The Wax Statues

"SHAKOUKAI!" Jamanen bellowed as she returned to her fellow youma's watery lair, "I KNOW IT WAS YOU! COME OUT!"

But she was no where to be found. Jamanen plunged deeper and deeper into the oyster woman's caves, which proved to be a honeycombed maze far larger than she imagined. Tireless, she explored every nook and cranny until at last, she sensed a presence far below, in the darkest regions of the Negaverse.

Smashing through a pearly door, she saw Shakoukai standing by... her children! All five were there -- Jelly, Gooey, Drippy, Slimey, and Muck -- only they had been completely coated in Shakoukai's vile green wax... they were statuelike, immobile, but as beautiful and shapely as always.

"Hmm?" Shakoukai asked, polite as ever, "finally figured it out, I see?"

"You lied to me! Why?"

"I did no such thing!" Shakoukai gasped, sounding honestly offended. "Everything I said was strictly true. A certain youma grew jealous of your slaves, and asked the Negaverse for permission to borrow them... I merely neglected to disclose that the youma in question was, in fact, me."

If Jamanen could have blushed any more scarlet with rage, she surely would have.

"It's over. Give them back. NOW."

"Dear, I'm afraid I can't."

"What do you mean? Thaw them! Release them from that wax!"

"Would that it were so simple. You see, my usual art involves simply coating my targets with my was, rendering them helpless... but I wanted to take it a step farther. I wanted to see if I could, like you, completely transform these dreadful Scouts into Wax Slaves of my own -- fully mobile and answering to no one but myself. Sadly, I haven't got it quite perfected yet... they aren't merely covered, their bodies are now nothing but wax! Nothing else remains... their bodies and souls are gone. This is just a monument to their uselessness and your own foolishness. A failure, but I'm sure I'll get it sorted next time."

Jamanen felt her own soul quiver with fear. And sadness. And then rage. Screaming, she launched herself at Shakoukai, intending to kill her where she stood. Again, her temper got the better of her -- Jamanen was so used to being practically invincible from nearly every form of harm -- bullets, blades, energy blasts, these meant nothing to her. But Shakoukai's immobilizing was, logically, one of her few weaknesses. With a few blasts from the shells on her hands, Shakoukai had rendered Jamanen helpless.

"How rude! You know the Negaforce doesn't allow us to destroy one another, dear Jamanen... but I do understand your feelings, believe it or not, so I shall take my leave. Ta-ta!"

And with that she was gone.

It took Jamanen hours to extricate herself from the green oyster wax. Her rage was gone again, replaced by a bottomless well of sorrow. She slid to her children, now lifeless statues, and wept as she caressed their beautiful faces.

"My children... my children, forgive me. I should have been able to save you... how can I go on without my beautiful children?"

Darkness washed over Jamanen's soul.

...but then...

....there. She felt it. Shakoukai had been mistaken. She sensed a tiny spark of life there, deep within the petrified Jelly. It was tiny, almost extinguished, but still there.

Focusing all her strength, Jamanen willed that small dot of red to grow and flow again. Yes! Two small rivulet of crimson slime ran down Jelly's face like tears... tears of joy!

They were alive. She would restore them. It would take time, no doubt, but Jamanen would have her family once again.

THE END