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Shadow was never one for being amongst the crowd. This being said, Shadow had been more content on staying away from other people following the whole Ohm incident. He hadn't been hurt too bad, except for his pride.

At the moment Shadow was busy stalking across the City, wandering no where in particular. And doing a good job griping.

"Everyday the same thing... it's like this ship doesn't know anything different." Shadow griped. "...I'm surprised no one's gone nuts with all this."

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Stalking was something Nanashi was good at. Overhearing someone griping was also something she was good at.

Hearing a vaguely familiar voice her curiosity was piqued, and she stalked over to the hedgehog, "What is a wonder is that no one has gone crazy over the disorganization with the military leadership of this ship."

"That was the fault of the ship. It lead us to believe we wouldn't have anything to worry about." Shadow said. True, it was also the other's fault as to why they got their butts kicked, but still...

"...and you think you can fix this?"

Nanashi smiled and laughed, "I would not be running for the position of Captain if I did not believe I could. I have had more experience with winning seemingly impossible battles than anyone I have heard of on this ship. There is a good reason my country prospered despite years of war."

"Hmph. If you are so sure of yourself, why didn't you take command during the fight?" Shadow said, crossing his arms. "Did you actually think those here would do so? Or are you someone whose just looking for a moment of opportunity?"

"Taking control during a fight causes a lot of upset, especially if you are not widely known. In such a battle it could have caused more harm than good. I did some commanding where ever I fought.

"This is also a reason why I am running. Even if I am not elected, people will recognise my face in our next battle, and if our command continues to be as ineffective I will step in."

Nanashi shook her head sadly, "At the very least I hope to convince them to create units and a military hierarchy based on the skills and weaknesses of the members of the ship and their commanding ability." She massaged her eyebrows, "Or at least some sort of democratic version of such a system, since I believe the people of this ship view my title of 'Queen' as a threat to the freedom of the people of the ship."

She looked at Shadow, trying to decided if he was one of the people who loved democracy to a fault. "It is not that I am entirely opposed to democracy, however I believe that at least at the lower levels of the military it is more important to ensure competency than it is to have the people who are most liked in power."

"People don't like others who take over for them, even if they are well known. But doing that on a bigger scale would cause even more problems." Shadow said.

"People fear that title because they know what happens when someone has that much power. They get it to their head, they get paranoid and they begin to do things that force others to overthrow them. Then again, it happens in any sort of government. It was a... democratic one... that took everything I held dear away. Truthfully, I don't give a damn who's running or not. We're in a war and I expect the one the others choose to be the one who gets us through this without getting everyone killed; king, queen, god, even a mere commoner, I don't care."

"You have a fair point, but they tend to be less bothered if the person has been known."

Nanashi sighed. At least he was not one who hated her title. "After having power for so many years it becomes tiring," well, that was another flat-out lie, "but no one enjoys seeing a system they know they can fix fail.

"I was Queen for over ten thousand years, and spent a great amount of time attempting to make changes towards democracy." Another lie, that she had established in her speech, "but when people who clutch to old ideas live for thousands of years it is rather hard to make any changes. I am excited to be able to take a part of a system that I did not know if I would see actually working. The one thing that bothers me is that in a democracy, you may not always be choosing the most competent military leader, but the most popular."

"Hard to make changes or just didn't want to make them?" Shadow questioned. He wasn't sure if what she was saying was a lie or not, but what she said did raise a few red flags.

"As for that point, you're right - that's what it amounts to. But Stacy didn't awaken us for pretty faces, that's for damn sure."

"It was hard. If I were to have stepped down and held an election, there was no doubt that there would have been more assassination attempts on me- and all those who were running- that one of those assassins would be successful." She sighed and shook her head. Even if she had not actually been interested in creating a democracy, the problems would be much the same as she explained.

"Too many of my people still hung to the belief that the Dragon Blessed would rule. Any ruler who willingly gives up their title has lost the Dragon's Blessing, and is being manipulated by the Dragon to leave." Even though Nanashi believed that her species was created by dragons, she thought the idea of the rulers being selected by the Dragon Spirit to be rather far- fetched. For one, if the dragons were as good and righteous as the history books said, she would not have been who they would selected as ruler. Still, her view was a rare one, "Until I could shift that view there would be no hope for democracy. That is part of the reason why I had adopted many children to raise as my own. To help pull my country out of the dark age.

"Of course, working towards this during a difficult war was not simple either. At least here I am not concerned about people not appreciating the idea of democracy. And you are right, every person on the ship has been brought here for their skill, even if we do have quite a few 'pretty faces'. Even the children here are skilled. Wonderfully skilled, and under-appreciated."

"Some of us have had a lot to think about," said a voice with no visible source yet. "And then again, some of us are already starting to adjust to the situation."

For Alessa, she realized that even in her child form she was at a disadvantage with the Ohm, not to mention the sensibilities of the crew. For this reason Alessa had retreated into her domain and had come out fairly different. While her demon form was her on and would stay that way, her human form looked older now: it look, in effect, as of Alessa had done an upgrade.

"Hello Shadow," she said. "How did you fair with the Ohm?"

"I'm still standing. That's all I can--" Shadow got out before he saw Alessa's older form. The hedgehog could only blink at her new, older look. "...Alessa? You're... older."

"As am I," Alessa said. "I think the more challenging thing is being in a team with people."

She looked down at her taller, more filled in frame and made a face. "It's bad enough that I have to have people threaten me for being a demon. It;s worse when they're all so stupid they mistake me for an actual human child and say I'm lacking in years of experience. I didn't want to be a disgusting adult, so I settled for a pre-adult but not child appearance. Is it bothersome?"

"Actually, no..." Shadow said, a small smile forming. "...you look rather..."

He looked around a bit, trying to find the right words.

"...cute."

Probably not the one he wants to convey, but it works, nonetheless.

She blinked. Well. That was the last reaction she was expecting. She had certainly never been called anything like that, not in all of the time she had been living. She closed her hands a moment, and then brought a mirror out of thin air, looking at herself.

"I suppose," she said. "It was only natural that I age this body. I have lived long enough to find a way to increase the strength in my limbs and show an outward appearance of maturity. I never supposed it would enhance my looks."

She shrugged, but recognized the compliment, and buried a rising smile.

"You're looking good, as always I imagine. What have you learned from fighting the Ohm?"

"They're mad. Insane. And probably much smarter than we thought before." Shadow said. "They caused the overload just so they could attack. It would make sense. They attacked my world just after I stopped another alien invasion."

"They're beasts of opportunity. They strike during moments of panic, when you least expect it. Though, I am still confused as to why they left when they did..."

"Smarter and calculating is a better word for it," Alessa said. "I want to know why though. Why take the time, the effort of causing an uproar simply to destroy a world and its inhabitants by surprise? That is where he madness comes in. The reason escapes me, it is so without purpose."

She gave Shadow a piercing look. "Well, they were surprised, weren't they? Every attack they had, they were unstoppable. With worlds, I've no doubt they simply overwhelmed the strongest warriors and killed them easily. But now you have Stacy, amassing a number of the strongest fighters, smartest technicians and more, and we hurt them. They're assessing. They want to know WHY we pose a threat to them."

"We need to find one of them. Learn what they can do. How they work. Once we do, we can understand everything." Shadow said.

"It seems both us and the Ohm are at a loss of words. Why do they attack like they do and how come we fought back? They'll want to know more about us as much as we do about them. I guess only time will tell when that will happen."

"Nonsense," Alessa said. "They all fight differently, didn't you notice that? We know what similarity they had was that thing called the Node, and it was powerful. If anything, we should be concerned about how we're to defeat it. We LOST this fight, we can't pretend this outcome was good."

She gave him a grim smile. "It's not likely I'm going to give them time to find similarities with me. They're worse than the King: a place is one thing, but desecrating worlds for fun is akin to considering themselves gods. Once THAT happens, they can be very powerful."

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