Operation: Phoenix: Sam I am

        by Fleet Commander Samhain, midnite@iastate.edu

	The newly arrived Samhain, clad in full Empire uniform, stepped
towards the one in purple robes, drawing his katana from where it was
slung at his side.  The other pairs of combatants spread out across the 
building turned towering platform, but the two Samhains wasted no time 
getting down to business.  "It's time for you to see who the real savior and 
Lord is, fool," he sneered as he lunged, bringing the blade down in a wicked
arc towards his opponent's robed shoulders.  Before it could reach its
mark, there was the sharp clang of strong metal blades crashing against
one another, his opponent drawing his own katana and blocking the blow
easily.
	"Au Contraire, mein doppleganger... I think it is _YOU_ who
will soon see the truth," he countered as he brought the blades down to
the side, then swung back across the front of his body in a wide sweep
intended to spill the attacker's guts.  All it cut though was clean,
empty air, his opponent leaping and flipping feet over head, twisting
without bending, and landing at his left hand side. The robed one's blade
swept back in for another attempt.  Once again the blow was blocked.
	Noting the even match, Samhain, still wearing the purple robes that 
the X'hirjq Empress had given him, stepped backwards a couple steps and 
fixing his opponent with his eyes and shedding his robes as moved.  The 
two combatants were now clearly wearing identical tan Uniforms, no 
insignia on them at all, save the rank insignia of the Doberman Fleet 
Commander.  "You're wearing my uniform, methinks."
	"Enough chatter.  FIGHT!"  He lunged and was side-stepped easily 
and was met by a wicked diagonal slash, only to parry it as if he'd 
known it would be coming.
	The two opponents circled each other, blades flashing brightly in 
the starlight from the sky above them since the ceiling and roof were gone.  
They feinted first to one side, then to the other, eyes locked solidly on
each other, each of them watching for the other one's move to make itself 
apparent in his eyes and body.
	Grimace and the X'hirjq Empress watched solemnly and quietly as
the two combatants felt each other out, easily keeping track of which was
which and who was who, yet saying nothing and making no move to
interfere or interrupt the fight one way or the other.
	B'harni, on the other hand, was rather impatient about the whole 
ordeal.  He pranced forward (if a fat, paunchy, plush dinosaur could prance, 
anyway, that's what he did) and made as if to whip is tail around and sweep 
the legs out from under one of the dueling Samhains.
	In a blur of motion, The Empress took 2 quick swipes with her front 
claws, ripping large, plushy chunks of flesh out of the demon's nose, then 
whirled and sent a huge back foot into his gluttonous, bloated gut, sending 
him flying backwards and nearly off the top of the tower and ripping long 
claw-stripes across him.  After he landed with a giggle and *oof!* his grin 
faded quickly as the pain from his injuries began to sink in.  He rubbed his 
wounded snout and worked some magic to heal his wounds.
	As he worked his magic, the Empress gave him a terse warning: "Your 
life shall be forfeit after further interference."  She then turned her head 
back to the challenge before her.
	Suddenly, one of the Samhains  swung ferociously across the other's
chest, intending to open a gash from his right shoulder diagonally
down towards his waist, but had his attack blocked easily and
then countered with a lunge for his vulnerable left side.  He parried
the blow, spinning around to his left to block and continuing around the
rest of the way, then sidestepping, sending his blade flying towards his
opponent's lower back with a dull whooshing sound as it whipped through
the air.
	The other Samhain, knowing what was coming, leaped high into the
air, tucked, and did a backwards sommersault over the flying blade, then
came down with his own katana flashing as he swung diagonally downward
toward the shoulders with such force that had it connected with its 
target it would have sliced him in two.
	In a blur of motion, the now-defender had out his wakizashi, the 
smaller blade of the pair, and blocked the downward swing.  He 
simultaneously swung his own katana upward toward his foe's thigh, only 
to have him plant his hand on a bit of remaining interior wall, raise each 
leg in perfect sync with the swing and spinning sideways, causing him to 
look as if suspended horizontally in the air and spinning about a central 
axis.  As his feet returned to their familiar place on the ground, he drew his 
own wakizashi from its sheathed position, tucked carefully under his belt.
	B'harni, having learned from his earlier, highly traumatic encounter 
with the Empress, rocked back and forth on his fat haunches, burbling and
cheering and frothing at the mouth.  He knew which was which, too, and was
trying to cheer for his gladiator, but the battle was much too fast for 
him.  Despite his burbling, cheering and frothing, none of the growing 
number of Jihaddi spectators or the two younger dinosaurs had any hope of
telling who was who; B'harni was always some indeterminate amount of 
time behind the battle. If anything, it confused them further.
	Their eyes locked again, and one charged the other one, both
blades flying.  There was a succession of clangs as wakizashi crashed 
against wakizashi, wakizashi blocked katana, katana slammed against 
katana, and the two gladiators passed each other in a graceful yet deadly 
ballet of motion and swords.  They spun around and faced each other
again, and made another pass.  More clangs of metal on metal, and not a
single hit was made on either side.  The metal blades collided with such 
force that sparks flickered and flew, and it was suddenly clear to the
onlookers that not only did the combatants *seem* to know what the
other would do before he did it--they DID know.  They were the same, and
yet different.  And they had no way of knowing which was which or who was 
who, for Grimace and the Empress stood there watching solemnly and 
passively, and B'harni wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.
	They watched, quietly awestruck, as another charge was made.  The 
charging Samhain suddenly changed his mind, and switched to an unusual
tactic.  He stopped cold, blocked the incoming blows with his katana,
and leaped into the air, "This is getting us..." released his wakizashi to
freefall, spinning and flashing in the light, as he leaped high into the air, 
knees tucking to his chest in a sommersault at least a foot over the top of 
his opponent's head, "nowhere!" He landed behind him, locking up
the katana blades as he did so.  He shifted his now-free hand to shadow
form, and reached it deep into his opponent's back, sending him into a
fit of convulsions.
	"What... are... you... doing?" he questioned drunkenly as he
half-spun and plunged the wakizashi deep into his attacker's side.
	He grimaced as the pain registed in his side, but kept going
anyway.  "Taking you somewhere to talk!"  came his answer, his eyes
glowing, tears of pain and effort flowing from the corners of his eyes, 
sweat beading on his forehead, a blood stain growing at his waist, and 
started to drag his opponent with him to a shadowy form.
	The onlookers stared as the blades dropped free to the ground,
and the two once-solid bodies started to fade from a corporeal form.
They started to pull together into a single, black blob, though part of
it was fighting frantically, trying to keep separate.

***********************************************

	The two Samhains met on a shadowy plane, one mind being dragged
into another.  "COME!  COME AND SEE WHAT YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR IS!"

***********************************************

	The dark blobs drew closer together, and soon two slightly
different shades of shadow were seen to be mixing together like food
coloring into water.  Shadowy flames began to fan out and lick the 
surrounding debris from the black shadow mass.

***********************************************

	Two minds collided, a tremendous backlash hammering both like a 
sledgehammer hitting home a railroad spike.  One mind suddenly saw all the 
good things about B'harni, his gift-giving, caring, sharing, loving.  His 
friendship and compassion.  His wonderful world where all loved him and all 
loved one another.  It showed all the wonderful things that B'harni 
teaches--the alphabet, the seasons... and it also showed another Purple 
Being.  This one was trying to poison people with some thick, syruppy drug.  
He forced it upon people, who joined him and then started to drink the 
concoction of their own volition, while causing their teeth and bodies to rot 
and decay.
	"LIES!  FALSENESS!" cried out the mind, and it began forcing its
own knowledge and experience back at the other one.  Knowledge of  
demonstrations of lying and cheating.  Images of a lesson about 
individuality, during which everyone danced and sang and dressed 
alike.  Images of people labeled as bad, only because they were not 
happy, or had some negative emotion.  Experience in B'harni's 
home dimension.  Experience of seeing him kill so many, of seeing minds
ripped out and turned to sponge.  Experience of being killed--dishonorably-- 
when he had brought allies with him to this world to try CONQUER it. He 
did not not to make friends with it, he wanted to ENSLAVE it!  He wanted to 
make it his OWN, and did so by appearing as a parent figure.  And there 
were images of the other, the Great Purple One.  In these images he stood 
by, happily drinking his Great Shake.  Sometimes his friends would help 
him do something.  Sometimes he would hand a Shake to one of them for 
them to enjoy, and was made happy by seeing them enjoy it.  They always 
took of it freely, they were never forced, and yet they always enjoyed it 
enough to come back to visit again.  Then music drummed its way into his 
head...

[Van Halen, "Don't Tell Me"]

		"...Is it right to take the easy way
			   close your eyes
		     get on your knees an' pray
		 now you're saved by a higher voice
		 givin' up, givin' up, givin up your
				choice
		  if I'm wrong, then I'll pay for it
	    if I'm right, yeah you're gonna hear about it
		but I've tried, yeah I've tried for it
		 I tried, I tried, 'til I'm satisfied
				and I....
		I'm tired of hearing what love can do
				and I...
		ain't gonna tell you what's right for
				you..."

	The second mind screamed in agony, and began to lose its will.
Being told about B'harni and his love and caring was one thing; seeing
his ACTIONS and DEEDS was another entirely.  Scenes of people giving 
up their choices to the Magenta Mind Muncher, who devoured their free and 
independent thought processes challenged his beliefs.  Simultaneous scenes of 
the Great Purple One serving people what they asked for--giving them Shakes 
and befriending them--wore down his resistance severely.  As the scene of his 
own death at the hands of the putrid one's allies found its way into his 
mind, he lost his will completely, and found himself being absorbed into 
the body and will of another.  And he found he no longer cared--for 
hadn't that already been done to him?

**************************************************

	The shadowy blob was shimmering and struggling against itself
less and less.  Suddenly, it pulled together into a single black sphere, 
hanging silently in mid air, a slight shadowy aura swirling about it.  Without 
warning, the surface began to spit and flame wildly, sending sparks and 
flames in all directions.  There was a thunderous roar, and the ball 
exploded outwards in a mass of murkiness and beams of solid blackness.  One 
particularly large beam went out into the crowd, narrowly missing the 
Empress who didn't so much as twitch as it blazed past her head, knowing 
full well it would miss from the instant of its launch.
	There was a brief and brilliant flash of blinding white light, and the 
blob was gone, leaving behind only the pairs of wakizashi and katanas 
setting on the ground, blowing snow circling around them in miniature 
whirlwinds.
	B'harni looked to Grimace and the Empress, who nodded in unison, as if 
linked in thought, saying as one that it was over.  He scowled, and roughly 
snapped his attention to the remaining combatants.

***********************************************

	Samhain materialized in an empty realm, and struggled valiantly
to control the new power and energy coursing through his being.  He struggled 
for several long, arduous weeks, and at long last decided he was satisfied 
that he could at least partially control his powers.  He tiredly opened a 
portal back to the top of the tower, where the battle was still 
raging between several pairs of combatants.  Time apparently passed very quickly
here compared to on Earth...

***********************************************

	A swirling red portal slowly opened between Grimace and the Empress 
without a single sound.  Out stepped a befuddled and very tired
Samhain, his uniform stained bright red on one side of his body, bare yet 
intact flesh showing through the hole in his shirt.  He looked around the room 
with a rather glazed look in his eyes, noting the pairs still fighting, and 
flopped to the floor without even really trying to catch himself.
He looked up at Grimace and the Empress and nodded respectfully to each of 
them in turn as the portal closed behind him, then turned to
B'harni who could only stare at him in disbelief.  He grinned and winked at 
the purple monstrousity before him.
	B'harni glowered at him, gnashing his teeth loudly enough for all to  
hear, then quickly focused his attention on the remaining battles.  He still 
thought it possible he could win... 

*******************************************

To be Continued by the other Turning Point Combatants...

"Sam I Am"
Copyright 1996
David R.Hibbs