Written by BHart
July 14, 2008

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Act LXXXVIII
Secret of Mithra Survival

They traveled by airship from Kazham to Jeuno. They were in Port Jeuno, trying not to lose one another in a mob.

"What's up with this place? Seems everyone is in a frenzy," noticed Rakuah.

"It's slowly recovering from the council's fiasco," explained Mittens.

A hume male heard their conversation while passing by. "That's part of it, but what everyone's all riled up about are the executions that just took place in Qufim."

"Executions? What for?" asked Rykel.

"There were con artists scamming people and businesses. People got angry and put them to death," explained the hume.

"Why weren't they imprisoned?" asked Maybel.

"Without a good, solid leader in Jeuno, the people's voice is what rules this city nowadays. When people get a mob-like mentality, anything can happen." The man left.

"Typical humes; always at each other's throats," remarked Mittens.

"I've got to see this," said Rie.

"We're headed in that direction anyway," replied Mittens.

They entered the icy territory known as Qufim. There were large groups of people carrying body bags to Jeuno. A couple of people in the body bags were Claude Jackson and Bob Akachi.

They arrived at Delkfutt's Tower. Once inside, Rakuah sighed from relief. "Finally out of that cold. I hate it."

"You and me both," added Mittens.

They went up the different flights of stairs. There were dead bodies lying on the third floor in a puddle of blood. "I wonder what killed them?" asked Rakuah.

They were the dead bodies of Bob Kole and Matthew Hacnobs.

"They were probably thieves trying to get away from the angry mob outside," thought Mittens.

Mittens searched their pockets.

"What are you doing?" asked Kousagi.

Mittens found some money on them. "Wow, these guys had 3,700 gil on them. This could come in handy some time," said Mittens, pocketing the gil.

"Feral Heart would be so jealous right now," said Omatase, jokingly.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she's robbing the dead right now," replied Mittens, in jest.

"This city is well known for its commerce, it's a magnet for thieves," remarked Omatase.

"I'm getting tired of climbing all these stairs. Running out of breath," complained Tokamo.

"We're almost there," replied Mittens. She searched the walls, finding a small opening leading to an elevator. It took them to the secret 13th floor. It was a small room with three demonic dolls pacing about.

"How'd those monsters find this secret floor?" asked Maybel.

"We put them here to guard what's being kept up here. Be careful of their gravity fields. They'll slow you down a lot." Mittens used Hogo Ichi to slow down the dolls attack speed.

One of the dolls went into berserk mode, flailing its body around violently.

The other two dolls were using their typhoon attack.

Sailor Miranda blew the berserk doll away from them with a strong wind.

Omatase was helping Sailor Io by casting lightning spells on them.

The dolls caused a meltdown with their remaining energy. "Is everyone alright?" Everyone was struck by the fire blast.

"We'll be ok," responded Sailor Parallel Moon.

"Damn, I hope it didn't get destroyed." Mittens inspected a part of the wall that was melted.

"What are you looking for?" asked Omatase.

Mittens sighed with relief. She found a device looking like a tuning fork with a small ice pick in the center.

The elevator was damaged by the fire.

"We can glide on the air to the bottom. But we'd need to break through a wall to the outside first," offered Sailor Miranda.

"I can power up the elevator with electricity. But it doesn't run on electricity, does it?" offered Sailor Io.

"We love being up here on the 13th floor. That's our favorite number," said Rykel.

"I'll warp us out of here," suggested Omatase.

"To the entrance of the tower, please," asked Mittens.

They went into the Behemoth's Dominion, afterwards.

"Tread lightly, these beasts pick up on things easily," warned Mittens. She used the Tonko Ni technique, hiding herself from sight.

Omatase cast deodorize, sneak and invisible on everyone. The only way they could follow each other was by watching the footprints made in the snow.

Mittens, Rykel and Maybel stopped for a moment, looking back.

"What's the matter?" asked Rie.

"I sense that same kind of evil as before," answered Rykel.

Maybel quickly turned to her left, slashing the air next to her with her samurai sword.

They heard laughter. "You're way off."

"Sailor Calypso, is that you?" asked Sailor Parallel Moon.

"We'll pick you off one by one. We already have three of your friends," replied Sailor Calypso.

"That ends today. Show yourself!" demanded Sailor Parallel Moon.

"I prefer being incognito."

Many barely visible dark beams of energy headed for Mittens. Mittens held up her ninja blade, piercing the dark beams through the center.

Rykel swung his blade at Sailor Calypso, barely missing.

"Too slow," said Sailor Calypso.

There was silence. Everyone looked for her. "Is she gone?" asked Kousagi.

"I doubt we'd be so lucky," replied Maybel.

Ten stone orbs rose from the ground, surrounding them. A small black spot was forming in the middle of the orbs. They recognized this dark spot as being similar to the ones that abducted the others earlier. "Move away from the dark spot in the middle!"

The stone orbs moved inward, trying to push them towards the center. Mittens destroyed a couple of the stone orbs with some shurikens. Mittens, along with some others, made it safely outside the orb circle.

They destroyed more of them until the remaining orbs disappeared, along with the dark spot.

Partially visible, medium sized Maltan rocks rained down on them. "Run for your life," warned Mittens.

"Where is she? She keeps disappearing," noticed Sailor Miranda.

"My dark blade will find her. It can pinpoint sources of darkness," explained Rykel. He thrust his sword downward at the ground; a dark beam traveled quickly, flying off into the air in the general direction of Sailor Calypso. "She's behind you," warned Rykel, pointing to Kousagi.

Sailor Io and Sailor Ares shot electricity and fire in that general direction, striking nothing. "It's no use. She's moving around too fast," realized Omatase.

The rocks ceased falling from the sky.

Mittens was standing still and meditating. She turned slightly to the left, swinging her sword downward. Her sword extended five feet, hitting the air.

"What are you doing? Practicing your sword swings?" asked Sailor Ares.

Sailor Calypso's body appeared on the ground, split down the middle. "You knew she was there? But, how?" asked Kousagi.

"Ninjas learn how to detect not only if something is there but if something isn't there," answered Mittens.

"I wish her corpse would go back invisible. How disgusting," commented Sailor Miranda.

"How did she notice us with all the concealing spells we had cast on us?" asked Sailor Parallel Moon.

"Masters of concealment can easily detect other hidden things," explained Mittens.

Mittens got out the item she found in the tower. She thrust the ice pick in the icy ground, striking the tuning fork lightly, making it vibrate. The frequency of the sound waves trickled down the ice pick, forming a crack in the ground.

Mittens followed the crack, ending up where it stopped. She broke away at the ice with her blade, until uncovering a small, blue star-shaped item. The sound waves traveling through the ground detected its location.

"We're going to make a pit stop right now," informed Mittens.

They entered the swirling vortex at Qufim, taking them to Misareaux Coast. They came upon a herd of bugard on their way eastward. "We need to conceal our scent and sound; there's too many of them to take on," informed Mittens.

A girl caught on fire ran by in the distance towards the bugard, getting their attention and dispersing them. "Nevermind sneaking by them anymore," said Mittens.

"Who was that girl? Shouldn't we help?" asked Kousagi.

"Nah, there are crazy people doing that all the time here," replied Mittens.

They entered Lufaise Meadows. They hiked up some mountains, ending up between Leremieu Lagoon and Blueblade Fell.

Mittens cut a small opening in the air with her blade. A small portal opened up, revealing a hidden society underneath them. They jumped down it, taking them to an underground, tropical city of mithra.

"Where are we? I've never seen so many mithra in one place," asked Tokamo.

"Let's just say it's where we keep our species' jewels," answered Mittens.

"You guys have treasure down here? No wonder this place is kept so secret," said Rakuah.

"Um, yeah; something like that," replied Mittens.

Mittens greeted the mithra along the way.

Mittens knocked on the door to a large building. She showed the mithra inside the berries she obtained earlier. "We were getting a little low on those," said the mithra, letting them in.

There were many nude mithra inside, sitting around and talking. There were mithra who looked different than the other mithra. "Why do some of the mithra also have a tail in the front?" asked Kousagi.

"Um, that's not a tail," responded Mittens.

"Oh!" said Kousagi, blushing.

Mittens handed the long dong berries and pamtam kelp to one of the female mithra. "Thanks for the berries. Those are one of the hardest ingredients to get," thanked the mithra.

"All for the preservation of the species."

They left the establishment.

"What was that place?" asked Rie.

"That was a copulatory establishment. You see, only 1 in 20,000 mithra born are male, so we've got to keep them hidden and protected in order to preserve our species," explained Mittens.

"And those ingredients you gave them? What do those do?" asked Kousagi.

"They are some key ingredients that promote male mithra virility. It also makes their refractory period virtually non-existent; only lasting a few minutes. It gets them very rock hard, too."

"Those male mithra are really busy, aren't they?" remarked Rie.

"Oh, yes. They have to be."

"I wonder if those ingredients would work on other species?" asked Rie.

"Pervert," said Omatase.

"So that's why I've never seen a male mithra before. They're all down here being used as sex machines," realized Rakuah.

"We do what we have to in order to keep the species alive."