El Hazard and it's characters are owned by AIC and Pioneer LDC.  The author 
owns only the writing.

Chapter 4: Stairway to the Sky 
By the time Shayla arrived at the Stairway, the others were already there. It was 
more than she expected. Afura, Kuaul, Hiashi, Mr.Fujisawa, Makoto, Nanami, 
and Ifurita were present. So were Princess Rune, Persad (the new captain of the 
guards), even that bitch Fatora. The palace councilors decided that provided she 
never tried to take a new lover, she would be allowed to slowly resume her 
station. Shayla didn't like it, not after what Fatora did to poor Alliele. Well at least 
she's save back home with her family. Fatora had to be on her best behavior now 
and to start acting like an adult if she wanted to stay out of that psychiatric ward. 
Who was that with them? A member of the Phantom Tribe?! The Phantom was a 
woman who looked a little familiar and was surrounded by several guards. If there 
was an illusions being cast, she wasn't effected by it ... yet. Shayla poured it on to 
find out what the heck was going on. 
She landed next to her husband and demanded an explanation. "This is Gyronai, 
Duchess of the Shadow Nation. She had come to us under a flag of peace with 
some information you might find interesting." Rune announced. 
"<pssst> Makoto," Nanami whispered, "is it me or have we seen her before?" 
"What are you talking about?" Makoto whispered back. 
"That woman at Arlamon. The one who tried to kill you or weren't you looking at 
her face at the time?" 
Gyronai did look a lot like Kiriya, but there were minor differences. Makoto 
suspected the two were probably relatives. It was hard to tell since Gyronai was 
dressed in heavy clothes to protect her from the noon-day sun. Gyronai looked at 
them like she heard the exchange, but chose to ignore it. "Last night as we slept, 
the entire Shadow Nation received a vision. We saw the Bugrom attacking an 
alien structure. I understand your Earthers also had such a vision." 
"Yes, what do you know about this?" Makoto said. 
"According to legend, a year after we were ripped from our home the Shadow 
Nation had a similar vision. But then it was of our home city in ruins as others of 
our people looked for us." 
"Do you know if that vision was true?" 
"No, we have not seen our homeworld since the ancient El Hazardians took us 
from it." Gyronai said looking harshly at Princess Rune. 
"If you did not come here to reopen old wounds, then why are you here?" Rune 
said in even tones. 
"We want to know why we received this vision and what it means." 
"Mizuhara, have you completely repaired the sabotage Galas did last year?" Rune 
asked. 
"Well I haven't had the chance to work on it much. I was only allowed to go there 
when you were teaching me about how to use the Eye of God as a weapon. I 
believe so, but some of the things he did I didn't understand." 
"That is the other reason why I came. We have recovered Galas's notes about the 
Eye. We believe he intended to send all of El-Hazard to our homeworld, to give 
you a taste of what we have suffered through all these centuries. But later 
information indicates he was forced to change these plans." 
"If I may," Afura interrupted, "After the Shadow Nation was accidently pulled 
into our world, its creators worked to correct this mistake. They were able to 
prevent the Eye from going into that dimension again. Galas learned this so 
decided to send everyone into the void." 
"Yes, the sabotage in that area was only half-completed. If his tampering 
interfered with the destination program of the Eye then that would mean...." 
Makoto said as he trailed off. 
"Well what?" Mr.Fujisawa said. 
"The Eye of God sent the Bugrom to Earth." 
The other Earthers gasped in surprise and shock, "Earth? Japan? Shinonome?" 
Fujisawa said, his jaw dropped almost to the ground. 
"That's where Ifurita's sleep chamber is. The Bugrom are probably scattered 
around that in proportion to where they were from the Eye." Makoto said. 
"Whew. Then that means they're miles away. Plenty of time for our Self Defense 
Force to take care of them before they reach the city." Fujisawa said with relief. 
"Well not exactly. The chamber is smaller and less powerful than the Eye. The 
distance between the Bugrom and the Eye is probably scaled down to the size of 
the chamber. And that doesn't even take into account mass or how much power 
the Bugrom fortress had when it was banished. They're probably under the 
school's foundation right now." 
"Uh, Makoto" Hiashi interjected, "if you zapped the Bugrom shortly after you 
came here, then why didn't I see them?" 
"Could be anything. Dimensional shock, digging their way to the surface, they 
could have even been sent there after I saved Ifurita." 
"The question is, what are we going to do about it?" Nanami said. 
"Leave them there. We can't put ourselves at risk." Fatora shouted forcefully. 
"But ... you can't just leave them there to wreak havoc all over our home world." 
Makoto protested. 
Gyronai looked crossly at Fatora, as if her one of her opinions had just been 
confirmed. 
"Princess Rune, Earth is not prepared for an invasion. We haven't even 
encountered non-humans yet. They're going to cause massive panic." Hiashi said. 
"Oh, so what do you plan on doing once you're there? Bring them back? Doesn't 
your Earth have pest control?" Fatora countered raising her fists. The two were 
becoming bitter enemies, ever since he helped Alliele stand-up for herself. 
"We're going to finish the job you started and get rid of them. Throw them into 
the void or exterminate them, either way is fine with me. But we have to do 
something." 
"Why should we? The biggest threat to El-Hazard is gone. We did our job. 
They're someone else's problem." Fatora said moving closer. 
"Yea. My world's problem. Are you saying you're perfectly content to just dump 
your problems on a nation who did nothing to you?" 
"You're part of that nation. I'd say that was reason enough." Fatora taunted. The 
two were inches apart. If it weren't for Hiashi's loathing of melee combat and 
Fatora's lack of fighting skills, the two would have had it out then and there. 
"Fatora, that's enough." Rune commanded, "We sent the Bugrom to another 
world. It is our responsibility now. Mizuhara, you may make the necessary repairs 
and adjustments." 
Gyronai looked at Rune, wondering briefly if she was had been wrong. She 
decided to wait to see how this drama would pan out. 
Nanami clapped her hands together, "We're going back home? We're really going 
back? All right!" she cheered running back to her restaurant. 
"Kid, how long do you think it will take?" Fujisawa asked. 
"I'll let you know in two hours. That should be enough time to find out what 
needs to be done." Makoto said as he and Ifurita walked into the entrance to the 
Stairway to the Sky.