Chapter 13: Zenogias Under Fire
He found himself in the balcony-like structure again…but this time it seemed more like a courtyard. In front of his was someone he now knew: Ghaleon, and the sky, which was a purple swirl, was changing into the black of evil.
“So, you’re the Musia’s champion,” Ghaleon spoke in a cold voice, “Just like a bad gil, you come back no matter what I do to be rid of you.”
“I will not go anywhere until you and those on your side are vanquished…including the Dark Master,” Citan replied, fire burning in his now-black eyes.
“So…you know the truth. You got this far, I'll give you that. However, those ladies behind you will ensure
that I will win this...won't you?"
He turned and saw what he now knew was
the six Musias on a stage. He
recognized three of them now: Eve, Elly
and the one that looked like Yui, Dena.
“What are you going to do…?” he asked.
Dena did not reply to him, but spoke in a
strong, authoritative voice for a few moments.
What she said, though, he could not later remember.
She then looked at Eve and began to sing.
This time, though…Citan suddenly was
looking at himself…and saw the white begin to envelop his own body.
Ghaleon shouted angrily, "No the
target is me, not him, you simpletons!”
The Zenogias native gasped as he watched
himself change…the sword he wielded became longer, white things coming out of
his back, his outfit completely changing, and his hair loose and consumed in
white fire…
Dena raised her arms to the sky and
shouted, “Mitochondria…be free!”
At that moment, even though he was
outside of his body, the white light blinded him for a long time…then faded
into black.
He heard a heartbeat, but saw nothing but
blackness.
“What is going on…? Why do I keep having this dream?” he asked.
“Because you are the cona-trey,”
he heard a woman reply.
The voice’s owner became visible in front
of him. Unlike the other times, he did
not recognize this person.
This woman had long black hair and wore
an outfit similar to the ones that the Musias wore in the reoccurring dream.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“Someone from ages past,” she replied,
her voice urgent yet monotone, “I traveled alongside Althena and four others.”
He nodded and said, “You’re a Musia.”
“I was a Musia. I passed on long ago. But…you are the cona-trey, and your
battle with the Dark Master’s messengers, Ghaleon and Ultimecia, is destined
and unavoidable.”
“What does this mean?”
“You heard what Dulcinea said about
that…”
“All right, then a better question: in the past times, what happened to the
Musias?”
She shook her head and said, “Sometimes,
we all survived the battle…and sometimes one or more died. It depends on the relationships.”
“Relationships?”
“Yes.
The song of Revelation, that you call Femmes Fatales, changes its
target into their true form and lasts indefinitely…until the battle it is
involved in is over. However, as Dena
told you, the song can also kill its singers.”
“Yes.”
“I do know that five of the current
Musias have significant relationships that will permit them to survive.”
“Which five?”
“Julia has her husband and
daughter…Victoria has her devotion towards my old friend, Philemon…Eve has her
sister, Aya—“
“Sister?!”
The woman looked at him and said, “You
did not know…Luna, or rather, Althena, has a young man named Alex…and as you
know, Elly has Fei.”
“Yes…but how do you know all of this?”
“That matters not. Citan, I must ask you something, and it is
very important. Do you harbor feelings
for Dena?”
“For Deindra?”
“Yes, for the Musia of Earth.”
He looked at the woman and replied, “When
I first came to Earth, I thought I did…but that was because of her resemblance
of my dead wife, Yui. Time passed,
though…”
She nodded but prompted, “But?”
“I do care about Deindra as a friend,
yes, but feelings?” he replied and shook his head before adding, “I’m afraid
not.”
The woman’s expression became grave and
she said, “…I see.”
“What is wrong?”
“Citan…I am sorry to tell you this…but
Dena does have feelings towards you.”
He blinked in surprise and said in a low
voice, “How can she…for someone she met only a month before…?”
She shook her head and replied, “It is
not as rare as you think. But…it does
not matter now. No matter how the
battle with Ghaleon goes, that young woman will die.”
The Musia saw a look of shock and sharp
pain in his face.
“Is there no way to save her?” he asked,
his voice cracking for a second.
She started to say something, but
instead, she replied, “There is none now.
Although, as you yourself know, battles and war do not come without
lives being sacrificed, and this will be no different.”
At
this, the strange woman faded away.
“Wait, come back here--!”
He heard himself say this as he sat up.
Citan looked around and saw himself in the quarters that he
had chosen on Conductor.
“Another dream,” he murmured.
However, the pain he felt did not fade.
He went to a desk and touched a few switches.
“Aya?” he called out after a moment.
“Is something
wrong, Citan? You sound really upset,” he heard her ask.
“Would you please come to my quarters for a moment or
two? I have some questions—about Eve.”
“All right,” she said and shut her end off.
He made sure that he was presentable and five minutes after
the end of the communication, there was a beep in the room.
“Come in,” he said.
As expected, Aya came in, looking a bit worried.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Aya,” he asked her, “Why did you not mention that you are
related to Eve?”
She asked, suspicious, “Who told you?”
He then explained the dream to the Evolution native.
The LAPD officer nodded and replied, “Yes, it’s true…Eve is my
sister. When we were both children, my
mother and sister, Maya, were in a fatal accident. What I didn’t know then was that the liver cells inside Maya were
being cultivated. When a little girl
named Melissa was in the hospital the same night, well…one of the doctors took
Maya’s liver and put it into the second girl.”
He said, “And the mitochondria with it.”
“Yes. I had surgery
done on one of my eyes and Maya’s cornea was inserted…which Eve used to
‘trigger’ me when she awoke inside Melissa just a few months before. Well, a few months ago where I come from,
anyway.”
“I see. You mentioned
that something happened in a city on your world.”
“That’s right. The
kids from Persona saw the aftermath, but…Citan, you’re well versed in science,
so you could probably make an educated guess as to what happened after Eve
awoke.”
He nodded and replied, “Spontaneous combustion, mass
deaths…and probably an attempt at reproduction.”
“Yes, an attempt that succeeded. I was forced to destroy the results of that.”
“I imagine it would be difficult to have to do that to
something that was not only just born…but also, technically, to your own
nephew, or niece.”
Aya blinked and said, “I never thought about it that way,
about it being my nephew, but you’re right.
It was.”
“There is something else I want to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“Every time I have had this dream, about the battle with
Ghaleon, Dena always shouts a statement I do not understand completely.”
“What does she say?”
“It is: Mitochondria, be free.”
Her eyes widened at this with shock.
“According to Eve…the mitochondria have been trying to
liberate themselves from their hosts for many millenia. “
“Meaning humans.”
“You got it. A few
times, they succeeded…and the two times I know about happened somewhat
recently. The first time in Japan, and
the second time is when Eve awoke in Melissa.
Citan, what that statement means is that when the battle happens, your
mitochondria will be freed by Dena and will completely take over.”
The shock and pain returned to his face at this.
“I will wind up…like Eve?”
“I don’t know. You
might…and you might become something completely different from her.”
He nodded and said in a low voice, “Now I know…now I know how
Fei really felt when I told him about Id…”
Aya
shook her head, not pretending to understand what he was talking about.
“How are Alex, Jessica and Nall settling in?” he asked her.
“Andrea says they’re quick learners. Alex and Nall are sharing quarters while Jessica has her own.”
He nodded and said, “Dragons, worlds with magic…our worlds
being games on Earth, Personas…a multiverse…months ago I would have denied that
any of this existed.”
“I think we all know the feeling. We came from different points, but this mission of ours has
already changed us all forever…and maybe our worlds along with us.”
He looked at her pensively and unconsciously tapped his foot.
“Aya, I must know,” he said firmly, “Eve is one of the six
Musia. Whether or not she will still
cause the mitochondria to revolt or not is not the issue at the moment. What is, though is if your relationship with
her will cause a problem in the mission.”
She looked right at him and replied, “Not at all, sir. I was the one to exter—I mean to put an end
to her plans for Evolution. Saving her
and the others from Ghaleon and Ultimecia comes first.”
He nodded then added, “Correct.”
“But what about Dena?
Citan, if what you told me is true, we’ll lose one of the Musias no
matter what.”
“Deindra’s life is irrelevant.”
“That’s bull. Put on
the mask in front of others if you want, but stop lying to me and stop lying to
yourself about her.”
Before anything further could be said, the intercom went off
and Nate’s voice could be heard.
“Captain
Uzuki, Dulcinea reports that we are approaching Zenogias.”
“Understood.
On my way,” he replied then shut the intercom off. He turned to Aya and said in a no-nonsense
tone, “We will discuss this later.”
***************
Andrea sat in her chair at the communications board, looking
between the planet that was beginning to fill the viewscreen and at Atlus
nervously.
Ellen sat in one of the other chairs and said to her, “We
better start scanning for enemies.
Dulcinea, do you have any records as to what all life forms are on this
planet?”
“Affirmative, Ellen.”
“Then scan the planet for foreign hostiles.”
“Acknowledged.
Scanning now.”
A couple of minutes later, the door to the bridge opened to
admit Citan and Aya. The former walked
to his chair and ordered, “Dulcinea, scan the planet for foreign hostiles.”
“Ellen has already given that order, Captain Uzuki,” the computer replied, “Foreign hostiles confirmed on the Ignas continent and the Aquavy Islands.”
“What part of the Ignas continent?”
“Checking…hostiles found in the Lahan and Aveh regions.”
“Lahan--!” Andrea exclaimed.
She looked at Citan and said, “That place is just being rebuilt!”
“It has been rebuilt,” he corrected her while not liking the
fact that someone from another world knew his own as well as he did.
“Your orders, Captain?”
Atlus asked.
“Land the ship at Lahan and prepare for hand-to-hand combat,”
he replied, “Atlus, Ellen, Andrea and Alex, you four find the Chief and look
for survivors. Aya, Chris and Nate, you
are with me. The rest of you stay here
and protect the ship. The last thing we
need is for the hostiles to take it.”
“Understood,” was the reply from everyone on the bridge.
Billy shook his head as he and Fei left the village chief’s
house. The younger man, an albino,
looked somewhat haggard and drawn, with his hair disheveled.
“It seems as though everything’s gone downhill ever since the
stranger arrived and took Elly…and killed—“ he started.
“Don’t say it! Doc’s
still alive, he’s just not here,” Fei replied, “Midori and Chu-Chu went with
that group I told you about to find him.”
“I don’t know, Fei. It
sounds like a wild tale to me…but then again, I can’t really explain why the
rash in new monsters or the man that arrived.
Let us pray that Midori and Chu-Chu will be all right…and that Elly will
be safe.”
“Oh, I have been, count on it. I wanna be out wherever Doc and those two are, but what if these
goons try to attack the planet?”
Right then, Emeralda was hurrying up to the two of them at
quite a speed, even for a nanomachine colony.
“Billy, Fei! We have intruders!”
Fei’s eyes narrowed as Billy’s own widened. “I knew it,” the former said, “What kind are
they?”
“The new monsters have been spotted in Blackmoon Forest,
heading this way. A few of them from
the mountains came down and are just outside the village. Bart, Sigurd and Rico are fighting them
off,” she replied.
“Monsters? We need to
get there right away!” Billy exclaimed and started running off in that
direction before Fei could stop him.
The young man shook his head and Emeralda added, “I spotted
something else on my way back here.”
“What else could be here?”
“A silver spacecraft landed between Blackmoon Forest and
Lahan. I didn’t have time to check it
out though.”
Fei groaned, “Just what we need…Billy’s right, things really
are going downhill. First, let’s help
Bart and the others, then we can deal with the forest and the ship.”
“Yes,” she simply replied and the two of them ran as fast as
they could to the battle site.
Citan shook his head mentally as he, Aya, Chris and Nate
entered Lahan with the second group.
Andrea looked about and saw that the village seemed intact…and
also in a wide-eyed manner. “This
certainly looks different than in the game…” she said in a quiet tone.
“The real thing always looks different,” he replied.
Atlus looked about them and remarked, “It almost seems
quiet. I have a feeling the monsters
aren’t here, at least yet.”
At this, one of the villagers, a familiar young man with a strange,
red hairstyle walked up to them. “Doc
Citan?? So you really are alive!”
“What is going on, Dan?” the doctor asked.
“We’re under attack!
Some new monsters came down the mountain and started attacking us. Bart and the others took off for the edge of
town to fight ‘em. Plus, Emeralda said
something about a bunch more in the forest—“
“Atlus, take Dan with your group,” Citan ordered, “and see to
the townsfolks’ safety. The rest of us
will assist in the battle near the mountain.”
“We’re on it!” Atlus
replied and his team, as well as Dan, quickly went in another direction.
Aya quickly made sure her gun was loaded while the others
double-checked their own physical (and spiritual) weapons.
“We’re ready,” Chris announced.
“Good. Let us get going.”
Fei swore under his breath as he winced from the attacks.
In front of him were several monsters that he had never seen
before. Some of them looked like a type
of imp, some others were rather large birds, and still more had the look of a
giant mouth with long, green and numerous tentacles instead of where a body
would normally be. A couple of times,
the latter type had blown out a type of dark cloud that caused the combatants
(and some of the other monsters) to have problems breathing normally.
“Ugh…never heard of a monster with such bad morning breath,”
Bart managed to say after a couple of these attacks.
“Same here, but we can’t let them get to the village,” Fei
replied as he managed to take down one of the imp-types using the martial arts
he had been taught years before.
“You’re tellin’ me!” Bart retorted as he used a whip on one of
the nasty-mouths, as he called the large monster with the odorous attack. The creature simple roared and used one of the
many reed-like sprouts around the mouth to squirt a yellow substance.
The substance made him yelp as it hit him in the leg and began
to burn through the clothing.
Billy fired off a round of shots at the monster, aiming at the
mouth. Strangely, though, this caused
only at little bit of injury…and for the creature to get mad enough to spray
the liquid on his arms.
Emeralda seemingly appeared from nowhere, growled and
suddenly charged at the monster, split into half into it and came back out, in one piece and behind the
creature.
The nasty-mouth, though, was not in such a shape. It fell apart, dissolving in some parts,
split in others.
The young nanomachine colony, though, winced in pain.
“Acid from the enemy has caused damage,” she reported as she
started attacking another, this one being a large orange and white mask, with a
less drastic attack, “Will be unable to do that against them more than once
until repairs are complete.”
“Don’t you just hate fighting the totally unknown?” Sigurd
growled as he attacked another of the imps with his own weapon, a type of
energy whip, “At least with the Wels and Solaris, we knew what we were dealing
with.”
Behind them, they heard faint talking, and then heard a young
man shout a single word. In the midst
of the battle, what was said wasn’t made clear.
What was plain, though, was the fact that a couple of the
nasty-mouths suddenly ignited and burned away into nothingness within a few
seconds.
A second later, the sound of a loud gunfire tore through the
air as bullets from somewhere behind them pierced a few of the imp-types as
well as shattered the orange-and-white mask that had started to attack Emeralda
from the back.
“It seems as though we have arrived in plenty of time,” Bart
and the others heard a /very/ familiar voice behind them, “Need a hand?”
Sigurd turned around and was very surprised to see someone
that had been gone for over a month and, by some, declared dead. Also with him were a woman in quite the
unusual outfit and a pair of young men in a type of uniform. Above one of the latter was a strange,
translucent being that had shot the destroying fire.
“Certainly, Hyuga!
Let’s take these monsters down and talk later,” he shouted and began
attacking again.
One of the uniformed boys, who had very-short blonde hair and
a blue neck garment, charged towards one of the large birds and attacked with
an aerial slash while the other one, a purple-haired fighter, gestured towards
another of the nasty-mouths and shouted again.
This time, the statement could be clearly heard, “Persona!”
The being above the boy’s head moved forwards a couple of
steps. A bright flash appeared from its
fists and a half-second later, one of the larger monsters burnt to ashes.
“Who are these guys?” Bart asked as he saw the newcomers
burning and slashing the monsters with a type of ease. He attacked one of the imps with the whip,
wrapping it around the creature’s neck in an attempt to choke it.
“Later!” Fei replied and attacked the large bird that one of
the newcomers had jumped into the air to strike at.
Citan drew his own weapon and began to attack another of the
large birds, while the blonde-haired woman began to gather energy within
herself. A couple of second later, she
took aim with her gun and fired at the same monster. The bullet that seemed to be made out of pure energy and the
doctor’s sword strike connected at the same time.
Although the creature shrieked as it fell to the ground, she blinked
and wobbled a little for a couple of seconds.
At this, Emeralda fished out an item in her pack and threw it
to the strange woman. “Drink this, it
will restore your energy,” she explained.
She nodded her thanks and opened it. It seemed to have a strange, pleasant smell, almost like
roses…although when she drank the liquid, it had a rather sour taste. A few second later, though, she felt much
more energized, and in a shorter time than it normally took to recharge after
using the Energy Shot.
Behind the crowd of thinning monsters, a very familiar
demi-human began to issue kicks and body-slams into the remaining imps and a
couple of the masks.
“What took you so long, Rico?” Sigurd admonished as he
finished the imp that Bart had tried to choke, with the opposite results.
“Hah! Had another
crowd comin’ in from just behind me,” a deep, growling voice retorted as he
tore into the enemies that remained, “Didn’t want you guys to have all the fun.”
“Certainly sounds like something you would do,” Citan spoke as
he sheathed his sword and motioned for everyone else to stand down.
Fei relaxed and looked over at the motley crew that had
arrived…then asked, “Is that really you, doc?”
The doctor raised an eyebrow and replied, “Yes, it is me. Did you think that I was deceased or
something?”
This made the young man sputter for a couple of moments before
he could exclaim, “Did I think you were—Citan, you disappeared into that weird
gate! Of course most of them thought
you were dead!”
“Wait a minute, Fei,” Rico growled, “He doesn’t smell right,”
and trounced up to him, loudly sniffing.
He then peered right at him.
“Doesn’t smell right?” Bart asked, “Of course that’s
Citan…isn’t it?”
“Then how come this man’s eye color is completely wrong? The doc’s got brown eyes, and whoever this
is has black peepers!”
This caused the others to talk amongst themselves, although
already a couple of them looked a bit suspicious.
“That can be explained.
A few…incidents have happened between when I left Zenogias and coming
back here,” Citan began to calmly explain.
“How can we be sure you’re really Citan?” the demi-human
retorted with a snarl and crouched as though he might attack.
“You even take one swipe at Captain Uzuki and you’ll regret
it,” Nate warned as he moved in front of the Zenogian doctor, readying his
sword for combat, “You have no concept as to what’s happened in the past month
outside of this little world.”
Chris and Aya took up battle positions to their leader’s left
and right.
Citan shook his head, saying in a tone that brooked no
argument, “Aya, Chris, Nate, stand down at once.”
A bit reluctantly, the three lowered their weapons and Nate
moved to the left a bit, but it was evident they were still tensed as though to
defend at even the slightest motion of attack.
Bart’s eyes widened as he saw and heard the exchange between
them. “What the---Captain Uzuki?
What’s with this, anyway?”
Emeralda stepped quietly between the two groups and spoke, “I
will determine the authenticity of the person before me. While I conduct a physical examination using
some of myself, I will ask you a pair of questions that only I, Fei and the
true Citan Uzuki will know the correct answer to. If I find the answers to be false, you will be exterminated. However, if they are correct, we will know
that you are who you say you are. Do
you accept?”
At this, Aya and Nate began to object, while Chris and Citan
looked at each other for a long moment.
The younger man nodded, understanding just how much depended on this
examination.
“I accept,” Citan replied calmly.
The green-haired girl then closed the distance between the two
and took Citan’s hands in her own. He
could already feel under his skin nanomachines entering his body with the
intent of examining him. As this was
going on, she said, “If you pass, they will be removed. Question one, on the morning that Elhaym Van
Houten disappeared, where did you find a small group, and who was in said
group?”
Citan thought for a moment.
Even though it was only a month ago, it feels as though a lot
more time has passed. He then replied, “The group I found that morning was close to the
workshop, sitting on the grass in a circle.
The ones there were Elly, Fei, Emeralda, Midori and Chu-Chu.”
“What were we talking about while in that circle when you
found us?”
“You were talking about a particular dream that I, Elly and
Midori all had continuously, although Midori’s dream was somewhat different, it
was of a scene in a type of courtyard.
I faced Ghaleon and Elly was one of six women in an unusual uniform.”
“Now, what exactly happened right after Ghaleon knocked out
Elhaym?”
His eyes seemed haunted as he answered, “We tried to fight
him. Fei was knocked backwards by a
fireball. You were surprised at the
fact that it could be used without ether, then a second fireball set Chu-Chu’s
fur on fire. He then grabbed Elly and
opened a vortex before going through it.”
Emeralda looked deeply into his now-obsidian black eyes and
asked, “What did you do when he went through?”
Citan replied, “At the time I was not thinking clearly and
going by impulse, I must admit. With
sword still drawn, I shouted, ‘Oh no you don’t!” and jumped into the
portal. When I awoke, I was on Earth.”
The man then mentally held his breath as he waited for what
action Emeralda would take.
After a couple of long minutes, he felt something leaving his
body, possibly the nanomachines.
Emeralda released his hands and said, “Although there have
been some extensive changes to his physical and mental makeup, this truly is
Citan Uzuki.”
Everyone relaxed, including Chris, Nate and Aya, who put their
weapons away.
“Sorry, Citan,” Bart said a bit sheepishly, “We all thought
you were dead, especially when you disappeared into thin air. A month later, Fei called us all to Lahan
with a tale that a group of kids and a woman in a strange garb had arrived
looking for women with the power to affect everything by singing…and the guy
and gal that had nabbed them. He added
that the next morning, Chu-Chu and Midori snuck off with them, vanishing in
thin air.”
Chris frowned, “We were in that group.” He looked right at Fei and added, “And so
was Aya. Remember us now?”
“I sure do.” He then
asked, “Doc…just what happened to you within the past month?”
“Let us find the others first. There is more room on the spaceship, so I will tell you
everything that has happened on board the Conductor.”
Emeralda’s eyes widened, and she knew everyone else’s
did. She asked, rather surprised, “The
silver spacecraft near the Blackmoon Forest is under your ownership?”
Right then, a black-haired woman wearing an outfit somewhat
similar to Aya’s ran up to the large group.
“Captain Uzuki,” she called out, “There’s been a message from
the Conductor.”
He nodded, “What happened, Andrea?”
The newcomer, Andrea, replied, “Dulcinea reported detecting
that the forest to the south of us was infested with the alien hostiles that
were in this area. Those monsters are
headed in this direction.”
“Crud! More of those
heavyweights?” Bart exclaimed, “If Citan’s group hadn’t shown up when they did,
we might not have survived this battle.
Just look at them!” he then
moved off in a direction so the woman could see.
She walked up to the monster corpses and examined them.
“Imps…Harpiais…a few of the Deadly Sin masks…Ugh…! These other ones really stink when they
die…what in the world are Malboros doing in a world like this?”
“Malboros?” Sigurd asked her.
“Yeah. Big plants with
only a large mouth, acid-filled sprouts, tentacles for legs and a very nasty
attack called Bad Breath.”
“Acid---! That—“ Citan then turned to one of the uniformed
ones, “Nate, use your healing Persona on Billy and Bart. They’re the blue-frocked albino and the
one-eyed blonde man.”
“Right!” The young man
with a blue necktie-type cloth hurried over to the group and immediately
summoned one of the Persona that he was using.
“How does she know what those monsters are?” Sigurd asked
Citan quickly, eyeing the young woman.
“That can be discussed
on the ship as well.” He then turned to
the same woman and added, “Andrea, you said that the alien hostiles were headed
this way, although your tone does not sound urgent.”
“That’s because shortly after they were detected, Dulcinea
told us of a ‘little trick’ that would hold them off. Mark and Midori told her to do whatever it was.” She adds in an appreciative tone, “She went
and surrounded the area, that is—Lahan, the mountain to the north and as far
south as Conductor in a force
shield. It’s a stopgap measure, she
said, until something more permanent can be done about them.”
Citan nodded, “Not bad at all. Gather the others in your team and return to the ship. We will all be there shortly.”
“Yes, sir!” Andrea replied and quickly took off for the
vessel.
The group from Zenogias watched the entire conversation
between the two, then Bart said quietly to Citan, “Man…you’ve sure got one
helluva lot of explaining to do.”
“Mind if I come along?” a young male voice said from behind
them.
Everyone turned to see a young man with white hair and
blue-green eyes, wearing the yellow and blue vest, yellow gloves and boots and
black bodysuit.
“You!” Andrea exclaimed, “You were on Earth. The volunteer worker.”
“Yes, I recognize you now,” Citan agreed, “Albeit with
different clothing.”
“That was a cover,” the young man replied, “I was brought here
after the concert. Beautiful event, by
the way.”
“Just who the hell are you?” Bart asked, always to the point.
The young man replied, “Yeshua. But please, I go by chaos.”