Parallels

Chapter 22

A few more minutes, and he would be facing Hamma. A few more minutes, and he would have to fight his sister. A few more moments, then he and Hamma could escape.

Or a few more minutes and she would be dead.

Ivan did not particularly care for the latter thought, but it was a possibility, one he had to consider. His thinking caused his pace to slow somewhat, his mind speeding faster now that it did not have to focus on his physical actions.

It was easy to guess why Hamma would want Hamma, now that he actually thought on it. Without a doubt, his sister was probably curious to see the young lady that resembled her in more than name and looks. That, and Hamma had her own twisted pleasures that she would be curious to explore. Then again, Hamma would probably train her "counterpart" to obey her commands and act as a puppet, for whatever she wished.

But whatever happened, Ivan knew he had to save his friend. But by the same token, he had to save himself. He could not allow himself to fall back on his promise to free Isaac, Alex, and Felix from their prison, as it would put him in an unfavorable position with them. And then there was the problem of getting himself to Prox and helping the Resistance.

Too many places to be at, not enough time to do any of them. Not the first time he had faced such a thing, but this was quite possibly the most problematic situation he had ever been in, what with so many lives at stake.

Coming to a complete halt, he paused to consider his options. He needed to save Hamma, but doing so would certainly cause a confrontation with his sister, never mind whatever she had Garet working on. If he went ahead to Prox, he would be unable to get Isaac, Alex, and Felix out in the time he told them. If he went ahead with them, it would probably alert people to his actions, causing Isaac to hunt not only him, but the young Hamma as well.

But what choice did he have? True, he needed to save Hamma, for several reasons, but he could not leave the three trapped in the mines. To do so would be to sentence them do die, as he was their primary source of food. His choices were not helped by the lack of time, and standing in the open while thinking would not assist him in any way.

Taking a deep breath, he made his choice.

Stepping out of the inn, Sheba surveyed her surroundings. Scores of Proxians were gathered around the council, who themselves were preoccupied with the large "sphere" Felix had used to seal Picard. To her knowledge, it would take quite a while to break into that thing. Call her crazy, but Sheba had the funny feeling that there was something else within the sphere's mud and vegetation.

Glancing to her right, she stared at Felix, seeing if he sensed the odd feeling as well. Elements knew how he created something of that size and composition with relative ease, and adding something else was not all that odd to consider. She opened her mouth to ask him if he sensed the wierd feeling when it happened.

Her eyes widened as she sensed it. It was not that she sensed the psynergy being used at the time; no, that would be visible to virtually everyone. No, this was more like someone of immense power had suddenly appeared, radiating massive ammounts of mental energy.

Horrified at the thought of who could produce such power, Sheba stared forward at the massive shell, noting that a hole the size of an average man was visible, and if she was not mistaken, she saw Picard's body laying there.

Then it happened - too soon for anyone to react, but enough time to see it and be dazzled. Picard suddenly rose from where he lay, his hands grabbing his head. Yells, screams, and obsenities could be heard from his mouth, much louder than the shocked voices of the Proxians and Resistance memebers, many from both sides suddenly gathering. Her eyes fixated on Picard, Sheba watched as he lept through the hole, his body glowing eerily.

Oh no...

The first thing that changed was his hands and feet, each turning into transparent limbs, each a horrid mixture of flesh, bone, muscle, blood, and water. His body then expanded, his head fusing with his body as his height grew to insane proportions. Slowly, his flesh and blood gave way to the familiar blue skin of the towering titan from mere hours ago.

Throngs of people screamed, running for their lives. Not that Sheba could blame them - had it not been for Felix's efforts earlier, this thing would probably have trashed Prox by now. In the distance, Saturos, Agatio, and Karst ran back, along with others from the council. Firing off waves of fire-based psynergy, each shot did little (if any) damage to the creature as they bounced off.

Frowning, Sheba squinted, studying the reflected shots. For some reason, this thing seemed to be reflecting the shots at higher speeds than before. Which meant that either someone was increasing the power of that thing, or someone was causing it to not be as powerful earlier.

Either way, Sheba worried. It was well known that Hamma was controlling it earlier, while Ivan was helping Felix during combat by reinforcing Picard's will. Wait a second. Reinforcing Picard's will? How would he do th-

It dawned on Sheba that Ivan had created a sphere of mental warding around Picard. Somehow, that sphere and merged with the prison of mud and vegetation that Felix had created, and was breached when someone opened it.

And, Sheba mused, Ivan is not aware of THIS fight...

Swearing under her breath, she watched as Felix charged forward, a worried Mia not far behind. Swearing softly, Sheba wondered what he hoped to do, given what Ivan had done before. Did Felix not see what Ivan had done, or was he coming up with something new?

Sheba did not know, nor did she care. Too often had she seen people lost after hoping that some stroke of luck would save them, and she did not wish to see such an act again. Pulling her bow out from under her cloak, she gazed at the towering giant, the "C'Kal" that they had discussed before. She did not know much about the creature, but as she watched, she noticed something peculiar.

Whenever a Martian hurled waves of psynergy at the thing, it shrugged them off, turning the blasts on the allies of the ones who fired them. Some used Mercurian attacks, to no effect, and some shot rounds of diamond-hard rock at the beast, with, again, little effect.

No one was hurling Jupitarian psynergy.

Staring at the creature, she noticed a cloud of dust and debris forming, the efforts of Felix to recapture the beast. Swearing quite loud at this, Sheba cursed Felix for his timing. Staring at the young Venusian, she silently hoped that he would be sucessful, but doubted it, and prepared her bow again just in case. Her right hand on the string and her left on the wood, she closed her eyes, allowing herself to drift amongst the winds...

With her eyes shut, she watched the black void vanish, replaced with a massive light show of violet psynergy. The lights which she saw were not mental energy, but rather the winds themselves. Watching as the dust cloud dug a sphere in the air, she watced the outline of the beast burs through the field, one arm shooting some form of attack towards Felix.

Not wanting to waste a good chance, Sheba waited as the dust dissipated, staring as the winds outlined the beast, with only the ocassional attack in her way. Her eyes still closed, she pulled back on the string, aiming with a mental arrow. Releasing her shot, her mind remained fixated on the ripple of air caused by her imaginary shot, following it as it flew towards the battle, following it as it bounced off of the creature.

Sheba smiled.

As Isaac sought to build his empire, Sheba had been busy trying to learn a way to cope with her psynergy. Though she excelled at mental and wind, her usage of electricity was quite damaging - assuming she could hit her target. It took years, but with a years worth of training, she had found a way to "lock" her psyngery onto a target using the wind and her bow.

Her left arm dropping the bow slightly, Sheba watched the wind dance around her electricity, electrical currents coursing through the beast's massive bulk. Trying to ignore the shreaks of pain it emmited, she held her ground, pouring all of her being into the attack.

Satisfied that the beast was weakened, she tried to release her attack, only to find that she could not move. Puzzled, she tried to open her eyes, but found that she had lost all control of her body. Unable to do anything, she stared in horror as a massive presence moved towards her.

And it was not the beast...

Well, that was pathetically short. But considering how long it has been since I updated, I think it will be Ok... I apoligize for the delay, but life has become quite busy, contrary to what I thought earlier this month...

On a side note, expect The Angel and the Outcast III to appear soon, as I have finally gotten hard copies of the text to plan and plot my evil deeds... For those waiting for the update, here's an annoying hint of things to come:

Someone saw Alex and Jenna that night...

I will not say anything else...

But since you did not read this story for THAT, let's get on with the review commentaries, yes?

Forgotten Souls - Uh, I have NOT seen Matrix 3 yet... And before anyone suggests that I do, remember this: I have no job right now, and my parents decide on the movies to rent, and the did NOT like the second one. Heck, I only cared for the plot twist towards the end, but that's a discussion for another day. cough And as I recall, it's not so much that Felix LIKES Mia, but something more... The name of Ferran (and, for that matter, the "Hammet" one) were actually private jokes for me, as I thought those were the names of the characters for a long time. It was just a joke, though Ferran was also an attemt to make up a name off the top of my head while I was thinking of Sheba... Hmm. And we shall see a Martian "C'Kal," as well as a Venusian/Martian hybrid "C'Kal..." No comments on anything futher... Bwahahaa.......THANKS!

wildcats1310 - Felix and Mia? Yes. Why doesn't R. Hamma go after R. Isaac? No comment. Thanks!

Kyarorain - gasp YOU REVIEWED?!?!?!! dies, but is brought back to life by readers wanting more I could have been more specific on the Kay thing, and probably should have. But beyond that, it was intentional... Thanks!

TemplarofNi - Actually, I DO have a Game Cube. However, I prefer to play games on portable systems, as I like to use them whenever I wish. Can't say the same for a console, as you have to have a TV and power outlet... Thanks!

Inferno-Hero - You are probably not aware of this, but you do need to know this. I have had some bad experiances with the game Viewtiful Joe, and would appreciate it if you do NOT bring that up in a review. Suffice it to say that the game caused a chain of events that has not stopped, and I do not wish to go further. That aside, thanks for your reviews, and I am glad you like this so much.

Dragon asesino - I had a hunch you were from South America... Anyway, thanks for the review!

Mare Serenitatis - Read above for the name, and that does make sense. And as far as the Original Alex, he is dead. That's easily solved, eh? Thanks!

pyro1588 - Thanks!

The 8BTFreek - You could, but they would be incompatible. I have a hunch that the DS will NOT support the GBA/GC link, or link-ups with the GBAs. I DO hope, however, that they put Super Metroid on it. cough Back to topic... Does R. Isaac know of R. Garet's actions? Tune in next time... Thanks for the review!

And that's a wrap for this. Hopefully I will get the next chapter out before August the 23rd, which is when I start taking college classes. Once I start, it might be two weeks before I get the hang of my schedule down to write again...TT

I DO NOT OWN NINTENDO OR GOLDEN SUN, BUT I DO OWN A RESERVATION FOR A COPY OF METROID PRIME 2: ECHOES...

REVIEW, OR I WILL NOT UPDATE AGAIN!