SECOND SOUL

By

Hope of Watch Tower J

Part 1: Dreams

Joe was in a field. He was surrounded by… roses? He looked around.

There were roses everywhere. A mirror stood in the middle of the field.

Slowly he walked to the mirror and peered at his reflection. At first

his own reflection, then the image blurred to reveal his cybernetics. Then a flash of light blinded him, revealing him as a six-year-old body, covered in blood. Golden light enveloped the youth and a tall silver hared creature stared back at him. The being was humanoid, easily over six feet tall, with silver fox ears and tail. He was dressed in a powder blue tunic and trousers.

"Who are you?" Joe whispered.

"I am Youko Hikage. I am you." The creature smiled.

Joe woke with a start. What the Hell…

"A dream, just a dream." He sighed.

BEEP! BEEP!

Joe picked up his communicator from his nightstand.

"Condor here."

"This is the Eagle. Condor where are you?"

"Home why?"

"You're late, we had a training session this morning."

"K'so! I'll be there as soon as possible."

"Don't bother,"

Joe winced at the anger in his commander's voice.

-Oh great, I'm busted. -

"By the time you get here, we'll be done. But Hakase wants to talk to

you."

"Aw hell, Ok I'll be there in two hours. Condor out."

Joe shut off the communicator and leaned back. Damn, he really didn't

need this. And what did that dream mean?

Joe walked to his small bathroom. As he the shaving mirror, he did a

double take. His eyes… they were…

"Gold. My God what the hell is happening to me?"

He leaned back against the wall and slowly slid down. He felt strange,

heavy. He reached up and ran a tired hand through his hair.

"What the…"

His hair, having grown five inches longer in the last few minutes, fell in waves from his fingers.

He didn't know how long he sat there, but when he finally looked up, it was to see Ken standing before him, staring in shock.

"Joe?"

"…"

"Wha-what happened?"

"I don't know. God Ken…"

Horrified, the Eagle watched as Joe's hair bleached silver before his

eyes. Then his features began to change as well. His face became less

rugged, softer, bishonnen. His eyes grew wider, and slanted at the

corners.

Joe was shaking convulsively by this point, frantically murmuring, "Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

Then, just as suddenly as it began, the changes reversed. The silvery

hair dissipated, reverting to the normal auburn brow color. His face

grew chiseled, more masculine. His eye shape was the only thing that

didn't return too normal. Only the blue color was familiar.

"Joe? Buddy, you alright?"

"Ken? What the hells happening to me?"

"I don't know, c'mon, lets get you to Hakase."

The second shock came as they left the trailer. The area around them,

for as far as the eye could see, was covered in flowers. Blooms of all colors and types, roses the dominant plant. White Freesia marked the path to the G2.

"My God." Joe breathed, "How?"

"This, this wasn't here when I showed up." Ken stuttered.

As they watched the blossoms wilted and crumpled into dust. What did

this mean?

Interlude:

"What! They reincarnated as WHO?"

"Lord Koenma, please," the ony named George pleaded.

"Do you have any idea what will happen if Enma-Doah finds out about

this? Those three weren't supposed to reincarnate for another century! And Asakura has already been sent back twice."

"But Lord Koenma, you singed the paper work."

"I am one dead demi-god."

Boton sighed. Georgio Asakura had been manifesting signs of his other

soul for years now. As for the other two, there were no signs yet, but it was only a matter of time.

END INTERLUDE:

Joe sat in the infirmary. Nambu gave him the once over and was going

through the results.

"I can't explain it." the doctor told the shell-shocked teen, "The DNA

in the silver hair Ken gave me has no similarities to your own. If Ken

hadn't been so serious I'd believe this was a joke."

"How did this happen? Will it… will it happen again?"

"I don't know Joe."

Part 2: Reality

Word came that the Galactor were attacking the White house. The team was dispatched to end the threat.

The battle went smoothly, until the Galactor pulled out the new

mechanizer ray. It was the size of a rifle. At the last possible

moment, Joe pushed Ken out of way. The ray impacted with his chest,

deactivating his bird-style and frying his transformer.

A second weapon had also been leveled at the Eagle, only to hit the

Condor. It was a launcher of sorts. Three spikes were fired at the

dazed Condor. He was lifted off of his feet and pinned to one of the

pillars in front of the White House. Everyone froze.

"Joe!" Ken screamed.

Seconds ticked by, then a circle gold light rose up around him. It

appeared to be fire at first, then it became a wall of light. The metal spikes flew from his chest, and the pillar at his back was vaporized. His body rose into the air.

His eyes opened slowly, as if from a long sleep, to reveal their now

gold color. His hair grew to his waist and bleached silver. The jeans and T-shirt he had been wearing were pulled away, seemingly by the wind, to reveal a different outfit. It consisted of a soft powder blue tunic with billowing sleeves, loose pants of the same color and material. Around his waist was a pure white sash. He wore matching white flat slip-on shoes. Silver fox ears adorned his head, and a large bushy fox tail sprout from his back to swish from side to side behind him.

The drastically changed Condor turned his now golden gaze onto the

Galactor forces and smiled. It was a smile that promised a painful and slow death.

"I don't know what kind of trick this is," the Galactor commander

snarled. "But you will die, Condor!"

"Me? The Condor? You wish little human. I am Youko Hikage, brother of Youko Kurama, reborn. My power is that of nature it's self."

"No, you are the Condor. You must be."

"No, little human," he said as he sank to the ground. "I am Hikage.

Until now, I could not interfere. But you fools have allowed me to take control."

He stood tall, seven feet of sleek muscles and silver beauty. A gold

light enveloped him as he proclaimed, "I'm going to hell, and you're all coming with me!" (1)

The ground buckled and shook. Huge vines and demonic, twisted plants

rose up and attacked the enemy troupes. Hikage started to laugh in

unholy glee as his plants made short work of the Galactor forces. Then, abruptly, he stopped.

"Now then…" he mumbled. "Where did I put that jar?"

The rest of the KNT watched in stunned silence as the oddly clad figure started to dig in his billowing sleeves. At one point he stuck his head and opposite sleeve and mumbled, "Now let me see… Phoenix flower… no, sleepy (Yawn) grass…(2) no, piranha flowers… no."

He started to dig through his other sleeve then. "Steal vines… no,

unicorn ivy… spare rose whip… no. AH-HA!"

He pulled out a large jar with a dark green, something, in it. "Just

the thing! Were-moss!" (3)

He held the jar up and shook it. "Wakey, wakey!" he sang cheerfully

"Oh come on! Wake up! It's time to eat," he said as he tapped the side of the jar.

Suddenly, the green mass lunged against the side of the jar.

"RAROW!"

Ken blinked. It sounded like… the Tasmanian devil from the old Loony

Toons cartoon?

"Rarow! Rah, snarl snarl!

"Okay baby, PACKAGE CHECK!" (4)

He opened the jar and the green furry mass lunged out at the assembled

troops. As it did so, it was surrounded in a gold light. It started to grow. By the time it reached the first tank, it was the size of a

two-story house. The snarling of the green monster drowned out the

screams of the Galactor forces.

Ken looked at the silver hared figure and blinked. He was… crying?

"Sniff, they grow up so fast," he wailed.

The following battle was bloody and green, with the inevitable outcome

of the Galactor's defeat.

"Well, that was fun!" Hikage said. "Now to put my toys away!"

The golden light once again flared around him as he called, "Here boy!

Come on, time to go!"

The green mass shrank as it moved to obey its master. When it was, once again, the size of a fist the Youko scooped it up in the jar.

End part 2

(1) From Denis Miller, No Cure for Cancer.

(2) From an old episode of Dragon Ball Z.

(3) Want thanks to Koko-chan and for sayin' I could use this. Want to

know more check out her Harlequin fic series at

www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bay/6142/ficindex.html under "friends works".

(4) Couldn't resist. I got this from Barbwire the Movie.

PART 3: Introductions and Explanations

The green mass shrank as it moved to obey its master. When it was, once again, the size of a fist the Youko scooped it up in the jar.

"Now that that's been taken care of," the silver hared Youko said. "I

suppose you want some explanations."

"Yes, but Hakase will want to hear this also. You had best come with

us," Ken replied.

They reached the ISO headquarters with out incident and went quickly to Dr. Nambu's office. When Ken explained the situation to the scientist, he was understandably shocked.

"Joe?" he asked the Youko.

"Hikage," he was corrected. "Joe is getting some much needed rest while I'm in control."

"You are a separate entity?"

"Sort of. We share the same body, but it changes depending on witch of

us is in control. But, for now, we have separate souls."

"What do you mean, 'for now'?" Ken demanded in concern.

"Chill out, Beast boy."

"Beast boy?" Jun asked.

"Never mind. Now as for the Soul thing… (1) Well, you see, when the

gods created the humans they messed up. The souls were too big for

their bodies to contain, so the gods split the souls in half.

"Just one slight problem, though. See a few souls were too small to

create two whole souls. The result is a bunch of incomplete souls

floating around that are looking for another partial soul that will make it whole.

"These souls are also prime candidates for reincarnation. The Spirit

world set it up so these souls would have a real chance of either

bonding with a partial soul, or with a Demon. Joe has a partial soul.

The two of us fit together quite nicely."

"Do the souls always fit?" Nambu asked.

"Not always, but most of the time."

"What happens when they don't fit?" Jun asked.

"Well, one of three things. A: one of the souls never wakes up. B: the two never become aware of each other, resulting in split personalities. Or C: the person's recessive soul becomes a voice they always hear in their head, kind of like schizophrenia"

"When will Joe wake up?" Nambu asked.

"How the hell should I know? I've been dead for the last hundred years! He'll wake up when he wakes up."

The members of the KNT didn't like the sound of this, but in light of

the information, or lack there of, they could do little about it. Then the worst thing possible happened. A Galactor attack was reported. Against Ken's wishes, Nambu sent the changed Condor along with the team.

It turned out to be a trap, of course. And the team was captured.

End

Don't ya just hate me?

(1) I don't remember Where or When I heard/read this… but it's not mine. If anybody DOES know where this explanation came from, please E-mail it to me so I can give proper credit!

Coming up: The sequel to "Second Soul"; "Poison's Kiss", staring Kigaro of Ninja Scrolls.