“I’m Kaoru Kamiya, kenjutsu komachi! We finally made it to Sairaag and found out who was behind all this. The one who falsely accused us and put a price on our heads was an onna-mahoutsukai named Yumi Komagata. And it turns out she’s one of Shishio’s followers! Things were tight, but Aoshi showed up in the nick of time and saved us. And just as we were about to strike back, a new foe appeared. I think it’s time we found out exactly what was going on here!”

Kaoru stared at the bandaged figure standing next to Yumi. “Shishio the Red Priest?” she wondered. “I get it,” she smirked. “You just look like him!”

“You mean he’s a fake?” Yahiko exclaimed.

“He can’t be the real one,” Aoshi pointed out. “It has to be some kind of sick joke.”

“They did a great job finding a double for him, didn’t they?” Kaoru noted.

“Well, Kaoru-san,” Misao put in hesitantly, “actually I don’t know what he looked like.”

“She’s right,” Aoshi agreed. “A very clever fake.

“Why are you all sure he’s some kind of imposter?” Misao asked.

“Because we fought Shishio before,” Kaoru explained, “and managed to kill him.”

The man who looked like Shishio smiled in silence.

“WHAT?” Misao squawked. “Shishio the Red Priest, one of the greatest sages in the world? You killed him? Kaoru-san… you’re really…”

“Amazing?” Kaoru finished for her.

“I was going to say a villain!” the warrior of Justice retorted.

Kaoru rounded on her. “But… but…”

“And who’s he?!” Misao went on, pointing at Aoshi. “He’s so crazy and suspicious-looking! He doesn’t even smile!”

Kaoru went into stern-lecture mode. “Misao, anyone who judges people by looks or rumors gives Justice a bad name! Okay, Aoshi may seem kind of suspicious at first glance…”

“Well excuse me,” the chimaera murmured.

“…but he’s sort of okay,” Kaoru finished.

“Sort of?” Aoshi whispered.

“And Shishio the Red Priest wasn’t the great sage everybody said he was,” Yahiko put in.

“Really?”

“Really,” Kaoru declared. “He was as bad as anybody can get. And that’s why this guy has to be an impostor!”

“Couldn’t he be the real one?” Misao asked hopefully.

“Nope. He’s definitely a fake!” Yahiko declared.

Sanosuke and Yumi watched the argument in growing amazement. The man who looked like Shishio continued to smile.

“Rather than asking if I’m the real one or not,” the bandaged man spoke for the first time, “isn’t there a question that needs to be answered first?”

“Meaning what?” Kaoru demanded.

“The question of whether or not you really killed me.”

“We killed him. Meaning that you’re not the real Red Priest!”

“Well then,” the priest threw back his crimson cloak, “why don’t I try my luck?”

Sanosuke and Yumi leaped to the safety of the balcony.

The red-robed figure pointed his staff at Kaoru, and Aoshi gasped in recognition.

“Well, you’ve got the attitude down pat,” Kaoru acknowledged.

FIREBALL!

Almost casually, the priest dispelled the flaming sphere with a wave of his staff.

“Take this!” snarled Aoshi.

GHOZU VRO!

A wall of black tentacles engulfed the priest, but another wave of his staff dispelled them as easily as the fireball.

“Impossible!” Aoshi whispered.

The red-robed priest chuckled.

“I see,” Kaoru murmured. “You aren’t just an ordinary impostor, are you?”

“Well then,” their adversary purred, “allow me to make the next move.” Without an incantation, he blasted fiery energy toward Kaoru and her friends.

Kaoru slashed her bokken across, then down. A shield of blue light met the priest’s bolt. But the energy pressed inward, driving Kaoru back. Misao added her power to the barrier. So did Aoshi.

“Mou, he’s powerful!” Kaoru gasped.

“This barrier won’t hold!” Aoshi exclaimed.

“I’ve barely begun,” smirked the priest.

“Damn!” Aoshi muttered. “I don’t have time to recast the spell!”

Behind him, a bar of blue-white light appeared, and energy poured into the barrier. It flared incandescent, then vanished, taking the attack with it.

“What was that?” Kaoru wondered. “Somebody cast a major protection!” She turned to look at Kenshin, wondering if he had some way of reinforcing their barrier with the Sword of Light.

But their savior wasn’t Kenshin. Behind him stood Megumi Takani, smiling, a ball of white light glowing in her hand.

“Megumi-dono, what are you doing here?” Kenshin asked.

She blushed. “Well, I was worried about dear Ken-san, so I thought I’d go looking for you. You looked like you were being attacked.”

Everyone sweatdropped.

“Looked nothing!” Kaoru flared. “We were being attacked!”

“Oh, how terrible!” Megumi’s cinnamon eyes grew round. She would have looked like the embodiment of innocence if anyone had believed her.

“Mou!” Kaoru exclaimed. “Never mind that, with Megumi here to protect us we can give him the works!” She rolled up her sleeves. “Run for it!”

“Damn it, we don’t have a choice!” Aoshi added, and followed.

Everybody ran, with Kaoru in the lead.

Fingers of cloud reached to obscure the moon as the party regrouped in the courtyard of a ruined mansion. “Wow, so that’s who you are, Aoshi-sama,” Misao marveled.

“And you two are a princess of Seyruun and an old friend of Himura’s,” Aoshi replied.

“Now that we’ve all calmed down, does anybody know who Shishio’s twin is?” asked Yahiko.

“And why did he let us escape without trying to follow us de gozaru ka?” Kenshin wondered.

“I don’t have any idea,” Kaoru replied. “Anyway, as long as we don’t know who he is…”

“We’ll consider him an impostor – though a powerful one.” Aoshi finished.

“You’re sure he’s not the real one?” asked Misao.

“Well, I’m sure we killed Shishio!” Kaoru replied. “We must have!”

“Maybe you killed the impostor instead,” Megumi offered.

Kaoru shook her head. “No, that’s not possible.” The real Shishio had in fact ceased to exist in his own body, consumed from within by the monstrous form of the Dark Lord Shabranigdo. “The one we killed was definitely the real Shishio.”

“Then who’s the Shishio we just saw?” Aoshi asked.

“Maybe another Copy, like all those Katsus?” Yahiko wondered.

It made sense. It made almost too much sense.

“If that was a Copy of Shishio, how could it wield so much power?” Aoshi murmured.

“Hmm…” Kaoru thought. “I’m not an expert, so I’m not really clear on the details. I just don’t know that much about the Copy technique, okay?”

“What are you going to do, Kaoru-dono?” asked Kenshin.

“Go ask an expert!” she replied. “We won’t learn anything just hanging around here!”

“All right,” Aoshi agreed. “In the meantime I will try to find out other things.”

“Where are you going?” Misao asked.

“I have a few things to investigate,” the taciturn chimaera replied. “I will meet you here tomorrow at noon.” He leaped over the wall and vanished.

“Sure,” Kaoru murmured to the wall. “Be careful.”

“So, Kaoru-san,” Misao wondered, “do you have any mahoutsukai friends who are experts in Copying people?”

“Not exactly friends,” Kaoru told her. “But there’s a guild of mahoutsukai nearby that’s known to specialize in Dark techniques, especially chimaerae. That’s pretty similar to Copying.”

“Not again!” Yahiko yelled. “Quit doin’ this to me!”

“Learn to Ray Wing yourself and we won’t have to!” Kaoru retorted.

“There it is!” Megumi pointed.

The headquarters of the guild of mahoutsukai loomed before them, a huge building that looked like an ancient, traditional inn.

A short, bespectacled youth answered their knock. “I’m sorry,” he stammered, with his hand at the back of his head. “We don’t have any room right now…”

“Come on!” Kaoru snapped. “You let people in for study, don’t you? Move it!” She snapped her bokken down. The door blasted inward, catching the hapless apprentice and throwing him across the room.

A young girl came into the room. Even though she appeared to be no more than a child, she wore the blue robe of a master. “Ooh,” she marveled, eyes round with surprise. “You guys must be really strong to do that to Keitarou.”

Megumi bowed. “We apologize for the rude intrusion,” she began.

“Oh, don’t worry about that!” the master-girl laughed. “It takes more than a little tap like that to hurt Keitarou! Even if he can’t pass his exams, nothing can kill him! But we’re really, really busy, so… what do you want?”

A taller, older woman with ash-blonde hair leaned down and murmured “They want to study and give us a big donation.”

“Really! A big donation? Wow! Is it delicious?” The girl jumped up and down. “I’m Kaolla Su! What do you want to know?”

Yahiko peered at her. “Are you really a master? You look more like a little kid!”

The girl raised her hands. “Turtle Bombardment Retribution!”

A swarm of turtles appeared out of nowhere and slammed into Yahiko, burying him.

“Turtles?” Megumi blinked.

Kaoru shrugged. “It seems to work.”

“Mew!” said the turtles.

“Actually, I’m the one with the question,” Kaoru said. “How much of the original’s powers can a Copy have?”

The girl frowned, then smiled. “All of them!”

Kaoru blinked. “Really?”

The blonde girl tugged on her ponytail. “I think so, but…”

“Which is it, then?” Kaoru demanded.

“It can have all the physical stuff – strength, speed and reflexes, that kind of thing.” She waved at an elaborate contraption of tubes and globes. “That’s my new Copy Cultivator. It can even copy an ordinary person’s memories and experiences.”

“An ordinary person’s?” Misao asked.

“Well, we don’t have anybody extraordinary here to test,” Kaolla Su went on. “We’d need someone like the Swordsman of Light or a kenjutsu komachi.”

“Oro?” Kenshin blinked.

“We don’t have any idea how much we can copy of special skills like that.”

“Why don’t you experiment?” asked Misao.

“On who?” the girl asked. “Geniuses don’t grow on trees, you know. We don’t have any samples.”

“I see,” Kaoru murmured. “Okay, you can use us!”

“You mean it?” The little girl jumped up and down for joy.

“Sure. Take Kenshin over there.”

“Ororo…”

“In spite of what he looks like, he really is an expert swordsman!”

“That’s right!” Megumi agreed.

“So… you need a bucket of his blood as a sample?”

Kenshin backed up.

“Nope! Just some of his hair!” Kaolla Su advanced toward Kenshin, grinning like a maniac, her fingers twitching.

“Not a problem!” exclaimed Kaoru, and produced a pair of scissors.

Yahiko, Misao, and the ash-blonde apprentice held Kenshin down while Kaoru took hold of his ponytail.

“Megumi-dono…” Kenshin wailed.

Megumi knelt in front of Kenshin and, with a sharp little knife, sliced off a handful of his hair. “More of Ken-san… just what we all want. Ne, Kaoru-chan?” Fox ears peeped up from her hair.

“I can’t see the sense of that, but at least you got his hair, Megumi!” Kaoru replied.

“Quick, give it to me!” Kaolla Su dropped the hair into the Copy Cultivator.

“How long till it’s done?” Kaoru asked.

“A day and a night.”

“We don’t have that long!” Kaoru protested, manipulating the machine’s levers.

“Cut that out!” cried Kaolla. “You don’t know what it’ll do!”

“Relax, I’m just adding more growth culture.”

The ash-blonde apprentice snipped off a handful of Kaoru’s raven tresses. “Can I use the other machine?” she asked. “I want to try Copying an onna-mahoutsukai.”

“That’s right,” Misao enthused. “Kaoru-san’s really good!”

“Hey, quit it!” screeched Kaoru.

Megumi smiled to herself and laughed softly behind her hand.

The machine puffed and sputtered. “They’re finally done!” Kaolla cried. Slowly, the first machine opened. Clouds of pink smoke came out. They all rushed forward.

“Oro?” said a tiny replica of Kenshin.

“Oh, Ken-san, you’re so cute!” Megumi enthused.

“You guys rushed the growth so it didn’t mature all the way,” Kaolla grumbled.

“It’s definitely got the original’s personality,” Kaoru observed.

“This one’s finished too,” said the ash-blonde, opening the second machine.

“Hi!” exclaimed the tiny Kaoru. “I’m hungry!”

“Looks like this one’s got the original’s personality too,” Yahiko commented.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” growled Kaoru.

Chibi-Kaoru stomped over to chibi-Kenshin. “Kenshin no baka!” she exclaimed, and started beating him up with her tiny bokken.

Both the Copy Cultivators began to shake and bang loudly. Puffs of smoke issued from joints in the pipes. “What’s going on?” Yahiko asked.

A horde of tiny Kenshins poured out of the Copy Cultivator. A horde of tiny Kaorus raced out of the other machine and they all joined in a free-for-all. Then, one by one, they all disappeared like soap bubbles, in little pops of golden light.

“You overloaded the machine!” wailed Kaolla Su.

“Thanks for the help!” Kaoru called, racing for the exit. Her friends followed close behind. They ran over the bespectacled kanrinin again, but nobody noticed. Behind them, the upper levels of the guild’s headquarters shook with explosions.

Inside Yumi’s mansion, the man who looked like Shishio the Red Priest sat on a throne shaped like the grasping claws of an enormous beast. Red light pulsed around him.

“For cryin’ out loud!” grumbled Sano. “Is this how he gets when he exerts himself a little?”

“Get out!” Yumi ordered. “I said get out!”

“Che. Sure thing, Your Highness.” Sanosuke sauntered out, hands stuffed down his trouser slits, chewing on a fishbone.

Yumi turned away. Behind her, the pulsing red lights dimmed and darkened, and the priest’s eyes glowed behind his bandages, red as the eyes of Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo.

In the ruined building where they had held their first council of war, Kaoru Kamiya slept. So did Kenshin, Yahiko, Misao and Megumi.

A shadow fell across Kaoru and she woke, looking up at the marble visage of Aoshi Shinomori.

“What happened to you?” the chimaera demanded.

“Ohayou, Aoshi.”

“It’s afternoon. What did you find out about Copies?”

“Not much. But it is possible to make a perfect Copy.”

“No answers there,” Aoshi grunted.

“So what were you checking out?” Kaoru asked.

“I was looking for some information on Shishio.”

“On the fake Shishio? How come you’re so gloomy?”

“I wasn’t looking for information on the fake Shishio. I was looking for something about the real one. Long ago, he told me about an ancient laboratory he sealed away, which contains the tomes he collected for his researches.”

“Books?” asked Kaoru, her eyes gleaming. “Books of magical techniques?”

“Apparently none of them held the key to curing his burns, but it seems there are some extraordinary books in it.”

“If Shishio collected them, then they’ve got to be extraordinary!” Kaoru enthused. “Where is it? Where? Where?”

“In Sairaag,” Aoshi replied.

“Sairaag! Well, it’s lucky we’re here, isn’t it?”

“It’s in the ruins of the Old City,” Aoshi went on.

Kenshin gasped. “The Old City?”

“Out there?” cried Megumi.

“You know about it?” Kaoru asked.

“Maa, maa, it’s a very long story,” Kenshin evaded.

Megumi’s eyes darkened. “The ruins of Old Sairaag aren’t far from here, on the other side of the holy tree Flagoon. It’s ruined and desolate now.”

“Will you guide me there?” Aoshi asked.

“Sure she will!” Kaoru offered. “And I’ll come along too.”

“Are you sure you should, Kaoru-dono?” asked Kenshin.

“Of course!” replied Kaoru. “We might just learn who this ‘Shishio’ really is. It isn’t enough just to know he’s powerful. With Shishio’s collection of treasure – I mean techniques – we might be able to find a way to beat him!”

“Sheesh,” Yahiko muttered. “You seem serious, but…”

“Well, at least she’s honestly greedy,” Misao commented.

“Okay, it’s settled!” Kaoru exclaimed. “Okay with you, Aoshi?”

The marble man shrugged. “Be my guest.”

“But the Old City is a very dangerous place now,” Megumi protested.

“Be that as it may, I’m going,” replied Aoshi.

“Right! Let’s go for the treasure – ow!” Kaoru slapped Aoshi on the back, but she forgot about his marble skin.

“I’m only looking for a way to turn myself human again,” Aoshi protested.

“Um… before we go, may I go back home and tell my father?” asked Megumi.

Kaoru shook her head. “We have to be careful of Yumi and her henchmen.”

“The city guards could also be looking for us de gozaru yo,” Kenshin added.

“Let’s go together when it’s dark, Megumi,” Kaoru suggested.

“All right.”

The sun set, and the moon and stars shone down upon peaceful Sairaag. The six adventurers soared through the night sky, heading for the house of Ryuusei Takani.

“Is it much farther?” Yahiko asked. He did not like being carried.

“I can see it from here,” replied Megumi. Suddenly a burst of light headed toward them. It had originated from somewhere near the temple.

From the shadows, a priest’s staff chimed. The man who looked like Shishio appeared at the end of the alley, flanked by Yumi and Sanosuke. “We’ve been waiting!” Yumi announced. “Now give us the Sword of Light!”

“Sheesh!” Kaoru exclaimed. “You people never give up!” She and her companions landed on the cobblestone street.

Sano stepped forward. “Kenshin! This time we settle things!”

“You shouldn’t be so persistent de gozaru yo.”

“Shut your mouth!” Sano leaped forward. Kenshin drew his sakabatou and blocked his attack.

“If Himura takes him on, then I’m your opponent,” Aoshi told the man who looked like Shishio.

“As you wish,” the priest replied.

“Aoshi!” Kaoru screeched. “You want to fight with him in the middle of the city?”

“Don’t worry,” the chimaera answered. “This time I’ll test his powers with one shot.” Energy blasted from his outstretched hand. The bandaged man extended his staff in front of him to create a barrier. Kaoru and Megumi turned to stare at them; even Kenshin and Sano broke off their fight to watch.

Misao leaped to the top of a nearby wall. “I don’t know who you are,” she declared, “but my righteous blood is boiling! On behalf of Justice, I shall –”

“Stay out of this!” snapped Aoshi.

“But I already climbed up here!” she wailed.

The red-robed priest laughed, a low, mirthless, contemptuous sound.

Why is he so confident? Kaoru wondered. Aoshi is hitting him with all his power!

A burst of energy blasted Aoshi into the wall. The man who looked like Shishio stepped forward, slowly. “You see, my power is even greater than this!” Energy spiraled around him, expanding outward in a tremendous wave.

“Run!” Aoshi cried.

“Everyone over here!” Kaoru screamed. “Kenshin! You too!”

Kenshin and Sano blinked at her.

“Oro?”

“How come, Jou-chan?”

“Retreat, Sanosuke!” Yumi ordered. “Retreat if you want to live!”

Misao leaped down, landing at Kaoru’s side.

“Aoshi, give us wind!” Kaoru commanded.

“Right! A wind barrier!”

Kenshin joined the group just as Aoshi invoked the power of Air to create a wall between them and whatever attack the priest was planning.

“Megumi, give us a protection spell from above!”

The priestess raised her hand. Blue-white light shone from it.

“Misao, Levitation!”

“Got it!”

“And Yahiko and I will reinforce the wind barrier!”

“I don’t know what he’s using,” Aoshi observed, “but it’s incredibly powerful!”

“I sure hope we make it,” Yahiko muttered.

And a little bubble of Air, reinforced with the strongest protection that a healing priestess of Flagoon could command, rose over the city, out of the way of whatever evil the false Shishio was working.

The priest thrust his staff into the paving stones. Light burned in the cracks between the slabs. A great dome of blazing radiance spread to engulf the peaceful city of Sairaag in its sphere of annihilation.

“How… how can it be so destructive?” Kaoru marveled. “It’s got more force than even a Dragon Slave!”

The dome faded. Where Sairaag had been, there was nothing but a smoking crater.

“Was that a Mega Brand?” Aoshi wondered. “Impossible!”

“It definitely had the effect of a Mega Brand,” Kaoru confirmed. “But the power is so much greater!”

“Kaoru-san,” Misao said, “Sairaag is…” Her voice shook.

“Half the city’s gone,” Yahiko was all round-eyed amazement.

“No,” Megumi whispered.

“Megumi-dono!”

“Father… my brothers… NOOOOOO!!”

And in the midst of the fiery destruction, the man who bore the face of Shishio the Red Priest threw back his head and laughed.

“Whether he’s the real Shishio or not doesn’t matter any more,” Kaoru observed. “The man we’re fighting is undeniably powerful – and extraordinarily cruel. That much is clear.”

NOTES, EXPLANATIONS ETC.

The experts on Copying are, of course, Kaolla Su, Konna Mitsune, and Keitarou Urashima from Love Hina – where else would turtles say mew? Many thanks to Luriko-Ysabeth for suggesting them.