~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
*Tenshi� please help me.*
Tenshi nearly crashed into the car in front of her as an agonizing pain fired through her wrist and the words popped into her mind, so clear � a pitiful cry for help. And this time she knew where it came from.
She pulled her car over to the shoulder of the road and turned it off. Then she closed her eyes and tried to push past the confusion, pain, and other thoughts in her mind. She had to concentrate. �Just this once, please.�
*Koneko?*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
If Neko hadn�t been panicking so badly, she would have screamed with joy at the sound of Tenshi�s voice in her head. She didn�t care how it had happened, but somehow Tenshi had managed to connect to her mind the way Mi-chan could. *Tenshi! Tenshi, save me please! I can�t get out! I�m going to run out of air! Please, Tenshi!*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Adrenaline raced through her body as Tenshi started the car. She had to fight hard to stay calm. She could feel Neko�s panic and couldn�t help but feel like it was taking over her mind, but she knew she had to stay in control, not only for her sake, but for Neko�s.
She didn�t really know how to send messages with her mind, but she so wanted to comfort Neko. She prayed that she could get her messages through. �Koneko, it�ll be alright, I promise. I know you�re feeling really claustrophobic, and it�s hard, but you have to calm down. I�ll be there soon.�
*I�ll try* came the quiet answer.
�That�s my girl,� Tenshi said aloud, wondering if that was heard by Neko or not. She didn�t understand anything about how this worked, but it made sense with other events at least. Her mind was clouded again with Neko�s feelings. That must have been what had been going on this week. Her mind had only been affected when she and Neko were together, or when she was thinking of Neko. The whole time that other voice had been Neko. It had been Neko�s feelings intruding on hers.
Tenshi didn�t know if that made her feel better or worse. She assumed it was just an extension of Neko�s psychic power � expanding to include Tenshi as well as Mi-chan. But it still made her feel disoriented and subjugated. Afterall, she had had nineteen years without anyone in her head but her.
But she couldn�t worry about that now. She had to get to Neko. For the first time in a while, Tenshi found herself breaking all speed limits and driving like her Haruka-papa. Miraculously, Tenshi discovered she needed no directions to find Neko. The part of Neko that seemed to be overwhelming parts of Tenshi�s mind could apparently steer her car as well. Before she knew it, she was parking her car and sprinting to Neko�s imprisonment, only one goal on her mind.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko could feel how hard Tenshi was fighting to stay in control. The recognition gave her something to focus on. She had to think about something else. She had to keep from overpowering Tenshi�s feelings with her panic and the lightheadedness brought on by hyperventilation.
*That�s what she wouldn�t share* Neko realized suddenly. Her breathing remained heavy, but steadied its rhythm a bit as she reflected on this. *Every time we were close, we must have connected. I�m so used to Mi-chan being there�. But Tenshi must have been overwhelmed by the sudden intrusion of my mind. I didn�t even notice, but she couldn�t escape it.*
�I�m sorry, Tenshi,� she whispered. But the connection seemed to default to Mi-chan, and she knew she had lost the one she had with Tenshi as she began to feel the effects of the battle on her twin.
Unable to focus any longer, Neko gave up the fight against her dizziness, and blacked out.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Electra had just gotten Surferboy around the sea cliff so that they were no longer on Tenshi�s beach, but rather on a boulder beach to the northeast, when she felt Neko disappear again. This time completely.
�Neko-chan!� she screamed, momentarily forgetting about the yoma. What if the rest of the cliff had come down on Neko?! Or what if she really had run out of air (this one was mostly residual panic leftover from the link)?! Where had she gone? If Neko kept disappearing on a regular basis, how was her twin to know if she was really okay at any given moment? *Neko-chan, come back to me!* Electra thought futilely.
The yoma took the opportunity to shoot off another jet of water at her, but for a moment she just didn�t care, even as she was hit. If Neko had died�.
Suddenly, she turned a fiery gaze towards the yoma. �If Neko-chan has died, you will beg for death before I am through with you,� she said coldly. She rushed towards him, ignoring the surfboard he threw up before him as a barrier. Electra broke through the hideous orange board and began to beat the living daylights out of the yoma.
Then, as suddenly as she had disappeared, Neko seemed to return to Electra�s mind. Surprised by the reconnection, Electra let down her guard enough for the yoma to hit her with one of the halves of the surfboard and send her flying into the pebbly ground.
But Electra was still going strong on the adrenaline from the fear than Neko had died, and as Neko fell back into an unconscious state, Electra stood back up and faced the yoma.
�Du-ude, you are like totally wasted,� she told him in her best mock surfer accent.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
As Tenshi lost the link with Neko, she realized that the fear hadn�t all belonged to Neko. She worried about her fianc�e as she worked to free up some of the debris imprisoning Neko. But her efforts seemed to barely make a dent in the rock wall. She backed up and tried to think of a logical solution. There had to be a keystone or something that she could remove to make the whole thing collapse.
�Come on, Tenshi, think!� She knew she could figure out a solution if she just took a moment�.
*There!* Tenshi transformed quickly into Night Angel and threw a single rose at a large rock that just barely jutted out of the middle of the pile of rocks blocking her way to Neko. Instantly, it shattered, releasing the rubble above it and some of what was below. Night Angel transformed back to Tenshi and instantly ran to her unconscious girlfriend, scooping Neko up in her arms and carrying her out of the cave. She only began to relax a bit as she felt Neko�s heart beating and her light breathing. Neko was still out of it, but at least Tenshi knew she was alive.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Electra powered up for a �St. Elmo�s Fire.� She could feel that this was the last one, and as the yoma was still standing in the ocean, she was certain that if the attack didn�t finish him off, he�d at least be electrocuted by it. Sure enough, the silver ball of electricity dusted the yoma. The only thing left after it was through was the square-cut jewel that had been at his throat.
Ignoring this piece of evidence, she untransformed and ran back to the edge of this new beach, to get around the cliff and get back to Neko.
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