"Good, no one's been here, yet." Anaera wandered into New Orleans Square. It had been left intact, for the moment. An eerie silence hung over the place; it was so thick one could cut tensions with a knife. From the corner of her eye, Anaera spotted something coming around the river bend. It was the Pirate Ship!

There was someone standing at the starboard bow.

"ANAERA!" It was Nyx.

Chichiri no Otaku readied herself. The trenchcoat girl had vengance written in her eyes. The pirate ship was nearly parallel with the Mark Twain Steam boat and seemed to be heading out of control at full speed towards the main dock.

'KUSO!' Anaera thought. 'It's going to reach land!' She ran up the stone stairs to the Pirates of the Carribean ride.

Before impact, the trenchcoat girl did a forward flip and landed on the steam boat's upper deck. The pirate ship slammed into the concerete and ripped through one of the resturants. Canary yellow umbrellas and rutan chairs went flying.

"I've been waiting for you!" Nyx cried. She surged an energy blast at the other Otaku, but Anaera had jumped from the railing and missed the blast.

"Is that all you can do?" Anaera jeered.

"Let's play."

The Otaku exchanged massive energy blasts at each other, but both were quick enough to dodge the other's rapid fire.

"Enough of this." Anaera shouted as she rolled past a blast which ripped through the hual of the steam boat. She reached for the heart pendant she wore around her neck. Magically she drew from it a sword which looked as thogh it emerged from within her body.

"Impressive," Nyx drew her silver braid tache from the back of her trechcoat. "A duel?"

"Fight me!"

Nyx smiled and the two faced off. The opponents circled each other, tentative o who would strike the first blow. Anaera swung first, but Nyx blocked her. Sparks flew from the blades of their weapons.

Strike.

Miss.

Strike.

Upper block.

Rip.

One falls.

Anaera watched as Nyx rolled to the ground, crouched over. She had struck the trenchcoat girl across the torso. There was blood on her blade. Nyx still gripped her sword tightly in her hand. Her body trembled a bit.

"Get up!" Anaera shouted. "Get up!"

Nyx chuckled malevolently.

Anaera saw the other girl's aura glowing with extreme brightness, but she soon realized that it was not the girl's aura, but ripples of lighting energy which surged around her. Despite this, Anaera approached her cautiously. Nyx reached up and grabbed the other Otaku by the throat, her hand tightening it hold. Slowly, she rose to her feet.

The surge of energy within the trenchcoat girl was slowly sucking the life force from her opponent. "I'm taking back what you stole from me. It's not nice to take other people's energy."

"But you can't. I used it to cure Mercy."

"Then I'll take some of yours." Nyx clamped down on her neck. The slash across her torso had disapperaed, only the blood on her shirt remainded. Nyx threw a punch into the girl's mid section and sent her flying across the Rivers of America and onto the shore of Tom Sawyer's Island. Nyx foward flipped onto the shore after her and towered over her, the blade of her tache teased the soft white skin of Anaera's flawless face. "Ummmmmmm.......where to cut? Where to cut?"

There was something different in Nakago no Otaku's eyes--something devoid of humanity and conscience-- something purely evil.

"Nyx!" Milton had appeared suddenly and was standing on the roof to the tree house. "Nyx!"

Nyx ignored him and smiled down at her opponent. With a twist of her wrist, the blade cut cleanly across Anaera's cheek. "Now we're even."

She turned and began to walk onto the bank of the river. She paused and fumbled for something in her pocket. Something shimmered in the noon day sun. It was a coin.

Milton jumped down and landed on his feet. He knew what she was going to do. He could not stop her. But he could stop her from killing Chichiri no Otaku. Milton ran to the girl and felt her pulse. She was alive, but barely. He knew the extent of her powers.

Nyx tossed the coin over her shoulder. She continued to walk on. "Ja ne." She whispered under her breath as her figure slowly vanished and a large raven took its place. The bird flew up into the sky and watched as the coin hit the bank of the river.

"MANOS." Nyx's disembodied voice cried out.

Milton scooped Anaera into his arms and covered her body with his, hoping that his powers would be enough to sustain them from what was to come.

The moment the coin hit the river bank, a massive explosion tore through Tom Sawyer's Island, shooting a wall of flames over a hundred feet into the air. The island was swallowed up in the wall of flame.

The raven, finally satisfied, gawked and flew away.