In the heart of a groove of trees, several robed figures whispered in secret. This meeting was important, it would decide the fate of everything, and they knew it. The cloaked figures spoke lightly, one and all, yet the voices were different in noticeable ways. All of them were female, though.

"He must not be allowed to find the pieces."
"No, he must not."
"Stop him, someone must do so..."
"Who? Us?"
"We certainly can try, we can't just let him do as he pleases..."
"What about enlisting aid?"
"Who would dare challenge him? Mentioning his name would make them run in fear."
"Some seek vengeance of him, some seek to kill him themselves."
"We would not be so lucky, even so, a few could not penetrate that beast's fortress, much less solo monsters."

Silence lingered for a while now as all stood silent, contemplating a plausible course of action. What could be done? No one would raise a finger to stop him now, unless they were forced to fight.

"He plans to attack, you know..."
"Attack where?"
"Shilieka reported Languard."
"Languard...if they fall..."
"It will be too detrimental to the other three nations, all would cower in fear..."
"Even combined, I don't think they match Languard's forces..."
"But Moo's army will be crippled, too. Perhaps that would be the time to strike."
"Shilieka mentioned a weapon, something Moo's technicians were working on..."
"Where has she gone anyway."
"We don't know."
"Defected?"
"Highly unlikely, though the possibility exists, in her more than any..."
"Well, either way, we can't waste time worry about her, we have a bigger problem by far..."
"The fragments..."
"If he collects all five, he'll unleash it..."
"He seeks the armor, too..."
"He has always sought the armor..."
"The armor of Garuda is long since buried, none no its location..."
"Except us."
"Yes, except us."
"And Shilieka..."
"Oh no..."
"The possibility of defection is a great concern now..."
"Should any of us be captured, we must never give that location..."
"Well, now what do we protect?"
"Protect which one?"
"The armor, or the fragments...?"
"If we recover one of the fragments, then it will be useless even if he collects the other four..."
"But if he collects the other four, then the nations would have fallen. That means it would be expressively simple to find the missing fragment we hold with none to oppose him..."

Again, silence. This was a most unfortunate situation in all...

"We must find her..."
"Shilieka?"
"We have too much to worry about to have our concerns grow about her. She should've been back by now..."
"Well, perhaps we should dispatch someone to find her?"
"Or kill her."
"Kill?!"
"If she did, in fact, switch sides, she is far too much of a wild card in Moo's favor. If she has been captured, then she is equally as dangerous..."
"True..."
"Jeno'ta, seek her out. If she has the fragment, return it and her to us. If she defected, or was captured, find and kill her. That is imperative..."
"As you will, High Mistress."

One of the cloaked figures bowed deeply. Turning abruptly, she darted into the tree line. Moments later, a blur shot out of the canopy roofs, flying east at a very high speed.

"You think Jeno'ta can retrieve her?"
"If Shilieka did defect, then Jeno'ta will be killed. Shilieka is powerful."
"I'm going on the assumption that Shilieka has not defected to Moo. If she has, then Jeno'ta is the most expendable..."
"...you are sacrificing us now?"
"This is a war."

Meanwhile...on the southern edge of Kawrea...

It's cold.

Harvenger blinked uncertainly. His vision filled brightly with beautiful twilight. The moon was at quarter, but the mellow light it radiated was a perfect contrast to the gorgeous stars. They twinkled, bounced and jittered, as if begging for a passerby to look at them, gaze at what they offered. Unconditional peace of mind...

Harvenger feared to return to the living. He wanted to stay in this peace forever. It was cold, though. His heart torn, his master dead, he was alone. Now, he had been attacked twice by monsters easily rivaling his abilities, three monsters that he had never met or seen before. All of them as powerful or more so than he. He had never faced foes so strong.

He sat up slowly, running his eyes across the crimson dirt to the fire that burned. A small one, obviously trying to be slightly covert. On the opposing side of the orange glow, the hooded Pixie crouched, one arm wrapped around her knees, holding them close to her. Her other hand held a decent length stick. She poked the fire uncertainly, obviously lost in her own thoughts. The fire hissed and cracked in reprisal to being prodded.

Harvenger glanced down at his leg. It had a blackish brown tourniquet applied now, obviously part of the Pixie's ensemble. He fingered the sliver of her garb, slightly perplexed, all in all.

"Oh, you're awake..."

"Why did you flee, coward..."

"Simple..." She spoke lightly as she fell back on her butt, crossing her legs in front of her, "We would have died."

"So what?" The Kato shot back, "More honor dying then fleeing."

"Honor, what a novel and petty excuse for cowards to die..."

"I'm a coward?!" Harvenger yelled as he bounded to his feet, "ME?!"

"There is something greater that must be done now..." The Pixie spoke forcefully now, as she tossed her stick into the fire, "Dying now would solve nothing. Just a quick escape for cowards."

"Compared to dying later, making you not one?"

"Exactly."

"You're a fool..." Harvenger growled as his claws extended.

"Do you want to kill them?" The Pixie spoke passively now, digging around in that bag she carried.

"Yes."

"For revenge?" She asked another question as she pulled something from the bag, draped in a dirty brown rag.

"Yes."

"What if I could promise you this? Promise you a chance to face them again?"

"How can you promise that?"

"This."

The Pixie slowly unwrapped the item with one hand, keeping her left under it, holding it. She peeled back layers of cloth slowly, like a banana. Harvenger noticed an odd diagram under one sheet as it was raised. It was a dull yellowish color on the symbols, but the grooves and deeper parts were black. Pitch black.

Eventually, the Pixie unveiled a disk fragment. It was only a part of it, roughly a quarter piece.

"This is the largest part of the disk. Those two are hunting me for it..."

"What is it?" The Kato asked sarcastically as he retracted his claws and crossed his arms. Yet, he couldn't douse the sense of curiosity boiling.

"A mighty creature seeks this disk. He had this piece, but I stole it from him. Now, he has monsters in his service hunting me. Like the Brothers of Misconception."

"Brothers of Misconception, huh?" Harvenger smiled slightly.

"Self acknowledged, to be sure, but they are Shinku and Rimowa. It was one, or both, of them that killed your master."

Harvenger's smile disappeared instantly as he asked, "Why did they kill my master then if they are after you?"

"Their orders are from a terrible master. He wishes his proceedings to go unnoticed for now. Any witnesses that even know the existence of this fragment have been murdered. Probably all done so by the brothers."

"So, these two do the boss monkey's dirty work?"

"Correct, and now," She paused slightly, wrapping the disk piece in the rag again, returning it to its case as she added, "Now they are going for the second."

"How many pieces are there?" The Kato asked, interested in this adventure to say the least.

"Five. Each of the four nations, Krouser, Languard, Multinri, and Clysto, all possess a fragment. Only the top officials of the government know their location, or know that they even exist."

"Well," Harvenger began as he sat beside the fire, "What kind of monster is in the disk?"

"That I will not tell you."

The Kato blinked uncertainly at this bland refusal of knowledge. Quickly, his mood changed from confusion to frustration, his face adapting accordingly.

"What?"

"I can not and will not tell you. The less people know about this, the easier it will be for us to bury the knowledge of it."

"Howard died for that thing, let me know what it is, NOW!" The Kato barked angrily.

The Pixie only stared into the fire, saying nothing. Her eyes had almost an innate sadness now, like they carried it all along. Eyes?

Harvenger realized it was the first time he had seen her eyes. They were large, fairly glossy, but the overall complexion of this Pixie was attractive to say the least. Her eyes were sad, and Harvenger wondered if these wonderful green eyes would always, or had always look so sad.

"I am sorry for your loss, but now, maybe you can help me. We have a common enemy, in the brothers, and their master. Even if you didn't know it."

"Who...was their master again?" The Kato asked slowly, still amazed by the perplexing beauty of this Pixie, the blonde points of hair emerging from the hood only added to the chaos of emotions within him now.

Flatly, the Pixie spoke the single word response, "Moo."

Harvenger found his mouth slightly open, aghast to be sure. Catching himself, he tried to regain his composure at the mention of the mighty Moo.

"So, those flunkies work for Moo?"

"Yes. He seeks this disc. He seeks to revive this bane. We cannot let him."

"We?" Harvenger couldn't help but sputter this out, pointing ignorantly to his own face with his right hand.

The Pixie smiled lightly, and Harvenger felt his heart drop as she said, "I knew you were a coward..."

The Kato found the next few syllables from his maw to be excruciatingly jumbled and mixed, understandable only vaguely, by the mind that had spoke them. The Pixie watched the fire emotionlessly.

Eventually, he stopped, looked at her, scowling of course, as he finally spit out, "I am not a coward, darling. Moo is your problem..."

Before she could say any suitable insults to the Kato's charactor, he added, "I'm only helping you to get a shot at Shinku and Rimowa, and don't forget, they are mine."

The Kato crossed his arms behind his head as the Pixie looked a little dumbfounded at first, then grinned brightly. At this visage, Harvenger couldn't help but add, "and if Moo does get in my way to them, I'll just have to mess him up, too. By the way," He asked leaning forward slightly, "What is your name?"

The Pixie pulled back her hood slightly, staring strait at the Kato with a beaming smile, "I'm called Shilieka."

"That's a pretty name, I'm Harvenger. Don't worry, I owe those Jell a thrashing. Moo too, if he wants one..."

"You're awfully confident." She spoke in all smiles.

"No, its ego..." The Kato grinned stupidly, one hand behind his head.

Hope you enjoyed this. CHB

City name pronunciations:
Krouser (Ker-ow-zer)
Languard (Lan-guard)
Multinri (Mul-tin-ri(solid I))
Clysto (Cles-to)

Charactor (In case someone is confused):
Shinku (Shin-ku)
Rimowa (Rim-o-a)
Jeno'ta (Gin-o-ta)
Harvenger (Har-ven-ger)
Shilieka (Shel-eek-a)
Moo (Moo)

Ack! Finally got some time to read this first few chapters. Great work so far. I didn't even like Kato's until now! I'll read the rest asap!