"Well?"

"Sorry, sir. We still have the engine malfunction in the crystal bed somewhere, but we are certain to find it soon."

"Hmm..."

The darkened colossus stood eerily in front of the window, his shadow cast the full length of the control room under the pressure of the moon light. It was incredibly bright tonight, and the creature stared out intently, or so it would seem. The Henger kept his calculations running, his head full of beeps and squeaks, as he pecked indefinitely at his console.

"Well, m'lord, looks like unit A-017 found the malfunction. A fracture in the crystal, replacing it immediately. We'll be running at full capacity shortly."

"Very good, Judicature. The sooner we pull towards Languard the better. Have the troops on engagement orders, they will feel the heat of conflict soon."

"Yes, with the strongest of the four nations defeated, the other three can not hold to your might." Judicature spoke lightly as he continued inputs to his terminal.

"Yes...but remember, I require that fragment. If it is damaged I will have ALL of my commander's heads."

"It will be noted, sir. We already know that failure is not accepted, that's why we never fail you."

The face smiled slightly in the window's reflection, revealing long, sharp teeth. The face sat out only a short distance from the cape around him, as he said, "Point taken, Judicature. As long as these performances continue, they will please me. You know it is always better when I am pleased..."

"Of course, master. I'll pass the word to the Six and let them know your wishes."

It was silent a while, the figure still gazing out the window. Then, a slight buzzing sound came up. The entire chamber jerked slightly as the clouds began to move past the window faster than before.

"On course, master. We will arrive in Languard within two days."

"Perfect. Have the troops training, lightly of course. They will need their strength, but they will also need their talents fresh to win this battle."

"Will you take to the battlefield yourself, m'lord?"

"Only if my generals begin to fail me..."

The console blinked slightly at the Henger, who immediately tapped his screen rapidly.

"Sir, we found the fifth piece. Kawrea. It seems to be moving along the side of the volcano. The thief must still have it in her possession."

"How far will it set us off course?"

"Is there a need for us to divert and take direct action?"

"Did I asked what you thought?"

"No, master, forgive my insolence." Judicature began punching digits in his console again.

"Forgiven...this time..."

"Master, it would set us off about three days. Should I dispatch Kaidass to the Kawrea area?"

"If we don't recover it soon, she may well destroy it. If she figures out my plan, she will..."

The shadow stood silent, gazing at the moon. The cloud's shadows rippled across the chamber floor and walls, touching everything. Except where the shadow of the mighty beast lay.

"Deploy Shinku and Rimowa."

"The brothers? So, no general or strike force will assist them?"

"We will need all our forces to defeat Languard. I think they can handle our insolent, little thief..."

Judicature typed into his computer furiously, then paused and lightly asked, "Orders?"

The reflection of the red eyes narrowed in the glossy window, "Search and destroy..."

Meanwhile...in the Kawrea expedition area...

Harvenger landed gracefully, looking over his shoulder at the wide eyes of Magma Heart. The Dragon clutched his gut tightly with both arms, jaw slack with only a slight moan coming forth. He fell to his knees with a light thud, still holding his forearms tight to his stomach. Orange blood ran in streams down his arms at first. Soon, more built up, until his arms were soaked in orange and his breathing changed considerably. He couldn't even speak, much less fight.

The Dragon went limp, rolling onto his side, and his chest quivered slightly, then went still. His arms fell from his abdomen, and Harvenger noted the ground he could see through the hole in Magma Heart's stomach.

"That was a little extreme..." A human voice spoke harshly.

"For such little challenge, he had a big mouth..." Harvenger said under his breath.

"He had confidence, Harvenger."

"He had ego, Howard.", the Kato fired back.

Howard was about 5'11" tall. He had light brown hair he always kept short, always wearing his brown, leather jacket for these trips. He was a kick boxer, back in his day. He had the ability to train up and comers quite well. He tried his hand at ranching about a decade ago, and found it amazingly similar, and enjoyable. He had done it ever since.

"Well, since we are technically done with your training now, we might as well browse around the moutian until our ticket time expires."

"More hunting?" The Kato grinned wickedly.

"Well, if we find some suitable competition, then yes..."

Harvenger and Howard walked steadily towards the rim of the volcano. There were reports that the Blue Phoenix had awaken, though it had been dormant for years. It would be an excellent chance for Harvenger to feel a true fight in this weak location.

The view was splendid from the side of the volcano. Gazing back, Howard took a moment to take in the air. It wasn't nearly as pleasing as the view. He rubbed his nose, snorting randomly trying to persuade the sulfur to exit his nostrils with much discretion. Harvenger chuckled lightly and asked if he wanted him to cut his nose off. After a few obscenities from Howard, the two started back up the mountain.

About halfway up, they decided to take a small climbing break, mainly on Howard's recommendation.

"Wuss."

"You know, for a Kato, you're awfully rude." Howard pointed out as he panted, sitting on a medium sized red rock.

Harvenger smiled. He enjoyed giving the master a hard time. He was about to say something else, easily as rude as before, if not more so, when something bumped into his back. Hard. The Kato rolled forward in reflex, kicking his assailant in the stomach, flipping the attacker over his head and into the air. As he rose to his feet, he was amazed by the agility of this fiend. Reversing itself in the air, the cloak figure outstretched its left hand towards him, the right obviously holding something close to it. Two, long, human legs came from under the cloak as it wrapped upward as the attacker fell. Harvenger stopped, slightly perplexed a human was attacking him.

It was no human, as he sound learned. He knew exactly what it was when the fire spread in her palm. The Kato slung his claws forward quickly as the flame rode down at him. The flame burned brightly as it danced within the tornado of red dust. Harvenger quickly slashed three more times at the base of the twister. It was hot.

His tactic worked, however, as the fiend landed, she found a large, flaming twister coming at her. Harvenger could see surprise via body motion, but no details through the inferno. Then, there was a large explosion from the other side, a blinding white light followed by a shattering ring of fire and dust. Harvenger raised his right claw in front of his eyes, slamming his left in the hard ground to keep from being swept away.

As the dust settled, Harvenger could see a little more detail on the Pixie he battled. Currently, she had her right hand clasped to her chest, with something that resembled a book bag held to her person. The left was outstrechted toward him. The hand stood upright, predominantly rigid fingers pointing up, thumb crossed through the center of the palm. The hood lay slightly over her eyes, light blonde points of hair emerged on each side of a cemented snarl of gritted teeth. She was breathing heavy, but they hadn't even began fighting yet. Her eyes were still masked by the top of the hood that dipped in just past the nose.

Then, Harvenger felt a sharp pain in the back of his head as he flew forward slightly. His vision was blurry all of a sudden. He felt another hit in his back, and found the Pixie quickly approaching. He saw her mouth open slightly, almost in shock as he flew past her. The ground was getting closer as he regained his composure. He outstretched his claws down, dragging the ground deeply as he skidded to a stop. Shaking his head, he gazed back up towards the Pixie.

Where he had been, a large wobbling hammer sat. A giant hammer? He shook his head again, gazing back, the hammer melted into a puddle, then a humanoid form emerged from the pool. It was white, well, mostly. Then it had gold appear. Harvenger must've landed harder than he thought. The shape was smiling, its arms were loose and stretchy, with no hands. No joints blessed this creature, as it flowed in odd manners and shaped what it willed. Harvenger's mind began functioning again, though slowly. Jell appeared in his mind suddenly, then he wasn't so confused, but indeed quite angry.

The Pixie wasted little time as the dust around her feet began evacuating in ripples. She held both her hands to her chest, clasping that item. The Jell bounced, eagerly awaiting the attack almost. However, it was never to come.

Two wings ripped though the back of the blackish robes. They were feathered, but this, it couldn't be an Angel. Harvenger blinked uncertainly as she bolted into the reddened sky. The black wings carrying her higher still.

Suddenly, several balls of some kind slammed into her back. Where did those come from? Another monster somewhere? She screamed loudly, as she began to free fall, the white Jell laughing with a stupid laugh. Like a high pitched clown, his mocking voice was unnerving. As she fell, Harvenger could see several blue rings wrapped around her. She had attacked him, but so did the Jell. Well, who should he side with...?

Honestly, who did you think? Harvenger abhors handicap matches like this, much less ambushed ones. He darted quickly to where he estimated she would land. Gauging it the best he could, the Kato performed a solid back flip slash. The air current shot up directly under her, she yelped slightly as the air stopped her decent entirely for that second. Harvenger slashed again and threw himself into the tornado. Slashing twice more within, he erupted forth.

The Pixie couldn't see behind her, nor did she know what had prevented her obvious death. The blue rings squeezed tightly and she screamed again, feeling they might break her this time. Several loud slices rang through her skull as the blue rings shattered around her. She landed, kneeling on her right knee, she glanced uncertainly towards the Kato that stood there, all smiles.

Harvenger heard something else now, he had never heard it before. Then, a giant blue thing appeared in the air. It was a light blue color all over, with a small red ball inside. It had a transparent disc over its head, but then he realized it was actually four arms of some kind spinning there. The face was long, and flat, with no eyes. It had its tongue out though, pointing it at him, then the Pixie, then back at him. It was odd, round with several holes in on the edge of it. It began to spin rapidly, pointing at him.

"Look out!" The Pixie screamed as she shoved him out of the way, dodging the opposite.

The beast screamed loudly, a screeching sound tearing through the air as hundreds of those balls flew from its tongue. One hit Harvenger's right hand, and instantly formed a ring. He sliced it off quickly as the blue flier turned to the Pixie again. Harvenger rose quickly, and noted the direction the 'arms' were spinning in.

The Pixie was on her back, looking into the barrel of the gun. Oh, she knew what one this creature was all right, and was in fear. As the gun tracked in on her, she saw the Kato that had attacked her running towards the Icy Jell. Why was he helping her? He had attacked her, and now helping her? Maybe she should just run and let him fight this out?

Yeah right, leave him to battle Shinku and Rimowa alone would be death. It would take help to beat the likes of the Brothers of Misconception, as they self proclaimed. She fired a quick ray into the Jell. Most of the 'flesh' stopped the blast, but the very last bit struck its red heart dead on. It banked sharply, firing wildly as it moved towards the Kato.

Harvenger spun quickly in the opposite direction that the arms did. Engulfing himself in a red tornado, he went under the blue flying fiend. Only briefly, passing under it, he appeared on the other side and bounded into a combat ready position beside the Pixie. It worked. The quick up rise of air current in the other direction made the blade's lift amazing. The creature went up sharply, loosing control in a slight turn. It began banking directly toward the ground.

Before it crashed into the red dirt, it shattered. Each drop landing with a plop, then pulling itself up into a tiny soldier. Like a toy a child would play with.

"Lets get out of her!" The Pixie screamed.

As Harvenger turned, he saw only a golden ring. Inside, he saw a white tunnel falling into darkness. Some kind of hole?

The explosion sent the Pixie reeling and landing on her back. She shook her head quickly, then tried spotting the unfortunate Kato. She stopped, returning her view towards the white and golden cannon that was set up in front of her. She gulped uncertainly as the face appeared in the side of the barrel, high pitch stupid laugh included.

Harvenger blinked uncertainly. He could see, the cannon morphing into the humanoid thing again. The small soldiers did something similar, except they formed a blue thing, with a red thing inside. He could see all this transpire through a window of some kind. It was long, like a telescope. Slightly confused, he somehow recognized the viewing portal he was looking through, was surprisingly similar to the shape of a Kato...

Wincing slightly at his own ignorance, he began to pull himself out of his hole...

"Well, pretty, you have nowhere to run. Master is most displeased..." The blue Jell spoke. He sounded unreasonably sophisticated.

"Yeah, master no happy with you. He mad. Say we kill you and bring back stolen stuff..." The white one spoke, obviously less with mental capacity as his 'brother'.

The blue Jell went to say something else as the white Jell laughed and pointed behind him.

As the blue one turned, he saw the Kato that had attacked them climbing out of the side of the mountain.

"Wow, he is resilient, you want to handle him, Rimowa?"

"Yeah! Me want to play! Me want fun, too!" Rimowa answered gingerly.

The blue Jell, Shinku, nodded deeply, and the white Jell, Rimowa, bounced happily as he moved towards the Kato.

"Fun, fun, fun, for Rimowa!" The high pitched voice echoed in almost a childish tone. Of course, Harvenger glanced toward the Pixie at this time. The blue Jell was moving in for the kill, or so it appeared. He needed to dispatch this white blob first, and quickly.

Harvenger sprinted forward in a blitz of flashing claws. The Jell's body shattered and busted in seemingly thin air, slabs and pieces flying everywhere. Harvenger kept the rush going toward the other Jell as the first fell into a limp pile of goo. The second turned sharply, extending his hand toward the Kato. The point sharpened instantly, and sped toward the Kato. Harvenger slashed at it as it reached him, but that's when the unexpected happened. The point exploded into roughly twelve other points. One found a solid purchase in the Kato's left leg. He screamed in agony as the extensions lost their density almost instantly, wrapping around him like a hand.

"You are feisty...you'll be amusing to-"

The blue Jell's voice was interrupted by his own screaming. The white light appeared again, and the form of the Jell fell apart in the force, his shadow drifting off piece by piece. The light cleared and the tentacles loosened their grip. Harvenger hobbled over to the Pixie now.

"We have to get out of here, neither Rimowa nor Shinku can be killed this way. They live!" The Pixie spoke in broken panic, as rightfully she should.

"Lets find my master, Howard, then we can get out of here."

They quickly went and scoured where they had begun their fight. No sign of him.

Then, Harvenger looked up the mountain a short way. A human hand hung limply from behind a boulder, the sleeve was Howard's brown leather jacket all right. Harvenger moved up the hill as quickly as he could, being injured as such. He scurried up the back of the rock. Quickly extending his head over his master's face, he attempted to surprise him.

"So you hid, you chickensh-"

Harvenger stopped immediately noticing the glaze in Howard's eyes. Starring blankly into the sunset, it was like a trance. Harvenger bounced over him, staring up to his respected master. He was leaning against the rock, actually it would be more accurate to say, propped against the rock. He had three or four holes in his body and his throat had been slit in a very messy manner. Some of his internal organs, most notably his intestines, were exposed, if not removed. The ones that were ripped out lay in front of him, letting him see and truly know the pain he must have been going through as he died.

Like a grotesque statue that would remind the entire world of agony, the Kato fell to his knees in front of him. A tear rolled off his downward facing mustache. His fist tightened and the muscles that retracted his claws were tensing up. He would rip these Jell to shreds, over and over, until they quit coming back.

"We must leave."

"I'm staying here to finish this..."

"It will be finished, and you will lose, at least come with me. I promise you can, and will, have your revenge."

"You honestly don't understand how irrational you can be when your father is murdered before your eyes..."

"Yes I can..."

"Well, then you do understand, and I will end this now, for Howard!"

He wouldn't even see a Jell. The Pixie touched the back of his neck with her index finger. The Kato gasped lightly and fell forward. Lifting him, she began flying south.

"Wow, he is going to be mad when he wakes up, but I just might need an ally, after all..." She thought to herself.

Stay Tuned. CHB