ordinary week," Kamiko replied. "You are here to see the Emperor? Agasha Kyoko implied as much."

"Yes," Hatsu replied with a nod. "If it is not too much trouble."

"Or even if it is," Orin added with a shrug. "We're in a hurry."

Kamiko gave Orin a level stare, then turned and headed off down the hallway. "Follow me," she said over one shoulder. Hatsu and Orin quickly fell into line behind her. Isawa Saigo and the rest of the guards followed as well.

"'Or even if it is'?" Hatsu whispered at Orin. "What was that all about? Are you trying to insult her?"

"Sorry, Cranes rub me the wrong way," Orin whispered back. "Not sure what it is about them. Too stiff."

"Well, keep your opinions to yourself for the time being. She's going to be the next Empress for Amaterasu's sake!"

"Not my Empress," Orin replied. "I'm going home after this is all over."

Hatsu sighed. "I thought your father was a diplomat."

Orin nodded. "I was the black sheep of the family."

Doji Kamiko led them through the crowded halls of the hospital, up stairs and through multiple wards. Finally they arrived at the highest level of the hospital. Security was tight here. Armored bushi from the Imperial Legions patrolled the hallways, along with a handful of fiery-garbed Shiba and even a few gunmetal Seekers. Red-coated Phoenix doctors and shugenja were everywhere, hurrying about as they struggled to attend to their heavy burden of patients. Kamiko led them to the heart of this area, to a pair of doors guarded by the two most intense-looking Wasp guardsmen either Hatsu or Orin had ever seen. When they saw Kamiko, they quickly saluted her and stepped aside.

"Excuse me," came a voice from the nearby waiting room. "Are you going back in to check on him again?"

They turned to see a short, tired-looking bald man in a long red coat bearing the flaming kanji of the Elemental Council on the breast. He held a cup of coffee in one hand, and a half eaten bagel in the other.

"Master Kujimitsu," Doji Kamiko said, bowing to the Phoenix. "These are Kitsuki Hatsu of the Dragon and... Orin Wake." She gestured to the two men.

"The detective," Kujimitsu nodded at Hatsu. "I thought you were wanted by the Imperial Guard."

"So am I, technically," Kamiko replied. "The Kitsuki is a target of the same conspiracy as I. He comes here as a representative of the Hidden Dragon, and has surrendered himself to the protective custody of the Crane."

"I see," Kujimitsu sipped from his coffee. "And you?" he asked Orin. "You're the Amijdali ambassador's son, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir," Orin replied. "Don't mind me, I'm just sightseeing."

"Ah," Kujimitsu nodded. "The notorious Amijdali sense of humor. Or something like it. Mister Wake, I assume you know what's going on in that room beyond us?" He nodded at the double doors. "The Emperor of Rokugan hovers between life and a fate more terrible than any of us can comprehend. There's been little that even I and the Elemental Council have been able to do to slow down the process, much less stop it. For the first time in two days, he's resting. Now you expect me to step aside and allow you to disturb his sleep when you won't even show me the proper respect? I've half a mind to order these guardsmen to throw you down the steps, except it would be my doctors wasting their time putting you back together again."

"Hey, listen -" Orin began.

"Our apologies, Master Kujimitsu," Hatsu said, quickly stepping between Kujimitsu and Orin. "Mister Wake has had a difficult time since the death of his father. The Empire has not been a friendly place for foreigners since Yoritomo VI's decree. Certainly you can afford some amount of lenience toward him? He was one of Lord Yoritomo's few friends before this terrible chain of events began. Perhaps he can help."

Kujimitsu took another deep drink of his coffee. He watched Orin over the Kitsuki's shoulder, scowling at the gaijin with undisguised animosity. "Two minutes," Kujimitsu replied. "You've got two minutes. Then I want him out of my hospital." He pointed at Orin with his bagel.

"Many thanks, Master of Water," Hatsu bowed gracefully. The guards opened the doors, allowing Saigo and Kamiko to enter the Emperor's room. Hatsu and Orin were a step behind. Hatsu shot Orin a warning look. The gaijin just looked perplexed.

The room was small, painted in muted colors. A bed dominated most of the room, upon which lay the unconscious form of the Emperor. He wore only a simple hospital gown and the chipped, grinning white porcelain mask that had bonded itself to his face. His limbs were cut and bruised. Blood was crusted around the edges of the mask despite the doctors' constant efforts to clean it away. He was bound to the bed at his wrists and ankles by chains forged of a strange greenish steel supplied by the Seekers. He seemed at peace, at least for the moment. His face relaxed in sleep.

Yoritomo Ryosei sat at the bed's side. When the four visitors entered, she rose and smiled weakly at them. Her eyes were red with grief and exhaustion. Her green silken robes were slightly rumpled, as if she had been sleeping in them.

"Oh, Orin," Ryosei said, stepping forward to hug the big gaijin. Orin felt a lump rise up in his throat as he returned the smaller woman's embrace.

"It's all right, Ryosei-chan," Orin said. "He's going to be all right. Kameru never gave up on anything in his whole damned life. He's too stubborn to die."

"I hope you're right," she said, stepping away and smiling up at him. She turned and saw Saigo standing in the corner of the room trying to look unobtrusive and quickly moved to his side, taking his hand in hers.

"Well, Hatsu?" Kamiko asked, gesturing at the body of the Emperor. "What do you think?"

Hatsu closed his eyes in concentration, allowing the power of his Void tattoo to enhance his senses. He extended his awareness into the room around him, sensing every sight, every smell, every texture of the room in perfect detail. He extended his senses toward the unconscious man laying in the bed before him.

Hatsu sensed nothing.

On the surface, the Emperor appeared the same as he always had, but the surface was only a thin shell. Within Yoritomo VII was a blank, empty patch of space. It was almost as if the Emperor's body had become a hole cut away from the fabric of the universe.

"What's wrong, Hatsu?" Kamiko asked. "You look troubled."

"I don't understand what I'm seeing," Hatsu replied. "It seems as if there's nothing there."

"Nothing?" Saigo said quickly. "What do you mean? That this isn't the Emperor?"

"No," Hatsu answered. "It's definitely him, but he's changed. A great part of him has been taken away. I can sense... a potential for something there, a random possibility for nearly anything to be created, but for the moment what should be the Emperor is just a dead, empty space."

"What are you saying?" Ryosei asked. "Are you talking about his soul?"

"Just glad I'm not the one making no sense for once," Saigo mumbled to himself.

"Oh, screw this," Orin said, pushing his way past Hatsu to the Emperor's bedside. "Kameru! Kameru, wake up! This is Orin!"

"Orin, we've already tried talking to him," Kamiko said, her clipped tone showing that her patience with the gaijin was wearing thin. "Causing a scene isn't going to help."

Orin looked at her. "How do you know? Have you tried it yet?"

"Kamiko-san, please give him a chance," Ryosei said softly. "Orin and my brother were very good friends, before all of this happened."

"Kameru," Orin said, leaning close and whispering in the Emperor's ear. "Listen to me. You know me. You know what's going on out there. You know the Stormbreaker's goons killed Ishihn. They're responsible for the death of my father, your father, Kamiko's father, Kharsis for all I know maybe they even killed the Kitsuki's father. All I know is that they're still out there and whatever they're doing, Rokugan needs an Emperor to lead us against it. Now are you going to stand up and fight, or are you going to be as stubborn as I was back in Level Zeta and just wait to die?"

Kameru still lay unmoving, lost in his tormented dreams. Orin grunted in frustration. He leaned in closer and whispered even more softly, so only the Emperor could hear.

"Either way, hurry up and make up your mind. For whatever reason, you've got a lot of good people here wasting time caring about you. Now get out of bed, you third world piece of backwater wharf trash, or I've got half a mind to take your throne myself and show these people how to run an Empire."

"Who DARES?!?" the Emperor suddenly roared, sitting bolt upright in his bed and straining at the jadesteel shackles. "Who dares challenge the Emperor?"

"What did you say to him?" Hatsu asked curiously.

"Not important," Orin replied.

"You!" the Emperor said, turning in his bed and fixing burning red eyes on Orin Wake. "Gaijin, you and your kind shall all fall before the Son of Storms! With my Ambition I shall consume the world! None can stand against the might of Rokugan! None!"

"Only the calm mind prevails in time of crisis," Orin said, meeting the Emperor's fearsome gaze evenly. "A good friend of mine once told me that."

"You..." the Emperor's breath was labored for several moments as Orin's words sank in.

"Something is happening," Hatsu said, his enhanced perceptions reading a rapid change in the nothingness within the Emperor.

"Orin..." the Emperor said. His voice was his own again, though it was strained with intense pain. "The monk's words..."

"That monk you used to quote since that day at the bar, yeah," Orin nodded. "Don't worry, Kameru. We're going to help you out of this. Everything's going to be-"

"The monk's words!" Kameru shouted, cutting off Orin as he tugged desperately at his restraints again. "Don't listen! Don't trust in Shinsei! Don't believe him!"

"Hatsu," Ryosei said quietly. "Is that Kameru speaking?"

"I don't know," Hatsu said. "Difficult to tell."

"Dragon!" Kameru said, suddenly turning to look at Kitsuki Hatsu. "You're the one who saved my father! Tell them all what he is! Don't believe him!"

"Kameru, please calm down," Kamiko said, leaning over his bed and placing her hands over one gnarled fist. "This isn't helping. You're not making any sense."

The Emperor's eyes suddenly flickered, the burning red vanishing for a moment as he recognized her. "Kamiko," he said, the pain draining from his voice. "You're free... You escaped Munashi."

"I'm safe now," Kamiko nodded. "We're all safe now."

"No," Kameru said, shaking his head slowly. "No, we're not. Tell them all. Tell them what I said. We must be ready. I... will see you..."

"Kameru?" Ryosei called out to her brother. "What are you talking about?"

"I will see you all..." his features twisted in a mad smile. The red light returned to his eyes. "IN JIGOKU!"

With that, the Emperor's head fell limp on the pillows again. He returned to whatever dark dream worlds had claimed him before.

"What was all that about?" Orin asked. "Hatsu, was there something possessing him? I thought he was gonna vomit green soup for a second."

"He definitely wasn't in complete control," Hatsu agreed. "I sensed a lot of Taint. It was strange, though. It seemed almost as if neither the Emperor nor the Taint were totally in control."

"What's going on in here?" Isawa Kujimitsu said, suddenly bursting into the room. "I heard shouting."

"It's all right now, Kujimitsu-sama," Ryosei answered. "My brother awakened for a moment."

"Hm," Kujimitsu scrutinized the unconscious Emperor for a moment. "You should leave him. He needs rest, I think. Saigo, I want you to stay in the waiting room until I come back out; I want to know everything the Emperor said."

They quickly complied with the Master of Water's request, filing out of the room as Kujimitsu and a small group of doctors entered the room to check the Emperor's life signs once more. As they exited into the waiting area, Hatsu noticed Isawa Saigo lingering in the far corner of the room, a bleak expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" Hatsu said, quickly approaching the prophet. "Did the Emperor say something that made sense to you, Saigo."

"I'm not sure," Saigo said. "There was something... I can't put my finger on it, but it seemed familiar."

Hatsu nodded. "Well, you let me know if you remember anything. Something tells me that there was more to the Emperor's words than mad ranting."

"Yeah," Saigo said. "Though it'd be nice if someone gave us a nice clear warning, for once."

"Like 'the Stormbreaker is behind the door over there?'" Hatsu smirked.

"Yeah, that'd be nice," Saigo laughed despite his dark mood. "Guess that's out, huh?"

A sudden burst of activity near the doors drew their attention. Hatsu's tattoo sensed the source of the noise before it could be seen. A group of men and women were quickly approaching the secure ward. Most of them he recognized by heart rate and scent.

"What's going on?" Kamiko asked, turning to a nearby guardsman.

"Toturi's Army is here," Hatsu said. He spoke loud enough that the others could hear him though his attention was still focused on the door.

The doors of the secure ward opened, and a half dozen rough looking characters stepped inside. Hatsu recognized them - Tokei, Akiyoshi, Hiroru, Mikio, Genju Jiro, and Ginawa, though Hatsu hardly recognized him at first.

Ginawa was dressed in armor of dark blue, the Crane mon emblazoned upon his chest, over his heart. His long hair was tied into a topknot and braided carefully down his back. A group of armored Cranes surrounded them, beaming proudly as they marched at the side of their new commander.

"Jinwa?" Kamiko exclaimed in surprise. "Or should I say Daidoji Jinwa?"

Ginawa shook his head firmly, though a smile curved his lips. "I told you, Lady Kamiko, your old sensei died with your father. However, Daidoji Ginawa is proud to join the Crane's service."

"The Crane are proud to have him," Kamiko replied.

"As my first official act, I have some important information for you," Ginawa replied.

"Wouldn't be the identity of the Stormbreaker, by any chance?" Saigo asked with a chuckle. The prophet sauntered over and leaned against a column with his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

Ginawa fixed him with a serious eye. "You know?"

Hatsu looked at the Phoenix. "Wow, I guess you are a prophet."

Saigo was too stunned to say anything in reply.

Akodo Daniri removed his sunglasses and looked around, uncertain exactly where he was. He seemed to be in unending fields of grass, as tall as his waist. Deep purple mountains rose in the distance. The sun sat high in the sky, and there were no clouds to be seen. The weather was warm and refreshing, unusual for winter. Otosan Uchi was nowhere to be seen.

"Great," Daniri remarked, folding his glasses and putting them in the pocket of his long brown coat. "I'm dead and Yoma turns out to be a cliche'."

"This is what you expected," said a familiar voice. "So this is what you see."

Daniri turned quickly. His breath caught in his throat. Standing in the field beside him, where no one had been before, was a petite woman in a red silken kimono. Dark braids fell around a round, sad face. Though scorpions were woven into her clothing, she wore no mask. Daniri recognized her immediately.

"Kochiyo," Daniri said. A wave of emotions welled up inside. He felt anger at her betrayal, relief at seeing her again, surprise to find her here, but all of these paled in comparison to one emotion that dominated over all.

Daniri hesitated for only a moment, then threw pride aside and ran toward Kochiyo to embrace her. She returned responded in kind. They kissed, warm and deep, for nearly a minute.

"Daniri," she said breathily. "I never wanted to hurt you."

"It's not your fault," he replied, smiling down at her. "Sometimes we make the wrong decisions for what look like the right reasons. I forgive you."

Kochiyo's perfect mouth hung open for a moment. "After everything I've done? How can you forgive me for ruining your life?"

Daniri shrugged. "It's funny you say that. Just as the oni's claw came down and everything went dark, I realized something important. That wasn't my life. That was Akodo Daniri's life. Actor. Movie star. Lion. War Machine Pilot. None of it was really mine; it was just a role I played for awhile. I'm no Lion."

"But Daniri, you are," she answered. "That's why I'm here. That's what I've come to tell you. You're a descendant of-"

"Ikoma Genju," he nodded. "Right. Gohei told me already. Doesn't make a difference. My little brother still calls me Danjuro. I think of myself as Danjuro when I'm not lying to myself. Ikoma Genju may have been my ancestor but Genju Danjuro is the man I really am. Ayano gave me a great gift when she gave me the chance to play the hero for awhile, and I wouldn't give it up for the world, but I never really deserved it. Now we're together again, and that's all that matters, right?"

"No," Kochiyo shook her head rapidly, her eyes clouding with doubt. Daniri frowned. "That's not what I came here to say. I didn't come here hoping to win you back, and you can't die. Not yet. We can't be together, Daniri. I have to go back to Jigoku."

"Jigoku?" Daniri replied.

The beautiful Scorpion pulled away and was quiet for a long time. Her lower lip quivered when she finally spoke. "I pledged my soul to Jigoku," she replied. "I'm a servant of the Stormbreaker, now and forever. Jigoku owns my soul. There's no salvation for me."

Daniri tried to speak, but no words would come. His hands curled into fists. He seized a handful of the tall grass, tore it out by its roots, and hurled it into the air. "DAMN IT!" he cried. "But you betrayed the Stormbreaker! You told Keijura everything! We know who he is! We can stop him!"

Kochiyo turned and smiled sadly. "But I betrayed you, too. That doesn't seem to change the way you feel about me. Why would betraying the Stormbreaker change the way he feels?"

"Are you saying that there's no hope for you?" he snapped, moving closer to him. She backed away. "Are you saying there's nothing that I can do?"

"I don't know if there's anything either of us can do," she said. "I didn't even think you would care, so I didn't even consider it. Daniri, I was an evil person in life. I deserve my punishment. Don't try to save me. That's not why I came here. I came here to tell you to be strong, to wake up. There are others out there who still need to be saved."

"You're not evil," Daniri laughed, a bit hysterically. "I remember everything we shared, our time together. You can't tell me that all of that was a lie. No one has that much falsehood inside them."

"No," she shook her head again. "Most of it wasn't a lie, that's true. And my feelings for you weren't a lie. But the reason I came to you at first was a lie, and the reason I betrayed you was darker than anything I could do to redeem myself."

"What?" Daniri answered. "What are you talking about?"

"Daniri," she replied. "Hoshi Jack sent me to ruin you, drag you down so that you could be corrupted. He didn't count on my feelings for you."

"The Stormbreaker wanted to corrupt me?" Daniri retorted. "Why? Because of the War Machine?"

"Daniri," Kochiyo answered, her dark eyes clear as they met his. "Jack doesn't care about the War Machines. They're irrelevant to his plan. He wants to corrupt you because you're the Lion Clan Thunder, a direct descendant of Toturi the Black."

"What?" Daniri laughed quickly. "But I'm hardly even a Lion. If anything, I'm an Ikoma for Amaterasu's sake, and Toturi's bloodline-"

"Daniri," she said again, stepping forward and placing one hand over his heart. "It's true. You know it's true. You know this isn't over yet. Rokugan still needs you."

Daniri placed one hand over hers, looking down at her long, slender fingers. He imagined for a moment that he saw a ring there, the ring he had intended to give her when he intended to propose. "And what about you?" he asked, meeting her eyes again. "Do you still need me?"

She looked away. "There's nothing you can do for me, Daniri. I'm damned."

He took her chin with his other hand, turned her to face him again. "No, Kochiyo," he said. "You're not. I'll find a way to save you. I promise. Hey, if I'm the Lion Clan Thunder there's nothing I can't do right?"

"The trademark Daniri humility," She smirked a bit. "Bold talk from a guy who got punched out by Sanzo in the first scene of the movie."

"Sanzo's Quest," he laughed wryly. "Why do you always have to bring that movie up?"

"You never watched it with me," she replied, frowning slightly.

"Not yet," Daniri replied. "Wait for me Kochiyo. I will come for you."

Her eyes filled with pain and uncertainty. Daniri reached for her, to kiss her one last time, but an impenetrable shadow passed over her face. In an instant, she was gone. With that, the world began to heave and twist. The earth cracked and, in the distance, the mountains tore apart. Daniri screamed in frustration and anger.

A moment later, Akodo Daniri sat bolt upright in his hospital bed, still screaming, badly frightening the nurse checking his heart rate. He held his arms out awkwardly, trying to twist out of the tangle of intravenous cords and breathing tubes that covered him.

"Somebody get this tube out of my nose," he demanded. "I've got to get ready for the Day of Thunder."

"Greetings, my children, and welcome to the Hour of the Tao," Hoshi Jack frowned as the camera focused upon him. A strange, lingering sadness creased his ancient features. "Today, is a dark day. A day of silence. A day of introspection. As you can see, I have sent my audience away," he gestured and the cameras panned to show the empty seats filling the temple. "Today is not a day to spend in the unnatural confines of a television studio. Today is a day that should be spent among family, among friends, remembering what is important."

The old monk paced down the steps leading from the temple's shrine. The camera followed him smoothly. His usual rough brown robes had been replaced with ceremonial garments of saffron, embroidered with the dragon mon of the Hoshi order. He looked down at his robes as he walked, his expression one of mild discomfort.

"The words of our late Emperor were true," he said, looking up at the camera once more. "I am the descendant of Shinsei, the last in a great line. I am destined to gather the Seven Thunders in battle against great evil, and guide them to victory."

He continued walking, stopping very close to the camera. He balled the long sleeve of his robe over one hand, considering the fabric as he held the hand before his face. He sighed and began to untie the belt of the robe. "Do I believe I am worthy of this honor? Do I believe it is something I deserve? Do I revel in the power of the one true Shinsei? Perhaps I would have, once, when I was young."

Hoshi Jack let the saffron robes fall to the floor. Beneath, he wore a simple shirt of dark black and loose black trousers. Neither bore any symbols of family, order, or clan. He held his withered old hands out to his sides, displaying arms toned with muscle despite his advanced age. "Now?" he asked. "Now I am not so sure. I look at myself, at what I have become, and I ask: 'How can this be Shinsei?' I ask 'Could destiny have made a mistake? Surely it must have meant someone else?'"

The old monk let his hands drop. He suddenly looked very tired, and even older than usual. "But no," he said. "I am, indeed, the one true descendant of Shinsei. I will not lie to you, or make things appear to be better than they are. No, the tragedies in Otosan Uchi are only the start. Things are coming to a head very soon, terrible times that will drain the resolve of even the great Shinsei." Jack smirked when he spoke the word 'great,' though there was little humor in his tone.

"When I was young," he went on, folding his arms across his skinny chest as he paced deeper into the temple, "There came a time when I was given my choice of what order I would join. The Hoshi appealed to me most, naturally," he smiled at the camera, "but I considered all the others very seriously for one can never predict where enlightenment will be found."

"There was the Order of the Sparrow, but I found them too hypocritical, too obsessed with wealth. Quite ironic, when you consider the fact that the end of each Hour of the Tao lists a telephone number for donations." The old monk laughed to himself.

"The Order of the Jay I found a bit confused, obsessed with the idea of Shinsei as a symbol, always seeking the true meanings behind his parables and ignoring the obvious. I suppose I am perhaps a bit biased, as whether or not Shinsei were truth or parable has obviously never been a question in my mind." Hoshi Jack moved to a small shrine depicting the Seven Thunders. He paused and looked at each statue in turn, then returned to his meanderings.

"The Order of the Eagle I found too frightening, too militant," Jack continued. "I figured that there would be plenty of time for war once I found my destiny. Why seek it out? Perhaps I was a bit naive, then. Perhaps if I had accepted the Washi brand upon my chest I would be a stronger Shinsei. Certainly, things would have been very different. Now we will never know."

"The Order of the Crow, sadly, I found to be too grim," Jack went on. "Too unsettling. Again, life is filled with irony, is it not? The very order dedicated to the truth of Shinsei's existence, and I find them a frightening batch to associate with. But is the measure of the follower his faith or something else entirely? Do the Fortunes wish us to meekly settle into our places and fight the good fight without question, or are we more worthy if we question why? I wonder..." For a single moment, Hoshi Jack smiled. His eyes glazed as if remembering a journey long ago, a friend lost.

"My children, there is much to think on, and little time remaining," Hoshi Jack frowned as the lingering sadness creased his face once again. "Today, is a dark day. A day of silence. A day of introspection."

Hoshi Jack's features suddenly hardened.

"Today is all of these things... For soon comes a Day of Thunder. Clutch your loved ones to your breasts, my children, for if the fates are finished with that day will be a black day indeed."

Koan peered from around the camera, signaling that the transmission was complete. Hoshi Jack nodded and rubbed his eyes, as if trying to clear his head of a bad memory.

"Second thoughts, Jack-sama?" Koan asked, watching the old monk carefully.

"As if that were possible," Jack said regretfully. "No, old friend. No second thoughts. No remorse. There is no room left in my heart for such things. There is no possibility."

"Oh," Koan replied. The little Dragon monk felt a pang of disappointment, but wasn't sure why. Everything was working out like he hoped, right? Jack was totally and utterly corrupted. The Day of Thunder was about to go down as planned. Now he just had to stick near Jack so he could open the door when the Thunders arrived...

"Is everything prepared, Koan?" Jack asked.

"Sure thing. Everyone in the compound that isn't part of the big day has been sent home. Yoritomo's cloud of spookies are hovering in the stratosphere waiting for the word. Ishan and his army should be here in a few hours. The Hidden Dragon are downstairs, and don't suspect a thing. Our tetsukansen are baffling their transmissions, and making it look like a natural magical phenomenon. We've got the time we need to finish them off."

Hoshi Jack's gaze suddenly snapped up, looking to the east. His eyes narrowed, a hard animal glint shining there as his upper lip curled. The fingers of his left hand curled, each knuckle popping as he slowly made a fist.

"Um... boss?" Koan asked, trying to get Jack's attention back.

"Something comes," Jack said, his voice rough and strange. "Something long forgotten. Something... unwanted."

"Oh," Koan said. "You... um... gonna give me any more to go on than that?"

Jack looked back at Koan again. "A bird," he replied. "A crow. It's a symbol, nothing more, but you know how powerful a symbol can be."

"I do?" Koan answered. "Okay, I guess I do."

"Find the crow," Jack said, "And kill it. In the meantime, give the order. The Togashi Mountain Factory will be ours within the hour." Jack turned and quickly left the chamber, his bare feet making no sound on the sleek tiled floors.

Koan was left alone in the Temple of the Tao.

"Well, pretty soon, Togashi," he chuckled to himself as he looked at the shrine of the Seven Thunders. The dark figure of Togashi stood in the background, seeming to watch Koan with its tiny jade eyes. "Pretty soon it'll all be over. I'll work off the destiny you printed on my skin and your little mortal friends will be toast. Everybody's happy, right?"

The tiny statue continued to watch Koan. A flicker passed through the jade.

"Yeah, I know what I'm doing!" Koan snapped. "I've though this and through this and..." he paused. "And I'm talking to an action figure." He quickly plucked up the statue and turned it around. The little immortal monk headed for the temple exit, rubbing his bald head with one hand.

"Man," he said to no one in particular. "I really need to get some rest."

What had, until a few days ago, been a simple intensive care ward in Phoenix Mercy Hospital had now become a meeting center for the most powerful men and women in Rokugan. Ryosei had called an emergency meeting of the clan leaders and other important individuals within the city.

Princess Ryosei stood in the center of the room, all eyes of those present upon her. Isawa Saigo stood at her side, hands stuffed in his pockets as he glanced nervously about the room. "All right, now that everyone's here," she nodded as Jared Carfax sidled into the room and leaned against the soda machine. "We can decide what's to be done. You've all been told what we have learned about the Stormbreaker. Whether we like it or not, we are the men and women that now make the decisions for the Diamond Empire. We need to decide what comes next."

"You're certain this information is correct?" Sumi asked, hands on her hips as she paced at one end of the room. The newly named Sumi Mojo, Isawa Kujimitsu, and the other Elemental Masters sat around a small table nearby. "I mean, this is Shinsei we're talking about. Shinsei! We can't just attack Shinsei."

"It makes sense," Akodo Daniri answered. His eyes were tired and his shoulders weak from his injuries, but he refused to sit. Matsu Gohei stood nearby, surprising many by adding his support to the disgraced actor's presence. Kitsu Jurin, Kitsu Tono, and Daniri's brother Genju Jiro sat in chairs nearby. The zokujin, Argcklt, crouched on the floor.

"That report you found in your e-mail was vague at best, Daniri," Doji Kamiko replied from her seat in a dark corner of the room. Doji Kamoto and Daidoji Ginawa stood to either side. Tokei, Hiroru, and Akiyoshi stood near Ginawa. All three of them seemed somewhat stunned to have been invited. "No offense intended, but it was a desperate story from a woman who ruined your life. She had already brought down a movie star with her lies. What's better than that? Bringing down Shinsei?"

"Actually, Kamiko, nothing Shosuro Kochiyo said about me was a lie," Daniri answered.

"Devil's Advocate here?" interjected the quiet voice of Bayushi Oroki.

"No argument," Kamiko remarked dryly.

The lone Scorpion nodded at the Crane. Oroki was accompanied by the looming figure of Bayushi Zou and an unidentified Scorpion in a white mask whom Oroki had vouched for personally, but refused to identify. No one but the Scorpions knew how Zou could have recovered from his injuries so quickly, and again Oroki was not volunteering the information. "Think about it," Oroki said. "Ikoma Keijura's report wasn't much, but there is a great deal of circumstantial evidence that links Hoshi Jack to the tetsukansen phenomenon. Thunders, I suspected him myself a few times, but Togashi Mountain is very far away and I had weightier tasks on my hands."

"Indeed," Hatsu nodded at the Scorpion. The Dragon stood at the opposite corner of the room, accompanied by Agasha Kyoko, Mirumoto Rojo, and Orin Wake. "No disrespect intended, but how do we know that Jack is truly Shinsei? Was the prophecy that predicted him even reliable?"

"Um... that was my prophecy," Jared Carfax smiled weakly and held up a finger. "So I guess it's reliable."

"And why are we listening to this man?" Hida Tengyu snarled in his gruff voice. Hida Yasu, Hiruma Hayato, and Kaiu Toshimo surrounded the massive daimyo. Tengyu looked directly at Carfax as he spoke. "What has he done for us other than offer a warning a moment too late? All we know is that he's a gaijin with too much power. He could be part of the problem, as far as we know. Hoshi Jack is half gaijin as well, remember."

"And I'm a gaijin," Orin Wake replied, looking idly at the gleam in the hilt of his bear sword. "Does that mean you're coming after me next, Crab? Congratulations. You've just become Yoritomo VI." Orin looked up at Tengyu. Tengyu frowned deeply at Orin, but said nothing.

"People, we gots to calm down," Iuchi Razul laughed from where he sat on a couch near the center of the room. Iuchi Kenyu was present to support his clan, as well Shinjo Rakki, the pilot of the Unicorn War Machine. Even amid a group who outranked the Unicorns present by far, the easy-going Iuchi had no qualms about openly speaking his mind. "Fighting with each other isn't gonna accomplish a dad-blamed thing."

"Dad-blamed?" Hida Yasu repeated. "Who talks like that?"

"The esteemed Iuchi is correct," Zin spoke. The Naga stood between the Unicorn and Phoenix representatives. Szash, her enormous protector, hovered in the shadows behind her. "Jared Carfax may be many things, but he is indeed a true Oracle. As for Hoshi Jack, I have communed with my brothers and sisters, now awakening in the Shinomen Forest. They, too, have encountered the minions of the Stormbreaker and they confirm that our enemy is Hoshi Jack."

"So Hoshi Jack is the Stormbreaker, but he is also Shinsei?" Yoritomo Ryosei replied uncertainly. "That's impossible. Shinsei is an ally of Rokugan. By the storms, he's Shinsei! How can Shinsei be corrupted?"

"If it's true, this basically means we're screwed, right?" Hida Yasu answered frankly. Sumi glared at him and sighed.

"I don't see it that way," Matsu Gohei replied calmly. "The Seven Thunders are just an allegory. Those stories aren't real. Why do we need some old monk's help to save the Empire?"

"Actually, those stories are real," Isawa Saigo replied. "I... um... saw them."

Matsu Gohei looked at Isawa Saigo dubiously

"Don't you have any faith, Matsu-sama?" Isawa Kujimitsu asked sadly.

"Faith? Yes," Gohei nodded. "I have faith, Master of Water. I believe in what I can see. If this Shinsei can offer us a concise advantage, than I shall gladly accept his help. If he can offer nothing but platitudes and prophecy, then we do not need him. We have enough of both already." Gohei gestured at the Dragons. "Now is the time for practicality. Now is the time for action. If Hoshi Jack is truly the Stormbreaker as you say, then I shall lead the armies of the Lion against him and deal with him appropriately."

"I know I just met all of you people and I'm not even sure why I'm here," Iuchi Kenyu added, "but I think killing Shinsei might be a really bad idea." Kenyu gestured with both hands on the word 'bad' to emphasize the point.

"I... had some visions a while time back that could be important," Isawa Saigo said. "If Lord Gohei-sama doesn't mind, that is." Saigo smiled apologetically at the Lion.

Gohei shrugged and looked mildly disgusted, but said nothing.

"Please, Saigo-san, share your visions," Isawa Kujimitsu said encouragingly.

"Okay," Saigo went on. "A while ago I had a vision of the past. I spoke to the Hooded Ronin, the descendant of Shinsei who stood with the Thunders against Hantei the 39th."

"The Emperor who was possessed by Fu Leng," Iuchi Kenyu added. "Wow, you really saw him?"

"Sort of," Saigo nodded at the Unicorn. "Shinsei told me to 'watch.' He said that it was quite possible that the next set of Thunders wouldn't have a Shinsei to guide them. He also said that Shinsei never gave the Thunders anything they didn't already possess. I think this agrees a lot with what Gohei-sama is saying. We can't let the possibility that Hoshi Jack is Shinsei or isn't Shinsei affect our decision here. The important thing is, we know he's the Stormbreaker, right?"

"Well, for once I agree with the prophet," Gohei snorted.

"It makes sense," Sumi added. "Even if Jack is both the Stormbreaker and Shinsei, then it is at least our responsibility to see if Jack can be cured of his corruption. To do that, we must face him."

"Which brings us back to the same question," Yoritomo Ryosei said. "What is our next move? Do we openly attack Jack's compound at Togashi Mountain? Or do we simply send in a few Seekers to have him arrested?"

"That's difficult to say without knowing the situation at Togashi Mountain," Daidoji Ginawa answered. "We'll probably only get one chance to capture Jack. We had better do it right."

"Fire Dragons," Gohei said flatly. "Launch a Fire Dragon at Togashi Mountain and be done with it."

"The Hidden Dragon have a sizable Factory beneath Togashi Mountain," Agasha Kyoko entered, her odd, hollow voice echoing through the room. "They would be destroyed as well."

"And that isn't even considering the fact that only Lord Yoritomo knows the launch codes," Ryosei added.

"Well, what of the Dragons, then?" Shinjo Rakki asked. "Has anyone tried to get in touch with them? Find out what Jack is up to?"

"I have attempted to contact our allies there," Kyoko answered, "but have received no response. There is a strange interference within the elements. This happens from time to time, but it seems too convenient a coincidence for my tastes."

"The tetsukansen cloud," Kaiu Toshimo said gravely. "It could produce that sort of interference."

"Okay, let's just assume that the Dragon's silence is a bad sign," Hida Tengyu said. "I think we should hit the mountain with everything we've got, and we need to do it fast."

"My mind is with the Crab on this," Matsu Gohei agreed heartily. "You've all seen the tape of Hoshi Jack's latest broadcast. I know a threat when I hear one. We must move quickly." A general murmur of consent moved through the room.

"Then so be it," Yoritomo Ryosei replied. "In the name of the Son of Storms and on behalf of the Diamond Empire of Rokugan we declare Hoshi Jack, the Stormbreaker, an enemy of the state. Let the armies of the clans mobilize at once, and move to Togashi Mountain to apprehend him or, failing that, wipe out the threat he poses. Iuchi Razul, I need you to make contact with Otaku Shoda and the other daimyo in Unicorn territory - they can arrive the swiftest. Tell the Battle Maidens to scout the area with maximum speed and subtlety - we need to know what we're getting into."

"Check," Razul replied, standing. Shinjo Rakki fell into line behind him as he exited the room. Iuchi Razul followed as well, casting a last glance at Zin.

"Bayushi Oroki, what is the status of the Scorpion army?" Ryosei asked.

"Bayushi Taigo leads two thousand Scorpions to Togashi Mountain at this very moment," the Scorpion replied smugly.

"Convenient," Ryosei said suspiciously.

"Sometimes hunches pay off, neh?" Oroki said with some amusement.

Ryosei nodded. "Tell the Scorpions to make contact with the Unicorn and coordinate their scouting missions."

"Ah, good," Oroki said wryly. "Battle Maidens. They'll be a great help. Ever the masters of stealth and espionage, they."

"Oroki," Ryosei said, her tone dangerous.

"Your word is my command, my lady." Oroki bowed deeply and exited the room, followed by his Enforcer and unidentified guest.

"Matsu Gohei, Hida Tengyu, Doji Kamiko, I want the three of you coordinating to organize the bulk of the assault," Ryosei continued. "I shall place the armies of the Mantis and Imperial Legions at your disposal as well, as your experience in commanding troops far exceeds my own."

The three daimyos agreed. Though there was no love lost between Gohei and Tengyu, both men were practical enough to set their feud aside in the face of the matter at hand. The Cranes, Crabs, and Lions quickly exited to attend to their duties.

"Lady Zin of the Naga?" Ryosei said, turning to the Naga.

"Yes, Ryosei-sama?" Zin replied after a moment. The Naga was clearly surprised to be addressed directly.

"Is there any chance that you can commune with your Akasha once more?" Ryosei asked. "I think we will need the Naga's help in this. The more closely we can organize our assault, the better."

"Of course, Ryosei-sama," Zin replied. "I shall make contact with them at once." Zin quickly bowed and left the chamber. Szash paused long enough to nod respectfully at the Princess and cast a lingering, hate-filled gaze at Carfax, then followed.

"Sumi-san, Masters" Ryosei said, turning to Phoenix who remained. "Can your shugenja use their magic to protect us from the tetsukansen cloud?"

"Difficult to say," Isawa Kujimitsu replied. "We're not even sure what it can do yet."

"Assume it will be bad," Ryosei added.

"Well, obviously," Kujimitsu answered. "The Phoenix know more about the tetsukansen than perhaps any clan except the Dragon. Of course, those implants were damned good at hiding themselves from our magic. I can't imagine that cloud being any more polite."

"I discovered a spell that can sense the tetsukansen implants," Saigo said. "Sort of by accident, but I discovered it. Do you think maybe that could be useful against the cloud?"

Kujimitsu stared at the prophet a moment. "Why didn't you tell us that earlier, boy?"

"Take Saigo with you, if he can help you," Ryosei said. "Dragons, will you offer your wisdom to the Masters as well?"

The Dragons were silent for a moment. Mirumoto Rojo prodded Orin in the back.

"Oh," Orin coughed. "I keep forgetting that they put me in charge. Bugger knows why. Yeah, we would be glad to help, Princess."

"Excellent," Ryosei said, smiling slightly at Orin's discomfort. "Then I wish you all good luck."

The Dragons and Phoenix quickly exited the room as well, leaving Ryosei alone with Jared Carfax. The Oracle was still leaning against the soda machine, sipping idly from a diet soda he'd purchased at some point.

"And what about you, Oracle-sama?" Ryosei asked. "Are you planning to help us?"

"Oh yeah," Carfax nodded. "I'm expecting Yogo Ishak to pop up sooner or later. More likely sooner than later. I've got a surprise ready for him."

"Good," Ryosei nodded. "I thank you for your help, Oracle of Thunder."

"Hey, not a problem," Carfax grinned. "It was an honor just to see them all here in one building for the first time."

"All of who?" Ryosei asked.

"You know," Carfax replied. "The Thunders."

"You know the identities of the Seven Thunders?" Ryosei asked.

"I know the identities of all the Thunders," Carfax answered. "I'd be a pretty sorry Oracle of Thunder if I didn't, wouldn't I?"

A sudden crash sounded from the hospital room nearby, followed by a blood-curdling scream and the sound of tearing metal. Ryosei and Carfax turned at once. A half dozen Scorpion and Mantis guards instantly appeared from the hallway, weapons drawn.

"My brother!" Ryosei shouted, running for the room.

"Wait, Princess," Carfax followed quickly after her. "It could be dangerous!"

Ryosei threw open the doors to her brother's room, and was met quickly by a gust of wind. The small windows of the room were broken, and part of the wall was torn away as if by an explosion. The hospital bed was twisted and mangled, the jadesteel chains broken. The Emperor was gone. Most strangely, a small Ratling huddled in the corner, hugging himself with his paws.

"Wow," Carfax said, stepping into the room behind her. A handful of guards followed, quickly spreading to all points of the room and covering the area with their weapons. "You Mantis know how to dish out property damage, don't you?" he asked a Mantis guard.

"Who are you?" Ryosei demanded, kneeling and seizing the Ratling by his overalls. "What happened here?"

"Took my Ambition," the Nezumi whimpered to himself. "Ambition took Tcha'th here. Took Tcha'th to see Emperor. Then Emperor took-took Ambition away..." The Nezumi burst into tears. Ryosei sighed and released him. The Mantis guardsmen quickly lifted the Nezumi to his feet and carted him off for questioning.

Ryosei moved to the shattered window, staring vainly out at the broken city for any sign of her brother.

There was none.

The Emperor was gone.

Mirumoto Shige was bored.

The young Dragon flipped idly through a dog-eared comic book. The thick volume told the story of a renegade ninja fighting an army of demons. It was one of Shige's favorites, but he had already read it a hundred times. He stifled a yawn as he leaned back against the cliff face and looked out at the sweeping mountains of the Dragon. Shige had been sitting here for most of the day, dressed in the uniform of a park ranger. He tried to remind himself as often as he could that his job was important, but guarding a bunch of trees and rocks hardly seemed a big deal.

Of course, these particular trees and rocks guarded one of the many secret entrances to the Togashi Mountain Factory, but that hardly changed things. No one knew the Hidden Dragon existed, much less that they were down there. Shige was more likely to run into a bunch of drunken campers than stumble over an invasion.

Shige shivered, pulling his thick coat closer to ward off the wind. He considered sitting in his truck for a while with the heater going, but that was against regulations. He was expected to maintain as complete a vigil as possible, without any obstructions.

Still, it couldn't hurt to sit in the truck for just a few minutes, could it? It was awfully cold. Shige glanced around, tucked the comic in his coat, and picked his way down the cliff face toward his pickup. The wind moaned balefully as it whipped about him. Shige shivered again. For a moment he paused, an uneasy feeling welling in his stomach. He might have ignored it as a simple case of nerves, but the Hidden Dragon were trained to heed their instincts. He quickly hopped down from the cliff face and ducked into a patch of nearby bushes.

The moan of the wind grew louder. The sky began to darken; the bright morning sun fading sharply. Could it be a storm, Shige wondered? If so, perhaps he would be better off in his truck after all. The young Dragon dug his keys out of his pocket and prepared to dash.

Suddenly, the temperature dropped sharply, sharply enough that Shige gasped in surprise. A pillar of darkness boiled down from the clouds towards Shige's position. A terrible sound like a buzz-saw tearing across metal erupted as the pillar collided with the front end of Shige's pickup truck. Sparks flew as the metal was torn and consumed by the shadowy tornado. Flames erupted as the rear half of the vehicle exploded. Shige was thrown backward, stunned by the blast.

He realized to his horror that the black cloud was neither mist nor smoke, but a swarm of countless little spirits. They resembled scraps of black paper, folded in half to resemble moths. Though they looked harmless, Shige could see how the edges of their bodies tore effortlessly through the metal of his truck. He could sense the cold radiating from them as the cloud boiled toward his hiding place.

Shige quickly reached for the Dragon Sphere at his belt. His fingers fumbled, numbed by the chill. The crystal sphere tumbled out of his pocket and bounced on a patch of grass. Shige glanced at the sphere, then at the cloud. Looking behind him, he saw nothing but the cliff face. There was nowhere left to run, but maybe he could still warn the others.

He dove for the sphere.

The cloud was quicker. The tiny black creatures overwhelmed Mirumoto Shige, leaving nothing in their wake but some bloodstained grass and a tiny crystal sphere with a jade dragon inside.

Agasha Hisojo was tired. He had been up for most of the last two days, studying data the Hidden Dragon had intercepted from the battle in Otosan Uchi. Everything he had determined so far seemed to indicate that the power of the Taint in Rokugan was building to some sort of climax, a climax that should have been interrupted when the Kashrak was slain and the great summoning circle surrounding the city was broken.

But it was not. Though the savage outbreak of Taint in Otosan Uchi had returned to normal levels, the background levels of Shadowlands corruption throughout the Empire were still on the increase. It was almost as if Oni no Yoritomo had never been defeated.

Or as if Oni no Yoritomo had accomplished its purpose already.

Hopefully Hatsu would turn up something in Otosan Uchi. As it was, they had woefully few leads.

"The cloud of darkness," Hisojo mumbled to himself, returning his attention to another file laying open on his tables. "The cloud of kansen the oni vomited forth. Obviously, that's extremely significant. That's at the heart of this. Along with the armies being built in Holy Home City, those creatures are intended to be used to some purpose. The Stormbreaker is about to make his move."

"Or perhaps," said a voice from nearby. "He has made it."

Hisojo looked up sharply, words of magic forming on his lips. Without hesitation, he sent a burst of fire at the intruder.

The fire disappeared in a crackle of black energy. Hisojo recognized the intruder, a thin man in a black suit, eyes hidden behind a stylish pair of sunglasses.

"Tsuruchi Kyo, I presume," Hisojo said as his thoughts raced for another course of action. "Or do you call yourself Akeru now?"

"Kyo is fine," the assassin nodded with a smile. He reached into his pocket, drew out a small pistol, and pointed it at Agasha Hisojo.

The gunshot sounded but Kyo suddenly stumbled. Even yet, the Wasp's sure aim hardly suffered. Hisojo felt a fire explode in his chest. The old man went down with a cry of pain.

"What in the?" Kyo cursed, turning about. He saw a tiny dog standing behind him, chewing savagely on his ankle. "Damned runt," Kyo snarled, kicking the animal loose. It yelped and quickly scampered past him just as Hisojo's office burst into a brilliant light. When the light faded, the old man and the dog were gone.

"Teleportation?" Kyo sneered. "Thought that was a Unicorn trick."

Kyo calmly tucked his gun into his jacket as the sounds of screaming and explosions echoed in the Factory behind him. The kansen had arrived.

"All right, old man. That's enough of a head start."

Tsuruchi Kyo summoned the power of the Void and returned to Otosan Uchi.

TO BE CONTINUED