Hello again... man, it's been ages since I've done anything with the RPG. 
My sincerest apologies to everybody. I hadn't checked my e-mail for a month, 
was the biggest problem. But I'm back now, and I'm actually going to write!
    I was sort of waiting for Jade to do something, but if she's gone and 
Ryoko's left the mansion, that kind of makes the whole plot line void. Hmm... 
interesting... well, let's see what we can do with this...


    "Foul sorcerer! What have you done with Kayla?" Kuno lunged sharply at 
Kailan, his wooden sword clipping the frantic Sayian on the shoulder.
    "Kuno! Will you listen for just a-"
    It was the loudest sound that either man had ever heard. Kuno staggered, 
almost falling from the force of the blow he'd dealt to the other man. His 
sword had splintered in two when he struck Kailan, half of the blade 
rebounding off of the man's forehead to tumble gracefully to the floor 
several yards behind Kuno. Panting with exertion and surprise, Kuno watched 
the still-vibrating blade for a long moment, then slowly rolled his eyes 
upwards to Kailan. 
    The Sayian's hand, trembling, reached up to touch the wound he knew was 
there. The fearfully questing fingers recoiled in horror as they felt the 
wicked crack in the skull itself. Blood was flowing out profusely, coating 
Kailan's face and filling his eyes. It was through this red haze that he saw 
Kuno gaping at him with horror and revulsion. There was no pain, only a total 
sense of shock. But that was fading, fading fast, and something... else... 
was surging through him in its place.
    Kuno took a step backwards, raising his splintered weapon in feeble 
defense against the other man. He was shaking uncontrollably... there was 
something wrong about the way Kailan was standing, one hand stroking his 
wound while the other clenched and unclenched with horrible repetition. And 
there was something utterly terrifying about Kailan's reddened eyes...
    
    Far above, something stood in savage triumph and raised its arms.
    "Now, you will see..."

    Kailan's hands moved with impossible speed, his fingers digging into the 
gaping wound like talons. His muscles strained, throbbing visibly, as he 
pulled his hands apart. The very slowness of the action was petrifying; Kuno 
found himself transfixed, though every fiber in his body and soul screamed 
for him to flee the monster before him. The blood incomprehensibly ceased its 
torrent, although the grotesque aperture in Kailan's skull grew ever wider. 
His mouth was fixed in a rictus smile, a dark parody of human emotion, and 
his solid red eyes never blinked or ceased their unearthly glow. Finally, 
with startling ferocity, Kailan heaved one last time. There was a sickly, 
audible crack as his face ripped itself apart-
    -and then his entire body became a blur of things unnamable.
    
    Azel pushed upwards with all her strength. The tile groaned in protest, 
but shifted upwards, allowing a shaft of light from the rooms above to creep 
down to her. She grinned, and shoved again. The reluctant trapdoor finally 
conceded, and she was back in the main halls of the mansion again.
    *Thank god I'm out of there... now I've gotta find Kailan and Ryoko.* She 
pushed loose hair out of her eyes in frustration. Grey dust from the dank 
room she'd just exited swirled around her. *I'll have to smack them for not 
trying to help me, too. They've probably been gallivanting around, the 
bastards... Ryoko having fun breaking things, and Kailan flirting shamelessly 
with Kuno. Just like them to be so inconsiderate. Never a thought for a poor 
trapped comrade.* She sighed, stalking off to find someone to vent her 
righteous indignation on.
    A few halls later, she stopped. *What the hell is that noise?* A raspy 
bubbling sound wafted ominously through the corridors towards her. Slightly 
hesitant, she walked towards it. It grew louder, and she grew more uneasy 
with each passing step. *What sort of thing can make a sound like that?* 
    Azel peered around the corner.
    
    Kuno swore that the other man's skin was boiling. It rose, fell, and 
fluctuated with numbing rapidity, as if some... things... were burrowing 
frantically through Kailan's veins. Kuno couldn't bring himself to look at 
the monstrosity's face; all he saw was a patch of fibrous, featureless 
redness. The two discarded halves of Kailan's old face glared at him blankly 
from the floor, and he tried with all his might not to look at them. The 
other man's entire body was swelling, churning in an unholy frenzy of 
incomprehensible activity. Kuno felt layers upon layers of his sanity 
shearing themselves off as his staring eyes found they could not look away... 
    It was almost a relief when the blackness struck him and his mind stopped.

    Kailan stood in absolute stillness.
    A small part of his mind cried out for attention, but the rest of his 
being was absorbed in its own activities and paid it no heed. Something had 
changed... something had changed drastically. Thoughts he couldn't understand 
and desires he couldn't fathom streamed burningly over his consciousness, and 
the small part of his mind found itself struggling to avoid being overwhelmed.
    And then there was another voice...
    "Do you like it?"
    Kailan was in a room. He thought it was a room, but he couldn't see 
anything in it. There had to be a floor, because he was standing on 
something... wasn't he? But he couldn't see anything around; no walls, no 
ceiling, no furnishings. Total blackness on all sides, unmarked by any signs 
of other life or presence save for the throne before him.
    It was a magnificent throne, gilded and intricately crafted with fine 
metals and gems; a brilliant display of color and light in a world of 
impenetrable emptiness. And on the throne sat the huge figure of Kailan's 
Master.
    Those were the only two things Kailan knew about the other man: that he 
was enormous, two meters across at the shoulders and possibly four tall, and 
that he was the Master. Kailan's mind gave him no opportunity to question 
that fact, and he was filled with an overwhelming urge to kneel. He fought 
it, gritting his teeth as his knees trembled with the strain of remaining 
standing.
    The Master grinned. Kailan couldn't see his features, or ever remember 
anything about him save his size, but the mocking expression on his face was 
felt to the very core of Kailan's body. "Do you like it, Vaeshtil?"
    Kailan's whole body shook with exertion. His legs screamed, threatening 
to fall out from under him. "That's... not my name..."
    "It is not your name, no. You are the weak half. Vaeshtil is strong; I 
have made him so. You were there. You witnessed his power. You felt the 
strength burning through the body you both inhabit. So, I ask you. Do you 
like it?"
    Kailan slumped to the floor, head bowed. His body fell into a position of 
supplication of its own accord and refused to move any further. Gasping, 
Kailan looked up at the Master. "Who are you? What did you do to me?"
    The Master pointed at him. "You know very well who I am. I am your 
master, and you are my servant. As for what I have done, I have made you 
great, Kanchestar. I have taken your power and multiplied it to heights you 
cannot imagine. I built Vaeshtil for you; with him, your world is limitless. 
None can stand against you now; they must all fall before you like you fall 
before me. That one... Scimitar, the Super-Sayian. You envy him, do you not? 
He possesses to the greatest power of your race and is exalted and revered by 
all other Sayians as the epitome of fighting perfection, whereas you were 
taunted and beaten in the alleys as a disgrace, an abomination, a waste of 
Sayian blood. What sweet justice it would be for you to defeat Scimitar, 
would it not? To prove to the universe that you are more worthy of admiration 
than any paltry Super-Sayian. What more glorious vengeance could you ask for?"
    Kailan shook his head, trying to clear it. "I don't want vengeance... I 
don't want to fight Scimitar. My planet was destroyed. The Sayians are dead. 
There's no one to prove anything to now, even if I wanted to."
    The Master laughed, and the reverberations rattled viciously through 
Kailan's skeleton. "Attempt to defy me as long as you like, Vaeshtil. You do 
not yet know how tempting it is to have power the likes of which you now 
possess... and you will use it to serve me."
    "You still haven't answered my question. What did you do to me back 
there? And who is Vaeshtil?"
    "I have been monitoring you for some time now, Kanchestar. I have been 
watching you, and manipulating your body and soul. You had great potential 
even before you went to Earth, but you were woefully incapable of comprehendin
g where to find it. So I decided to help you, Kanchestar. I took your latent 
abilities, and fed into them all of your anger, hatred, frustration and fear. 
Such feelings can lead to power, Kanchestar: anger fuels your strength, 
hatred keeps you focused, frustration hardens your will, and fear gives you 
caution. I took your all-too human emotions and raised them to new levels of 
intensity. And from them came Vaeshtil, a being of enormous strength, 
indomitable and tireless."
    "You... you made me into that monster?"
    "He is no monster!" The Master's voice was thunderous. "He is perfection, 
Kanchestar! He transcends your own pitiful limitations, raising you to 
absolute glory every time you unleash him!"
    "Unleash...?"
    "Yes. Unfortunately, in isolating and developing the emotions that make 
you powerful, I underestimated the damnable stubbornness of your frailties. 
Somehow, they too have consolidated and formed their own identity for you; a 
being made wholly of worthless things."
    *Worthless things...* Kailan thought, falling into memory. *My healing 
power... could that be coming from this other side of me? If dark emotions 
are what the Master considers essential, then the other side must be made 
of...
    *Love?*
    "Your thoughts are open to me, Kanchestar." The Master laughed again. 
"Yes, love is there, as well as the rest of the mental refuse which makes 
humans weak. I would hardly consider that side a worthy alternative to the 
power of Vaeshtil. Would you rather be an unbeatable superpower, or a puny 
traipsing lover boy?" The echoing voice dripped with disdain. "Ignore that 
side, Kanchestar. It will only lead you to ruin."
    Kailan's mind spun. "Why have you done this? What do you want?"
    "Why, nothing, save that you serve me."
    "How?"
    The dark room was fading away, and the throne with its indistinct, 
threatening presence grew blurred. Kailain blinked heavily as the Master's 
voice vibrated palpably through his head.
    "You will know... soon..."
    And he was back on Earth.
    With Vaeshtil.
    The dark half's mind was a frenzy of daemoniac lusts, fury and madness 
coursing their damnable paths over the surface of the body's brain. Kailan 
dwelt in the same corner, now unnoticed by the wrathful remainder of the self 
that was no longer his. Vaeshtil flexed several onyx tendrils languidly, 
minute drops of Kuno's blood detaching from them and delicately staining the 
white floor. Then he turned and caught a glimpse of himself in a wall-mounted 
mirror.
    It was almost unrecognizable as Kailan's body. The hair had slicked 
itself back and hardened into almost a bony crest, midnight black mottled 
with sullen deep blue veins. His torso had expanded in all directions, giving 
him an imposingly powerful figure. Brawny arms, the smoldering red-black 
color of dying embers, ended not in hands but mangled stumps. From each of 
these anti-extremities emerged four long black tentacles, thin as whips and 
barbed viciously at the ends. These cords withdrew themselves into the deep 
recesses of Vaeshtil's body as the non-man regarded himself dispassionately. 
Kailan's gown was in tatters, and the stilettos had simply exploded as 
Vaeshtil's wide, taloned feet forced their way into existence. But the most 
distinctive feature of the creature Kailan had become was the brooding 
crimson ambiguity that was Vaeshtil's face... or, rather, his lack thereof. 
All that remained of the Sayian's original features was the lower jaw and the 
area behind the temples; the rest was gone. The half of Vaeshtil's mouth 
grinned gruesomely, a perverse, flopping mockery of all life.
     This was the form that regarded itself in the mirror. Then, apparently 
satisfied, Vaeshtil raised his arms and struck out with his wicked tendrils. 
The speed with which he lashed out was such that the glass seemed to shatter 
of its own volition. Inside the creature's mind, Kailan felt the tinglings of 
Vaeshtil's black amusement in the destruction he was causing. He shuddered.
    *This is what I've become? No, no! I can't accept that! This is still my 
body! This is still my mind! Damn it, this is my life, and I am going to be 
the one to live it!* 
    The Master's voice appeared, rumbling with laughter, in his head. "How 
you amuse me, Kanchestar. Suit yourself, for the time being. But always know 
that Vaeshtil is waiting for you, should you ever need him. And you will... 
oh, how you will..."
    As the final echoes died away, Vaeshtil began to shake uncontrollably-
    
    -Azel gasped.
    The disgusting faceless abomination that had killed Kuno was convulsing 
wildly. Azel shrank around the corner a bit further, eyes wide with horror. 
She considered herself reasonably brave, and she certainly wasn't some 
weak-stomached shrieking pansy-girl who fainted at the slightest provocation. 
Even so, she felt herself quavering at the sight of the deformed Hellspawn 
with the bloody face and the killing tentacles. It thrashed about the hallway 
for no reason she could see, finally throwing itself onto the ground and 
clutching its temples with its... well, stumps.
    And then something impossible happened, and-
    
    -Kailan blinked.
    He stared around, uncomprehending. Then he removed a hand from the side 
of his head to touch his face. The nose, the cheeks, and the forehead all 
responded in the affirmative. He looked down at himself, and saw his own 
half-tanned body, complete with hands and feet.
    He breathed a quick prayer of thanks to a long-ignored god.
    Rising unsteadily, he took in the rest of the scene. Shards of glass 
littered the floor, and he realized with a start that he was shoeless. Not 
only that, his gown was tattered beyond recognition and barely served to 
preserve his modesty. Embarrassed, he wondered idly where to find some pants 
when his stare fell on Kuno.
    The man was dead.
    *Oh, no...* Kailan was struck with bitter remorse. *I killed him, didn't 
I? I'm so sorry, Kuno. You were a dumbass, but you didn't deserve to be 
callously slaughtered like this... damn Vaeshtil, damn the Master! I don't 
want to kill anyone!*
    Kailan was startled by the vehemence of that last thought. It had been a 
powerful mental shout, spoken in a silent voice he was fairly sure was not 
his own. Inexorably, he felt his own mind shrinking away again to a secluded 
corner as something else rose up. His brain filled itself with lightning-fast 
thoughts of guilt and compassion and empathy, and his body moved of its own 
accord to where the prone man lay. As he knelt and laid a tender hand on 
Kuno's brow, Kailan watched himself with fascination and bemusement.
    *I... I suppose this is my other being, then. The loving one, the 
healer.* Kailan laughed wryly to himself. *What a mess I'm in now... I've got 
two hugely powerful polar opposites living in my head, with my own little 
consciousness caught inbetween. I wonder, how much control I do have over 
myself? It seems like either side can assert itself pretty easily, depending 
on the situation... could I do anything to keep control?* He delved briefly 
into memory, emerging with a new thought. *Wait- the Master said that 
Vaeshtil will be waiting until I need him. Maybe that means that he won't 
come until I summon him; if that's it, then the Healer's probably the same 
way. So as long as I avoid calling for either one, I'll remain me. Simple, 
unremarkable me... without any fantastic powers, without any special talents 
save the ability to annoy women.* Kailan's mind frowned, while the Healer 
sent golden light diffusing through Kuno's lifeless form. *Hey- the whole 
transvestite episode was probably a manifestation of the Master's work, too. 
If my mind is split between opposites, like Vaeshtil and Healer, maybe I'm 
split into male and female too, and my wearing a dress was what brought out 
my... Holy Hell. Why is this all happening to me? I'm so tired... I just want 
to go somewhere and sleep, and leave whoever the hell else is in my mind back 
here, on this stupid bastard planet. I want to go back to before I came 
here... I want to see her again... damn, how I want that-*
    There was a light touch on his shoulder. He whirled around, startled. 
Azel backpedaled almost spastically, hands raising up to shield herself. The 
two looked at each other for a long moment.
    "Azel?"
    "K...Kailan?"
    Kailan grinned, rather weakly. "Uh... hi. Have you, uh, been here long?"
    Azel nodded, eyes wide. 
    "So you saw me... umm, it?"
    Azel nodded again, pointing feebly at him. "Found your face, I see. Where 
was it?"
    "Umm... this is a new one I, uh, grew, I suppose. It looks like the other 
one is... umm... still there..." Kailan gestured briefly at two small pink 
mounds on the floor, staining the carpet. 
    Azel looked down at them, raised her eyebrows briefly, then turned back 
to him with a steady gaze. "Oh," she said. 
    Then she screamed.

    Azel nodded, hugging her knees. They were both sitting, leaned against 
the wall in a patch of the corridor unlittered by broken glass. "So, what are 
you going to do?"
    Kailan sighed, shrugging. "I honestly don't know. I'll try to avoid 
calling up either Vaeshtil or the Healer. I don't want to bring Vaeshtil 
back, and I don't understand the  Healer enough to want to give up my mind in 
favor of his... or hers, I guess. Maybe. Hell, I don't have the faintest idea 
what's going on. Maybe I ought to just get back on my ship and leave you all 
alone. Just end it all. Fly into a sun, and take whatever demented scheme the 
Master's planning with me." He absentmindedly fingered a thin white scar in 
the middle of his forehead.
    "You can't do that, Kailan," Azel said firmly.  "That's not a solution, 
that's surrendering. Look- if you learn to control your new selves, you could 
really do some good, you know? I'm not exactly an experienced adventurer yet, 
but it seems like the Master's just one of a whole host of crazy-ass bastards 
who seriously need the tar beat out of their sadistic little skulls. All the 
others, like Noname, Akisame, and Scimitar, could really use you; even if you 
don't want to let Vaeshtil come out, the Healer could be helpful, to say the 
least. I mean, you got Kuno alive again, even after what Vaeshtil did to 
him." Azel gestured to the man in question. Whatever the golden light the 
Healer used was, it was potent stuff. Kuno's chest rose and fell 
rhythmically, and the ghastly puncture wounds were gone. Azel turned back to 
him. "See? You've still got a lot to live for, Kailan. So promise me you 
won't do anything stupid. Okay?"
    Kailan grinned faintly. "Nag, nag, nag. You're just like my mom. 'Now, 
now, Kailan! No committing suicide while Mommy's not looking!'" 
    Azel looked sideways at him, smiling uncertainly. "You are joking, right?"
    He smiled broadly, but his eyes were roving through troubled memories. 
"Of course I am. Come on- let's find the others."