"Mesopotamia," Lorelei breathed, staring in on the room.

In the darkness of space, the only light that shone was from the vessel's large line of overhang bulbs. The young scientist's pressure suit relaxed as she came to a halt, standing in the midst of the small control room. On display, amongst several terminals was the main monitor of her current study.

>LORELEI. IT HAS BEEN SOME TIME SINCE I FIRST CALLED YOU...

She turned the other way, to look into that swirling, shimmering, circuit. Here, mounted into the wall was the core of her efforts, the mind and emotions of Mesopotamia. "I'm sorry," she casually offered, turning to the panels again. "My work schedule's been tossed and turned around. And, then I decided to take some time off to see how the other projects were going."

>I UNDERSTAND.

"Well," she concluded a series of keyboard commands, swallowing. "Your systems all seem perfectly normal. Are you not feeling right?"

>I AM PERFECTLY FINE. STILL, I AM BEGINNING TO NOT LIKE THEM.

"Huh?" She pushed her lenses up higher on the top of her nose. "Not like who? Reidman and Balsarr?"

>ALL OF THEM, NOT JUST YOUR ASSISTANTS. THEY AREN'T LIKE YOU.

Lorelei could admit to Reidman and Balsarr being even more stereotypical than even herself. Since the beginning of the project she had never once seen them out of their lab coats, and didn't exactly have award winning personalities, or social lives for that matter. Still, that didn't urge her to not like them.

>YOU COMMAND ME RESPECT AND TREAT ME ACCORDINGLY. ALL OF THEM ACT AS IF I AM LESSER THAN THEM.

She reprimanded herself for forgetting to boot up the logging history, and switched it on immediately. "Lesser? But, no one has said anything against you, fifth."

>...YES THEY HAVE. SOME ARE JEALOUS THAT I COMMAND MORE ATTENTION FROM THE COLONY THAN THEIR PROJECTS. SOME FEAR ME, BELIEVING THAT I SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN GIVEN THOUGHTS. BOTH FORGET I CAN HEAR EVERYTHING THAT GOES ON WITHIN ME.

"That's only human nature, and you needn't hate anyone because of it."

>I SUPPOSE... LORELEI, I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE.

She turned from the terminal, again looking at the large red core. "It's alright, fifth. I'm here to listen."

Looking back at the monitor, she could almost hear the core speaking the words aloud.

>I LOVE YOU, LORELEI.



SABER MARIONETTE J vs M

EPISODE 12

"CHANGING SIDES: THE RAGING BEHEMOTH"



by Baka-Matt-Su



"Miss Lorelei!" Tamasaburo rushed into the room, pulling her away from the doorway and covering the entrance.

She made no resistance, almost collapsing to the ground from the force of Japones' royal guard. "What's going on, Tamasaburo?"

It had been a day since she had finally linked everything to Mesopotamia. A day of many memories flashing back into her mind. A day of waiting for fifth to make the next move.

"It's that swordsman. He was pushing his way in past security, and will no doubt come here."

"That swordsman?" she felt a chill of terror trickle down her spine. This man, Kenji, had singlehandly borne enough skill to seriously damage both Tamasaburo and Baiko. If he was after her, there wasn't much they could do to stop him. She reached up and pushed down Tamasaburo's drawn energy halberd. "I've had enough of this. If I'm what he is after, there's no point in dragging this out."

"Miss Lorelei, that is unacceptable. One of my primary directives states that you, the treasure of Japones, are to be guarded with my life."

She sighed, and pushed past Tamasaburo, running for the gate.

There, a large crowd was attempting to bar entrance from a man who resembled a rounin. He kept calling out to see Lorelei, pleading and pushing with bare hands. The guards of Japones said nothing other than for him to settle down.

"I have to see her! There isn't much time! If we don't act soon, it'll be too late!"

As she emerged in the courtyard, he stopped twisting and struggling, staring off at her. "Miss Lorelei, I have to speak with you! It's important!"

She stood there blankly, looking at this well built man. He looked strong, as far as humans went - but to be able to best not only one, but two saber marionettes? It hardly made sense.

The guards began pushing him back to the gate. "It is alright, miss Lorelei," one called to her. "We won't let him bother you."

"Wait," she held, running up to the bunch. "I want to speak with him."

"Are you sure about this?" the same guard returned, shocked.

She nodded, and the guards backed off slightly to form a semicircle behind the man.

He shot to the ground, bowing low in desperation. "I'm very sorry about all this, Miss Lorelei. But there was no other way."

"You don't have to do that," she said uneasily, still uncertain of the Japanese way of things.

"Of course," he submitted, rising once more. "Miss Lorelei - we have to act now, or all of Japones is doomed."

"Doomed?" she raised skeptically.

Tamasaburo emerged from behind her. "Miss Lorelei, it is dangerous to remain here. We cannot trust this servant of the Mesopotamia. No good would come of it."

"I doubt him as well," she directed to the figure beside her. "But if he meant to kill me, I've already given him ample time."

"'Tamasaburo', was it?" the man ventured a guess. "I apologize for what I've done to you. It was necessary to deceive my master."

"And I apologize," the guard returned. "But I cannot allow anyone like you to remain free. It is necessary to protect Lorelei. Guards, detain him!"

The men behind him each grabbed hold of Kenji, the man making no effort to stop them. "Miss Lorelei, the Mesopotamia plans the destruction of Japones. After that plan is set into motion, there will be no stopping him!"

She simply turned and walked away. Too many times in her life she had placed her trust in someone, only to have that sacred bond torn away.



"So, if we impacted here," Blood Berry shoved her finger onto the crude map of Terra II, "In the Kamuna Valley...where did the rest fall?"

The five were huddled around the table, which had turned into an amateur war conference. Lime, Cherry, and Blood Berry attempting to remember their return from space, Hanagata at attention with an army helmet buckled firmly in place, and Otaru dragged in between.

Cherry calculated several possibilities from her internal physics functions. "Well, when we were released in Japones-Gaa, a good portion of Mesopotamia tore off with us. Excluding anything that would have burn up on re-entering the atmosphere of Terra II, it is still a large mass. Breaking free would have reduced the amount of air pressure against our descent."

"Huh?" Lime blinked twice in succession.

"In other words," Hanagata stepped in, proud to have followed everything thus far. He hopped onto the table demonstration as he explained. "Japones-Gaa fell in a faster, direct course," He whipped his finger from above the map to the point where Blood Berry had indicated. "The portion of Mesopotamia that fell from space followed, but in a slower more erratic fall."

"Like this?" Blood Berry grabbed him and stretching him out like a slingshot threw him straight up in the air. Five seconds later, he came crashing down, headfirst. Hana's whole body vibrated on impact.

"Good thing, I had my helmet," he breathed out in relief.

In response, the helmet cracked into pieces, and he fell on his side, unconscious.

"So it didn't land where you did?" Otaru ventured, ignoring what happened to Hanagata.

"No, and based on a number of scenarios, I can't narrow it down," Cherry said with a hint of disappointment.

"This is pointless," Blood Berry shot. "We're right back where we started. Congratulations, Lorelei figured out Mesopotamia's to blame - but if we don't know where it is, what can we do about it?"

"And I thought we were done with all this Mesopotamia stuff," Otaru groaned. "Just when you're about to forget something, the past resurfaces to shove it in your face again. Not to mention it blew itself to pieces..."

"I do know all of the possible crash sites," Cherry offered. "Even if we don't know the exact location, we could check the possibilties."

"Right," Otaru agreed. "We can just do it by process of elimination."

"Except that-" Cherry notioned.

"Except what?" Lime jumped in.

"Except that there are about two hundred areas where it could have ended up."

The other three sighed in dismay, peering down at their feet.

Otaru was next to speak. "I don't understand any of this. Didn't Mesopotamia willingly let you all go?"

"It seemed so," Cherry concluded after a short memory check. "After we offered our Otome circuits and Lorelei was released, it began behaving strangely. Then, it let us, Lorelei, and Lynx escape to Japones-Gaa."

Their eyes all focused down at the map, the three marionettes reliving the fateful mission of sacrifice in their minds. If they hadn't been let go, if the Mesopotamia hadn't released them...they had been willing to give up all they had for those they loved on Terra II. That was to be the end of it. In that one decision, they were to protect not only Otaru, but also everyone else.

And now, so soon after, it seemed all for naught.

"Otaru Mamiya."

The sudden voice startled him as he suddenly realized Tamasaburo at his doorway, that dominating presence of hers filling the entire room.

"Ta-Tamasaburo," he managed to regain his composure, and suddenly feeling alarmed. "What is it? Has something happened to Lorelei?!"

"I am quite fine," Lorelei sounded, stepping past the tall marionette where she could be seen.

Tamasaburo eyed her disapprovingly. "She is fine for now, Otaru Mamiya. However, if she continues to walk about as freely as she has, she may not continue to be."

"That man Kenji has been captured," Lorelei informed them, peering out at the strategy conference. "He tried to talk to me this morning."

"He did?" Otaru questioned. "About what?"

She glanced at Tamasaburo's fixed expression and decided to continue against the other's preference. "He claims that he wants to help, and that the Mesopotamia plans Japones' destruction soon."

Tamasaburo took hold of the discussion. "Lorelei, why do you insist on spreading rumors generated from such an untrustworthy source? Anyone allied with the Mesopotamia should be regarded as an enemy."

"Like Dawn," Lime sadly offered, both hands sliding to together on the tabletop.

"Lime," Blood Berry empathetically spoke her name. The kid still hadn't forgotten...

Lorelei opted not to respond to the topic. "I know all that, but I can't stop thinking about the possibility of him speaking the truth. I suppose I can be too hopeful sometimes."

Otaru clasped his hands together and stretched. "Don't worry about a thing, Lorelei. He's secured and shouldn't bother you. As for the Mesopotamia, you can see we're handling it."

He nodded to the table, which was noticeably bare save the single map, before continuing. "Erm, anyways, if the Mesopotamia was up to anything, we would've known it by now. Its biggest mistake was waiting so long. Now we've got time to plan a counterattack."

She shook her head in judgmental fashion. "I hope so."

"Lorelei," Tamasaburo persisted.

"Alright, Tamasaburo," Lorelei downed her independence. "You can take me back, now."

"Look after her real good, Tama-Chan!" Lime called as they left.

All eyes unknowingly swept back to the map.

"Two hundred areas, huh?" Blood Berry crossed her arms.



>I LOVE YOU, LORELEI.

This had been hardly expected. Though her core routines included quite a number of main emotions, she hadn't programmed anything of this sort.

"You love me? But, fifth, I haven't given you that emotion. It's just a misunderstanding. You don't know of love..."

A few wrenching heartbeats later, more words scrolled across the terminal. The whir of data storage slightly overtook the quiet as the log file updated.

>NO, YOU DID NOT TELL ME. I ARRIVED AT MY OWN CONCLUSION OF LOVE. A COMBINATION OF POSITIVE EMOTIONS RADIATING AROUND YOURSELF AND OTHERS.

Following the message, a large equation began spilling out, causing the display to scroll down faster than she could read. She half smiled. This was incredible! More proof that giving intelligence to machines was not a waste. Most humans found it hard to grasp the concept of love, but here, the Mesopotamia had worked it out without even any prior introduction. It was notably complex, love, but it had believed to have worked it out.

The smile faded. Obviously, it had miscalculated. After all, it said it was in love with her. That couldn't be true.

"Mesopotamia, without anything to test your hypothesis, how can you be so sure that you love me?"

>I FEAR THAT READOUT WAS TOO LARGE FOR YOU TO GRASP. I KNOW MY EMOTIONS ARE SUCH, AS IT IS PARTLY WHY I DISLIKE THE OTHERS.

Lorelei felt a load lift off her conscience. "That statement right there is out of place, fifth. Love doesn't involve any form of hate."

>YOU ARE RIGHT, BUT IT IS RELATED TO ANOTHER EMOTION. I REALIZE THAT I HAVE BECOME JEALOUS.

"Jealous?" she started, checking Mesopotamia's emotional status again. It was still reading normal. The words were beginning to make sense to her, and that was frightening. She remembered showing the core to Ieyasu, the Japanese art collector.

Showing interest in the project, Ieyasu had begged to see the heart of the grand ship. After much prodding, she gave in, bringing him before the large living light. As they discussed her next phase, the stabilization of its emotions, the ship lurched as if in anger. Ieyasu caught her before falling, and the room once again became still. That core, though, hadn't. The swirling tornado of red within it seemed to gaze harshly at them, completely lost on Ieyasu, but not her.

She looked beside her at the wall, a small end table sporting a plant encased in an automated greenhouse glass. The German ecologist Faust had given it to her as a gift a while after departure. It was a new breed of rose he had named "Lorelei". She longed to be with him again, reassured by his warm gaze. If there was anyone she was attached to it was Faust.

But now, the Mesopotamia had set its sights on her.

"Jealous?" she repeated, half-expecting the word to invoke an immediate response from the computer screen.

>EVERY SECOND YOU SPEND WITH HIM WOUNDS ME GREATLY.

It was obvious of who it spoke. What could she say to avoid hurting the very feelings she had so fervently programmed? Nothing came to mind.

>LORELEI?

It repeated the single name three times before she noticed. Turning, she felt caught off-guard. "I understand, fifth. I know it may be hard at times, but please keep back these thoughts until I finish the rest of your circuitry."

>BUT I FEEL COMPLETE NOW.

"Maybe, but you aren't fully stable. These circuits will do that. Until then, I'm afraid I need to get back to my room. This can't be good for my sleeping cycle."

>LORELEI, BEFORE YOU GO, I HAVE ONE MORE REASON I CALLED FOR YOU.

She yawned, embarrassed at being tired. "Okay, fifth. What?"

She heard a panel sliding open in the center of the room, the small operations table they rarely used rising from storage. A simple box was all but laid out on it. She cautiously tipped it over to be greeted by a small pendant sliding out of the side.

Despite the dark room, it sparkled as if from its own will, several intricately carved facets seeming to hold together despite their apparent singularity. "It's...beautiful," she breathlessly mouthed to the swirling scarlet core. The Mesopotamia had carved it from its many repair extensions, but had obviously taken great care in its fabrication. As she slipped back to the terminal eyeing the jewel, the table disappeared back from where it came.

>I MADE IT FOR YOU. IT MAY BE BEAUTIFUL, BUT IT STILL COMPARES NOTHING TO YOU.

"I can't accept this," she solidly stated. "You have to understand, fifth."

>I CANNOT UNDERSTAND. IS MY PRESENT NOT TO YOUR LIKING? PERHAPS NOT AS ACCEPTABLE AS THAT MAN'S PLANT?

She was on the verge of crying. "I...I..."

Lorelei dropped the pendant on the workstation and bolted out the door, too miffed to even think of looking back.

Back inside, the pendant sparkled, small rays of light touching upon the Lorelei plant. The swirling reds of the Mesopotamia's core slowed to a smooth pattern. Inside the computer, the Mesopotamia shut down the log file. One last message flashed across the terminal before it powered down.

>LORELEI, MY LOVE...



She started awake, feeling pangs in her stomach from the reprise of her life. Outside, the noisy sound of bugs droned from the surrounding mountain ranges. Lorelei wouldn't be getting any more sleep this night.

She wiped her eyes, pulling out of the bed. The room she stood in had been specially furbished just for her, but it still seemed so foreign to her. Of course, that was mainly her fault. Her and the workaholic tendencies of late.

Kenji was being held in the opposite side of the castle, with maximum security in effect for his cellblock. She would never hear the end of this from Tamasaburo, but she had to speak with him. Her insides wouldn't have it any other way.

The man seemed somewhat surprised as the guard escorted her in. He half rose from where he was lying to quizzically stare at her. His sword and sheath had been confiscated, and now he looked so much inadequate. The strange look turned into a serious gaze as she started the talk.

"Kenji, about what you spoke of earlier..."

He expected it rightly, and drove into a full briefing. "I was in supervision of his current project - a war machine single-handedly powerful enough to level an entire army with energy to spare. It's designed primarily from scrap parts, but the Mesopotamia is a skilled craftsman."

She made no argument. It was evident in Death, Dawn, and her pendant. The Mesopotamia could compromise with little initial material.

"I know little about the beast, but he intends on launching his campaign in a few days time. It has an explosive signature capable of tearing a hole in the planet itself!"

She faltered in her composure. "Why? What does the Mesopotamia stand to gain from such destruction?"

"I don't know," he admitted bluntly. "All I know is that if we don't stop it soon, codename: Behemoth will trample us beneath it."

"Behemoth?"

"Lorelei, what are you doing here?" Tamasaburo demanded with as much anger as possible for an emotionless marionette. The guard moved onto the scene with an escort of several Kika series sabers. "You were told to avoid this area."

"Everything is under control, Tamasaburo," she voiced, tired of the other's overprotective actions.

"No it is not," the other insisted. "Radar has detected a large mass 500 miles to east en route to Japones at an alarming speed."

"The Behemoth!" Lorelei spouted in disbelief. "We don't have a moment to spare!"

She ran off with the guard escort, leaving the shadowy man on his own. "Good luck on your assault," Kenji said. "You will need it."



"Doesn't the Mesopotamia have the decency to wait until morning for these attacks?" Blood Berry disapprovingly shoved branches out of her way as she raced behind the pack, a large bag bounding along behind her.

"You're almost there," Otaru's voice mechanically shot into their audio transceivers.

He had at first been angered that they refused to let him go, but later realized he would only drag them down. Nonetheless he wasn't about to sit by idly. Back at the Castle, in one of its five great war rooms, he watched them progress across a digital combat map. The three green blips moved swiftly across the radar. On the opposing end, a bigger, red blip moved slightly slower towards them.

Tamasaburo slid into the room to address Lorelei, who was also in attendance. "Baiko has been awakened, and stands to lead our entire troops."

Lorelei nodded. It was quite possible Lime, Cherry, and Blood Berry could fail to stop the Behemoth, and the home guard would at least slow it down long enough for an evacuation of the so-far-clueless citizens. At least she hoped so.

Lime and Cherry, at almost equal strides cleared a winding creek that crept into their path almost suddenly. At their current speed, several of the smaller branches snapped off at their very touch, causing a medium-sized trail to be cut from their wake.

"Cherry, what if we can't stop this thing?" Lime suggested to her companion.

Cherry looked sideways at the questioning marionette. "Don't say that. We'll win, Lime. We're not about to lose!"

At that instant, the last remnants of the forest disappeared behind them, and they began traversing a familiar grassy plain. It looked much different in the moonlight. Cherry abruptly halted, the other two slowing afterwards, coming to a stop a ways ahead of her.

"What is it, Cherry?" Blood Berry alarming shouted.

Cherry remained silent, her eyes closed and focused.

The two glanced ahead before tromping over to the still marionette.

"It's detected us," she merely said.

Her voice carried over to the war room, Otaru instantly attending to the combat display. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. On the other hand, he knew not to question Cherry's hi-tech systems.

"Detected us?" Blood Berry scoffed. "Why's a hunk of scrap like that bothering to care about us?"

Cherry didn't answer for a while. "Hold on."

Finally, Otaru saw something notable.

So did Lorelei. "It's changing course," she said in disbelief.

He relayed the information to the others. "From your current position, you could head it off if you rushed north along the edge of the forest..."

"You heard Otaru," Blood Berry called, starting in that direction.

"Wait," Cherry responded, her eyes finally opened. "It's trying to lead us in that direction. It doesn't intend to try and escape us, but lure us to it..."

"What?" Lime prompted in her usual confusion of the situation.

Blood Berry stopped, turning on her ankle. "You mean it wants to meet up with us?"

Otaru silently watched as the red blip moved closer to Japones. If Cherry was wrong...suddenly, it began heading back to its original course. "Hold your ground, guys. It's on its way."

The next scene was unreal. The starry sky was blanketed as the monstrous machination covered it completely. It was bigger than they had expected, stretching out to cover the area above them, and swallowing it from view like a hungry monster of darkness. It began zooming past at a speed preposterous for something of its magnitude, the ground below tearing up from the air pressure it created. As it began hovering past the forest, the trees uprooted off to the side in a mock scene of peasants making way for an important king.

"Cherry?" Lime's voice could barely be heard from the roar of the Behemoth passing by. She was obviously scared.

Cherry's eyes flashed for some time as she glanced over the beast. "That armor's too thick, my scanners won't penetrate it..."

"Well," Blood Berry stood tall, juggling her large bag in her hand. "Let's see if our 'secret weapon' can put a dent in it!"

Without waiting for any reply she raced off into the forest to get in front of the giant machine. With the initial shock over, she could see it was nothing more than a large, blocky piece of interlocking plates, the front carved into a nose to reduce air resistance, and four spines jutting out the sides to help keep it in flight. She dumped the contents of the bag.

The 'contents' began to groggily awake, dressed in tasteless Otaru pajamas. "Mmhhaa...? Otaru...Kun??"

She looked down at him with a devilish grin. "Good Morning, Hangata."

"Morning," he sleepily groaned. Then he realized who was talking to him and began to spasm. "Aiee! What is it now!? Can't you ever leave me alone?"

"'Fraid not," she smirked, swinging him hard in the direction of the Behemoth.

He became like the fly on so many car windshields speeding down highways.

Seeing him made little impact on the approaching death machine, Blood Berry shrugged her shoulders. "Well, it was worth the try."

Lime and Cherry were bounding after it, following two large exhaust pipes. Each of the burning holes could have easily fit the entire lot at Kasahari apartments. It was taking quite a bit of energy to keep up with it.

"We're not doing much from back here," Cherry gasped for breath.

Lime nodded energetically, increasing her own momentum to pull closer to the Behemoth. In a leap only possible by the higher end saber marionette series, she managed to affix herself atop it, slipping at first, but then regaining balance.

The beast edged with no spare time in Blood Berry's direction, the redhead made a similar jump from the opposite end, coming down not far from Lime.

"We've got to get this thing on the ground," she yelled hard in the other's direction, fighting to be heard over the air sweeping past. Pounding hard on the side she found that it was too strongly enforced to do anything. The Mesopotamia had apparently thought to protect it from such attacks.

Cherry called out to them from her running stride beside the raging mechanical. "Lime! Blood Berry! We're about to pass by the Kamuna mountain range. Pull down the starboard wing!"

Lime began looking up at the sky, wondering what she meant, until Blood Berry gently pulled her off to the right.

"Just follow me, Lime. We'll bring this sucker down in no time flat."

They disappeared from Cherry's sight to the starboard, the marionette placing all her current faith in the other two.

Bracing herself on the supposed hull of the monstrosity, Blood Berry took hold of the larger right spine and began pulling at full force. Lime followed soon after, the two precariously hanging and swinging in the passing air as the entire thing below rocketed ever onward.

Blood Berry could feel it tipping slightly. "We're getting somewhere...Lime, we'll have to turn up the power a notch."

The readouts on their systems showed that at their current level of output, they wouldn't last too long before overheating. The war room was silent, as Otaru and Lorelei watched the status reports update.

At first, the Behemoth showed no sign of giving in to their massive exertion, but just as the Kamuna mountains came into view, it fell sideways, the entire bulky frame changing course whether it wanted to or not.

"I...don't know how much longer...I can hold on," Blood Berry grunted, beginning to feel the strain on her systems. Plummeting from her grip, she plunged to the rocky ground below, a drop, which gave time for her to spin around and land on her feet. Watching the scene progress, with Cherry running backup, and Lime hanging from the wing, she spat at her feet. He shoulders opened up to release excess steam. "Dammit, Lime, don't let me down."

Lime was clenching with everything she had left, tuning out the chaos around her. All that mattered was grounding this bomb so that everyone back in Japones would be fine. If only for Otaru, she shouldn't have had any trouble with that. The pressure of the air as she was pushed into it almost worked to her advantage, keeping her wedged into the side of the Behemoth as she worked her best to hold it tipped over.

And then, there was impact. A wrenching sound of metal on stone permeated the air as Lime lost any remaining strength she had. She showered down amidst a rockslide produced as the Behemoth hammered into the small mountain. Lucky enough to be knocked clear and not buried, she twisted back to watch as the whole top half of the mountain broke away, raining down more boulders in a semicircle extended from the impact zone.

Cherry had stopped pursuit when it was impossible for the Behemoth to avoid impact. She had already decided what would happen next.

Elevated slightly higher than it had been, the Behemoth proceeded to rocket forward into the mess of rubble, consequently causing its back end to rise into the air. Reaching a 45-degree angle it swerved out of control, careening into the large ridge beside the mountain. What happened next was not in her assessment, however. Almost as if on cue, the exhaust pipes shut completely off and the intact Behemoth slid to a stop in the middle of the ridge, slightly scratched and dented, but nonetheless in complete repair - even after slamming full force into a mountain.

As the single mountain's rockslide ceased, the mountain range was once again nearly quiet, save the sounds of nesting birds returning to their homes in the crags.

The destruction it caused in their attempts to stop it had been hardly a sacrifice compared to the lives that would have been lost if it had completed its journey.

"You alright, Lime?" she made her way to the one in question.

Lime's shoulders responded by venting, "we got it?"

Cherry was relieved. "We got it, Lime."

Blood Berry ran up from where she exited the whole mess. "That wasn't so tough."

Their celebration halted at the sound of the Behemoth roaring to life. The exhausts began spraying out a different type of gas than before, the spines breaking off as the abomination carved forward through the ridge.

"A backup travel route, huh?" Blood Berry murmured, shooting forward into the ridge with the other two. "I've got it covered this time, Cherry."

"Where are they going?" Lorelei wondered aloud, watching the three blips gather around ahead of the Behemoth's path.

Otaru couldn't help but smile. "I know what they're planning."

She widened her eyes, turning to search his expressions.

"They're not going to... cause a rockslide?"

"Not just one," he corrected her, his finger sweeping where the dots were separated. "Three."

"Can they do that?" she asked, almost sure that they could, but still in disbelief.

As the large red dot neared the target area, it halted, the signal repeating in the exact same spot for the next minute. The Behemoth had been stopped.

"It worked," Lime stated as they stepped over the rubble.

"Wait," Cherry held up a hand, searching through the debris.

They paused, half expecting it to burst out from underneath to continue its unending path towards the country.

"Movement once again," Lorelei noted, watching the dot edge across at a slow rate.

"The Behemoth's burrowing through the ground," Cherry confirmed with her scanner.

"It's hopeless," Lime whined in distress.

"A ticking time bomb on its way to be delivered," Blood Berry analyzed the situation.

"We've failed," Cherry fell to her knees.

Lorelei and Otaru watched as the big red spot moved closer and closer, as they heard the comments sound over the radio waves.

For the first time in his life, Otaru sounded like he had given up. "How do we stop something like that?"

Lorelei turned away, unable to continue watching the thing creep closer. Her hand ran over her neck to rest on the pendant she had placed there. Its edges were perfect, carved not only out of strength, but an efficient meticulous accuracy. It was flawless.

Perhaps the Behemoth was as well.

________________________________________________________________________________

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well, this time I'm gonna throw the ball back in your court. What needs to go in the notes? I'd like to thank you the reader for following the story this far along, and then to even take the time to read my mindless blather. Now, I propose a single question, but a big one nonetheless. Should J vs M continue? Let me know by logging on to this address: http://forums.mangatoanime.com then give me a reply in the Saber Marionette forum...My Question'll be there...will you?



*NEXT EPISODE*

Yahoo, I'm Lime! Behemoth may be tough, but we'll find a way to stop it! And then, we'll go to the Mesopotamia's crash site and tell it to stop all this before anybody gets hurt! Next time, on Saber Marionette J vs M, "Hurry on to Victory!"



*NOTES REGARDING THE SERIAL*

This series is a Fan-fiction serial. Serial is how some books used to be written, or radio programs were broadcast. That is, they were released chapter by chapter, much like some on-going television series. The benefit for a serial over a regular novel is the allowance for change from the original plot line. In a serial, readers can write in to the author with ideas and requests in order for the story to go in the direction they would like it to go. So what am I blubbering about? If you enjoyed what you read, let me know, and tell me what you'd like to see in an upcoming episode. Mail me at emmaworshiper@hotmail.com, and put SMJ somewhere in your subject... Oh, and SMJvsM takes place after the original 25 episodes, but prior to 26 (J Again)...Finally, I have only knowledge from those two series, and a bit from J to X, so don't complain if some of my information may be inconsistent. I'd love to hear from ya, so drop me a line. See you next time!

*DISCLAIMER*

Saber Marionette J is owned and copyrighted by AnimeVillage.com, Satoru Akahori , Tsukasa Kotobuki, Hiroshi Negishi, Kadokawa Shoten, Bandai Visual, Sotsu Agency, TV Tokyo. The works which are written are purely "Fan-fiction", meaning that no profit was made or intended to be made from them, nor do I claim ownership of any characters or places presented within.



*NOTES REGARDING THE SERIAL*

This series is a Fan-fiction serial. Serial is how some books used to be written. That is, they were released chapter by chapter, much like some on-going television series. The benefit for a serial over a regular novel is the allowance for change from the original plot line. In a serial, readers can write in to the author with ideas and requests in order for the story to go in the direction they would like it to go. So what am I blubbering about? If you enjoyed what you read, let me know, and tell me what you'd like to see in an upcoming episode. Mail me at emmaworshiper@hotmail.com, and put SMJ somewhere in your subject... Oh, and SMJvsM takes place after the original 25 episodes, but prior to 26 (J Again)...Finally, I have only knowledge from those two series, so some of my information may be inconsistent. I'd love to hear from ya, so drop me a line. See you next time!


Copyright (c) 2001, Baka-Matt-Su
Last Updated: September 20th, 2001