And here's the second half of the episode... stay tuned for the Omake
ending!



BALLERANA
Episode 1: The Man With No Past - Part 2

    Alsotho carefully opened the door a crack to peek out at the
restaurant. The patrons were cowering under the tables, shrinking from
the tanned man in the large trenchcoat who stood on a table in the
center of the room, pointing a small pistol at random people. Well, it
was pretty obvious which one was the Vermaldrin spy...
    "I'll only ask one more time, before I start killing people,"
threatened the gunman. "Where's the old man?"
    Alsotho quickly stepped through the door and closed it to hide the
secret hallway. As the latch clicked shut, the gun swiveled to aim at
his head. "What's going on here?" he asked casually, adding a bit of
fear to his voice for credibility.
    "Where'd you come from?" asked the gunman.
    "The bathroom," replied Alsotho.
    "You're lying," spat the gunman. "You were with the old man outside!
You know where the Ballerana are!"
    "I don't know what you're talking about," lied Alsotho. Of course,
he knew it wouldn't work, but it was worth a try.
    Unfortunately, the gunman didn't buy it for a second. "Step aside,
kid," he said, stepping to the floor. "I want to see what's behind that
door."
    Well, on to plan B. "If you want to open that door," said Alsotho,
"you'll have to get past me!" He lunged at the gunman, who reflexively
pulled the trigger. Alsotho sidestepped the shot and rolled forward,
pressing his nose into the gunman's face when he stood up.
    The gunman's eyes radiated fear. "How... how did you do that?" He
stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over a leg that stuck out from under
a table. "The boss never said they could dodge bullets!"
    'The boss?' That must be the Vermaldrin he was working for! "Who's
your boss?" demanded Alsotho. Not that it would do him any good, but the
Ballerana might recognize the name.
    The gunman merely sneered. "I know you're with the Ballerana. That's
the only way you could have that kind of power. The boss will pay me big
for killing you, whoever you are!"
    A bead of sweat ran down Alsotho's forehead. This was getting
serious. "You'll never get out of here alive!" he threatened emptily. Of
course he couldn't kill the spy, but the spy didn't have to know that.
    "Ha!" retorted the gunman confidently. "Kill me if you want! When I
don't make my report, the boss will come looking for me and find the
Ballerana himself!"
    Another ace torn from his sleeve! "Dammit!" Alsotho threw himself at
the gunman, but was forced to leap aside to dodge another shot. He leapt
from table to table, preventing the gunman from drawing a bead on him.
"Everyone get out of here!" he shouted, hoping to divert the spy's
attention for just a moment...
    The gunman turned his gun on the customers. "Nobody move!" he
shouted.
    Taking advantage of the distraction, Alsotho snatched an empty plate
and threw it at the gunman's hand, disarming him. Alsotho had already
pounced on the gun and had the barrel between the gunman's eyes before
the spy could react.
    "Now... tell me who your boss is," he said calmly. Maybe now he
could get some answers...
    Ignoring the deadly weapon in his face, the gunman turned tail and
ran for the door. Alsotho's finger tensed on the trigger, but he knew
that killing the gunman would doom the Ballerana. "Dammit!" he shouted
again, throwing the useless weapon to the floor as he chased after the
spy.
    Several seconds later, the manager's head slowly emerged from behind
the cashier's counter. "Is it over?" he asked meekly.
    The Ballerana ran past and out the front door as he watched. Only
Orachnille paused, to drop her apron onto the counter. "I'll be right
back, I promise!" she said as she joined the others.
    The manager stared at the discarded apron and sighed. "I know she's
different... but I have a business to run here..."
*************************************************
    The spy ran through the streets, barely avoiding the hovering cars
as he wove his way through traffic. Alsotho used the roofs of the cars
as springboards when he could, not letting the spy out of his sight as
he followed close behind. However, the gunman seemed to find gaps
between the cars even in the thickest traffic, while Alsotho found
himself waiting for breaks at almost every crossing. Thus, it wasn't
until they had left the bustling city and reached the suburbs, where the
traffic was lighter, that Alsotho managed to catch up. He grabbed the
spy by the collar and forced him against a wall.
    "All right, talk!" he shouted, being sure to spit in the gunman's
face. "Who are you working for? Where's your boss?"
    "I'm not telling you anything!" the gunman replied with equal venom.
    Alsotho punched him in the face. "Dammit, tell me where he is before
I forget that I'm not supposed to kill you!"
    The threat was supposed to shake up the gunman, at least a little
bit, but the man merely laughed aloud. "By now, it doesn't matter any
more. He's on his way here now. He already knows where the Ballerana
are."
    Alsotho's eyes narrowed to slits, hopefully hiding his fear. Had he
already screwed up on his first mission? No way! "How? How could he
possibly know?" he asked suspiciously.
    The gunman laughed again. "You don't think he would send me here
without monitoring me, do you? He's been watching me the entire time.
And I'm sure the Ballerana have followed you to make sure that you're
safe. They'll all be lined up right here, waiting for him to come and
destroy them. What do you think of that?"
    "Alsotho!" called Verlinda's voice. "We're coming! Don't let him get
away!"
    "Go back!" Alsotho shouted back. "Get away from here!"
    Seizing the advantage of Alsotho's distraction, the gunman pushed
Alsotho's hand away and ran from the city as the Ballerana rounded the
corner. They stopped beside Alsotho and watched the gunman run,
painfully aware that there was no further point in chasing him. "What
did he say?" asked Shumiko. "It seems to have upset you."
    "I've got a really bad feeling about this," Dallimia agreed
morosely.
    "Whatever Vermaldrin sent that guy already knows you're here,"
explained Alsotho. "He's on his way here to kill all of you!"
    "Not all of US," corrected Verlinda. "ALL of us. Including you."
    Alsotho's heart skipped a beat. "Me? No way! I'm only here to fight
humans, remember? Fighting Vermaldrin isn't in my job description!"
    "The Vermaldrin and the human will fight together," Shumiko pointed
out. "If you're defending us from the human, you'll be as much a target
as we are."
    "Do not worry," Lorudas assured him. "Verlinda's power will protect
you."
    "The spy's getting away," Orachnille calmly reminded them.
    "Does he even matter any more?" asked Verlinda. "If the Vermaldrin
already knows we're here..."
    "It might have been a bluff," said Orachnille. "Maybe he just said
that hoping that we'd let him go, and he's on his way to meet his
employer now."
    "And if he's not bluffing," added Lorudas, "it might not be wise to
sit here and wait for the Vermaldrin to find us."
    "Yes, let's go! Quickly!" said Shumiko, beckoning the others to
follow her.
    They set off on the trail of the gunman, leaving the city completely
behind in short order. "We'll never catch up," complained Alsotho as
they ran across the sandy dunes of the uninhabited outskirts of the
city. "We let him get too big a lead."
    "We can't give up!" urged Shumiko. "No matter how hopeless the
situation may seem, we must keep our wits about us and try to come out
on top!"
    Wits... thinking... well, a plan would certainly be helpful. And
only one came immediately to mind. "Why can't Girt send us all to where
the spy is?" asked Alsotho.
    "He can't use his power to help us," explained Verlinda.
    "That's weird," said Alsotho. He started to ask why that was, but a
strange humming sound caught his ear. Or rather, tunneled directly into
his brain without bothering with the auditory canals. He could still
hear everything that was going on around him, but somewhere behind all
of it was the droning hum. "Does anyone else hear that?" he asked.
    "There's our man!" shouted Orachnille, pointing to the top of a
nearby dune. The gunman stood stock-still, staring up into the sky as if
waiting for something.
    "The Vermaldrin will arrive there soon," said Lorudas. "We must go,
quickly."
    Alsotho couldn't agree more! He started to turn around... but the
Ballerana ran for the dune. "Shouldn't we run away?" he asked. "Maybe we
can ambush him in the dunes or something..." The humming was getting
louder, too... one more thing to worry about.
    "Our best chance is to meet the threat head on," said Lorudas. "We
should be able to defeat this Vermaldrin."
    "Should be?" Alsotho asked dubiously. "Don't you know?"
    "I can't see everything in the future," replied Lorudas, suddenly
sounding a bit less sure than she had seconds before. "But... based on
the power we have, I don't think a Vermaldrin and a human will be a
problem."
    "Shumiko and I have been a team since before we met any of the other
Ballerana," added Verlinda. "Our powers combined are more than enough to
beat any Vermaldrin."
    "Sounds impressive," agreed Alsotho as he trotted after them. "So
why can't you fight humans, with all that power?"
    "Our powers are useless against humans," Lorudas reminded him.
    "Couldn't you learn to fight like I did?" asked Alsotho. The humming
was almost deafening now, or at least powerful enough to give him quite
a headache, yet it still didn't interfere with his hearing. Were the
Ballerana hearing it or not?
    Shumiko shook her head. "The reason we can't -"
    Suddenly, the top of the dune exploded, spraying sand in all
directions. Alsotho covered his face until the air cleared, then looked
toward the shallow crater that now occupied the space where the dune had
been. The gunman was on his knees in front of a sinister looking man
with very small ears and eyes. The spy pointed toward the Ballerana
eagerly.
    "There they are, master! I told you they would come!" he shouted,
reminding Alsotho oddly of a dog that had fetched a stick and was
waiting for its master to throw it again.
    The Vermaldrin's eyes narrowed even further. "Indeed. Well done,
human."
    "I live only to serve you, master," the man replied, bowing deeply.
"And of course, to receive the reward I was promised..."
    "Of course," agreed the Vermaldrin. "You will receive that reward
now." He held his hand out in front of his body, aiming his palm at the
gunman's head.
    "Thank you, master!" the gunman cried gratefully, as a faint
high-pitched whine hit Alsotho's ears. He covered them quickly, barely
shutting out the noise, but the gunman's screams were far too loud to
block out. The man writhed in agony, clawing at his ears as if trying to
tear them form the sides of his head. The air around him began to waver
like a blacktop surface on a hot summer day.
    "What's he doing to that guy?" Alsotho asked, raising his voice to
be heard over the sound of the "reward."
    "It appears to be extremely high-pitched sound waves," replied
Orachnille. "They're uncomfortable, but not really dangero-"
    The gunman's head exploded, showering the Vermaldrin and the entire
crater with blood and other, less savory, tiny pieces of anatomy.
Alsotho clamped his hands over his mouth and swallowed the vomit that
had filled it at the sight.
    "It's more dangerous than it sounds," quipped Shumiko.
    "That was a really bad joke," Alsotho said, still unable to take his
eyes off of what was left of the gunman's corpse.
    "I wasn't joking," replied Shumiko.
    "We're all a little too grossed out to joke," agreed Dallimia,
sticking her tongue out to emphasize her disgust.
    The Vermaldrin kicked the headless body of his former assistant
aside. "Worthless filth. He deserved his fate."
    Alsotho lifted his eyes to the Vermaldrin with blazing hatred. It
was time to be defiant and say something brave in defense of the human
race! He, as a man surrounded by gorgeous women,  had a masculine duty
to look impressive and show off his libido!
    "You're next," said the Vermaldrin before Alsotho could come up with
an appropriate response. This time, however, Alsotho had a retort
ready - or rather, his legs did. They folded, dumping him to the ground.
    The Vermaldrin stepped forward into the center of the crater,
prompting the Ballerana to take a step back in fear. "I am Lance,
Vermaldrin master of sound," he said. "Prepare yourselves, Ballerana,
for a demonstration of my power."
    Alsotho's eyes fell to the headless corpse again. "You mean blowing
up that guy's head wasn't enough of a demonstration?"
    "At least he had the courtesy to warn us first," Orachnille bluntly
pointed out.
    "This guy will be a pushover," said Shumiko. Alsotho stared at her.
A pushover? The guy could blow up people's heads with ultra-high
frequency sound waves! Yet, undaunted by the threat of a possible
cranial explosion, Shumiko curled her right arm around her chest as if
preparing to throw a Frisbee.
    Before Shumiko's plan involving the invisible Frisbee could come to
fruition, however, Lance raised his arms to the sky with a shout of "Now
hear this, Ballerana!" The entire sky began to ripple, and the
high-pitched whine that had killed Lance's henchman assaulted Alsotho's
ears again. This time, however, it was much louder; so loud that
covering his ears didn't even begin to block out the sound. Judging by
the screams of the Ballerana, which he could barely hear through the
noise, they were suffering just as much as he was.
    "As you can see," said Lance, his voice perfectly audible over the
whine, "my power can incapacitate all of you at once! I'd like to thank
you for gathering in one place so I could kill you all at the same time,
but since you're about to die, there really isn't any point!" He burst
into laughter, which rang out over the whine without diminishing it in
the slightest.
    "I don't know which is worse," Alsotho shouted over the noise, "the
whining, or the laughter!" Famous last words... at least they were
somewhat funny.
    Alsotho barely heard Lorudas' shouted reply. "When he's not focusing
his power, it's not as strong! It will take a few minutes to cause fatal
damage!"
    "If we don't do something in those few minutes, we're still dead!"
Dallimia yelled. "Verlinda, hurry up and use your power!"
    "I'm trying!" Verlinda shouted back. Alsotho felt a very faint
buildup of energy behind him, like a television being turned on, and
forced his aching head to turn around to investigate. Verlinda was on
her knees, covering her ears, just as Alsotho and the other Ballerana
were... but she appeared to be surrounded by a transparent purple dome.
The dome quickly began to expand as he watched, its perfectly round
surface undisturbed by the objects and people it passed through as, one
by one, it covered the other Ballerana. Then, in a flash of purple, he
too was inside the dome. And just as abruptly, the whine was gone. The
only sound to be heard now was Verlinda's continuing scream.
    Alsotho removed his hands from his ears and stood up, even more
clueless about what was happening than when he'd been in too much pain
to think about it. Lacking any better ideas, he quickly surveyed the
scene. Verlinda still writhed and screamed in pain, wrapped in a purple
haze in the center of the dome, while the other Ballerana were already
gathering to the side, plotting their strategy. "What's going on?" he
asked.
    "This dome is Verlinda's power," replied Dallimia. "It will protect
us from Vermaldrin magic, but it doesn't cover Verlinda herself."
    In other words... "Verlinda's still vulnerable?" Without waiting for
an answer, he continued, "We've got to hurry up and shut that guy up
before he kills her!"
    "I'll be fine!" Verlinda shouted over the noise that only she could
hear. "Shumiko, don't worry about a plan! Just take him out!"
    "You don't have to order me twice!" acknowledged Shumiko. She curled
her arm around her body again, as she had done before Lance's sound
strike, but this time a glowing ring appeared in her hand. She took aim
at the Vermaldrin and forced a sly smile to her face. "Take this, you
Vermaldrin creep!" she shouted, hurling the ring at Lance.
    Lance cringed as the ring left Shumiko's hand, but the ring's flight
only lasted until it intersected the surface of the dome. Once outside
the protective aura of Verlinda's power, the ring shimmered for an
instant before disintegrating into thin air. Lance laughed. "It looks
like I had nothing to worry about!"
    Shumiko set her jaw. "The sound waves are destroying my rings."
    "Is this a normal part of fighting a Vermaldrin?" asked Alsotho, in
a vain attempt to lighten the mood.
    "Sarcasm is REALLY going to make this easier," Shumiko replied
sarcastically. "Usually, my rings bind the Vermaldrin hand and foot and
seal his power. Without my rings, there's not much we can do from a
distance. And if we leave the dome to fight at close range, we'll just
be destroyed by the sound waves."
    No long range fighting, no close range fighting... "We're screwed,
aren't we?"
    "I don't know what we can do," agreed Shumiko.
    "Think," urged Verlinda, gritting her teeth against the pain.
"Can't... hold... on... much... longer..." Blood began to seep from
between her fingers.
    Alsotho's stomach knotted at the sight. Not that he couldn't handle
a little blood, but when it was coming from the woman he was supposed to
be protecting... "Dammit!" he shouted angrily. "What are we doing just
standing here?" He set his sights on the laughing Vermaldrin outside the
dome and charged at full speed.
    "No, Alsotho!" Orachnille shouted after him. "Don't leave the dome!"
    Ignoring her warning, Alsotho plunged through the purple wall,
bracing himself for the pain. When it hit him, though, it was worse than
he remembered, nearly bringing him down to his knees instantly. He
covered his ears, lowered his head, and let his legs keep running on
autopilot, carrying him into the center of the noise. He felt his
shoulder smack into Lance's gut, and the noise suddenly stopped.
    "Wow, he did it!" cheered Dallimia. She turned to the stricken
Verlinda as the dome faded from existence. "Verlinda, are you okay?"
    Verlinda slowly removed her hands from her ears and stared at the
bloody palms in disbelief. "I can hardly hear you," she whispered. "My
ears..."
    "She will survive," Lorudas assured everyone. "However, she is too
weak to protect us any longer."
    "I've got him!" shouted Shumiko, winding up to throw another ring of
energy.
    "I'm not beaten yet," returned the Vermaldrin, destroying the ring
with a targeted sound wave that knocked Shumiko off of her feet.
    Alsotho bit his lip. If Lance managed to pull off his
omnidirectional attack again, they'd be finished. But if they all
charged from the same direction, he'd blast them with his far more
powerful targeted blasts. Which left only one option. "Fan out and
attack!" And hope we can get to him before he takes us all out, he
didn't add.
    Lance turned his attention away from the prone Shumiko as Dallimia,
Orachnille, and Lorudas all ran in different directions, trying to
surround him. "Oh, no you don't!" he shouted, raising his arms. Alsotho
barely managed one step forward before the familiar whine drilled into
his skull again, stopping him short. Fortunately, the Ballerana's
reflexes seemed a bit faster than his own, this time. He forced his head
up in time to see Dallimia plow bodily into Lance's side, knocking him
to the ground. Orachnille leapt onto the Vermaldrin's stomach and pinned
his arms and legs down.
    "All right!" cheered Alsotho, as the last echoes of the whine died
away. "Now we've got him!"
    Lance raised his head. "Foolish humans! You think I need my hands to
use my power?" He threw his head back and laughed, forcing Orachnille to
cover her ears. As soon as his hands were free, Lance pushed her away
and got to his feet, then aimed a hand at her and blasted her with a
sound wave.
    Alsotho knew that it wasn't the time, but the quip reached his lips
before he could stop it. "I knew the laughter was worse."
    "Orachnille's out cold!" announced Shumiko. "We have to protect
her!" She ran back and forth, dodging Lance's sound waves while keeping
him distracted by throwing rings as rapidly as she could form them.
However, Lance merely blew the rings apart with targeted sound waves,
forcing Shumiko to keep moving to avoid his blasts while rendering her
rings completely useless.
    Alsotho, meanwhile, found himself unable to move a muscle. His
desire to help the embattled Ballerana wrestled with the logical
certainty that there was nothing he could do TO help, leaving his entire
body in a state of confused paralysis. He could do no more than watch as
Lance slowly wore Shumiko down. He felt so helpless...
    A brief movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He
tore his gaze from the battlefield and turned to see Lorudas return to
Verlinda's side and kneel to examine her wounds. Somehow, this felt more
like something he could deal with. He crept toward the pair, keeping one
eye on the battle. Not that he could do anything if Lance attacked him
or the other Ballerana...
    Once he was within speaking range of Lorudas, he felt a bit safer.
"What do we do now?" he asked her.
    "Verlinda's dome is our only hope," she replied. "If we can get the
Vermaldrin inside her dome, he won't be able to use his power at all.
Then he will be easy to defeat."
    "Can Verlinda even make a dome now?" asked Alsotho.
    "I'm okay," Verlinda assured him, snapping out of her shock. "Just
give me a minute to rest."
    Alsotho glanced nervously at Shumiko, who was barely keeping up with
Lance any more. Her foot slipped, causing her to lose her focus, and
Lance seized the opportunity to raise his arms and fill the air with
sound waves once again.
    "We don't have a minute!" Alsotho shouted to Verlinda as the whine
rose in intensity. He crawled to her and covered her ears with his
hands, letting the noise hit him with its full power. "Please, Verlinda,
try as hard as you can!" he begged.
    "I'll try," Verlinda replied softly. The purple dome appeared,
providing Alsotho with its blessed relief, but barely spread far enough
to cover Lorudas as well before its growth stopped, and it wavered on
the edge of oblivion as Verlinda's mind threatened to collapse under the
extreme pressure of the noise. Lorudas hastened to the edge of the dome
and reached out to pull in Dallimia, who had collapsed right at its
edge. Seconds later, Shumiko stumbled dazedly in, pressing her palms to
the sides of her head even after she was free of Lance's power.
    Alsotho peered through the dome wall at Lance, who was several yards
from the edge of the dome. "Can't you make this dome any bigger?" he
asked Verlinda.
    "She's using all of her energy to provide this tiny dome," said
Lorudas.
    "Then we have to get her closer to Lance! Orachnille's still out
there, unprotected!"
    "We can't move Verlinda, or she'll die!" Shumiko shouted back,
visibly losing her cool.
    "I wouldn't worry about Orachnille," said Lorudas. "She'll survive
the untargeted sound waves for now, and if Lance tries to direct his
attacks at her, Shumiko's rings will stop him."
    Alsotho considered his options again. Leaving the dome hadn't
accomplished much, so that was out. But how else could he get Lance into
the dome?
    "I can't hold out much longer!" screamed Verlinda. "If you're going
to do something, do it now!" Alsotho felt a wrenching in his gut as he
watched the tortured Verlinda struggle to control the dome. The
sacrifice of giving her all to protect everyone else, even though she
was dying herself...
    Before he knew what he was doing, Alsotho was kneeling beside
Verlinda, his hands clasped as if in prayer. "You're our only hope,
Verlinda. I know you can make a dome as big as the one you made before.
Just try harder!"
    Verlinda shook her head. "I can't... It hurts too much..."
    "No! That's not true!" Alsotho moved around to her back and leaned
over her, holding her hands lightly in his own as she kept them firmly
over her ears, desperately trying to hold her head in one piece.
"Verlinda," he whispered, his forehead pressed to the back of her head.
"I can feel your energy. I can feel your strength. You're very strong,
far stronger than I could ever be. You have the power in you, but you
hold it back because you want to keep us alive as long as you can." He
was making it up, of course, but all he could do now was run with it.
"You may not have much longer to live... so why bother holding anything
back now? Let it go. Let all of your energy go!"
    "I'm trying," she sobbed, her pain breaking into her voice now. "I'm
trying as hard as I can."
    "No, you're not," he replied. "You can do more than this. You have
enough power to save us all. You have to look deep within yourself, find
something you can channel, and direct it all into the dome." Heck, this
was prize-winning material. He was even beginning to believe it himself!
"We're all counting on you, Verlinda. It's not just your energy in this
fight, it's ours too. We all believe in you." He trailed off,
considering his feelings and searching for another line.
    While Alsotho pondered his words, a tear fell from Verlinda's eye
and landed in her lap. She opened her eyes, and suddenly, the noise
wasn't quite as fierce as it had been. "I can do it," she whispered.
    The dome stabilized.
    "I can do it," she repeated, louder than before.
    The wall of the dome began to creep outward, expanding slowly.
    "I can do it!" she shouted, nearly leaping to her feet in triumph.
The whine returned, but she forced herself to ignore it and concentrate
only on the dome. She could feel it growing, feel the energy flowing
from her, feel the energy flowing from the other Ballerana, and from
Alsotho; and it gave her the strength to break through the pain.
    "That's the way!" said Alsotho reassuringly. "Just keep focusing!"
    "It won't be enough," said Shumiko. "If she manages to cover Lance
with this dome, it'll be nearly twice her record when her brains AREN'T
leaking out her ears."
    Alsotho glared at her for even daring to make light of Verlinda's
condition. "Then prepare to see the breaking of a record," he spat.
    The dome continued to grow, now as large as the first dome had been
and still growing.
    Lance stared in horror at the expanding dome. "When did the
Ballerana get so much power?" His power nearly faltered, but he
swallowed his fear and poured his energy into his sound waves. "There's
no danger. Her dome can't possibly reach me from here."
    "Nearly there!" urged Alsotho. "Don't give up!"
    Sweat poured from Lance's brow as the dome surface came within arm's
reach of him. "I think I'd best take a step back, just in case."
    Lorudas was already charging by the time Lance let up his attack to
back away from the growing dome. The moment that the sound waves faded,
she was beside Lance, her feet planted firmly on the ground. She grabbed
his arm and hurled him toward the dome before he could react. He managed
to regain his balance enough to stop himself inches from the wall, but
Dallimia grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into the dome, where
Shumiko tried one final time to snare him with a ring.
    This time, the ring struck home. As it touched Lance's body, it
shattered into tiny fragments, which immediately fused together to form
two identical rings - one which circled his waist and wrists, and one
that tightly bound his ankles together. Dallimia relaxed her muscles and
released Lance's shoulders, letting him fall flat on his face. Verlinda
collapsed as well, her energy completely spent.
    "You will pay for this!" spat Lance as the dome vanished. He
laughed, as he had before, but the laugh was merely annoying this time
rather than painful.
    "Your powers don't work while my rings are holding you," Shumiko
informed him.
    Alsotho breathed a sigh of relief. "How long will they hold?" he
asked Shumiko.
    "As long as I keep concentrating," replied Shumiko. "It doesn't take
as much effort as Verlinda's dome, so we've got plenty of time to finish
the job."
    Alsotho nodded. Good news at last. "So, who's got the power that'll
finish him off?"
    The conscious Ballerana glanced at each other. "We don't have lethal
powers," said Shumiko. "We don't need them. Vermaldrin bodies are
mortal." She pulled a knife out of her belt sheath. "Anything that will
kill a human will kill a Vermaldrin, once he's incapacitated."
    Alsotho reeled in shock. "You're just going to stab him? While he's
completely helpless?"
    "He's the enemy, Alsotho," Shumiko reminded him. "Have you forgotten
that he tried to kill us all?"
    "No, you're right," Lance agreed with a sigh. "There's nothing more
I can do. Clearly, your power is superior to mine." He looked up at them
with hope in his eyes. "But if you let me go, I can serve your cause! I
can help you fight the other Vermaldrin!"
    Alsotho nodded. "I think he means it."
    Lance nodded sincerely. "Yes! Yes! I swear on the Great Giver that
I'll serve you faithfully until the last Vermaldrin is dead! I will be
yours to command -"
    Shumiko's mouth twisted in disgust. "You are sick, Vermaldrin," she
said, thrusting the knife into his chest and twisting it. She
immediately let go of the handle and stepped back, staring at the corpse
in horror. "Oh my god... I killed him!"
    Dallimia gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "It's
horrible..."
    Alsotho, meanwhile, was in too much shock to realize that the
Ballerana were mirroring his own emotion. He merely stood and stared
until a hand grabbed his sleeve and dragged him backwards, away from the
scene of the battle. Alsotho followed meekly, not even looking to see
who it was until the battleground was out of sight. Once he could no
longer see Lance's blood spilling onto the sand from around Shumiko's
knife, he managed to calm down.
    "What is the matter, Alsotho?" asked Girt from over Alsotho's
shoulder.
    "She killed him..." replied Alsotho. "In cold blood!"
    "He was a cold blooded killer himself," Girt reminded him.
    "But he surrendered!" Alsotho protested.
    "The Vermaldrin are cunning," said Girt. "They will go to any
lengths to take advantage of any weakness they can find. Your emotional
nature is such a weakness, one which the Ballerana don't have. By
appealing to that weakness, he hoped to gain your sympathy, and the
Ballerana's as well. Once released, he would have destroyed all of you."
    Alsotho's face fell. "You make it sound like I'm a liability." And
it hurt, too...
    But Girt wasn't finished. "However, the Ballerana suffer from
weaknesses that you do not have," he added. "They have learned to
overcome some of those, and your presence will help alleviate the rest."
    "Because I can fight humans?" asked Alsotho.
    "Among other attributes," agreed Girt.
    'Other attributes?' What attributes did he have? Alsotho shook his
head, confused. "I still don't get it. You could have picked anyone in
the universe, right? Why pick someone who had to be trained, when you
could have had someone who already knew how to fight? Why pick someone
as emotionally unstable as I am to be around women who mirror emotions?
In other words... why ME?"
    "You were chosen because you were best suited to accepting a new
life."
    That didn't explain a thing. "New life?"
    Girt nodded. "The Defender has to sever all ties to his former life,
so that no attachments interfere with his job. You were ready to do that
when I found you. Your old life offered you little; so little that you
wished to end it."
    "Right," Alsotho agreed carefully. "So, the reason I had to pick a
new name... is because this is the start of a new life?" The sense of
loss hit Alsotho again as he considered Girt's words. His old life was
gone...
    "This is your new life," Girt assented. "So why do you insist on
trying to live in the old one?"
    "I can't just forget more than twenty years," Alsotho began.
    "Do you know what the name 'Alsotho' means?" asked Girt suddenly.
    Well, that was a change of tack. "No," Alsotho admitted. "It just
sort of felt right to me." But he was curious... "Why, what does it
mean?"
    "In the language of this planet, it means 'a man with no past.'"
    Alsotho's jaw dropped. "But I have a past!"
    "The Ballerana know nothing of it," Girt pointed out. "They, unlike
the people in your former life, cannot judge you based on the actions of
your past. Nor will they know anything about you beyond what you choose
to tell them. A Defender with a more memorable past might bring those
memories to the Ballerana, and they would surely suffer for it. You, on
the other hand, would prefer to suppress the past and keep it buried. Am
I correct?"
    "That you are," agreed Alsotho with a wistful nod.
    "The man you were, the man who leapt from a cliff, was characterized
by years of decisions and circumstances which turned out poorly in the
end. Alsotho, however, is a blank slate. He is what you decide he will
be. You may keep what of your old life you wish, and the rest will be
buried forever. You truly are Alsotho, a man with no past, only a
future. And you may make of that future whatever you wish."
    Alsotho fell silent for a few seconds while he mulled over Girt's
words. "That was really deep," he said at last. "Are you some kind of
philosopher?"
    A sly smile crossed Girt's face. "Of philosophy also," he replied,
"you may make whatever you wish." With that, he snapped his fingers and
vanished.
    Alsotho stared blankly into the space where Girt had been. "I've
gotta talk to him after eating Chinese," he said to himself. "He could
teach lessons to fortune cookie writers."
    A green-haired head poked around the side of a dune. "Hey, there you
are!" called Dallimia as she trotted up to Alsotho. "What are you doing
way out here?"
    Alsotho shook his head. "Nothing much," he replied. "Just having a
talk with Girt."
    Dallimia's face creased slightly in what appeared to be worry. "Is
anything wrong?" she asked.
    Wrong? What could be wrong? He looked up once again into the
beautiful blue sky, which was just beginning to darken as the sun sank
toward the horizon, and felt more at home than he ever had on Earth. A
new life... "Nothing's wrong," he repeated aloud. "In fact... for the
first time in my life..." he looked into Dallimia's cute little face and
smiled "... everything may just be right."

END EPISODE 1

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

SHEERI: Hai!
OTTO: Excuse me?
SHEERI: Hai! It means "yes" or "OK" in Japanese!
OTTO: OK, OK... I know you had a bad time finding work in Japan, and I
know this gig was the only thing you could get, but if you're gonna be
in an American comic strip, you're gonna hafta speak English! Japanese
lines might be cute and all, but we're not a manga... It just doesn't
have a place here, OK?
SHEERI: Hai, hai... Gomen ne.
OTTO: Which is Japanese for "in one ear and out the other," apparently.

My webpage: http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~katinamp

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