Celly jolted awake, sweat dripping from her forehead. Something major was going on. Something major enough to rumble through the forces of Bishounen World and throw her out of her healing sleep. Speaking of healing, Celly winced and clutched her side. It was still a bit sore from where she had been clipped by Susanne's blast. What had woken her up? Kuso... now I won't be able to get to sleep until I find out.

Celly stayed in her pyjamas but shrugged on a robe as well. She walked barefoot through Castle Anthrax, making her way to Special Ops. As the doors slid open in front of her she saw Bob at his seat, still on duty as always. He looked up at her and a worried look crossed his brow. "Mistress Celeste, you should be resting--"

"I'm okay, Bob. Something big is going down. It woke me up. Get the visuals on the screen. I want to know what's rocking Bishounen World to its very core."

Bob nodded and tapped a few buttons. Flashes of scenes flickered on the screen until Bob traced the energy patterns. One, it was an alley... damn, things were already starting to look bad. Bob fiddled with the controls some more. Two, there was more than one person in said alley... this was getting really bad now. The picture sharpened and the sound came filtering through.

>>Let me guess... you're an Otaku as well.<<

Celly's eyes widened at the sight of the blonde with blue streaks in her hair and a lightsaber facing down Nyx and her silver braid tache. "Her, Bob!" she exclaimed, watching the two warriors' auras flare to life. "The blonde! She's the last. By her aura she's... Tasuki no Otaku!"

Damn. Damn. Damn. Another fight and the two seemed evenly matched. Then Susanne came from around a corner and started to watch the fight with interest. Oh, no way... Celly thought. No way they're ganging up on my ally! Celly continued to watch as Nyx was disarmed by the blonde and then pulled out... A SHOTGUN?!? "I like the way this one thinks," she commented to no one in particular. Tasuki no Otaku had leapt out of the way of the shotgun blast and landed near Susanne.

Nyx smiled a devious little smile as she trained the shotgun on Tasuki and Hotohori no Otaku. Then timed seemed to slow as Susanne reached into her HammerSpace and pulled out a Silence Glaive.

"A SILENCE GLAIVE?!?" Celly exclaimed as her Unnamed Otakus shuddered in fear at her tone of voice. "WHERE IN ALL OF CREATION DID SHE GET HER HANDS ON ONE OF THOSE GODFORSAKEN THINGS?!?"

This was bad. This was very, very bad. Nyx had no choice but to withdraw. "Thank heavens she's smart enough not to go against a Glaive yet," Celly muttered. She watched pensively as Susanne and Tasuki no Otaku greeted each other on friendly terms. So they think they can upstage me, do they? she thought bitterly. No way! I'm coming for you, Hotohori no Otaku... and your little friends too!

"Bob! I'm going out. Give me the coordinates for Nyx's position, and keep everything monitored here." Celly waved a hand across herself, forcing her robe and jammies to morph into her ever-present fuku.

"Are you sure about that, Mistress Celeste? You were injured--" He handed her the slip of paper with Nyx's coordinates on it. She took it from him hurriedly.

"And I'm fine now. Thanks for caring, Bob. No one else seems to." She gave him a smile but before she could leave, he grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"I wanted to tell you... the Sailo Factor has been taken care of. The pieces are gathered."

Celly smiled again, but her eyes remained sad. "That's good to know. If I don't make it back, go through with the Lambda Project. It's the only way we'll win in the end."

"I know, Mistress Celeste..." Bob watched as she opened a HammerSpace pocket and leapt in. "I know."

Los Angeles.

Celly sighed as she leapt through HammerSpace and appeared a moment later in LA. Not the real LA mind you, Celly could tell that in an instant, but the Bishounen World's version of LA. "Nyx... do you really want to go home so badly? If you do, you know you have to fight..." Celly shook her head. She knew all the Otakus wanted to go back to their lives and homes, but why couldn't they understand that they had no lives or homes? They were fiction! Created for the Game! Celly stopped that train of thought and took her bearings. It was daytime and she was in some sort of garden. Her sharp eyes caught movement. It was Millie!

"Millie!" she called. The man's head snapped up and focused on her as she jogged over. "Millie, have you seen Nyx anywhere?"

"She's back there, with the Prince," he replied, pointing behind him.

Celly decided not to question the whole "Prince" thing. "Why aren't you with her?"

"I'm not her Guardian anymore. The Prince has taken his rightful place. What is this all about?"

"Things are getting bad, Millie," she said as she started to walk away from him at a fast clip. "I need Nyx and we need to start forming an offensive. NOW."

Millie didn't say anything, but instead continued on his way.

Celly caught up to Nyx and this "Prince" guy who was supposedly her new Guardian, as they were about to exit the gardens. She called out Nyx's name and was glad that the two had stopped to wait for her.

"Celly? What the hell are you doing here? You should be resting!" Nyx exclaimed.

"No time for that now. Susanne's just recruited another Otaku to her side. We need to get our butts in gear and we need to do it ASAP." Celly took hold of Nyx's arm and started to drag her with her when Seth grabbed Nyx's other arm.

"What are you talking about? Can't you see she needs her rest? She needs to remember her life," he said.

Celly leveled an icy look at him. "Listen, we're in the middle of a war right now and pretty much is against me and Nyx here. She'll remember when she has the time. If I can go on without my memories, so can she."

"How dare you speak to me like that! Do you know who I am?"

"All I know is that you are Nyx's new Guardian. Otakus have a higher status than Guardians right now and frankly, if you're going to keep us from fighting our battles you can go to hell." Celly let go of Nyx's arm and looked at her and her Guardian. "What's the decision, Nyx? Are you going to stay here with your Guardian, soak in the sun, reminisce about old times, and leave me for dead or are you going to come with me and fight the way we are destined?"

Nyx was stunned and looked back and forth between Celly and Seth. She saw Celly's eyes flash with sadness for a second before she furrowed her brow. "Your indecision is answer enough." Celly opened her HammerSpace. "I'm going to be in the alley where you fought Tasuki no Miko and Susanne. Whether you come to help me or not doesn't matter anymore. I plan on fighting to the death." Just before she leapt in, Celly paused and turned back to face the two. "But I do hope you'll come... you're a good friend," Celly said in a soft voice and disappeared.

The Alley.

He held out a hand. "Get ready," he said, then melted back into the shadows.

Celly only had a moment to pull out her BBBoD after she landed in the alley. Good, they were still there. She did wish that Nyx would come but it made no difference now. Celly had a score to settle with a certain Hotohori no Otaku.

"I must have missed something along the line," said Mercy, "because that made absolutely no sense."

"Join the club," Susanne said. "And what was that 'get ready' crap, anyway?"

"I'll tell you!" Celly roared from behind them.

TBC...