Hidden Within - The Secret [007]+[008]

[HPriest]

Hidden Within

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Index:

~ The Beginning
 *Episode 01 - The Awakening
 *Episode 02 - Sayumi and Sayumi
 *Episode 03 - The Vision
 *Episode 04 - Crash
 *Episode 05 - The Spirit In Your Body
 *Episode 06 - The Admin
 *Episode 07 - Sparkling
 *Episode 08 - The Shadows
 *Episode 09 - Shot
 *Episode 10 - A "wannabe Ho-Masubi"
 *Episode 11 - Cut
 *Episode 12 - Onawaban
 *Episode 13 - Black Flames
 *Episode 14 - The End
 *Episode 15 - Aftermath~Endlessness Part 1
 *Episode 16 - Endlessness Part 2
 *Episode 17 - Dimensions
 *Episode 18 - Mini and Kid
 *Episode 19 - Split Tokyo
 *Episode 20 - Lost Soul
 *Episode 21 - Morning Musume

~ The Secret
 *Episode 22 - [000] & [001] - The Path They Traveled & War Zone
 *Episode 23 - [002] - Ties
 *Episode 24 - [003] - It's More Than It Seems
 *Episode 25 - [004] - Fate
 *Episode 26 - [005] - Taxes
 *Episode 27 - [006] - Arena
 *Episode 28 - [007] & [008] - Deep Shades & Shadowless Sword

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Episode 01 - The Awakening

Yossie and Mikitty walk around the city after a concert. It's evening and both quite exhausted, but they still want to have some fun in the city. On their way they notice a billboard of a beautiful temple. They decide to pay it a visit. It's a really warm night and only a few small clouds cover the the shimmering stars. The girls walked up the stairs, admired the temple and made a prayer. Back on their way downstairs, Yossie suddenly feels a heavy weight in her body. She can't move her feet anymore and stumbles. There is a bright light coming towards Yossie. Mikitty doesn't see or feel anything, but notices that Yossie stumbles. She reacts fast enough and grabs her. Suddenly the light is gone again. Yossie can move again. Both look at each other with confusion. Yossie asks Mikitty what happened and if she saw the light, too. Mikitty starts to think that Yossie is drunk and says: "I told you not to drink after a concert.". Yossie isn't really in the mood for jokes now. The girls decide to head back to the hotel and cancel the night in the city. Apparently they don't know they way back. There is an old citizen at the other sidewalk and they ask them for the way. He can't really understand them and so they decide to cross the street.

The man suddenly picks out a knife and forces them to walk into the back alley. He tells them not to stream or otherwise he will hurt them. They both do what he says. At the other end of the back alley is another man. The girls are surrounded and can't escape. All of a sudden Mikitty steps forward. The man is confused and tells her to step back. Mikitty doesn't listen and only gives him an evil and steady gaze. First the man stops, but then he breaks out in laughter. Her attempt certainly failed. The man now walks faster towards them and the second man does the same. Mikitty steps back and Yossie asks her what the hell she just did. She doesn't know a really smart answer and claims it often worked in movies. Yossie just looks at her in disbelief: 'You watch movies?'.

The men start to become angry. 'Stop talking', one man tells them. The girls decide to try to escape. They run towards he man at the back, but only Yossie manages to pass him. He grabs Mikitty and it doesn't look like she is able to free herself. However, she still tries and manages to let him drop the knife. Yossie notices that Mikitty isn't next to her anymore and suddenly hears the sound of a dropping knife. It fell towards her direction. Yossie looks at the knife and a weird feeling is start to rise inside of her. There is a certain power that forces her to take the knife. The man tells Yossie to not do anything stupid or he will choke Mikitty. Without wasting any more time, Yossie rushes towards the other man who still has a knife. There was no time for him to react and Yossie rams the knife into his right arm. The pain weakens the strength in his ham and he has to drop the knife. Yossie picks it up within a glimpse, turns around and shoots it at the man holding Mikitty. She didn't waste time with aiming, but still managed to hit his thigh. Now Mikitty is able to break free and runs towards Yossie. The first thing she does is asking Yossie what the hell SHE just did. Yossie knows no answer and suggests to get away from here. Mikitty agrees and both walk away. They are even able to find the right way to the hotel again.

At the hotel, Aichan and Risa already waited for them. They tell Mikitty and Yossie that they have been worried. Yossie says that they had some kind of incident. Of course, the two girls want to know details. 'You should have seen her', Mikitty tells them, 'she was amazing'. Yossie denies it, but Mikitty can't stop talking about her. She tells them the whole story, but Aichan and Risa become angry. Mikitty is confused, but the girls tell her that she should stop telling them jokes. They have been worried and Mikitty has nothing else to do than tell them a joke. Now Mikitty becomes angry as well. Yossie has to stop the argument and suggest to head to their rooms and sleep. They all agree and head upstairs.

Mikitty is still pissed that they did not take her serious, but doesn't bother Yossie with it anymore. Yossie walks into her room and Mikitty follows her. Suddenly Yossie tells her to go to her own room. 'What? Why? We always share one room.', Mikitty questions her. Yossie sure knows this, but today she feels like she needs some time alone. Something weird happened today and it looks like Mikitty didn't feel the same. Basically Yossie has nobody to talk about it. Mikitty is pissed. She doesn't like to go back to her room, but in the end she gives in and leaves. In her own room, Mikitty's anger starts to turn into bother. Of course she noticed that Yossie acted weird today and wants to know what really happened.

Most girls fall asleep, except of Yossie and another one.

*******************************

Episode 2 - Sayumi and Sayumi

Yossie is still thinking about the things that happened today. This white light, the heavy weight and the strange feeling when seeing the knife. It was a completely unknown and overwhelming feeling. She compares the two incidents and realized that the light and the feeling with the knife had similarities.

> "What does the whole thing means? What happened? Grrrrrrrrr....this is all insane!!", Yossie talks to herself.

- "Yossie...", a voice called her.

> "Huh?"

- "Yossie..."

> Yossie sees Sayumi: "Woah, how did you get into this room?"

- "Yossie..."

> "Stop it already! You give me the creeps!"

- "Yossie..."

> "SAYUMI!"

- "I am not the one you think I am."

> "What?"

- "Listen, I am neither real nor unreal, but I am not the Sayumi you know."

> "Neither real nor unreal? Are you sleepwalking?"

- "Your spirit has been called and I am here to guide you. My name is Sayumi."

> "You don't say! You are Sayumi? What a surprise...can you please let me sleep?"

- "Please listen carefully, I am a godlike being and am here to guide you."

> "You repeat yourself...and godlike? Have you now become completely nuts?"

- "Grrr....it is impossible to talk with you!"

> "What's this? No awkward speaking anymore? Did you finally wake up?"

- "I am NOT Sayumi!"

> "There she goes again."
> Yossie hears a knocking on the door: "Who is it? Another sleepwalker?"

~ "It's me Sayumi. Can you lend me a blanket? I am freezing."

> "Sayumi? But how? Hey, I told you guys to not play pranks on me!"

~ "What are you talking about?"

> "Whoever is on the door, I am going to kill you!"
> Yossie opens the door: "NO WAY!"

~ "What?", the real Sayumi stands on the other side of the door.

> "Sayumi??"

~ "Eh?"

> Yossie looks back: "Two Sayumis? Now I am confused...."

~ Sayumi notices the other Sayumi: "WHAAAH? ANOTHER ME?"

- "Thank god, will you now finally listen? Wait..I am a god..how funny."

> "I need a drink."

~ "Eeeeehhhhh?"

- "Please close the door. It wasn't my plan to tell the others, yet."

~ "Eeeeehhhhh?"

- "....please....the door..."

> "Now I need an explanation."

- "I am not 'real', but am allowed to use the portals between the dimensions, between the worlds. My deepest wish is to guide you through the hidden mysteries lying within your spirits."

> "Can't you continue in the normal way again?"

- ".....................did you still not realize that this isn't a joke?"

> "I'm sorry. Please continue..."

~ "Eeeeehhhh?"

- "Is this really my present me? It seems like I developed back to the beginnings."

~ "What are you? Who are you? Why do you look like me?", Sayumi asks the 'ghost'.

- "..and even a slow one..."

~ "Eeeehhhh?"

- "..ok, where did I stop? Ah yes, I will try to guide you and answer your questions. You probably have some questions after the things that happened today."

> "You can say that again!"

- "Then start to ask. I can't tell you everything now, but I can answer your questions."

> "Let's begin with....Are you really Sayumi?"

- "Why is this your first question? Anyway, yes I am. I can understand that I seem like a total different person, but my experiences in the past gave me great wisdom and power. You can not compare me to the present Sayumi."

~ "Wait, are you talking about me?"

- "See."

> "Yeah, really no comparison..."

- "Your next question?"

> "Let's see, you already told me what you are...so...what else could I ask..."

- "What about the incidents that happened today?"

> "Ah yes, I almost forgot. Tell me about them!"

- "About what?"

> "The incidents?"

- "I told you that I can only answer questions!"

> "But you mentioned the incidents without asking!"

- "....crap..."

> "I got you, didn't I?"

- "...can we continue, please?"

> "Alright, alright. So...what was this kind of feeling and light I experienced today?"

- "Good question!"

~ "...what incidents? ..what feelings? Did I miss something?"

- "You have to know that the group "Morning Musume" doesn't only exist since 10years. This group actually existed since the ancient times. Back then a group of girls started to formate. A group of completely strangers. They all had different reasons to travel around the country, but they all ended up traveling together. There was a kind of bound between them."

> "Are you saying that this was the first generation of Musume?"

- "Yes, and I was one of them."

> "Now this is something."

~ "I don't get it.."

- "We started to become friends, although we didn't know about the real professions of the others. We all weren't only some ordinary people, we were extraordinary."

> "Extraordinary?"

- "We all had different powers and skills. It wasn't necessary to use them until we stumbled into our first dangerous adventure."

> "Sounds like a great movie."

- "Please believe me."

> "Why shouldn't I believe a...how did you say.."neither real nor unreal being" that looks like Sayu?"

- "Okay, then let's get straight to the point. We were surprised when we found out about the others and that all the eight of us were special. I will have time to explain this further in the future, but I have to tell you what your power are."

> "....finally!"

- "You were the leader of this group. Your passions are swords, knifes and blades. You were the greatest swords fighter of all times. This is why you had this feeling and the skills when you saw the knife."

> "This sounds weird, but explains it. What about the feeling at the temple?"

- "Your spirit awakened at the temple. It wasn't the temple that did it, but your prayer."

> "My prayer?"

- "Yes, when humans pray they open a tiny hole to the other world. It was your destiny to awake and so your spirit got all the necessary informations to awake."

> "Why did it happen and why now?"

- "We, the spirits and gods, are all aware of the things that are going to happen in the future. You girls are the only force that can control it. The current generation of Morning Musume is an identically reincarnation of the first generation ever. Even the bodies, faces and other details are identically."

> "So this is why I have two Sayumi's in my room..."

- "Exactly."

> "Wow, this IS a story... . What do you think about it Sayumi? Eehh? She really fell asleep...unbelievable!"

- "This is all I can tell you right now."

> "Wait, why am I the only one who knows?"

- "We are not allowed to force the awakening. Every girls has to do it herself."

> "So why didn't Mikitty feel anything?"

- "Her spirit has been awakened already a while ago."

> "What?"

- "She didn't understand the feelings and therefore doesn't know about her skills. She still isn't ready for a complete awakening."

> "And Sayumi? I mean the real Sayumi."

- "Sayumi has been born awakened, but she is .....special...you will see it in the future."

> "Special...I see. Special equals weird I guess. Anyway, you only mentioned eight. We are nine!?"

- "This is a good point. Usually every Musume has the skills of an ancient Musume. Whenever a member is graduating, they give away the destiny to the new members. As I told you, the current generation is special. You are graduating and we couldn't afford loosing a real reborn Yossie to graduate, not with the future that lies in front of you."

> "Did you force my awakening?"

- "No, it was your destiny."

> "...sounds like an excuse...what would happen if you had to force an awakening?"

- "The mind of the person could go mad. She would become insane."

> "I definitely don't want to become insane."

- "Don't worry, your mind was ready."

> "Why would you care, if you didn't force it?"

- "eh.......I am not here to discuss our actions with you."

> "And there I got you again."

- "Amazing...you really are like the ancient Yossie. Always having a one-liner, even in such situations. Anyway, I have to leave now...we will meet again soon."

> "Wait! What should I do now?"

- Sayumi, the spirit, vanishes: "You will know what to do."

> "'You will know what to do.' ....and what if not? This sure all sounds like a big joke. Maybe I am dreaming? I should pinch myself. Ahhhh...it hurts. This must be real. And...Sayumi is really sleeping...unbelievable."

And so Yossie lies back on her bed to understand all the information. This sure was a huge amount of info in a short time. While trying to order all the facts, she falls asleep. This night definitely topped all the other weird things of today. She should better be resting good, because the future has many more test for her and Morning Musume.

[JFC]

1

Yossie suddenly feels a heavy weight in her body. She can't move her feet anymore and stumbles. There is a bright light coming towards Yossie. Mikitty doesn't see or feel anything, but notices that Yossie stumbles. She reacts fast enough and grabs her. Suddenly the light is gone again. Yossie can move again. Both look at each other with confusion. Yossie asks Mikitty what happened and if she saw the light, too.

If it wasn't for that whole light thing, I would have guessed that Yossi's just tired.

Yossie notices that Mikitty isn't next to her anymore and suddenly hears the sound of a dropping knife. It fell towards her direction. Yossie looks at the knife and a weird feeling is start to rise inside of her. There is a certain power that forces her to take the knife. The man tells Yossie to not do anything stupid or he will choke Mikitty. Without wasting any more time, Yossie rushes towards the other man who still has a knife. There was no time for him to react and Yossie rams the knife into his right arm. The pain weakens the strength in his ham and he has to drop the knife. Yossie picks it up within a glimpse, turns around and shoots it at the man holding Mikitty. She didn't waste time with aiming, but still managed to hit his thigh. Now Mikitty is able to break free and runs towards Yossie.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! GO YOSSI!

Yossie walks into her room and Mikitty follows her. Suddenly Yossie tells her to go to her own room. 'What? Why? We always share one room.', Mikitty questions her. Yossie sure knows this, but today she feels like she needs some time alone.

Considering what just happened, it's not really that surprising that Yossi feels the need to be alone. Miki, on the other hand, wants to be there for Yossi the way that Yossi was there for her in the alley.


2

- "Yossie..."

> Yossie sees Sayumi: "Woah, how did you get into this room?"

- "Yossie..."

> "Stop it already! You give me the creeps!"

- "Yossie..."

> "SAYUMI!"

- "I am not the one you think I am."

> "What?"

Wait, that's not Sayu?

- "Listen, I am neither real nor unreal, but I am not the Sayumi you know."

> "Neither real nor unreal? Are you sleepwalking?"

Okay, she's sort of making sense here. She IS Sayu, just not the Sayu that Yossi knows. Of course Yossi's all tired and flustered so she's probably not getting any of this right now.

- "Please listen carefully, I am a godlike being and am here to guide you."

Was she the light from the temple that Yossi and Miki visited?

> "Whoever is on the door, I am going to kill you!"
> Yossie opens the door: "NO WAY!"

~ "What?", the real Sayumi stands on the other side of the door.

> "Sayumi??"

~ "Eh?"

> Yossie looks back: "Two Sayumis? Now I am confused...."

~ Sayumi notices the other Sayumi: "WHAAAH? ANOTHER ME?"

Two Sayus... That's just too much to handle standing up.

- "Thank god, will you now finally listen? Wait..I am a god..how funny."

Wow, that IS funny! God-Sayu's all..."Thank me".

- "I am not 'real', but am allowed to use the portals between the dimensions, between the worlds. My deepest wish is to guide you through the hidden mysteries lying within your spirits."

So wait, now she's not a god, but rather some type of inter-dimensional traveller who's able to project an image of herself and communicate with other people between dimensions?   Or are "the worlds" she's referring to the worlds of "the living" vs "the dead" type of thing?



The large section of where you had "just dialogue" with no narrative was interesting, and sort of refreshing. Granted, every now and then I had to stop, back up, and re-read certain parts so I could keep straight who was saying what, but overall, I liked it. It was like watching a good, long rally in a tennis match.

- "Then start to ask. I can't tell you everything now, but I can answer your questions."

I wonder why she can't just tell Yossi exactly what she needs to know? Must be some type of restriction that she's under.

- "You have to know that the group "Morning Musume" doesn't only exist since 10years. This group actually existed since the ancient times. Back then a group of girls started to formate. A group of completely strangers. They all had different reasons to travel around the country, but they all ended up traveling together. There was a kind of bound between them."

> "Are you saying that this was the first generation of Musume?"

- "Yes, and I was one of them."

EHHHHHHHHHH?!?!?   So the girls (or even spirits of the girls) of MM are somehow inextricably bonded together through time and keep reincarnating themselves as generations pass, continually meeting up again and forming some type of unit/group?

- "We started to become friends, although we didn't know about the real professions of the others. We all weren't only some ordinary people, we were extraordinary."

> "Extraordinary?"

- "We all had different powers and skills. It wasn't necessary to use them until we stumbled into our first dangerous adventure."

> "Sounds like a great movie."

- "Please believe me."

Sounds like superheros to me.

- "We, the spirits and gods, are all aware of the things that are going to happen in the future. You girls are the only force that can control it. The current generation of Morning Musume is an identically reincarnation of the first generation ever. Even the bodies, faces and other details are identically."

Well I'll be darned.

> "So this is why I have two Sayumi's in my room..."

- "Exactly."

> "Wow, this IS a story... . What do you think about it Sayumi? Eehh? She really fell asleep...unbelievable!"

You would expect "our" Sayu to be saying something like "Wow, that outfit you're wearing makes you/me look so kawaii! " to "God-Sayu".

- "We are not allowed to force the awakening. Every girls has to do it herself."

Well, that's comforting.

> "So why didn't Mikitty feel anything?"

- "Her spirit has been awakened already a while ago."

> "What?"

- "She didn't understand the feelings and therefore doesn't know about her skills. She still isn't ready for a complete awakening."

WHAAA? Already awakened, but not fully? 

> "...sounds like an excuse...what would happen if you had to force an awakening?"

- "The mind of the person could go mad. She would become insane."

> "I definitely don't want to become insane."

- "Don't worry, your mind was ready."

Her mind was ready? So that means it's dangerous to have an awakening within that a mind that's "unprepared", whatever that means. But what about Miki? God-Sayu said that she has already partially awakened, but she also said that it's dangerous to do it without being ready. Miki's not gonna go whacko, is she?

I have to leave now...we will meet again soon."

> "Wait! What should I do now?"

- Sayumi, the spirit, vanishes: "You will know what to do."

Typical cryptic/mysterious/evasive response one would expect from a diety-type being.

Fuck those suck. 

[lil_hamz]

Wow this story is so scifi-y and mysterious. I can't wait to see how you develop it.

Okay, I reread that part a few times and I still don't get it. Why did the godlike Sayumi only say 8 when there are 9 members? I know GLSayu mentioned it but I don't understand 

It's surprsing the real Sayu didn't freak out upon seeing another her. She even fell asleep

[HPriest]

Wow this story is so scifi-y and mysterious. I can't wait to see how you develop it.

Okay, I reread that part a few times and I still don't get it. Why did the godlike Sayumi only say 8 when there are 9 members? I know GLSayu mentioned it but I don't understand 

It's surprsing the real Sayu didn't freak out upon seeing another her. She even fell asleep

The original (ancient) group consisted of 8 girls only (according to the Sayumi god/spirit...*cough*).
The current generation has 9members with Mitsui.
The 'gods' (Sayumi) knew that Yossie was going to graduate soon, but Yossie is the perfect incarnation of the first leader.
Her powers would have been passed to Mitsui most probably, but Mitsui isn't so 'perfect'.
They would have lost a very strong character.
This is why they awoken Yossie already (although she doesn't really admit it) to keep her in the team.

***

About the mass of dialog in the 2nd episode. Actually I plan to remove most of the dialog I made in the original fic (it becomes a mess with 9people talking). However, the second episode was special so I kept it this way.

[HPriest]

There it is already...

Episode 03 - The Vision

The sun shines through the window and wakes up Yossie. She turns around and feels a hand. Yossie starts to fondle the hand and slowly opens her eyes. SHOCK! It's Sayumi. Yossie jumps up and kicks her out of the bed. Sayumi lands on the hard floor and wakes up. 'Where am I? What happened?', she asks. Yossie yells at her to get out. Sayumi still doesn't realize where she is and Yossie continues to tell her to get out. Finally Sayumi notices that this is Yossie's room and apologizes. She leaves the room and Yossie starts to recapitulate what happened. There was this light, the fight and the Sayumi spirit. She starts to get a headache only by thinking of it.

She just realized, that she slept in her clothes again. Her stomach tells her to get something to eat, too. Yossie decides to skip shower and get downstairs for breakfast first. There is none of the girls around. She walks to the buffet, when suddenly somebody says 'Good Morning'. Aichan and Risa came downstairs. They tell her that they already had breakfast and they want to go to the market now. 'There is also a nice temple here.', Risa adds. Yossie suddenly starts to listen after hearing 'Temple'. She asks them about it. They haven't been there. Yossie isn't sure what to tell them. She asks them whether they are sure to go there or not. The two girls don't see a reason why they shouldn't. Yossie decides to not bother them with her weird story and let them go.

Upstairs Mikitty knocks at Yossie's door, but nobody opens. Sayumi comes out of her room. Mikitty asks her if she saw Yossie. Sayumi didn't and doesn't want to. Mikitty is confused and asks her about it. Sayumi tells her that Yossie kicked her out of the bed. 'What where you doing in her bed?', Mikitty asks. 'I fell asleep during the story of this ghost who looked like me.', Sayumi replies. The expression on Mikitty's face right now is priceless. She pats Sayumi and walks downstairs. Sayumi continues to stand there without knowing what just happened.

After a few seconds, Sayumi went back to her room. She forgot to go the toilet before going downstairs. Eri is also in the room. They always share one room. Eri is on her notebook. She is in some kind of chat. Recently she discovered all the English sites about Morning Musume and had fun browsing them. Right now she is in the chat of one forum. She doesn't write or anything, her English is too bad for this. However, Eri is still able to read and understand almost everything. Her nickname is "Turtle-chan". It looks like she isn't very creative with such things. Anyway, she reads through all the chat, when suddenly somebody opens a private chat with her. Eri is surprised. She never wrote anything, why would somebody whisper at her? This other user only writes one line and suddenly Eri passes out.

> Where am I?
> It's so dark.
> Am I dreaming?
> Everything is so blurry.
> There is something there, what is it?
> This...looks like a road. I am on a road? No! A sidewalk..I am on a sidewalk.
> A car, I can hear a car, but I can't see it.
> There, there is also a person standing on the sidewalk. Who?
> The car comes closer, I can hear it.
> Now I can even see the lights already.
> Oh my god!
> It's coming closer....fast...
> This person...ran on the street. Wait!
> The car is going to....
> NOOOO!

Suddenly a voice talks to her, interrupting the whole vision. Everything is black again. The voice calls her. It tells her to wake up. Eri doesn't know who it is. She slowly opens her eyes and realizes that it's Sayumi. 'Sayumi! What happened?', Eri asks. Sayumi doesn't know either. All she can tell her is that she heard Eri falling to the ground. She rushed out of the bathroom and saw her lying on the floor. 'The notebook!', Eri suddenly says. The notebook isn't running. Sayumi tells her that it already was off when she rushed here. Eri tells her to check the other rooms for the girls. 'Why?', Sayumi asks. Eri can't explain and just tells her to hurry. Sayumi gives in and checks the other rooms. She sure doesn't like to get kicked around by everyone. Eri looks at the notebook again. Suddenly the monitor starts to show up again. 'It wasn't off?', she thinks. She looks at the message again: 'ERI! Danger! Road! Car! Close! Hurry!'.

> Now I....I...yes...I remember this road!

Sayumi comes back and tells her that Mitsui, Koharu and Reina are still in their rooms and that she just met Mikitty before. They both hurry downstairs. Sayumi still doesn't know what this is all about. Only Mikitty is downstairs. 'Where are the others?', Eri asks Mikitty. Mikitty doesn't know either. Eri starts to worry. Where are they? Does this have something to do with her vision? She looks around, completely clueless. What should she do? She has to find them, but how? The road! She remembered the road, but doesn't exactly know where it is. What should she do? What should Eri do?

[JFC]

The sun shines through the window and wakes up Yossie. She turns around and feels a hand. Yossie starts to fondle the hand and slowly opens her eyes. SHOCK! It's Sayumi.

I guess it's a good thing that she only fondled her HAND, eh?

Aichan and Risa came downstairs. They tell her that they already had breakfast and they want to go to the market now. 'There is also a nice temple here.', Risa adds. Yossie suddenly starts to listen after hearing 'Temple'. She asks them about it. They haven't been there. Yossie isn't sure what to tell them. She asks them whether they are sure to go there or not. The two girls don't see a reason why they shouldn't. Yossie decides to not bother them with her weird story and let them go.

Well, there's the whole "by going there you'll awaken some spirit that will give you some skill/ability that you've never had before so that we can participate in some cosmic battle" thing...but that's all. 

'What where you doing in her bed?', Mikitty asks. 'I fell asleep during the story of this ghost who looked like me.', Sayumi replies. The expression on Mikitty's face right now is priceless.

Something like this maybe?
 

Eri is on her notebook. She is in some kind of chat. Recently she discovered all the English sites about Morning Musume and had fun browsing them.

...

Anyway, she reads through all the chat, when suddenly somebody opens a private chat with her. Eri is surprised. She never wrote anything, why would somebody whisper at her? This other user only writes one line and suddenly Eri passes out.

Well, looks like Eri's been "awakened", and it looks like her powers involve some sort of ESP/psychic abilities.

Only Mikitty is downstairs. 'Where are the others?', Eri asks Mikitty. Mikitty doesn't know either. Eri starts to worry. Where are they? Does this have something to do with her vision?

Well, we konw for sure that Aichan and Risa are out. Yossi WAS downstairs getting food but I guess she's no longer there?

Time to break out the phones and start callng the other members.

[HPriest]

It might be a bit fast, but here you go....

Episode 04 - Crash

Reina is coming downstairs. She took a shower and couldn't come earlier. Eri is still acting weird. Reina just ignores her and sits down next to Mikitty. Sayumi is trying to find the cakes in the menu, but fails. She starts to become angry and the other girls feel embarrassed. Everyone in the room is looking at Sayumi. Mikitty points at the last page. Everyone sighs, because Sayumi didn't see the last page with the cakes. Reina also orders something, while Mikitty already has everything in front of her.

Eri suddenly says something again: 'Let's follow them!'. The others don't really look they want to follow them. Eri looks at Reina, but Reina didn't even have breakfast yet. She rather wants to eat something before going somewhere. Sayumi...Sayumi is busy with her cake. Mikitty also don't want to go, because she actually waits for Ayaya. She is supposed to come soon. It looks like Eri has to go alone, when suddenly Sayumi says something:

~ You have just awoken this morning. Don't overrate your first visions. There is a high possibility that the others will awake soon. Yossie wants to find out, if either Aichan or Risa will feel the same at the temple. You shouldn't be too concerned. ~

Everyone stopped with what they were doing during Sayumi's speech. Mikitty even dropped her spoon. There is a certain confusion and disbelief lying in the air. She said it with such a seriousness, but Sayumi herself is busy with the cherry on her cake again. The girls still are in shock. What was that? Sayumi notices that the other girls stare at her. 'What? Do I have cream on my nose?', she asks. It looks like Sayumi can't remember that she said something. However, Eri decides to listen to her stomach and to follow the others. She leaves the table.

> "Why didn't she just phone them?", Mikitty mentions.

Anyway, the girls don't know what this is all about and so they decide to not care about it.

Eri doesn't know where the temple is and the image of the street is too blurry. There is a man leaning towards a wall. She decides to ask him for direction. It starts to be a normal 'Where is the temple? - Turn left after the yellow house.' conversation, but suddenly they switch the topic.

~ Eri...

> What? How do you know my name?

~ Why are you following them?

> Following? I never mentioned that I am following anyone!?

~ It was your first vision, wasn't it? Did you even saw a face? How can you be so sure it's one of the three?

> I......don't know what you are talking about.

~ I know you do. I also know that you have to learn to understand your visions first.

> Who are you?

~ This doesn't matter now. Are you really sure that you want to follow them?

> I...I have a feeling that it is about them. Why am I telling you this? I am sorry, but I have to go now.

~ A feeling? Does this mean..

Eri walks away. The stranger doesn't follow her, but makes a worried face. It looks like he is surprised about the feeling Eri has. Does she already have more power than expected? Who is this man anyway?

Anyway, Aichan and Risa reach the temple. Yossie is close behind them, but prefers to stay in the background. Although, Yossie didn't care about their trip earlier, she then decided to follow them. She hides behind a corner. Aichan and Risa walk up the stairs and enter the temple. Yossie now hides near the entrance.

Back at the hotel. Koharu and Mitsui also came downstairs already. The waiter brings Sayumi her second piece of cake and the orders for the other girls as well. He also gives a sheet of paper to Mikitty. Mikitty is surprised. The waiter tells her that the man who stands at the entrance gave it to him. It's the same one Eri talked to before. The other girls assume that he is a secret boyfriend or something like that, but Mikitty denies it. However, she seems to know him. Her reaction after seeing him gave it away. She unfolds the sheet of paper and reads the message: 'It has began.'. Mikitty jumps up all of a sudden. The girls are confused, but Mikitty only ignores them and walks away. She nods at the man before going upstairs. Mikitty walks upstairs and the man walks away. Everyone, except Sayumi, is confused. 'Are you going to eat this?', Sayumi asks Koharu. 'Huh? What? Oh..the cake? You can have it.', she replies. Sayumi really doesn't seem to be confused at all...or did the cakes keep her too busy?

Mikitty enters her room. She also has a notebook and turns it on. Then she enters an address. It looks like the same forum Eri used to visit. Mikitty logs in with some strange nickname. She clicks on the admin  panel. Mikitty is an admin? Inside the panel there is a very tiny button. When you look closely, you can read 'Special..' or something like that. She clicks on it. A message pops up, 'Are you sure?'. Mikitty clicks on 'Yes'. A second message pops up, 'Every special member has been messaged.'. She closes the pop up. A few seconds later she sees a message in the "shoutbox", 'Mikitty, are you sure?'. She only writes 'yes' in the "shoutbox" and logs off.

Yossie is still waiting at the entrance. Aichan and Risa walk come out again. Suddenly Aichan stumbles. Risa is able to hold her. 'The same thing happened again!', Yossie thinks to herself. The two girls decide to walk back to the hotel. Yossie is not really sure what she should do now. She decides to continue following them. Maybe there will be a similar incident like yesterday.

Eri also arrives at the temple, but the girls already left. She looks inside, but no sign of the girls. Two roads go away from the temple. She tries to make out the girls, but can't see them. Since she came from the one of the streets and didn't see them, she decides to walk down the other one. There is a crossing. Eri looks left.

> Wait...isn't this.
> It's the same street like in my vision!

A car drives into the street. It's not the same type she saw in her vision. She still is afraid that something is going to happen. There is a 90° turn in the road and so she can't see the girls. Eri starts to run to catch up with the car before it's too late, but the car is way too fast.

Around the corner there are the two girls and Yossie following them. Aichan still doesn't feel too good. Risa decides to buy her something from the shop across the street. The two slowly make their way across the street. Aichan is so weak that she stumbles. They both fall. Yossie sees this, too. She looks to the left and sees a car coming around the corner. It's way too fast and right on collision course with the two girls. Aichan tries to get up, when suddenly she hears Yossie screaming.

> "Yossie?"

~ "CAR! CAR!", Yossie continued to scream.

> "Car? What do you mean?", Aichan doesn't notice the car behind her.

~ Yossie runs on the street: "BEHIND YOU! AICHAN!"

> "Behi......."

Aichan turns around and sees a car about 2 meters away from her. She instantly turns to Risa, holds her tight  and closes her eyes. You can hear the breaks of the car and and an impact. The whole area gets filled with the sound of breaking glass and bending metal. Small pieces of metal fly around everywhere. They hit the road and the buildings. Yossie closed her eyes right before the impact. She went down to her knees to protect herself from the flying objects. It seems to be over. Yossie slowly opens her eyes again.

~ "AICHAN? RISA? Huh? What....what....AICHAN!?"

> Aichan opens her eyes and looks around herself: "W....wh....what happened?"

- "Ehh?", Risa can't say anything else right now.

> Aichan turns towards Risa again: "The car...the car hit us....but...but it didn't?!?"

The car really hit the girls, but nobody has a scratch or is hurt. The car stands a few meters in front of them. It is a total loss. The whole front has been destroyed. It is unclear what happened to the driver. The area is filled with steam and fume. All three girls look at each other with helplessness, when suddenly they hear another girl from far away.

- "Geeeeeeee..oooooooooo..thhheeeeeeee..eeeeeeeeeeet!"

> "Eri?", Yossie spots the girl.

- "Caaaaa...uuuuu...heeeee....meeee?", Eri continues to streem, but she is too far away.

> "What are you saying? You are too far away!", Yossie answers.

- "YOOOSSSSIIIEEE!"

> "WWWHHHAAAAATTTT??", Yossie now also started to scream.

- "Beeeeeeehhhhhiiiiiiiiiii.......uuuuuuuuuuuu!"

> "B-e-h-i-n-d Y-o-u?"
> "BEHIND ME?, Yossie finally understands.

~ "YOSSIE!", Aichan screams at her.

Yossie doesn't even have the time to turn around. She was still standing on the other side of the street. A black car that looks like the one from Eri's vision, hits Yossie with almost full speed. Yossie smacks on the hood, the windshield and then flings over the car. At the end she falls on the street again. It wasn't really a soft landing. The car skids, but is able to stop after a few meters. The girls can't belief what just happened. They are in a complete shock. Eri, who finally reached the girls, runs towards Yossie. Yossie lies on the street and doesn't move at all anymore. There is no sign of breathing. Eri checks her pulse, but can't feel anything. It looks like Eri came too late.

[JFC]

Eri suddenly says something again: 'Let's follow them!'. The others don't really look they want to follow them.

Does Eri even know who she's supposed to be following? It doesn't look like the others know at this point.

It looks like Eri has to go alone, when suddenly Sayumi says something:

~ You have just awoken this morning. Don't overrate your first visions. There is a high possibility that the others will awake soon. Yossie wants to find out, if either Aichan or Risa will feel the same at the temple. You shouldn't be too concerned. ~

...

Sayumi notices that the other girls stare at her. 'What? Do I have cream on my nose?', she asks. It looks like Sayumi can't remember that she said something.

What? Did spirit-Sayu just possess/speak through our Sayu?

> "Why didn't she just phone them?", Mikitty mentions.

That's what I said.

Anyway, the girls don't know what this is all about and so they decide to not care about it.

They probably figure that Sayu's just randomly babbling and that Eri was being weird again.

~ Why are you following them?

> Following? I never mentioned that I am following anyone!?

~ It was your first vision, wasn't it? Did you even saw a face? How can you be so sure it's one of the three?

> I......don't know what you are talking about.

~ I know you do. I also know that you have to learn to understand your visions first.

> Who are you?

~ This doesn't matter now. Are you really sure that you want to follow them?

> I...I have a feeling that it is about them. Why am I telling you this? I am sorry, but I have to go now.

~ A feeling? Does this mean..

Eri walks away. The stranger doesn't follow her, but makes a worried face. It looks like he is surprised about the feeling Eri has. Does she already have more power than expected? Who is this man anyway?

It could be that the spirit that awoke with/for/because of Eri took possession of this old guy to communicate with her, like how spirit-Sayu talked to Yossi the previous night.

Anyway, Aichan and Risa reach the temple. Yossie is close behind them, but prefers to stay in the background.

Ah, so Yossi DID end up following them after all. She's probably curious as to if they'll have an experience similar to the one that she had the previous night when she and Miki were there.

He also gives a sheet of paper to Mikitty. Mikitty is surprised. The waiter tells her that the man who stands at the entrance gave it to him. It's the same one Eri talked to before. The other girls assume that he is a secret boyfriend or something like that, but Mikitty denies it. However, she seems to know him. Her reaction after seeing him gave it away. She unfolds the sheet of paper and reads the message: 'It has began.'. Mikitty jumps up all of a sudden. The girls are confused, but Mikitty only ignores them and walks away. She nods at the man before going upstairs. Mikitty walks upstairs and the man walks away.

Well, this must be the results of Miki's partial awakening that spirit-Sayu mentioned. Question is, just how much does Miki know?

Mikitty enters her room. She also has a notebook and turns it on. Then she enters an address. It looks like the same forum Eri used to visit. Mikitty logs in with some strange nickname. She clicks on the admin  panel. Mikitty is an admin?

This forum could be the way that the 'awakenings' are being arranged/organized. If that's the case, then chances are the other admins/staff members who can access that "Special" section must also be aware of what's going on.

Oh and WOOOOOOOOOOO MIKI WITH ADMIN POWERS!!!

Inside the panel there is a very tiny button. When you look closely, you can read 'Special..' or something like that.  A second message pops up, 'Every special member has been messaged.'. She closes the pop up. A few seconds later she sees a message in the "shoutbox", 'Mikitty, are you sure?'. She only writes 'yes' in the "shoutbox" and logs off.She clicks on it. A message pops up, 'Are you sure?'. Mikitty clicks on 'Yes'.

This must mean that whatever thing it was that's going to happen that's going to require the girls to come together and fight is likely to happen soon. If so, then "messaging" the "special members" must refer to the "awakening" process to allow them to find out about and get used to their special powers/abilities.

Yossie is still waiting at the entrance. Aichan and Risa walk come out again. Suddenly Aichan stumbles. Risa is able to hold her. 'The same thing happened again!', Yossie thinks to herself.

Now Aichan...can't wait to see what SHE can do.

Eri looks left.

> Wait...isn't this.
> It's the same street like in my vision!

Shit, the car!

> Aichan turns towards Risa again: "The car...the car hit us....but...but it didn't?!?"

The car really hit the girls, but nobody has a scratch or is hurt. The car stands a few meters in front of them. It is a total loss. The whole front has been destroyed. It is unclear what happened to the driver. The area is filled with steam and fume.

They're ok? After being hit by a car...they're ok???

*Whew* Aichan's special ability must be some type of physical-strength/invincibility-type thngy!

All three girls look at each other with helplessness, when suddenly they hear another girl from far away.

...

- "Beeeeeeehhhhhiiiiiiiiiii.......uuuuuuuuuuuu!"

> "B-e-h-i-n-d Y-o-u?"
> "BEHIND ME?, Yossie finally understands.

~ "YOSSIE!", Aichan screams at her.

Yossie doesn't even have the time to turn around. She was still standing on the other side of the street. A black car that looks like the one from Eri's vision, hits Yossie with almost full speed. Yossie smacks on the hood, the windshield and then flings over the car.

EHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?!?!?

So the car from Eri's vision wasn't the one that hit Aichan & Risa, but the one that ended up hitting Yossi???  Shit this is bad...VERY bad. If Yossi doesn't recover, then this whole "spiritual conflict" that's about to commence will be without it's destined leader. 


Oh and incidentally....STUPID SPEEDING DRIVERS!!! CAN'T THEY WATCH WHERE THEY'RE GOING?!?!? I MEAN, IT'S NOT LIKE THE GIRLS POPPED OUT ONTO THE STREET ALL OF A SUDDEN, THEY WERE RIGHT THERE!!! HOW FUCKIN' HARD IS IT FOR THEM TO SEE THEM AND SLOW DOWN!!!! 

[HPriest]

Episode 5 - The Spirit In Your Body

Eri tries to talk to Yossie, but she doesn't get a response. She knows that she is dead, but can't accept it. Aichan still sits next to Risa. She can't move at all. They are in shock. Eri starts to cry louder and Aichan awakes from her shock. Now she realizes what happened and starts to cry herself. She runs over to Yossie and Eri. Aichan joggles Yossie and tells her to open her eyes.

The driver of the car that hit Yossie walks to them. He is in a shock himself. His mind is confused. He first blames himself, then he blames the girls and in the end he blames himself again. Like any person in this kind of situation, he rushes back to his car to call for an ambulance. Suddenly a man appears at the scene. It's the stranger we have seen before. He tells the man to wait, but the man only looks at him in disbelief and calls for help. Instead of forcing him to stop, the stranger walks to the girls. Why did he not want the man to call for help?

The stranger knees down next to Eri and tells her to hurry. Eri first doesn't notice him, because of the circumstances and the shock. He grabs her hand and she finally notices him.

- Eri!

> W....who..are you?
> What do you want?

- You have to hurry now!

> Eri remembers him: "You...you are the man from before!"

- I think you are ready.

> Ready?

- Aichan!

~ W...what?

- Your shield was very impressive!

~ .....shield?

The two girls don't understand anything. The stranger explains that they have to get Yossie back as long as her soul still remains in her body. He only still speaks in riddles for the girls. The stranger has to get their attention and makes clear that Yossie is dead. First they loudly cry again, but he interrupts them. He tells them that they can bring her back to life. They have to be focused, especially Eri. The girls finally listen. They might not understand what he means, but it has to something with reviving Yossie.

The stranger tells Eri that she has the power of a mighty priestess. The problem is that she has just awoken and therefore her powers are still pretty weak. However, he still sees a chance of success. Now he explains her how to position herself and that she has to find Yossie's spirit in her body. It's a certain feeling only Eri can identify. Eri starts to do what he said. Now he comes to Aichan. Aichan actually isn't a healer, but she is able to transfer her energy to others. The stranger tells her to get close to Eri. She has to completely concentrate on Eri. The energy will flow eventually.

They remain like this for a couple of minutes, but Eri doesn't feel anything. 'Damn, still too weak.', he says. He suggests to add Risa to the group, but where is Risa? The stranger asks the girls. Aichan turns around, but can't see Risa either. 'She has been right there.', she explains. He looks around and sees somebody rushing into a side street. The stranger jumps up and follows him. He sees a man running away with Risa. Now you can see that the stranger actually has a gun. He catches him, draws his gun and smashes him against the wall. This move released Risa who falls to the ground. The man now looks into the muzzle of the gun of the stranger. Suddenly another man grabs Risa again and runs away. The stranger wants to follow them again, when all of a sudden a man appears in front of him.

> "Shinzu..", the stranger says.

- "Wow, you remember me?"
- "I wouldn't have suspected this from an admin."

> The stranger, who actually seems to be some kind of admin, grabs the man from before again.

> "Release Risa or I will kill him!"

- "Like I would care about his death. Besides, you can't kill him anyway.", Shinzu responds.

> "What do you want from Risa?", the stranger doesn't let loose of the man.

- "You know why...now stop acting tough..."

> The 'admin' knows that Shinzu is right and releases the man again.

- "Good, now don't try to follow us or we will kill one of the girls."

> "This isn't over yet!"

- "Whatever....."

Shinzu and his subject disappear. The stranger remains there, struggling on what to do. In the end he decides to better help the already dead girl. Aichan sees him coming back, but can't see Risa anywhere near him. She asks him where she is, but the stranger doesn't answer. Aichan asks again, but he ignores her. Eri suddenly becomes weak and falls to the side. There has been no improvement with Yossie's condition so far. Aichan is clueless. What happened? Is Eri going to die, too?

The stranger doesn't know what to do. It seems like he knows a solution, but doesn't really want to do it. Aichan notices his insecureness, but doesn't say anything. Instead she blames him for harming Eri. Suddenly he picks out a feather and says something like 'Fuck it!'. He is going to do something he isn't allowed to do.

- "Eri, can you hear me?", he asks Eri.

> Eri with a weak voice: "....yes..."

He sits her up again and orders Aichan to hold her. Aichan isn't sure about trusting him again. He couldn't help Yossie and even harmed Eri somehow. All of a sudden he screams at her.

- WANT TO REVIVE HER OR NOT??

Aichan gets scarred and decides to better do what he says. She holds Eri, while he positions himself behind Eri. He takes the feather and presses it against her back. The stranger mumbles something and closes his eyes. A bright light appears. Aichan has to look away and notices some strange things. There are some kind of distortions around them. The same things you usually only see on TV or somewhere like that. The light disappears and Aichan looks back at Eri.

~ Eri?

Eri respons that she suddenly feels full of energy again. Aichan looks at the stranger. The whole thing didn't affect him it seems. He didn't become weaker or something. The stranger moves next to Eri again and tells her to try now. Eri is overwhelmed by the power in herself. She positions herself again and searches for Yossie's spirit.

> "HA!", Eri suddenly shouts.

~ "What?", Aichan asks confused.

> "Found it!"

- "Great!", the stranger says.

> "Wait a second...wait a second..yes.....yes....YES! GOT IT!"

Aichan doesn't know what's happening, but suddenly she hears Yossie coughing. Eri smiles and Aichan is overwhelmed. 'Welcome back', the stranger says. It's no surprise that Yossie doesn't know what happened. Aichan immediately hugs her. Yossie is still weak and has to tell Aichan to calm down, but Aichan doesn't want to calm down. Aichan finally finishes the hugging and helps Yossie up. Aichan has to sustain her, because Yossie can't stand all by herself already. The stranger says that this is normal. He adds that Yossie will completely recover with the help of Eri's power. Eri herself is overwhelmed by her actions. She really revived Yossie with her own hands.

The driver also noticed that the girl stood up again. He is speechless. They can hear the sirens of the ambulance and the police in the distance. The stranger tells the man to help the driver of the other car. Then he suggests to the girls to leave. All three girls and the stranger walk away, leaving the completely confused man behind. Then the man walks towards the other car. It's a woman and it looks like she had luck. A few minutes later the ambulance arrived.

This really was an unbelievable moment and the girls are all happy. There still is one problem, Risa. Aichan asks the stranger again, but he only lies to her: "She had to go somewhere.". The girls are confused. What really happened to Risa? Who is Shinzu? Why did he kidnap Risa? Only the stranger seems to know, but doesn't want to tell the girls.................for now.

------------------

I hope there weren't too many mistakes and typos.

[JFC]

The driver of the car that hit Yossie walks to them. He is in a shock himself. His mind is confused. He first blames himself, then he blames the girls and in the end he blames himself again. Like any person in this kind of situation, he rushes back to his car to call for an ambulance. Suddenly a man appears at the scene. It's the stranger we have seen before. He tells the man to wait, but the man only looks at him in disbelief and calls for help. Instead of forcing him to stop, the stranger walks to the girls. Why did he not want the man to call for help?

He wanted the driver to NOT call for help? That doesn't make any sense, unless this stranger knows of some way to bring Yossi back from the dead.

- Eri!

> W....who..are you?
> What do you want?

- You have to hurry now!

> Eri remembers him: "You...you are the man from before!"

- I think you are ready.

Ready for what? Is the stranger saying that Eri herself has the ability to bring Yossi back?

- Aichan!

~ W...what?

- Your shield was very impressive!

~ .....shield?

Ah, generating defensive shields...so is THAT Aichan's special ability? But how does that help Yossi???

The stranger tells Eri that she has the power of a mighty priestess. The problem is that she has just awoken and therefore her powers are still pretty weak. However, he still sees a chance of success. Now he explains her how to position herself and that she has to find Yossie's spirit in her body. It's a certain feeling only Eri can identify. Eri starts to do what he said. Now he comes to Aichan. Aichan actually isn't a healer, but she is able to transfer her energy to others. The stranger tells her to get close to Eri. She has to completely concentrate on Eri. The energy will flow eventually.

Ok, THIS makes a LOT more sense. It helps explain Eri was able to see events that happened in the future, as well as why Aichan was able to generate that shield that protected her and Risa.

Speaking of Risa, we still haven't seen any sign of her special ability yet, have we?

They remain like this for a couple of minutes, but Eri doesn't feel anything. 'Damn, still too weak.', he says. He suggests to add Risa to the group, but where is Risa? The stranger asks the girls. Aichan turns around, but can't see Risa either. 'She has been right there.', she explains. He looks around and sees somebody rushing into a side street. The stranger jumps up and follows him. He sees a man running away with Risa. Now you can see that the stranger actually has a gun. He catches him, draws his gun and smashes him against the wall. This move released Risa who falls to the ground. The man now looks into the muzzle of the gun of the stranger. Suddenly another man grabs Risa again and runs away. The stranger wants to follow them again, when all of a sudden a man appears in front of him.

What the, there are others who are aware of the girls and their powers and who are trying to stop them? But...why???

> "Shinzu..", the stranger says.

- "Wow, you remember me?"
- "I wouldn't have suspected this from an admin."

An admin? Do these guys come from the same forum that Miki was on earlier??? 

> "What do you want from Risa?", the stranger doesn't let loose of the man.

- "You know why...now stop acting tough..."

> The 'admin' knows that Shinzu is right and releases the man again.

- "Good, now don't try to follow us or we will kill one of the girls."

> "This isn't over yet!"

- "Whatever....."

If the girls are all descendants/reincarnations of an ancient group of cosmic/spiritual beings like spirit-Sayu told Yossi, then maybe these guys are the descendants/reincarnations of the people who were their enemies?

Eri suddenly becomes weak and falls to the side. There has been no improvement with Yossie's condition so far. Aichan is clueless. What happened? Is Eri going to die, too?

The stranger doesn't know what to do. It seems like he knows a solution, but doesn't really want to do it.

...

Suddenly he picks out a feather and says something like 'Fuck it!'. He is going to do something he isn't allowed to do.

...

 He takes the feather and presses it against her back. The stranger mumbles something and closes his eyes. A bright light appears.

...

Eri respons that she suddenly feels full of energy again. Aichan looks at the stranger. The whole thing didn't affect him it seems. He didn't become weaker or something. The stranger moves next to Eri again and tells her to try now. Eri is overwhelmed by the power in herself. She positions herself again and searches for Yossie's spirit.

The stranger must be under some type of restrictions, and while he seems to be able to be a helper/guide, he probably is not allowed to actually get involved in the girls affair's himself.

> "HA!", Eri suddenly shouts.

~ "What?", Aichan asks confused.

> "Found it!"

- "Great!", the stranger says.

> "Wait a second...wait a second..yes.....yes....YES! GOT IT!"

Aichan doesn't know what's happening, but suddenly she hears Yossie coughing. Eri smiles and Aichan is overwhelmed. 'Welcome back', the stranger says.

WOOOOOOOOOO SHE BROUGHT HER BACK!!! WAY TO GO ERI!!!

There still is one problem, Risa. Aichan asks the stranger again, but he only lies to her: "She had to go somewhere.". The girls are confused. What really happened to Risa? Who is Shinzu? Why did he kidnap Risa? Only the stranger seems to know, but doesn't want to tell the girls.................for now.

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!! 

[HPriest]

Episode 6 - The Admin

The four reach the hotel. An angry Ayaya leaves it and Aichan asks what happened. It seems like Mikitty canceled their shopping today and went somewhere. Where did she went? Ayaya doesn't know, but the stranger seems to know more. Anyway, Ayaya leaves and the four go inside.

In the lobby the stranger tells the girls to wait upstairs. He will explain everything soon. It's still only Yossie who knows a bit more than the other girls, but she still doesn't really understand everything. The girls go upstairs while the stranger walks over to the Internet terminals of the hotel. He browses to the site we've seen already. Eri and Mikitty went to the same site. The man isn't really interested in the forum, he goes straight into the chat. A few other users greet him. This is no surprise, he is one of the admins after all. He double-clicks on one of the other admins and a new window opens, a private chat. The stranger writes a question...

> did she activate the special mode?

- yes, is it really true?

> I've seen it with my own eyes.

- We need to prepare!

> too late

- 2late?

> Shinzu already got notice of the awakenings

- WHAT????

> He took Risa.

- wtf...
- did she awake yet?

> No, but it will probably happen soon...

- You have to get her back!
- The other users have been warned, but can't help as long as the girls are still in this dimension.

> I know, I will get her back..somehow..

- Shinzu doesn't know I trained you
- ...right?

> No, he has no clue about a connection between me and the superadmin.

- good..I will send you a little help to face him....
- btw.

> ?

- I heard a rumor that Sayu came back to your dimension, at least her ghost.
- She kept the awakening of Yossie to herself.

> Yossie awoke?

- Yes..
- This is why I want you to talk with Sayumi.

> Is she....in Sayumi?

- No, she can't do such a thing.

> Alright...later

- bye

The stranger walks upstairs. Everyone, except Mikitty, gathered in one room. Koharu and Mitsui have never seen the man and are frightened when he suddenly enters the room. The others tell them to relax. First Yossie asks him about his name. He explains that he doesn't really have a name. His whole existence is based on several nicknames. He is one of the avatars of a non-existent world. You can probably imagine the look on their faces. None of them understood a word. The man continues and says that he is one of the admins of the world called "Forum". Suddenly Reina steps forward. The girls look at her. What's with this reaction? Reine decides not to say anything and only looks at the stranger. What was that? The stranger is also confused. Why did she suddenly come forward on the word "admin"? Anyway, he doesn't really have a real name. He tells the girls to make up a name for him and Sayumi suddenly says "Shoji!". Fine then, his name is Shoji from now on, at least for the girls.

Shoji turns to Yossie and asks her about Sayumi, the ghost. Yossie nods and tells him about her encounter. He decides to call her, but makes the fault to simply call 'Sayumi'. As expected the real Sayumi didn't know why he called for her. Shoji explains to Sayumi that he didn't mean her. Sayumi makes a confused face. It looks like she can't remember her other self at all. Yossie helps her to remember and finally she does. 'The great myself?', she asks. Shoji tells her that she got this a bit wrong. It's another Sayumi, not herself. 'She is me, isn't she?', Sayumi continues to ask. Then Aichan interrupts with her question about the whereabouts of Risa. Shoji doesn't want to answer to this question yet. Next Yossie asks about her death. 'Have I really been dead?', she asks. Eri and Aichan answer her and the other girls like Koharu and Mitsui are confused. What the hell is everyone talking about? Koharu decides to leave, when Shoji suddenly shouts and tells them to calm down. Sayumi becomes mad and tells Shoji that she doesn't like him. His response is the following: 'I will survive it.'. Now this really pissed off Sayumi, but she didn't want to say it out loud.

Shoji calls for the other Sayumi, but doesn't get a response. He becomes louder and soon she finally appears. She tells him that it was a bad idea to call her when all the girls are in the same room. Most of them can't believe what they are seeing. A second Sayumi? That's something.
He doesn't care, he asks her about the awakening she kept from the forum. 'Every awakening has to be reported to the forum!', he adds. 'I wanted to explain it to every girl personally.', the God-Sayumi replies, 'Unlike you guys I didn't want to drop the bomb just like that.'. They start to argue about what way is the better one. The other girls don't know what to say. Some strange man and a ghost of another Sayumi are arguing right in front of them. Now the ghost starts to blame Shoji for keeping Mikitty a secret to her and soon they switch the topic to Shinzu. 'He isn't in this world.', the God-Sayumi says, but Shoji can't agree. He saw him. The ghost is shocked. Did she really not notice Shinzu entering this world?

Suddenly Mikitty bursts into the room:
'YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THAT THEY KIDNAPPED RISA!'

Aichan jumps up: 'WHAT?'. Shoji turns around doesn't look to happy about the revealing of the truth. Mikitty now also notices that everyone is in the room and apologizes to Shoji. She triggered a mass of questions. The other girls want to know what happened, especially Aichan. Shoji has a hard time calming them down. 'We have to call the police!', Koharu suggest. 'No police, they can't help anyway.', he replies. Aichan asks: 'Why aren't we doing anything?'. Shoji tells the God-Sayumi to give them a short summary about their history. First she denies, but in the end she gives in. She tells them the same story she told Yossie and Sayumi already. During this history lesson, Shoji had a talk with Mikitty.

> "Where are they?", he asks.

- "In the warehouse, in the harbor like you told me in your text message earlier." ... Shoji must have messaged her on their way back to the hotel.

> Okay..

- Your plan?

> Going in, taking Risa, going out.

- Are you serious?

> Have a better plan?
> Get the sword!

- Is she ready?

> Just get it!

Mikitty leaves the room and Shoji turns to the other girls. God-Sayumi just finished her summary. The girls a shocked, amazed and confused. Yossie heard the story the second time already and still can't believe it. Aichan asks what they are going to do now. 'We will try to rescue her with the power of the already awoken girls.', he replies. A fight? Already? God-Sayumi doesn't agree at all, but doesn't have any better idea. Mikitty comes back and has a box in her hand. Shoji opens it and pulls out a sword. The girls are fascinated. A real sword! Shoji tells Yossie to come and take it. Yossie knows about her skills, but can't imagine wielding a real sword. She takes it and has this strange feeling again. 'It's not as powerful as your real sword, but it should work.', Shoji adds. Yossie only looks at the sword. It's a fascinating feeling. Shoji turns to the others. 'Aichan and Eri you come with us as backup in case something goes wrong.', he says. They just nod. You still see a certain disbelief within the girls. Suddenly Reina approaches Shoji.

- "I am coming with you!", she says.

> "But you didn't....", Shoji gets interrupted by Reina.

- "I said I am coming with you!"

> "....fine..but you stay in the background with Aichan and Eri."

Reina doesn't say anything. She just turns around walks over to Aichan and Eri. What is up with her? Earlier she acted weird already? Did she awake already? But neither God-Sayumi nor the admin seems to know about it. This sure is weird. Anyway, Sayumi is pissed again. She isn't allowed to join the fun. Shoji explains to her that is no fun, but Sayumi doesn't want to listen. However, she has to stay back in the hotel with Koharu and Mitsui. Yossie tells her that it's better this way. Sayumi listens to Yossie and so she accepts it.

At the same time in the warehouse...

- "Boss, she still didn't awake.", some underling tells Shinzu.

> "Bring her to me!", Shinzu replies.

- "Yes, boss."
- The underling goes to a room at the end of the warehouse and knocks: "Stop for now and bring her out."

~ "Okay.", some man in this room replies.

The man brings her out and Shinzu looks at her. Risa is completely exhausted. The man has to carry her all the way, because she doesn't even have enough power to walk. You can see bruises all over her body. Her clothes are dirty and partially frazzled. At her back it looks like they also used a whip to torture her. She is still conscious. You can see the blood dripping from the wounds. It drips out of her mouth and her nose. The man puts her on her knees in front of Shinzu.

> "Look at you, what a mess.", Shinzu says to Risa.

- Underling comes with glass of water: "Here, drink."

> "Just show us what you can and everything will be over."

~ "I don't know what you are talking about..", Risa answers with a weak voice. She really doesn't know what he is talking about.

> Shinzu kicks Risa: "Did I tell you to answer?"

~ "Please, I beg you..."

> "You beg me? You are not in a position to beg. How long are you going to endure the torture until you release your energy? Maybe we should bring you closer to death until you decide to unleash it!?"

- "Boss, aren't you going a little too far?", the underling interrupts.

> "What was that?", Shinzu turns towards him.

- "I mean.....she is the rebirth of the ancient Risa."

> "So what?"

- "I heard that it is impossible to break her with pain or the death. She isn't awoken yet, but her spirit is already as strong as in the past."
- "Also....HE said that he wants her alive! Her death would only trigger bigger events we can't control."

> "What would YOU suggest then?"

- "Humiliation."

> "Humili...mmmh...this might work."
> "I like the way you are thinking."
> "It was a good decision to keep you as my right hand."

- "Thanks boss."

> "But how do you intend to do it?"

- "Just leave her to the soldiers, they didn't have fun for a while."

> "This sounds so evil...and I like it."
> "I hope this works, I have a bad feeling that somebody will pay us a visit soon."

Shinzu gives the man the order to bring her to the soldiers. The man grins and puts her over his shoulder. Shinzu and his underling continue to talk about their plan, while the man puts her back to the room they came from. Then he goes to the soldiers. He tells them that Shinzu has a present for them. They all walk to the room and see Risa laying on the floor.

'Just don't kill her or Shinzu will kill you.', he adds.

[JFC]

The four reach the hotel. An angry Ayaya leaves it and Aichan asks what happened. It seems like Mikitty canceled their shopping today and went somewhere. Where did she went? Ayaya doesn't know, but the stranger seems to know more. Anyway, Ayaya leaves and the four go inside.

Well, it's already been established that Miki's an Admin, like this stranger is. But with the emergence of the guys who took Risa, which side of this fight is Miki actually on? O_O  Where'd she go, how much "power" does she have?

The girls go upstairs while the stranger walks over to the Internet terminals of the hotel. He browses to the site we've seen already. Eri and Mikitty went to the same site. The man isn't really interested in the forum, he goes straight into the chat. A few other users greet him. This is no surprise, he is one of the admins after all. He double-clicks on one of the other admins and a new window opens, a private chat. The stranger writes a question...

> did she activate the special mode?

Is the "she" he's referring to Miki? If so, what's "special mode"? And what's the deal with this forum? Do the regular members know what's going on, or is it just the Admins?  Does this forum have any reflection on what's happening to the girls right now, or is it just some convenient vehicle through which the Admins can communicate with one another?

> Shinzu already got notice of the awakenings

- WHAT????

> He took Risa.

- wtf...
- did she awake yet?

> No, but it will probably happen soon...

Hmmm...is there a particular reason why Risa was targeted? It could be that her power (which has not yet awakened) is very particular and is something that Sinzu specifically needs/wants to control.

- Shinzu doesn't know I trained you
- ...right?

> No, he has no clue about a connection between me and the superadmin.

SUPERADMIN???   Are we talking about the stranger here? If so, maybe that's why he was able to intervene the way that he did in the previous chapter.

>- I heard a rumor that Sayu came back to your dimension, at least her ghost.
- She kept the awakening of Yossie to herself.

...

> Is she....in Sayumi?

- No, she can't do such a thing.

So the Admins are aware of the "spiritual" ancestors of the girls, and can even track their movements?

The stranger walks upstairs. Everyone, except Mikitty, gathered in one room. Koharu and Mitsui have never seen the man and are frightened when he suddenly enters the room. The others tell them to relax. First Yossie asks him about his name. He explains that he doesn't really have a name. His whole existence is based on several nicknames. He is one of the avatars of a non-existent world. You can probably imagine the look on their faces. None of them understood a word. The man continues and says that he is one of the admins of the world called "Forum".

Wait, so he's not an actual person, he's just an avatar of someone from this "Forum" world?   I guess he could be a non-corporeal being (like "spirit-Sayu") and the body he has belongs to some random person that he possessed for the time being.

But wait, wouldn't that mean that Miki's not really Miki? Is she just an avatar too? Has some Admin's essense possessed her?

Suddenly Reina steps forward. The girls look at her. What's with this reaction? Reine decides not to say anything and only looks at the stranger. What was that? The stranger is also confused. Why did she suddenly come forward on the word "admin"?

Now Reina too? Obviously something about the word "Admin" triggered something in her. Perhaps she's more aware of certain things than others might be led to believe.

He tells the girls to make up a name for him and Sayumi suddenly says "Shoji!".

Shoji? Shit, with recent events, couldn't it have been something different?

Shoji calls for the other Sayumi, but doesn't get a response. He becomes louder and soon she finally appears. She tells him that it was a bad idea to call her when all the girls are in the same room. Most of them can't believe what they are seeing. A second Sayumi? That's something.
He doesn't care, he asks her about the awakening she kept from the forum. 'Every awakening has to be reported to the forum!', he adds. 'I wanted to explain it to every girl personally.', the God-Sayumi replies, 'Unlike you guys I didn't want to drop the bomb just like that.'. They start to argue about what way is the better one.

Well, this isn't that much of a surprise. When there are multiple people involved in keeping something running, there's bound to be disagreements on how things should be done. However, for one Admin to go out on their own and doing stuff like keeping awakenings secret is not the type of behaviour that should be shown by an Admin.  Considering how serious the situation seems to be, they should be pooling their knowledge and working together, instead of doing what spirit-Sayu did, and go off on her own thinking that she knew everything.

Now the ghost starts to blame Shoji for keeping Mikitty a secret to her and soon they switch the topic to Shinzu. 'He isn't in this world.', the God-Sayumi says, but Shoji can't agree. He saw him. The ghost is shocked. Did she really not notice Shinzu entering this world?

See what I mean? Just because you're a celestial being doesn't mean you're infallible. Shoji knew of Shinzu, yet spirit-Sayu, who SHOULD be aware of these types of things, was caught completely by surprise at the news.  She also wasn't aware about Miki (I'm guessing this refers to Miki's Admin status?) when it sounds like she should have been.

Suddenly Mikitty bursts into the room:
'YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THAT THEY KIDNAPPED RISA!'

Aichan jumps up: 'WHAT?'. Shoji turns around doesn't look to happy about the revealing of the truth. Mikitty now also notices that everyone is in the room and apologizes to Shoji.

Shit, now the cats out of the bag. This hotel room must be some designated meeting room for the Admins, right? How else would Miki have known that Shoji was there, but not the girls?

Shoji had a talk with Mikitty.

> "Where are they?", he asks.

- "In the warehouse, in the harbor like you told me in your text message earlier." ... Shoji must have messaged her on their way back to the hotel.

> Okay..

- Your plan?

> Going in, taking Risa, going out.

- Are you serious?

> Have a better plan?
> Get the sword!

- Is she ready?

> Just get it!

This sword is special for some reason?

If they proceed with this rescue operation, one way or another Risa's going to find out the truth. On top of that, the situation may end up causing Risa's power to "awaken", so they'll need to be there to calm her down (because we know she'll be freakin' out ) and guide her on how to use it.

Aichan asks what they are going to do now. 'We will try to rescue her with the power of the already awoken girls.', he replies. A fight? Already? God-Sayumi doesn't agree at all, but doesn't have any better idea. Mikitty comes back and has a box in her hand. Shoji opens it and pulls out a sword. The girls are fascinated. A real sword! Shoji tells Yossie to come and take it. Yossie knows about her skills, but can't imagine wielding a real sword. She takes it and has this strange feeling again. 'It's not as powerful as your real sword, but it should work.'

So this sword is only a replica? The real one must have been wielded by the original Yossi from the original group long ago. It makes sense that they would have copied it, since it would make it easier for the current Yossi to be comfortable in using it.

Suddenly Reina approaches Shoji.

- "I am coming with you!", she says.

> "But you didn't....", Shoji gets interrupted by Reina.

- "I said I am coming with you!"

> "....fine..but you stay in the background with Aichan and Eri."

Reina doesn't say anything. She just turns around walks over to Aichan and Eri. What is up with her? Earlier she acted weird already? Did she awake already? But neither God-Sayumi nor the admin seems to know about it.

If Shoji is willing to let Reina come along, then he obviously suspects that she might have awakened already. If there were any doubts in his mind about this, he would have made it VERY clear that the answer was "NO" and that she was to stay with the others. If Reina comes along without having her powers awakened, then she's just a liability to the others, a random factor that could endanger the mission as well as the people in it.

At the same time in the warehouse...

- "Boss, she still didn't awake.", some underling tells Shinzu.

> "Bring her to me!", Shinzu replies.

...

The man brings her out and Shinzu looks at her. Risa is completely exhausted. The man has to carry her all the way, because she doesn't even have enough power to walk. You can see bruises all over her body. Her clothes are dirty and partially frazzled. At her back it looks like they also used a whip to torture her. She is still conscious. You can see the blood dripping from the wounds. It drips out of her mouth and her nose. The man puts her on her knees in front of Shinzu.

So they're trying to force the awakening by torturing Risa? Those bastards! 

- "Boss, aren't you going a little too far?", the underling interrupts.

...

- "I heard that it is impossible to break her with pain or the death. She isn't awoken yet, but her spirit is already as strong as in the past."
- "Also....HE said that he wants her alive! Her death would only trigger bigger events we can't control."

Okay, it's becoming very clear that Risa's going to play a very important role here. The spirit/power/ability within her must be very powerful for these guys to be doing this to her.  But will they be able to control it/her once the awakening has taken place?

And of course, who the hell is "HE" and why does "HE" want her kept alive???

> "What would YOU suggest then?"

- "Humiliation."

...

> "But how do you intend to do it?"

- "Just leave her to the soldiers, they didn't have fun for a while."

Oh fuck no...HURRY GIRLS!!!  HUUUUUUUURRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! 

[HPriest]

Episode 7 - Sparkling

The group walks downstairs. Sayumi, Koharu and Mitsui stay in the room like ordered. Shoji leads the group through the lobby, when suddenly a woman calls 'HEY!'. He stops and looks to the right. It's Yuko. Shoji smiles and asks whether she is the help the superadmin talked about. Yuko nods and looks at the girls. 'They all already awoke?', she asks. Shoji looks at Reina: 'Probably...'. Yuko seems to be optimistic and claps on his shoulder. There is no time for doubts. Shoji and Yuko leave the hotel, the others follow them. Mikitty is a bit confused and asks about Yuko. Shoji explains that every former member of Morning Musume has powers within them, but they are weaker than the current generation. The current girls are perfect rebirths of the ancient group. They naturally have the ability to unleash the full energy. 'I am nowhere near your powers', Yuko adds. It's still smart to take her with them. Unlike them she has experience. Yuko already had fights and long training sessions in order to keep a certain level of strength. The girls are fascinated. They never noticed those things before.

Mikitty doesn't have to lead the way, because Shoji has been the one sending her there to scout in the first place. Yossie and Mikitty are closely behind Shoji and Yuko and are being followed by Eri and Aichan. Reina walks alone at the end of the group. On the way to the warehouse, Yossie takes the opportunity to ask Mikitty about the incident yesterday. Yossie now knows that Mikitty has been awoken already, but doesn't understand why she didn't help her out with the men yesterday. Mikitty can understand her. She explains that she already noticed Yossie's awakening at the temple and wanted to let her awake by herself. However, she would have interfered in the fight, if she didn't awake. It looks like Yossie somehow understands it, but still with a certain confusion, of course. Mikitty tells her to focus on Risa now. Yossie agrees and looks at her sword. 'Will it be easy?', she asks. 'Easy? You don't know Shinzu..', Mikitty answers. Yossie is a bit scarred. Yuko overheard the conversation and turns around: 'Don't scare her before it even started.'. Mikitty apologizes. Shoji turns to Yuko and silently agrees with Mikitty. Yuko asks him whether they have a chance, but Shoji still doesn't look very optimistic. The closer the get to the warehouse, the more serious turns the look on Yuko's face. She won't underestimate the situation. They already can see the warehouse.

At the same time back in the hotel.
Mitsui and Koharu are confused and ask Sayumi about everything. 'Has Risa really been kidnapped? Who was this ghost? What kind of powers did they mean?' Those were too many questions for Sayumi. She begins with that Risa really has been kidnapped. For Mitsui it all sounds like a bad dream. Suddenly Sayumi goes to the door: 'Let's go!'. Koharu is confused: 'Go where?'. Sayumi wants to follow them. Mitsui quotes Shoji, but Sayumi doesn't care. Sayumi makes it clear that they don't even know him, why should they trust him? Koharu and Mitsui are insecure and Sayumi decides to go with or without them. The two girls are now alone in there room. Mitsui asks: 'Should we go with her?'. 'It's probably better when we follow. She might be doing something stupid.', Koharu replies. The two girls agree. They have to catch up with Sayumi for her own safety.

Back at the warehouse. Shoji divides them into three groups. Yuko and Shoji will go through the front door, Mikitty and Yossie will wait at a side entrance and the rest will stay here. Eri doesn't understand why they walk through the front door, but Shoji explains that Shinzu probably already feels their arrival. Anyway, the group splits. Shoji also makes it clear to Mikitty and Yossie not to enter the warehouse before they give them a sign. Yuko and Shoji walk towards the door, while Yossie and Mikitty sneak to the side. 'I will take the first group alone. You have to save your energy.', Shoji tells Yuko. Yuko is surprised and doesn't really agree, but Shoji makes it clear that he wants her to stay in the background first. They open the huge door of the warehouse and walk in. Eri, Aichan and Reina hide behind a car from where they can look into the warehouse. Yossie and Mikitty found a little window at the side.

In the warehouse they can see Shinzu and a few guards. Shinzu doesn't seem to pay attention to them. The guards also don't do anything. Shoji takes the chance and draws his weapon. He shoots two guards in the heads within no time. Shinzu finally seems to react, but doesn't look too surprised.

~ "Can't you say hello first?", Shinzu says.

- "I expected a welcome party.", Yuko replies in a bold way.

~ Oh, Yuko!

- Shinzu.

~ And the little admin.
~ You really had the guts to come here?

> "I had nothing planned for the day anyway.", Shoji puts away his weapon.

~ Funny like always

- When are you going to hand out Risa?

~ I thought we could have some fun first.

> Oh, we have a lot of fun already.

~ "Haha..yeah. Hideaki!", he calls his minion who's name is Hideaki.

# Boss?

~ Get the other soldiers.

# Yes, boss!

> Aren't the five here enough?

~ For you only the best!

- We feel honored.

Hideaki walks away and the five remaining men formate. Shoji looks to Yuko and she nods. She will stay out of the first fight. Shoji walks a few steps forward. The five men approach him, but nobody wants to make the first step. Shinzu is bored and tells them to finally kill him. One man makes a step forward when Shoji suddenly shoots him. He can draw his weapon really fast. Shinzu is surprised. One man to Shoji's left tries to kick him. Shoji dodges the attack and kicks the man coming from the right. Then he shoots a man in front of him. The man, who tried to kick him, strikes out to kick him in the legs again. Shoji jumps and in the air he shoots him. Two men are remaining. One of them didn't try an attack so far and decided to take an iron bar from the ground to attack him. Shoji is too slow and the man hits his arm. He drops his weapon. The man strikes out for another hit, but this time Shoji can duck in time. He pushes him away when suddenly the other man punches him. The first one was a hit, but now Shoji can cover himself again. He waits for the right moment to make a counter attack, when he suddenly sees him looking behind him. Shoji is smart enough to know that the man with the iron bar is behind him. He ducks. The other man ducked, too. Shoji quickly pulls out a short knife and rams it into the knee of the man. He falls to the side and screams because of the pain. Now he has to deal with the iron bar again. He is his last enemy. Shoji moves around him and doesn't want to stop. This way the other one doesn't find a good opportunity to attack. The only problem is that Shoji doesn't see a chance to attack either. Suddenly the man attacks. Shoji is able to dodge the first attack, but has to cover himself with his arm during the second one. An iron bar isn't really soft and it looks like he even broke his arm. Shoji has to get down in his knees. Yuko wants to help, when Shoji suddenly rams his head between the legs of the man. This must have hurt, because he let loose of the iron bar. Shoji gets up and kicks him in the face. He still has to hold his broken arm. Yuko notices ten more men coming into the hall.

Hideaki called them during the fight. Hideaki went back to the room with Risa and saw the men ripping off her clothes. He didn't came to join the fun, he came to call the men to fight. They were pissed. They couldn't even start with Risa. Now those pissed men went into the hall to fight Shoji and Yuko. Risa has been really luck. Who knows what those men would have done to her.

Yuko realizes that Shoji can't fight anymore. She slowly puts on her leather gloves while the men approach her. Two men actually walk towards Shoji, but Yuko can't help him now. She has enough own problems. Yuko finally finishes to shuffle on her gloves. She grins at the men. They seem angry, but calm. Yuko looks at each one of them to calculate everything. She stops and focuses on one man only. He is a bit confused. Yuko smiles again and within a second she rushed towards him and pushed him through the whole hall. He makes a loud impact at the other end of the hall. Shoji is surprised, turns around and gets punched in the face. The two men finally approached him. Shoji tries his best, but can't really defend himself anymore. They simply beat the shit out of him. He is leaned at a wall and it seems like he is loosing his consciousness. He turns to the right and sees Risa. They left the door open and he can see her lying on the ground. He must fight, he can't give up. Shoji tries to get up again, but his body has something against it.

Suddenly his efforts get interrupted by a loud BANG. The bang came from Yuko. She dealt a huge lightning to strike multiple men at once. Sparks and flashes everywhere around her. The whole hall was enlightened by the flash. Most of the men got smashed at the walls or got serious burnings. All the girls who were watching are surprised and fascinated. Even Shinzu seems to be surprised. What was that? Shoji notices the gloves and grins. He understands how Yuko has been able to do such an attack. Yuko actually isn't able to such huge lightnings without hurting herself, but those gloves seem to be special...very special.

It looks like Yuko has warmed up and is ready to clean up, but will she be able to deal with all of them by herself? Everyone seems to be surprised about her power. However, they have to hurry. Risa isn't really in a good condition. She needs help soon, otherwise....

[JFC]

Shoji leads the group through the lobby, when suddenly a woman calls 'HEY!'. He stops and looks to the right. It's Yuko. Shoji smiles and asks whether she is the help the superadmin talked about. Yuko nods and looks at the girls. 'They all already awoke?', she asks.

Ehhh? Yuko knows about all of this?

Shoji explains that every former member of Morning Musume has powers within them, but they are weaker than the current generation. The current girls are perfect rebirths of the ancient group. They naturally have the ability to unleash the full energy. 'I am nowhere near your powers', Yuko adds. It's still smart to take her with them. Unlike them she has experience. Yuko already had fights and long training sessions in order to keep a certain level of strength.

Damn, pretty wicked. With Yuko on their side they're sure to kick some ass!

On the way to the warehouse, Yossie takes the opportunity to ask Mikitty about the incident yesterday. Yossie now knows that Mikitty has been awoken already, but doesn't understand why she didn't help her out with the men yesterday. Mikitty can understand her. She explains that she already noticed Yossie's awakening at the temple and wanted to let her awake by herself. However, she would have interfered in the fight, if she didn't awake.

Makes sense. Considering that Miki had already awoken, if she needed to she could have held her own and prevented those guys from hurting her or Yossi. Sometimes, the best way to learn something is to actually have to do it, as Yossi had to during that fight.

Mikitty tells her to focus on Risa now. Yossie agrees and looks at her sword. 'Will it be easy?', she asks. 'Easy? You don't know Shinzu..', Mikitty answers. Yossie is a bit scarred. Yuko overheard the conversation and turns around: 'Don't scare her before it even started.'. Mikitty apologizes. Shoji turns to Yuko and silently agrees with Mikitty. Yuko asks him whether they have a chance, but Shoji still doesn't look very optimistic. The closer the get to the warehouse, the more serious turns the look on Yuko's face.

Hell, if it was easy to get Risa back, they probably would have done so already.  Shinzu is obviously a pretty powerful being (either or both physically as well as in terms of influence).  If Risa is important enough to kidnap, then he won't be taking any chances about protecting their location.

Suddenly Sayumi goes to the door: 'Let's go!'. Koharu is confused: 'Go where?'. Sayumi wants to follow them. Mitsui quotes Shoji, but Sayumi doesn't care. Sayumi makes it clear that they don't even know him, why should they trust him? Koharu and Mitsui are insecure and Sayumi decides to go with or without them. The two girls are now alone in there room. Mitsui asks: 'Should we go with her?'. 'It's probably better when we follow. She might be doing something stupid.', Koharu replies. The two girls agree. They have to catch up with Sayumi for her own safety.

Is this spirit-Sayu or regular-Sayu talking? If it's spirit-Sayu then I can understand her ignoring Shoji's advice, because she's made it very clear that she doesn't like to agree with what he thinks or says.  If it's regular-Sayu, while it's understandable that she's worried about Risa, she's just being pig-headed.  She's just going to get in the way of the others and further complicate things. Hopefully Koharu and Aika can keep her out of the way so that the others can do their jobs.

Dammit, Sayu.

Shoji explains that Shinzu probably already feels their arrival.

Must be an Admin thing; or just something that naturally occurs between people that come from this "forum" world.  Question is though, who exactly is Shinzu sensing? Is he sensing the other Admins? the awakened girls?

'I will take the first group alone. You have to save your energy.', Shoji tells Yuko. Yuko is surprised and doesn't really agree, but Shoji makes it clear that he wants her to stay in the background first.

Hmmm...being a graduated member, Shinzu might not be expecting that Yuko still has some powers left within her.  If that's the case, then this could be to their advantage, as she could be a "surprise" later on (if they need it).

Hideaki!", he calls his minion who's name is Hideaki.

# Boss?

~ Get the other soldiers.

# Yes, boss!

> Aren't the five here enough?

~ For you only the best!

- We feel honored.

Rumblin'-time!

Shoji has to get down in his knees. Yuko wants to help, when Shoji suddenly rams his head between the legs of the man. This must have hurt, because he let loose of the iron bar. Shoji gets up and kicks him in the face. He still has to hold his broken arm.

That hurt? You think?

Shoji must be able to heal himself, or he's counting on Aichan's energy-transferring power to be able to heal him later on. Either way he's in big trouble right now.

Yuko notices ten more men coming into the hall.

Hideaki called them during the fight. Hideaki went back to the room with Risa and saw the men ripping off her clothes. He didn't came to join the fun, he came to call the men to fight. They were pissed. They couldn't even start with Risa. Now those pissed men went into the hall to fight Shoji and Yuko. Risa has been really luck. Who knows what those men would have done to her.

Yokatta! Looks like they came just in the nick of time!

Yuko realizes that Shoji can't fight anymore. She slowly puts on her leather gloves while the men approach her. Two men actually walk towards Shoji, but Yuko can't help him now. She has enough own problems. Yuko finally finishes to shuffle on her gloves. She grins at the men. They seem angry, but calm. Yuko looks at each one of them to calculate everything. She stops and focuses on one man only. He is a bit confused. Yuko smiles again and within a second she rushed towards him and pushed him through the whole hall. He makes a loud impact at the other end of the hall.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO! GO YUKO!!! 

Suddenly his efforts get interrupted by a loud BANG. The bang came from Yuko. She dealt a huge lightning to strike multiple men at once. Sparks and flashes everywhere around her. The whole hall was enlightened by the flash. Most of the men got smashed at the walls or got serious burnings. All the girls who were watching are surprised and fascinated. Even Shinzu seems to be surprised.

Enter, the surprise.   Since she's no longer a current member and her ability to control her power have likely diminished a bit, it could be that Yuko uses/needs the gloves to help protect herself from the lightning bolts, otherwise they'd likely overpower her.  Hopefully now she can keep Shinzu's men occupied long enough for Shoji and the others to get Risa out of there.

[HPriest]

....btw., I can update this fic so fast, because I basically only rewrite/edit the already existing chapters.

Episode 8 - The Shadows

The two men stopped beating Shoji to deal with Yuko. All their comrades seem to be down already. Yuko turns around. They try to approach her from two sides, but Yuko only grins. Both attack at the same and Yuko dodges or blocks every punch or kick. She actually looks bored. Yes, they start to annoy her. Yuko strikes out and punches one right in the face. You can basically see in slow-motion how his nose and jar break. Yuko uses the swing, makes a twist and kicks the other right in the neck. He only falls to his knees. It's a surprise that he isn't knocked out. Yuko wants to strike for the last kick, when he suddenly falls to the side. It looks like it took a while until the pain reached went through his whole body. Yuko looks a bit baffled. She just wanted to strike out. This was no fun at all. Shoji now also concentrated all his energy to get back up his feet. Suddenly Shinzu starts to applaud.

~ Great show!

- "It was fun...now let her go.", Yuko says.

~ Oh..you really think they are all I have?

- You want to waste more men?
- I thought you would be smarter.

~ Ahaha..funny...let me show you something special

> Some dark smoke seems to turn into manlike beings. They look like shadows and Shoji can't believe it: "No way!"

~ You see right. I increased my power.

> You......did you sell yourself to a kami (god) ?

~ That's none of your business.
~ ATTACK!

The shadows start to attack. Shoji is already weak, but now it looks like he can't block them at all. They simply go through his cover like ghosts and hit him right in the face or his body. Yuko also has problems blocking them, but at least she can easily bear the hits and dodge the hard attacks. She notices that Shoji has a lot of trouble over there. Shoji becomes exhausted and starts to gasp. Yuko tries to find a way to get to him, but she is too late. One of the shadows grabs him and roughly throws him against the wall like a baseball. He falls to the ground and doesn't stand up anymore. Now every shadow soldier concentrates on Yuko. Her physical attacks don't seem to have any effect. She decides to try a few lightning attacks again. They seem to have a slight effect, but are nowhere near effective. As strong as Yuko might be, she can't endure hits endlessly. Slowly she looses her energy and becomes exhausted. She still has to find a recipe against them. Yuko notices Yossie and Mikitty at a window. They have been watching all the time, but Yuko doesn't want them to come in and symbolizes this to them. She doubts that they are already powerful enough to fight them. Instead she tries to concentrate all her energy for a powerful lightning. She doesn't have much time to concentrate and her remaining energy only is enough for an average lightning. Yuko becomes really exhausted and can't dodge the strong attacks anymore. One of the shadows hits her into the face really hard and Yossie has to get on her knees, steadying herself.

Yossie can't just be a spectator anymore. She rushes to the side door. Mikitty isn't able to stop her before entering the warehouse. However, she can't let her go inside all alone. Shinzu actually is a bit surprised, not to of them being here, but of them having the brave to come in. Yossie seems to be in a rage and insults Shinzu in many different ways. He is amused by her stupidity. Yossie however doesn't care and attacks two shadows with her sword. Mikitty tries to hold her back, telling her that physical attacks don't seem to have any effect, but Yossie simply ignores her. Her attacks all look really powerful, but it looks like she is only attack the air. But what else can she do? She is fighting smoke over all. The problem is that she doesn't look like stopping anytime soon. The shadows let her attack for a while, but will hit back very soon. Mikitty can't just let this happen. She slowly picks up an iron bar lying on the ground. Slowly she skims along the iron with her hand, looking at it very closely. Then she takes it into a firmly grip and smashes the end on the ground. To the surprise of Yuko a few lightnings appear during the hit. The whole bar seems to be charged with electricity. Mikitty seems to have the same power like Yuko. Shoji also became conscious again and has the same surprised look on his face. Shinzu, of course, also noticed her. Only Yossie didn't notice it. Mikitty looks around the hall: 'Attention please, I will finish this now!'.

Hideaki, the minion of Shinzu, seems to be scared. He turns to Shinzu and tells him that they won't be able to fight a real Morning Musume. Shinzu orders him to get Risa out here quickly. Hideaki doesn't understand, but Shinzu repeats his order loudly. Hideaki follows the order and walks back to the room with Risa. Mikitty looks at Shinzu with a very angry and serious look.

Outside Koharu, Mitsui and Sayumi already reached the warehouse a few minutes ago. They are at the opposite of where Mikitty and Yossie where. They heard a few bangs before and are a bit scarred to get closer. None of the others seems to be around. The three girls want to look through one of the broken windows to get a visual of the inside. On their way to the window they notice something lying on the ground. It looks like a weapon. Yes, it's a weapon. The girls are frightened. The gun looks like Shoji's weapon. It probably flew through the window during one of Yuko's lightning attacks. Like the curious young girl she is, Koharu picks up the weapon.

Eri notices the girls, but they are too far away. She tells Aichan and she can also see them. They wonder what they are doing here. Eri and Aichan also became worried about the situation inside, but now they wonder what the other girls are up to. Suddenly Reina opens her mouth: 'Sayumi dragged them here.' Eri and Aichan are surprised. She hasn't been saying any word since they left the hotel. Eri asks her why she haven't said anything so far. Reina ignores her again. 'REINA!?', Eri asks. Reina looks at her, but doesn't reply. Reina sure acts weird. Aichan pokes Eri: 'There!'. Eri doesn't know what she means. Aichan says that Koharu has picked up something. Eri looks at them again and now can also see the thing. They can't identify what it is, but get interrupted by the actions inside again.

- "Do you really think that you can stand the shadow soldier?", Shinzu asks Mikitty.

> "Let's find out.", Mikitty moves into a Bōjutsu* starting position.

She counts the soldiers and a few doubts start to rise within her. Can she really fight them all? There is no way she can back out of the fight anymore. She becomes nervous and doesn't seem to notice how much she charged the iron bar already....

Shinzu gives the order: 'ATTACK!'

------------

*Bōjutsu ... translated from Japanese as "staff technique", is the martial art of using a staff weapon called bō which simply means "stick".

Bonus:

I made a sig for this episode a while ago. It doesn't go with the sig rules of jph!p, but I still wanted to show you. ^^

[JFC]

Firstly, I gotta say that I abso-fuckin-lutely LOVE the sig!!!  The way the shadow comes onto Miki, combined with the lightning bolts...COMPLETELY BADASS!!! 

Could you possibly share the original Miki pic that you used to make it?

The two men stopped beating Shoji to deal with Yuko. All their comrades seem to be down already. Yuko turns around. They try to approach her from two sides, but Yuko only grins. Both attack at the same and Yuko dodges or blocks every punch or kick. She actually looks bored. Yes, they start to annoy her.

If there's one thing you NEVER wanna do, it's to bore Yuko or annoy her. You're just BEGGING for trouble then.

Suddenly Shinzu starts to applaud.

~ Great show!

- "It was fun...now let her go.", Yuko says.

...

~ Ahaha..funny...let me show you something special

> Some dark smoke seems to turn into manlike beings. They look like shadows and Shoji can't believe it: "No way!"

What the hell? Shadow beings? What is this, LOTR or something?

~ You see right. I increased my power.

> You......did you sell yourself to a kami (god) ?

~ That's none of your business.

Meaning that it's a distinct possibility that he did.  But if that's the case, to whom did he sell himself, and for what purpose? 

Shoji becomes exhausted and starts to gasp. Yuko tries to find a way to get to him, but she is too late. One of the shadows grabs him and roughly throws him against the wall like a baseball. He falls to the ground and doesn't stand up anymore.

Damn, if Shoji dies then the girls have lost their "guide" in this whole weird adventure (unless Miki can take over that role).

Problem is though, how exactly do you fight these things when you can't physically hit them?

Yuko notices Yossie and Mikitty at a window. They have been watching all the time, but Yuko doesn't want them to come in and symbolizes this to them.

I'm actually surprised that the two of them have been able to hold their position for this long. I have expected them to come barging in when Shoji was getting is ass whupped.

Yossie can't just be a spectator anymore. She rushes to the side door. Mikitty isn't able to stop her before entering the warehouse.

...

Mikitty tries to hold her back, telling her that physical attacks don't seem to have any effect, but Yossie simply ignores her. Her attacks all look really powerful, but it looks like she is only attack the air. But what else can she do? She is fighting smoke over all. The problem is that she doesn't look like stopping anytime soon.

The shadows know that Yossi's attacks won't hurt them, so their content with waiting and letting her wear/tire herself out. Once she's exhausted herself a bit, THEN they'll start attacking her, because with her a bit out of breath she won't be as able to defend herself, much like Shoji wasn't able to.

Mikitty can't just let this happen. She slowly picks up an iron bar lying on the ground. Slowly she skims along the iron with her hand, looking at it very closely.

...

The whole bar seems to be charged with electricity. Mikitty seems to have the same power like Yuko. Shoji also became conscious again and has the same surprised look on his face. Shinzu, of course, also noticed her. Only Yossie didn't notice it. Mikitty looks around the hall: 'Attention please, I will finish this now!'

...

Hideaki, the minion of Shinzu, seems to be scared. He turns to Shinzu and tells him that they won't be able to fight a real Morning Musume. Shinzu orders him to get Risa out here quickly.

Being a full MM member (as well as an Admin), Miki must have full control of her power (which she might have inherited from Yuko).  For the others (particularly Shinzu) to be this scared of Miki's threat like this, it must show/mean that Miki is one POWERFUL being, likely capable of blindly and brutally destroying everyone and everything right then and there.

Outside Koharu, Mitsui and Sayumi already reached the warehouse a few minutes ago. They are at the opposite of where Mikitty and Yossie where. They heard a few bangs before and are a bit scarred to get closer. None of the others seems to be around. The three girls want to look through one of the broken windows to get a visual of the inside. On their way to the window they notice something lying on the ground. It looks like a weapon. Yes, it's a weapon. The girls are frightened. The gun looks like Shoji's weapon. It probably flew through the window during one of Yuko's lightning attacks. Like the curious young girl she is, Koharu picks up the weapon.

Shit, Koharu with a gun? This can't possibly end well.

Eri notices the girls, but they are too far away. She tells Aichan and she can also see them. They wonder what they are doing here. Eri and Aichan also became worried about the situation inside, but now they wonder what the other girls are up to. Suddenly Reina opens her mouth: 'Sayumi dragged them here.'

I take it Reina's telepathic?

- "Do you really think that you can stand the shadow soldier?", Shinzu asks Mikitty.

> "Let's find out.", Mikitty moves into a Bōjutsu* starting position.

She counts the soldiers and a few doubts start to rise within her. Can she really fight them all? There is no way she can back out of the fight anymore. She becomes nervous and doesn't seem to notice how much she charged the iron bar already....

Shinzu gives the order: 'ATTACK!'

So now Shinzu gonna take a chance that his shadow-boys can beat Miki? There's gonna be a BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG mess once this fight is done.

[lil_hamz]

I burst out laughing when Yossi kicked Sayu off the bed. And again when Yossi repeated what Eri was yelling. "B-e-h-i-n-d Y-o-u?" "BEHIND ME?, Yossie finally understands.

I knew it! TakaGaki are okay because of Ai. She was holding Risa's hand that's why they are fine. Just when I heaved a sigh of relief at them escaping unhurt, another car crashes into Yossi 

Oh and Eri being able to read English forums is a dream some true

Lemme at them LEMME AT THEM!!! People are going to die if Risa is *gulp* humiliated

Yes!! Reina is awakened. I hope she manages to help the group in some way. I get the feeling Koharu is gonna get awakened too.

That is a way cool sig of Miki. She looks so hawt 

[HPriest]

Yes, lack of updates recently...exam time! 

-------------------------------------------

Episode 9 - Shot

One shadow starts an attack and Mikitty times her attack very well. She is really fast and hits it with all her power. An extremely loud thunder roams through the hall. All girls startled, in and outside of the warehouse. All the power almost let's Mikitty drop the bar. Everyone calms down again and she looks at the shadow. It's gone. She really has been able to destroy one of them. The remaining shadows take a few steps away from her. They probably won't attack without thinking anymore. Yossie also heard the loud thunder, of course. She turns toward Mikitty. One of the fighters that attacked Yossie, finally decides to finish playing with her. Mikitty became such big threat that they all should concentrate on her. He hits Yossie very hard and she falls to the ground. Mikitty slowly walks towards her to if she is okay. Yossie seems to be a fighter and already stands up again. Her attacks might be weak for now, but she herself is not. Mikitty tells her to go behind her. She goes into position again and waits for them to attack. Two shadows try to attack from two sides. This time she isn't able to destroy them with one hit. The bar isn't as loaded as before. However, her attacks are still way more powerful than Yuko's. She can destroy one again.

It's the first time that the shadows really have to concentrate in this fight, but they are not dumb. Although she destroys one after another, they are able to find a weak spot. The remaining ones formate. Mikitty doesn't know what this is about. One of them attacks her and she blocks it, immediately going for a counterattack. Right when she hits him, another one throws another bar from the other side. This attack was well timed. Mikitty is still too fresh to know what's happening around her, especially during an attack of herself. He aimed it at her legs, at her knees to be exact. Short before it hits her, she notices it, but it's too late to react. It hits her left knee very hard, causing her to fall to the ground. During her fall, a third fighter took the chance to attack her arm that holds the bar. She wasn't in full control of the bar and dropped it. Mikitty now is on the ground and has no weapon. She tries to get up, but she can't. Yossie doesn't know what to do.

One of the shadows picks up the bar and strikes out to finish Mikitty. Yossie tries to stop him, but gets pushed away by another shadow. Mikitty isn't able to do anything right now. As fast as her overwhelming power came as fast did it go away with this fatal hit. She closes her eyes and tries to protect her head with her arms, when suddenly she hears a shot. Slowly she opens her eyes again. At first she only looks to the ground, then she hears the bar falling to the ground. Now she looks up and what she sees is a shadow fighter slowly dissolving into ordinary smoke again. It got destroyed, but why?

Shinzu is also surprised. Then a second shot sounds. Another shadows gets destroyed. Yuko heard where the shot came from and looks into the direction now. 'KOHARU!?', she suddenly shouts. Everyone looks into the same direction now and everyone is as surprised as Yuko. Hideaki finally comes back with Risa and wants to tell his boss, when he sees Koharu. He seems to be scarred. One shadow notices that Koharu is aiming at Shinzu and sees his chance to attack, but Koharu noticed and turned towards him. *BANG* He gets shot as well. 'Since when?', Yuko asks. Koharu doesn't know. She explains that she just picked up the weapon and... . The remaining shadows interrupt and approach her. Shinzu orders them to attack her. They do it, but Koharu has such a fast reaction and destroys them all. She made it look so easy, it's unbelievable.

Shinzu is desperate. Another fully awoken Morning Musume. Things don't really go as planned. He turns to Hideaki and sees Risa. Shinzu grabs her. 'Enough with the waiting, I will just rip the energy out of her!', he says. Koharu aims at him, but can't shoot. Risa is too close and Koharu slowly is loosing her confidence and strength again. It seems like their outbursts of power don't last too long at their current level.

The girls outside also heard Shinzu's words. Aichan panics and doesn't seem to think anymore. She rushes to the entrance. Eri tries to stop her, but fails. She asks Reina to help her to catch Aichan before she does anything stupid, but.....there is no Reina. Eri is confused. Where is Reina?

Inside the things are still bad. Shoji tries to give Koharu enough confidence to shoot.

- "KOHARU!", Shoji calls her.

> "Y...y...ye...yess?", Koharu answers with a shaky voice.

- SHOOT! KILL HIM!

> But....but....what about Risa?

- You can do it! Just do it like you did before!

Koharu aims at Shinzu again, but with a shaky hand. Hideaki notices this and warns his boss. He doesn't seem to care. She now directly aims at his head.

> Risa....

- SHOOT!

~ "Tsk, tsk...why being so violent?", a dark voice suddenly says.

Everybody is confused. Shinzu even stops his actions. There is nobody else in the warehouse. Suddenly Shoji jumps up. Yuko asks him what's happening.

- "This...", Shoji starts

> "What?", Yuko asks.

- This voice sounds like...

> Like...?

- He looks at Yuko: "RUN!"

--------------------------------------


--------------------------------------

About the picture you wanted:



It's from COEUR (scanned by ebc I think..)

[JFC]

One shadow starts an attack and Mikitty times her attack very well. She is really fast and hits it with all her power. An extremely loud thunder roams through the hall. All girls startled, in and outside of the warehouse. All the power almost let's Mikitty drop the bar. Everyone calms down again and she looks at the shadow. It's gone. She really has been able to destroy one of them.

Ok, so now we know that Miki is strong enough to completely destroy a shadow warrior.  Next questions then are, how much does doing this sap her strength and for how long can she keep this up?

One of the shadows picks up the bar and strikes out to finish Mikitty. Yossie tries to stop him, but gets pushed away by another shadow. Mikitty isn't able to do anything right now. As fast as her overwhelming power came as fast did it go away with this fatal hit. She closes her eyes and tries to protect her head with her arms, when suddenly she hears a shot. Slowly she opens her eyes again. At first she only looks to the ground, then she hears the bar falling to the ground. Now she looks up and what she sees is a shadow fighter slowly dissolving into ordinary smoke again. It got destroyed, but why?

Shinzu is also surprised. Then a second shot sounds. Another shadows gets destroyed. Yuko heard where the shot came from and looks into the direction now. 'KOHARU!?', she suddenly shouts.

Koharu? What the hell type of gun did Shoji have anyway? It was just a regular gun, right? If so, then that must mean that Koharu somehow did something to the bullets to allowt hem to destroy the shadows, which means that she must be AWAKENED!!!

Shinzu is desperate. Another fully awoken Morning Musume. Things don't really go as planned. He turns to Hideaki and sees Risa. Shinzu grabs her. 'Enough with the waiting, I will just rip the energy out of her!', he says. Koharu aims at him, but can't shoot. Risa is too close and Koharu slowly is loosing her confidence and strength again. It seems like their outbursts of power don't last too long at their current level.

Considering their lack of training, this isn't that surprising. To be able to maintain that level of power would require lots and lots of practice.

But wait, what energy is Shinzu talking about. The energy of Risa's (as yet) unawakened power? What good would it do him?

Aichan panics and doesn't seem to think anymore. She rushes to the entrance. Eri tries to stop her, but fails. She asks Reina to help her to catch Aichan before she does anything stupid, but.....there is no Reina. Eri is confused. Where is Reina?

More of Reina's odd behaviour.

Shoji tries to give Koharu enough confidence to shoot.

- "KOHARU!", Shoji calls her.

> "Y...y...ye...yess?", Koharu answers with a shaky voice.

- SHOOT! KILL HIM!

> But....but....what about Risa?

He's probably thinking that Risa can be brought back, much in the same way that Yossi was brought back after getting hit by that car earlier on in the story.

~ "Tsk, tsk...why being so violent?", a dark voice suddenly says.

Everybody is confused. Shinzu even stops his actions. There is nobody else in the warehouse. Suddenly Shoji jumps up. Yuko asks him what's happening.

- "This...", Shoji starts

> "What?", Yuko asks.

- This voice sounds like...

> Like...?

- He looks at Yuko: "RUN!"

Whoever that voice belongs to, it's obviously someone that's so strong that it has Shoji spooked.


...


...


...


Reina??? 

[HPriest]

Episode 10 - A "wannabe Ho-Masubi"

Shoji turns to Mikitty and Yossie. He tells them to hurry and get out. They don't know what's happening, but they feel that something is wrong. Yossie doesn't waste time thinking, picks up Mikitty and gets the hell out of there. Yuko is still standing clueless next to Shoji. He now turns to Koharu who still stands there aiming at Shinzu. Shinzu also is confused, but orders them to stay where they are. They don't care. Shoji is on his way to Koharu, when suddenly some weight presses him to the ground. Yuko doesn't feel anything.

Eri, who is at the front door with Aichan, also feels this weight. She tells Aichan that something is happening. Aichan stopped at the door when she noticed them moving out. She didn't rush inside like she wanted to.

> "This feeling...it's...I can't breath.", Eri explains.

- "ERI!?", Aichan is scarred and confused.

> Something...

- Something?

> Something is coming, it.....it is evil..

- ...evil?

Aichan starts to worry. What is happening? Eri gets down on all fours. Aichan doesn't know what to do. She looks inside the warehouse again.

Shoji can't seem to move anymore. He tells Yuko to get Koharu out of here. Yuko turns to Koharu. She sees something. Something dark is next to Koharu. Yuko shouts at her. Koharu is so scarred that she can't move. She turns her head towards Yuko. Koharu is shaking. Yuko finally seems to realize what's happening, but doesn't know what to do.

- Suddenly Koharu hears another voice: "Koharu!"

> "Huh? Who?", Koharu asks.

- You have to run...NOW!

> Re....

- "HURRY!", the voice shouts.

> Ah?! Yes!

Koharu is finally able to overcome her fear and confusion. She starts to run towards the exit. Suddenly something grabs her arm. Koharu turns around. She isn't able to identify it. All of a sudden something punches her very hard in the stomach. She gets smashed against the wall and drops the weapon. She is loosing her breath. The thing more and more transforms into a person. Koharu can see a grin right before she gets tossed to the center of the hall. Like if the punch wasn't enough already. Yuko immediately checks on her.

~ "Do you really think that shooting him will solve your problem?", the 'person' says.

- "You...", Shinzu suddenly says.

> Shoji looks at Yuko and Koharu: "I told you to hurry....damn..."

~ Oh! How cute, an admin.

The person tells somebody to bring them in and all of a sudden the remaining girls get brought back in the warehouse. From the left they, some shadow creatures again, bring in Yossie and Mikitty and from the right Sayumi and Mitsui. He orders them to place them all in the middle. Then they vanish again. The girls look scarred and confused. Shoji starts to talk.

> "Itzo...", he says.

- "See, it was too late to run. I got all your, oh-so-powerful, girls.", the person, Itzo, answers.

> Shoji notices that three girls are missing: "I see."

~ "Why are you here?", Shinzu lets loose of Risa.

- I am finishing what you couldn't finish.

While those two have a discussion, Yuko takes the chance to ask Shoji who he is. He explains that he is a wannabe Ho-Masubi. Mitsui heard about him in school already, Ho-Masubi is a god or something like that. Shoji continues and tells them that Itzo actually is a mortal, but he has no explanation for why he is here. Usually he does everything alone. It also looks like he really became at least a half-god. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to cross dimensions. Dimensions? The girls don't get a thing. Anyway, Yuko wants them to try an escape, but Shoji replies that this would be useless. Those creatures are part of him and are still around, even though they are not visible. Itzo can kill them all with one move. "A voice..", Koharu wants to say, but gets interrupted by Shinzu and Itzo.

~ "Anyway, you didn't have to come!", Shinzu says.

- "He didn't think so.", Itzo replies.

> "He?", Shoji silently asks himself.

- You failed, Shinzu. Let's see what we have here.

The situation outside becomes better. Eri stands up again. Aichan is scarred and tells her that they captured everyone. Eri replies that she knows, although she doesn't even look inside. "I can feel it", she says. Aichan looks at Eri. "This area is filled with a dark energy, searching for us.", Eri continues. Aichan is confused. Searching for them? Does she mean this weird person? "Those creatures that captured the other girls", Eri explains. Now Aichan is starting to worry. Will they catch them as well? Eri denies, "I can block them for us and Reina.". "Block? Reina?", Aichan asks. Aichan isn't really confused anymore. So many weird things happened already and so she decides to not ask about the blocking or Reina anymore. "Do you have a plan?", Aichan asks. Eri opens her eyes, looks at Aichan and answers with a shake of the head. Aichan sighs and looks back inside.

Itzo counted the girls, "Five girls, plus Risa. One admin and one old hag.". He obviously means Yuko. "HEY!", Yuko shouts at him. Shoji tells her to calm down. Itzo finally realizes that there are a three girls missing. He looks around and sends out his creatures, but they find nothing. "But where is...?", Sayumi suddenly says. This was a big mistake. Itzo tells her to repeat. Mikitty tries to fool him and answers for Sayumi, but Itzo isn't so stupid. He makes it clear that he wants Sayumi to come to him. Sayumi is scarred and looks to Yossie. She hopes that the leader comes up with something to protect her, but she is asking too much out of her. Yossie can't do anything. Itzo becomes louder. Sayumi stands up and slowly walks towards him. Itzo asks her where the remaining girls are.

> "Are they close?", he asks.

- "Close? What is close? Close like one step away or close like in the same city?", Sayu plays the clueless one.

> Stop playing around with me. Why can I not feel them anywhere?

- You don't want to play with me?

> Itzo slaps Sayumi: "TELL ME WHERE THEY ARE!"

- It hurt! You are cruel!

> Do you want to find out how cruel I can really be?

- I..I don't want to talk with you anymore.

> Tell me or Eri will be dead as soon as I found her.

- NOT ERI!

~ Suddenly Shinzu interrupts Itzo: "Itzo..."

> Itzo is becoming angry: "WHAT?"

~ You won't just take over my control here!

> Itzo starts to laugh: "Guess what I just did?"

~ Shinzu forms two of his finger into a big nail or needle like figure. He grabs Risa again and prepares to ram it inside her head. "We will see."

> You won't...he would kill you..

~ Shinzu strikes out and is ready to ram it inside her head: "Want to place a bet?"

+ "NO!!! RIIISSSSAAAAAAAAAA!", Aichan screams. She ran inside the warehouse when she saw Shinzu preparing the 'needle'.

Shinzu notices her, but will she be able to stop him? Find out in the next episode...

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[Ho-Masubi] ... is a god. "The incarnation of fire" or "The causer of fire". Son of Izanami and Izanagi, the two divine beings summoned by the first gods in the Japanese mythology. Their children are all gods. They also "gave birth"/created (to) the eight great islands of Japan.