El Hazard is owned by AIC and Pioneer LDC.  The author owns only the writing and any 
characters he himself creates.

El Hazard: The Magnificent Sequel
Chapter 8

"Room...smells...air...tired, where am I?" Ifurita
muttered weakly as she slowly opened her eyes.
Everything looked blurry.
She was now in another room. It felt bare and almost
naked.
A face. A familiar face.....
"..Diva?....."
"Ifurita..." Diva laid a hand on her arm. "Hush, it's
okay. Who could blame you for being confused and
frightened?" She paused and sighed.
Ifurita looked up at Diva through her tears, and Diva
smiled at her. "Your Makoto will never abandon you."
She squeeed Ifurita's arm again, then gasped in pain,
holding the back of her head. Alarmed, Ifurita
steadied her. "Diva, what's wrong? Have they hurt you
too? You didn't look injured."
Diva grimaced riding out the wave of pain. "Kalia's
staff. My head is still throbbing from it. Otherwise I
would have escaped from here and gone back to my
daughter." At the word her voice caught, and she
clenched her fists helplessly. "This pain is nothing!
Lagus is loose in this city, threatening those I love,
and I can do nothing to stop him! Oh yes, Ifurita, he
is hurting me!"
Ifurita held her hand in silence. There was nothing
she could say. There was nothing to say.

Outside the sparse and dank room, a tall man with
strange, flowing blue hair was smiling. He was
craddling a baby girl in his arms. A baby girl with
slight insect features. A baby girl whom he had
managed to abduct from Ifurita's apartment easily by
virtue of having Ifurita's house keys.
Singing a tune sung by warriors of the Phantom Tribe,
Lagus walked off with the baby still in his arms....

*******************************
Makoto Miuhara was depressed. Really depressed.
So depressed that he had decided to miss the morning's
lecture on campus.
*Get a hang of yourself Makoto. Quit whining like a
loser. Nothing is going to be achieved if you just sit
here wallowing in self-pity.*
Makoto glanced around his room. Posters of anime
characters were plastered on his walls which were
plastered everywhere with anime posters. Pausing for a
moment, he pushed aside his plush Ryo-Ohki toy and
picked up the quaint photograph of himself with
Ifurita.
*Such nice memories.*
It was taken not too long ago in a public park.
Ifurita was smiling while wearing a nice pink blouse
and purple knee-length skirt. Makoto was sheepishly
putting his hand around her shoulders in the picture.
*Hmmmm*
He stared at it for a while and then his attention was
caught by the sight of something metal, something that
distinctively reflected light from the tablelamp,
something that had a lot of energy....
Ifurita's power staff.
Makoto was hit by a sudden flashback....

( "...take this staff, Makoto. It is an extension of
my soul..."
"..but Ifurita! You will be floating through time and
space...Without this staff to wind yourself...you may
die!..."
Ifurita flew into the Eye of God with a look of deep
sadness in her eyes while Fujisawa-sensei restrained a
struggling Makoto.
"IFURITA! NOOOOOOOO!")

Makoto blinked. That was some flashback. He was
getting teary-eyed remembering it.
Then it hit him.
*Yes!*
*With the staff, I should be able to mindlink with
Ifurita..*

#Ifurita? Where are you? It's me Makoto. I am worried,
you know.#
#Makoto. I...don't know where I am. I am so sorry to
make you worry.#
(sobbing)
#Don't worry. I will find you soon. We made a promise,
didn't we? We said that we would always be together.
We'll grow old together someday, won't we? After all,
you will always be a special part of me.#
(more sobbing)
#Makoto. I love you and I always will. No matter what
happens, you have given me something special which no
one else could.#
#Ifurita, I love you too. We will soon be reunited, I
promise. Just hang in there.#

**********************************
"Well the Yakuza have many divisions. Not all of them
are sympathetic to each other. I did hear that there
were Yakuza members working for a man named Lagus, but
since they weren't part of the division I am familiar
with, I don't know too much about the details. I do
know that they are from the Stinging Asp clan. They
are rather unsuccessful and since they pretty much
hire anybody who's willing to join, they don't rate
compared to other 'families'. Say, which division are
you from?"
"I..umm...come from the Praying Mantis clan."
"Never heard of them before. Anyway, these guys from
the Stinging Asp clan are probably working for Lagus
because of the money. The clans tend to go for the
better deal but I don't know why this Lagus person
would hire thugs like them considering how unqualified
they are. Again, I guess it is because they are
relatively cheap compared to other clans."
"I see."
Groucho had come across a street punk in one of
Tokyo's back alleys. Because of his trench coat and
hat, the punk had mistakenly thought that Groucho was
a member of the Yakuza and a short conversation had
taken place.
"Say...isn't it kind of warm to be wearing a trench
coat. Why don't you take it off?"
"Umm..I have sensitive skin...I prefer to keep it on.
I..uhh.. guess I have to get going."
"Running more errands for the 'family'?"
"Yeah you know the usual. Money laundering,
blackmail..."
Groucho hurriedly continued on to his final
destination.

**************************
"So from what you have found out, the Tokyo Tower is
made of metal and is one of the highest man-made
structures around, right? And I believe that it
transmits TV and radio signals, whatever those are,
right?"
"Yes my lord. I thought you wanted revenge. Why have
you kept Ifurita and Inari alive?" Kalia looked like a
reporter interviewing a famous personality. Lagus
seemed rather serious, like a person engrossed in his
work.
"All I can say at this point is that when I found you,
I also found this device in the chamber. Young Makato
has this interesting ability to activate ancient El
Hazardian devices, By using Ifurita, we can play him
into our hands.."
"My lord. You don't mean....Tokyo Tower...that
device....Makoto...I get it now. But that would
magnify your powers and..."
Lagus smiled but didn't answer Kalia's question. "In
the meantime, I will leave a message for young
Makoto.." He proceeded to walk to the telephone...

********************************
Groucho walked to the entrance of the building. The
guard asked him if he was with the Stinging Asp
yakuza,. He quivered nervously and replied, "N-no...a
tall woman with pink hair asked me here. Do you know
where she is? I believe that she has several men
escorting her?"
"I am sorry but I can't give details. I will have to
make a phone call."
The man punched in a few numbers but before he could
look up again, Groucho punched him square in the jaw
and he collapsed.
Looking around carefully, he went up the old stairs to
the second floor. He barely ducked in time. One of the
henchmen who stood vigil at the door of one of the
rooms continued to smoke his cigarette, unaware of
groucho's presence.
*Time to use my agents.*
The big purple bug in a trench coat, removed his hat
long enough to waver his antennae for a couple of
seconds. Half a minute later, the henchman looked like
he was doing an Acadian jig. Groucho ran up to him and
threw a punch causing him to fall unconscious.
There were hundreds of ants scurrying along the floor.
If Groucho could smile, he would have done so. Another
henchman came out to investigate the noise only to
find his 'buddy' flat out on the floor. It wasn't long
before Groucho had him join his colleague in a
seemingly 'peaceful' slumber. Groucho entered the
room, seeing Diva all alone.
"My Queen I have finally found you. Are you all
right?"
"Groucho?" Diva looked puzzled as Groucho removed his
coat. "Groucho! It is you!"
Groucho went to Diva and tried to break off the
chains. The links finally broke with their combined
efforts.
"My Queen, I did not sense any of Lagus' phantom
lackeys, where have they gone to?"
"I'm not sure. I know a good part of them went with
Lagus. There was a few of them around here but they
are now gone. Also they took Ifurita with them. I
overheard them saying that they also had my daughter,
Inari." She looked upset. "I'm not sure where they are
right now. We must depart quickly as I am afraid that
Lagus may have done something to them."
"Are you suggesting that we should get out of here as
soon as possible and regroup elsewhere?"
"Yes, let's hurry out of here."

*********************************
Makoto Mizuhara looked like he was in a daze.
He was still thinking of Ifurita and he was wandering
the downtown of Shinjuku looking like a zombie. His
thoughts were full of her and he did not seem the
oncoming car in front of him....
Coincidentally, Fujisawa and Miz were walking at the
side of the road looking at shops. Miz was busy
looking at some clothes in the shops' windows and
nagging Fujisawa to buy them for them when they saw...
At the other corner of the road, Alielle was walking
down feeling sorry for herself. She had been in Japan
for quite a while and she felt lonely, REALLY lonely.
None of her old friends were with her and she really
missed them. It was then she looked up when she heard
a familiar voice....

"Makoto! Look out!"
Makoto looked up just in time just to see a black
Mitsubishi Galant approaching him at 50 miles an hour.
There was not enough time for him to dodge the
approaching car.
Strong arms pushed him aside as a familiar figure ran
across the run to push him out of the way. Makoto
slipped and fell on the sidewalk.
"Fujisawa-sensei. Am I glad to see you...owww. My knee
hurts."
"Well, getting a cut on your knee is certainly better
than getting hit by the car and landing in the
hospital."
"I think I can help."
Makoto looked up. The new voice was coming from
Alielle. She was walking towards him and Miz was
following her.
She gently placed her hands on Makoto's injured knee.
A soothing sensation flowed through her fingertips and
a strange light seemed to be glowing. Then it was all
over.
"Huh?"
"Amazing. How did you do it?"
"Probably the same way Fujisawa gained super-strength
when he went to El Hazard."
There was too much to say and Makoto was simply too
happy to see all of them again. It was only a matter
of time before Makoto started explaining the events of
the last few days. When he came up to where Palnus was
currently staying....
"I'm so happy. Now I'll get a chance to see my brother
again."
"But I thought the two of you were always squabbling."
"Brothers and sisters may often fight but Palnus and I
do care for each other deep inside. Besides I do miss
him."
*If only Nanami and Katsuhiko were as caring towards
each other....*
Alielle looked excited. "Say, now that I know how to
contact you guys, I'll rush off to see Palnus and I'll
talk to you later." Alielle quickly rushed off to
catch a bus.
"Say Makoto, you looked pretty depressed. Why don't
you tell me. I'm your sensei and I may be able to
help."
"Oh, well..." Makoto started explaining.
"That's terrible. Why would anyone want to hurt
Ifurita?"
"I don't know but I will find out tonight. Don't tell
anyone okay. I can handle this myself and I just don't
want anyone to worry unnecessarily."

*********************************
Palnus had been sitting under a tree just outside the
temple. He suddenly realized how tired he was, and he
fell asleep almost the instant he laid his back
against the rough bark of the tree.
Palnus suddenly felt a pair of hands grab him by the
shoulders and shake him awake.
"Palnus! Palnus, wake up!" an excited voice suddenly
called out.
Palnus muttered something incoherent and told the
voice to go away.
"Palnus! It's me, Alielle!"
"What....?" Palnus opened his eyes, and to his
surprise, Alielle was smilling and sitting over him.
At first, he thought he was simply dreaming again.
*No, this isn't real. Alielle, you're still back in El
Hazard. You couldn't be standing in front of me right
now. I wish you were, but you're not.*
"I must be dreaming. Time to go back to sleep.
Yawn...."
WHACK WHACK WHACK
"Whaa..." A pair of hands were whacking him on the
head. It felt so familiar...
*Oh, my...It's really her.*
The two siblings embraced for a very long time.
"Palnus, I'm so relieved that you're okay! I was
worried!" Palnus could see that Alielle was crying.
He was almost at a total loss for words. "I'm so glad
to see you too Alielle...I thought...I thought I'd
never see you again..." It took him a moment to
realize that he was crying as well.

************************
"Shayla! Shayla! Hurry, girl!"
The old priestess' cry brought Shayla bounding up the
temple steps and into the inner shrine. Within, the
sacred flame was writhing on the hearth, smoke
ascending to the dark rafters overhead. The old
priestess sat before it, rocking and moaning like a
child.
"What is it! What is it, Mother? What's happened?"
Shayla cried, gripping her shoulders. "Look at me
Mother, I'm here!"
"Oh Shayla!" The old priestess met her eyes and
shuddered. "The Sacred Flame, Shayla! I have seen such
evil! We will all be plunged into darkness!"
"What do you mean?"
There is evil in this city...monstrous, terrible
evil...there is danger to your friends, to your
enemies, and to everyone that dwells in this place!"
"What danger, mother? Tell me, and I'll fight it! Just
tell me what to do!"
"You must go to your friend. I believe you call him
Makoto. he is suffering, and he needs your strength.
The enemy has him in his power!"
"What enemy? I'll...."
"Something evil. Something really evil..."
"......"
"Hurry, Shayla! Go to Makoto! Hold the darkness back
awhile!"
The old priestess sank down upon herself, exhausted.
Shayla hugged her briefly, fiercely, then ran from the
temple.

***************************
Palnus and Alielle sat lazily on a grassy hill just
outside the temple.
"Isn't it beautiful, Palnus?" Alielle asked as she
admired the sunset in the distance.
Palnus wasn't really paying any attention to the
sunset at all; instead he was busy ogling some of the
femlae temple priestesses.
"Gorgeous..." Palnus said, not taking his eyes off the
priestesses.
"Isn't it though? This rivals any of the sunsets we
used to have on El Hazard."
"Huh? Oh, you mean the sunset? Yeah, it's okay too, I
guess."
Alielle sighed contentedly as she leaned back against
a nearby tree. "It's so peaceful here. I can see why
you like this place so much." She turned her head
towards the priestesses Palnus had been eyeing. "Nice
company, too. Yep. I think I may stay here for a
while."
Palnus looked at her. He was still having a hard time
believeing that Alielle was really here with him. For
a while, he had almost given up hope of ever seeing
her again. He shook his head to try to clear those
thoughts away. She was really here with him, so there
was no point in thinking about those things now.
Palnus grinned mischievously as an idea popped into
his head. "Say, Alielle, now that you're here, why
don't you introduce yourself to those priestesses down
there? I just know that they'd LOVE to meet you."
Palnus pointed to the women sitting a few yards away
from them.
Alielle smiled excitedly. "Oooh, hey, that sounds like
fun!"
Palnus watched as Alielle approached the priestesses.
He leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes.
*Oh, this is going to be sweet!*

It wasn't long before he heard the shrieks of the
outraged priestesses.
"Palnus, how many times do I have to tell you, stay
away from us!" he heard one of them say, mistaking
Alielle for him, followed by the sound of a sharp
slap.
He opened his eyes to see Alielle with a red mark on
her face, marching back to him angrily.
Palnus rolled on the ground and laughed hysterically.
"You think you're funny, huh? Well, let's see if
you're laughing after I get through with you!" Alielle
grabbed him by the shirt collar and prepared to beat
him senseless, but stopped when she saw Shayla Shayla
run out of the temple.
"Hey, where is Sister Shayla going?" Alielle inquired.
Palnus was equally curious, and they both ran towards
the temple to catch up with her.
Palnus began to pant heavily as soon as he caught up
with the fire priestess. "Hey Shayla, what's the rush?
Where are you going?"
"Outta my way, squirt. I don't have time for you right
now." Shayla began to run faster and Palnus was not
able to keep up.
"But what's going on?!"
"Ask the old temple priestess, Sakura Hino!" Shayla
yelled back as she raced away.
Palnus stopped his pursuit and watched her disappear
into the distance. Alielle caught up to him a few
moments later.
"What's wrong with Sister Shayla?" Alielle asked him.
"I haven't got a clue. Maybe we'll find some answers
from the head temple priestess...."

*********************
Palnus and Alielle rushed inside the temple to find
the old temple priestess unconscious on the floor.
"Quick, Palnus, lift her up!" Alielle yelled
frantically at her brother.
Palnus picked up the old woman and gently set her down
on the futon.
The priestess woke up a few moments later. The old
woman had a hollow look in her eyes, and for a moment
Palnus thought he was looking at a corpse.
"Excuse me...Miss Hino, are you all right?" Palnus
asked with some concern.
"Me? Yes, yes I'm fine, child. But I'm afraid I can't
say the same for your friend Makoto," the priestess
replied.
"Makoto? What about Makoto?" Alielle asked her.
"He's in danger right now. The same as all of you
are."
"Makoto is in danger? Then we've got to go help him!
Please, you must tell me where he is!" Palnus
insisted.
"I've been having visions....I've seen a beautiful,
pale-skinned woman and a young baby being held
prisoner by a blue-skinned man....and I've also seen
your friend Makoto there to confront him..."
"But where? Where is he?" Palnus questioned her
frantically.
"A large tower....yes, that's it, Tokyo Tower!"
Palnus frowned. "Tokyo Tower? What's that?"
"You don't know what Tokyo Tower is? Haven't you
learned anything since you came here?" Alielle asked
him.
"You know where it is?" Palnus asked her.
"Well, I haven't actually been there yet, but all you
have to do is take a bus to Tokyo and..."
"Okay, then that's where I'm going! I've got to help
Makoto!"
"But we'll be walking into a trap...we could be
killed...we could be-"
"Who said anything about 'we'" You're staying here! I
can't risk you getting hurt!"
Alielle looked at him doubtfully. "You are crazy!"
Alielle and Palnus' argument was interrupted by the
old temple priestess. "Yes, you both seem to possess
some extraordinary abilities....I think you two will
be needed to defeat them....but if you go, your lives
will be in mortal danger...."
"Miss, with all due respect, our lives are ALWAYS in
mortal danger," Palnus replied firmly.
"Very well...I pray for your safe return," the
priestess replied.

****************************************
"Your mind is made up, isn't it?" Alielle sighed as
they stepped out of the temple.
"Yes," Palnus replied stubbornly.
"Well then, so is mine. I'm coming with you, like it
or not."
Palnus tried to protest but Alielle hushed him by
raising her hand.
"Don't try to argue with me. My mind is already made
up. Besides, you'll get lost in Tokyo all by
yourself."
"Well, I guess that's then. Are you ready?" Palnus
asked.
"I guess so," she replied.
The two left the temple to catch the next bus to the
area surrounding Tokyo Tower.

**********************************
"I have a big scoop that something's big is going to
happen at the Tokyo Tower tonight."
"Sure. I'll be there," replied the usual cheery voice
of Kaori Morisaki to the telephone.
"I have a hunch that my superior Inspector Arizumi has
been receiving illegal kickbacks. Maybe this is my
chance to expose him and for me to get promoted,"
Detective Tetsuya Kumamoto spoke in a casual voice in
reply.
"Whatever. See you there." She hung up.
Tetusya sat on his desk deep in thought as he examined
some files. Corruption in the police force? The press
will have a field day. Whatever needs to be done needs
to be done.

**********************************
"Are you sure it's such a bright idea to have so many
of us come."
"Of course. Unity is strength." Shayla Shayla spoke
and looked admiringly at her motely congregation.
Makoto certainly was one lucky guy to have so many
friends. The old gang from El Hazard was back save
Alielle and her brother and whatever the problem was,
they would help Makoto to take care of it.