Subject: [FFML] [fanfic][BSSM][Alt] Evil Moon(working title) Chapter 1-Pt 1
From: Kyhdin@aol.com
Date: 8/27/2001, 3:33 PM
To: ffml@anifics.com

I'm splitting this into parts because its so big. Here's part 1

The following is based off an idea by Megane 6.7 and he's welcome to it. =) 
I'm just borrowing it for a bit with his permission. 
Sailor Moon is the property of Nakao Takeuchi. Az and Kyris on the other 
hand, they're mine. All mine you hear me?! Mine! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!

Special thanks to Rob Barba and Angus McSpon for prereading.

-Komodo

"...Keiichi died today, a silly accident took the love of my life away. Usagi 
is devastated, I can't bring myself to tell her that her daddy isn't coming 
home. I can't even tell myself it seems. I told him, but he didn't listen. 
'Don't moon the cheetahs, honey, they look fast'..."
-Insertion, Part 58, By Carrotglace
**************
The ancient Japanese called them sorera yamitsuki gon koumeiseidai, "those 
who serve justice". Most of the time they are simply legends. The ronin 
samurai, the gunfighter, or the knight. Men and women who possess neither 
fear nor mercy and appear and disappear like the morning dew, leaving behind 
only stories of their deeds. Occasionally they settle down somewhere, but 
more often then not their heart's desire shares their wanderlust and goes 
with them into legend.

Bastards... 


                                       Chapter 1

He hated this, he thought as he drifted in the white light. Drifting, his 
thoughts disjointed, no sensations except the faint tugging that was his 
destination. The tugging intensified. Another world, another result of the 
endless possibilities. He wondered what this world was like as the light grew 
brighter and then faded. He had arrived.

He only had enough time to process that he was standing on a slanted surface 
when the convulsions hit.

He collapsed, writhing. Another few seconds and his spine would snap like a 
dry twig. Ignoring the pain, he thrust his hand into his battered leather 
satchel, fingers closing around the narrow glass-and-metal tube, and withdrew 
it. Jerking the glove off of his free hand off with his teeth, he jabbed the 
metal end into the exposed skin as his back arched for what would be the 
final time and then sighed in relief as the convulsions stopped. The tube 
fell from his hand, already turning to dust and he fell into a near catatonic 
state.

How long he lay like that he could not say, but when he returned to 
consciousness, there was a marked difference in the air temperature. He sat 
up, instinctively pushing up his left sleeve. Around his wrist was a metal 
bracelet, and on the inner wrist section was a small screen perhaps two 
inches wide, two lights, one red; one green; and some buttons. The green 
light was lit.

Good, she was still here. He touched another button and the screen lit up, 
displaying a sequence of letters and numbers.

1171
T: 23F A:N/A
Intg:68%  
Pstn:N/A
6:12:31

Only six hours, must not have been as bad as he thought. The integrity of his 
matrix, however, explained the convulsions. Unconsciousness had helped, but 
not by much. Frowning, he tapped a few more of the buttons, and watched as 
the numbers climbed to seventy-five percent. Not as high as he would have 
liked. He tapped a few more buttons. He would be depriving himself of most of 
his abilities, but until he could get some food in his stomach and maybe some 
sleep, a mere ten percent boost to eighty-five would have to do. 

A noise from his right attracted his attention and he found himself staring 
at a vast cityscape, the aura of lights hovering above it like a halo. Kanji 
flickered on the sides of buildings, some lower, some higher,  a lot higher 
than his position, and he could see lights beyond those  that he was fairly 
sure weren't antennas. He put that away for a moment. Buildings whose height 
was measured in miles was nothing new and hardly important right now. What 
was important was where he was and he seized on the only clue he had.

Kanji. So either the Japanese had conquered the world, or he was in Japan 
again. Closing his eyes, he summoned up a mental map and retraced his steps 
over the past few months. Yeah, Japan, more specifically, Tokyo or whatever 
the hell they called it here was about right.

A loud roar caused him to open his eyes, revealing a scene within the aura of 
light from the buildings that made his jaw drop. 

A flying car-a straight-out-of-_The-Fifth-Element_ flying car was chasing a 
large winged lizard, flashes of light flying from it to soar past the beast 
as it dodged, using the buildings for cover, eventually taking a hard right 
and disappearing behind a building.

"Okay," he said to himself. "That's new." 

A hum from overhead attracted his attention. "What the hell?" He narrowed his 
eyes, and the darkness faded to be replaced by the red, oranges and blues of 
infrared. He was standing on a slanted metal beam, one of many that formed 
some sort of tower. High up, he could see the orange of a heat source and 
beyond that, the bright red of something hot. He blinked and his vision 
returned to normal.

'So now what, genius?' he asked himself as he leaned back against a vertical 
beam. A cold wind blew past him and he pulled his coat tighter around him as 
the beginnings of a headache began to throb at his temples. He glanced at his 
wrist again. The temp was in the 20's; he wouldn't last the night, not the 
way he was. He needed to find some shelter and teleportation was a definite 
out. He looked back up towards where he had seen the heat sources and an idea 
began to form. It was crazy, but it could work. 

It took some doing, but he finally found a service ladder that led to a 
narrow walkway. The smell of ozone was strong up here but he felt warmer 
already despite the bite of the wind. He glanced at his wrist. Mid-forties. 
He wouldn't be very comfortable, but he wouldn't freeze either.

Following the walkway, he found what looked like a diagnostic setup and some 
kind of work surface, just long enough to serve as a bed. Laying his satchel 
at one end as a pillow, he lay down, and wrapped himself in his coat, 
wrinkling his nose at the smell of sweat, blood, and fetid warmth that came 
from the inside the coat. When was the last time he had washed it? A month, 
six months, a year ago? And what about the rest of his clothes, or himself?

'Why are you still doing this?' demanded a voice in his head. 'Going from 
world to world, pushing yourself, surviving on technological voodoo, risking 
your life every time you make a jump. Your family is no doubt worried sick 
about you, assuming they haven't written you off for dead by now.'

A moment later, a woman's voice replied. 'You do it because it has to be 
done. Because she must be punished. Because you are mine.'

And then, as though someone had flipped a switch, his eyes closed and he fell 
asleep.


He was shaken awake some time later and opened his eyes to see some workmen 
staring at him. They were short and swarthy, with unshaven faces and wearing 
heavy coats. Behind them, he could see an officious-looking fellow with a 
long nose, no chin, and a bad haircut. Like the workmen, he also wore a heavy 
coat.

The young man hesitated. He had no idea what the language was, (he had been 
to a Japan where everyone wrote in Dutch and spoke Spanish. He had flunked 
Spanish.) and very rarely was he discovered before he had a chance to look 
the world over. At that point, his stomach rumbled loud enough for others to 
hear and with that as inspiration, he gave them his best puppy-dog stare. 

"Here," one of the workmen said, opening up his lunch box and taking out half 
a sandwich as the other one poured what smelled like tea into a cup. "Take 
this." The rest of them just muttered. 

Well, well, the hits just kept on coming. The language was Esperanto modified 
to suit the Japanese culture. He wondered how that had happened even as he 
smiled and accepted the food.

"Thank you," he replied in Esperanto and bit into the sandwich. Tuna. Not 
exactly his favorite, but he couldn't be picky.

"Now," said the official as he pushed his way to the front. "What are you 
doing up here? This is a restricted area."

"Apologies," he replied. "But where is here, exactly?"

"You're in the power control for Edo South Monorail line, Level 
One-One-Two-Eight," was the reply. "Let me see your identification."

"I don't have any," he replied. 'Not unless you count my ASB card and I doubt 
that's going to help.'

"How did you get up here?"

"I'm not sure, I just woke up and found myself here." A half-truth was better 
then no truth at all. 

"I see. Come with me please."

Unable to gracefully refuse and not wanting to use any power unless he 
absolutely had to, he grabbed his satchel and pulled his coat back on before 
following the official who led him back down the catwalk to a wide platform.

"Base," the official said when they were both on. With a hum the platform 
began to descend and the official took out what looked like a phone.

Turning away, the young man pulled off his sunglasses and slid a contact lens 
into each eye as he listened to the official.

"It's Gosunkugi...I found a D-Ref up at the Number Five 
control...American...roughly sixteen...mmm-hmm...yes...I understand. I'll 
bring him there right away...yes sir...good-bye."

********************
Some time later, he sat in a room on one side of a table. The elevator had 
stopped in some kind of underground garage. Gosunkugi had then put him in the 
back of a windowless van and driven directly here, where over the next few 
hours, he had been questioned, printed, searched, photographed, stripped, 
shoved into the shower, poked, scanned and then questioned some more. They 
had let him keep his wrist computer after he explained that it was religious 
item and; with the cover on over the interface, it looked to be exactly that. 

On the other side of the table, was a brown-haired, green-eyed woman and on 
the table itself was the contents of his satchel. He stared at these 
morosely. A towel, his rejuv serum, his wallet, wind-up pocket watch, his 
class ring, a dog-eared copy of the_Lord of the Rings_, his mirrored John 
Lennon sunglasses, a few knick-knacks, a picture of his family he had been 
planning on playing with in Photoshop, and a case of tools and electronic 
parts. Five years and this was all he had? 

The woman smiled at him. "Been a bit of a rough night, hasn't it?" she asked 
in perfect English.

"Just a bit," he agreed. 'Who did her hair? She looks like she's wearing a 
helmet.'

"Do you know why you're here?"

"Because I was up in that power-thingy illegally?"

"Not exactly. Tell me, do you know what parallel universes are?"

He stared at her for a few seconds and then allowed the appropriate 
expression of shock mixed with comprehension to appear on his face as 
inwardly, he swore up a blue streak. An organization designed to deal with 
extradimensional visitors, and if the Japanese here were anything like the 
ones back home, he was in very big trouble. "How-?"

"Did you get here?" she asked. "There's no way to tell. It could be anything 
from someone or something deliberate to a hiccup in space-time. What you 
should be thinking about is what will happen next."

'Great, here we go,' he thought as, under the table, he slid back the cover 
and diverted some power for a teleport. He wouldn't be able to go very far, 
not with only a few hours sleep, a cup of tea, and half a sandwich, but he 
should be able to get outside. He eyed the table. The serum and the case, he 
decided. Like it or not, everything else could be replaced. At least they had 
given him his clothes back. Casually, he picked up his class ring and toyed 
with it. If he threw it at her, it would buy him an extra second. "What 
happens now?" he asked, as though nervous.

"Well, since you're sixteen, we'll be sending you to our orientation center. 
Once you turn eighteen, you'll be free to go."

He stared at her. She was telling the truth, or at least believed she was. 
Telepathy as a lie-detector sucked that way.

"O-okay," he replied. 'Five will get you ten you'll be packed off to some 
slave labor camp and your stuff sold on the local equivalent of E-Bay,' he 
told himself. 'Sucker's bet,' he replied. "Can I have my things back?" He 
asked.

"No, not yet," she replied. "I need to ask you some questions about them 
first." She picked up the book. "Let's start with this."

********************
In the end, he had been allowed to take everything, and then, on top of that, 
they had issued him some kind of uniform and a bag of toiletries before 
packing him into the back of a small, windowless van (probably the same one 
that had brought him here) with a huge military type for company.

Over the course of the five-minute ride, his companion had droned on about 
the rules he was supposed to follow while at the center.

'Just like in Juvey,' he thought to himself and tuned the man out. He was 
tempted to cop a charge off the van's electrical system to boost his range 
and escape, but the level of technology he could see from the windshield 
indicated that with all the records that had been made of him, he wouldn't 
get very far. They had been meticulous in taking down his physical 
appearance. Height, weight, muscle mass, facial structure, the way he walked, 
the works. Things he couldn't change and made it difficult to hide if you 
were looking for them.

Besides, he needed to rest and this orientation center, assuming it was what 
the lady said it was, sounded like the perfect place to do it. Besides, for 
all he knew, his quarry had been picked up by these people as well which 
would make everything so much simpler. Smiling to himself, he leaned back 
against the hard seat and enjoyed the rest of the ride.

The orientation center proved to be a medium-sized building and several 
smaller ones surrounded by a high stone wall at the edge of the city. It 
looked as though it had been a temple or a prison at one point and he filed 
that away for future reference. Once inside, they were met by a matronly 
woman with a big, albeit fake, smile.

"So you're the new arrival." He nodded as his stomach growled again, causing 
her to poke him in the ribs. "When was the last time you ate?"

"You mean besides half a tuna sandwich this morning? Three days ago...I 
think. Might have been more."

"Well we'll fix that." She turned back to the buildings and started walking. 
"We serve meals at nine, one and six. You may have a snack at four and lights 
out at ten. Now let's see, Az, is it?"

"Yeah," he replied. While he had been questioned, he had given false or 
modified answers, thinking it would make vanishing into the populace easier. 
Now he was going to have to revise that. 'Sucks to be me'

"Az, you'll be in dormitory thirteen, also known as Maison Ikkoku. Don't ask 
me why they call it that, they just do. They're a bit rough, but I'm sure 
you'll do fine."

"I'm sure you are," Az replied as they approached a two story structure. 
'Maison Ikkoku, now where have I heard that name before?'

At that point, a man dressed in a monk's robe and carrying a bottle of Sake 
burst out of the door screaming about monkeys followed by a two more men 
dressed in leather calling the first young man names and ordering him back 
inside to face his destiny. 

'Oh yeah,' he thought as he watched the trio charge across the courtyard. 

'Note to self. Mail that lady a dozen dead petunias.'

"Hooligans," the woman snorted and then headed inside, Az close behind.

Inside, it was dark, with just enough dim light that he could make out rows 
of benches and tables. None of it looked very well maintained and he made a 
mental note to be very careful where he sat tonight as they headed up the 
stairs.

The second floor was much like the first, dimly lit. Along the walls were 
cubicles. Most had curtains over the entrance. But it looked like each 
contained a bed, a desk, and a paper screen across the back. The place seemed 
to be co-ed, he could see both men and women. 

"This will be yours," the woman said, stopping at one of the cubicles. 
"Bathing area is through there," she pointed at a doorway on the wall. "You 
must use it daily."

Az nodded, unable to shake the feeling he was being studied like a bug in a 
microscope. "Sounds fun." The woman nodded brusquely and left.

With a sigh, he entered the cubicle. The desk was really more of a table. It 
was beaten and scratched. The chair wasn't much better. The bed was actually 
a raised platform with drawers and a futon on top. Thin sheets that had seen 
better days, and a pillow that was virtually flat. 'Great, bargain basement 
housing,' he thought cynically as he dropped his satchel on the futon. 'This 
would be sad if it weren't for the fact that compared to some of my sleeping 
locations as of late, this is a four-star hotel.' He ran his hand through his 
hair. He should stay the night at least. Get a full night's sleep, a few 
meals in his stomach and put a plan together. 

Draping his coat and uniform jacket over the chair, he sat down on the bed 
and pulled off his boots. Pulling the pillow out of the case, he replaced it 
with his towel and then laid down, not bothering with the sheets. 'No more 
surprises,' he thought as he closed his eyes. 'No more surprises until 
dinner, that's all I ask.'

It was then that he felt the futon shift as someone climbed on it. 
'Sonuvabitch,' he swore as his hand snapped out. Maybe if he gave whoever it 
was a broken jaw, he might get some peace. However, a hand grabbed his wrist 
before it reached its target, long slender fingers curling around it.

"Your senses and reflexes are much duller then when last we met, Husband," a 
woman's voice said reprovingly. It was very soft, with a musical accent.

'Oh hell. What's she doing here?!' "I'm not your husband, Kyris," Az said as 
he opened his eyes. "I thought we agreed on that the next morning." The woman 
leaning over him was lithely muscular, tempered with soft curves. Her hair 
was black and her eyes a smoky gray. 

"Perhaps I wish to renegotiate that," she said softly as she leaned down and 
then stopped as their eyes met. "By the hordes of Menth, you look awful."

"It's been one of those weeks," Az said softly, as large portions of his 
blood stream packed their bags and relocated. Their past aside, which meant 
that she was probably obligated to kill him, Kyris was a very attractive 
young lady, and she was awfully close.

"Poor baby," she cooed.

"Knock it off," he said, sitting up. His muscles protested. He ignored them. 
"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Great-grandmother felt I should go find you. 'It's a wife's duty to be with 
her husband, girl.'" Kyris rolled her eyes, all traces of her accent gone. 
"She whipped up some spell and next thing I know, I'm here. That was a month 
ago."

Az nodded. Kyris was one of the descendants of a race of warrior females who 
had landed near Hong Kong on Earth, that is, an Earth, centuries ago. 
Natural-born hunters, they had taken the form of humans and mated with the 
locals. Their female descendants could shift from human to the forms of those 
travelers and back again at will. Kyris' tribe had been in Greece which was 
where he had entered that world and through an almost comical series of 
events, he had managed to catch his quarry, save their world and keep their 
secret safe. In gratitude, the chief had announced that as a reward, he would 
take the hand of his daughter, Kyris, in marriage. With no graceful way to 
refuse, Az had accepted, intending to slip away after the ceremony. It was 
for the best, they would execute the quarry (they were planning to anyway, he 
just wouldn't be around to enjoy it) and he had no intention of returning. 
Then she would be free to find someone who, well, wasn't him. Unfortunatly, 
her great-grandmother had spiced their wine with an extremely potent 
aphrodisiac. The results...were interesting.

The morning after though, the quarry had somehow escaped and he had given 
chase, leaving Kyris, who had expressed an interest in going with him,  
behind. At the time, he had told himself it was for the best. This private 
war of his was his and his alone. But now, seeing her again, he wondered if 
maybe he had been wrong to refuse willing company who could take care of 
herself. Maybe he had been running from his feelings. 'Or maybe I'm just 
getting sappy.' As that thought passed through his mind, he yawned.

"Jeez," she said, waving her hand in front of her nose. "What's with the 
industrial strength mint mouthwash?"

"Government issue," he replied. "Geez, who stuck the sand in my eyes?" he 
rubbed his eyes and then looked up as a gong sounded.

"Dinnertime,"�Kyris said and reached for his boots. "C'mon, they get cranky 
if you don't show up for dinner."

********************
Dinner proved to be a bowl of overfried noodles and some badly made sushi. Az 
gulped it down. Food was food, and at least it was hot. But it wasn't what he 
needed. Across the table, Kyris was looking at him worriedly.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

"Peachy. Why?"

"You're pale and sweating."

"Been pushing myself too hard is all. I'll be fine once the world stops 
spinning. I-" 

Everything went black.

He awoke to find a light shining in his eyes and quickly shut them again. 

"Where?" he croaked. A straw was pushed between his lips and he instinctively 
sucked. Water, cool sweet water rushed into his mouth.

"You're in the infirmary," Kyris' voice said. "You passed out at the dinner 
table. They've been pumping nutrients and Menth knows what else into you.

Cautiously, he opened his eyes again, blinking rapidly to adjust to the light.
 "How long?"

"A good 24 hours." Kyris replied. "It's after sunset the day after you passed 
out. And before you freak on me, the light is still green." She smiled at 
him. "You showed me how to use it when we hunted."

"Oh yeah," he sat up, pinching the bridge of his nose and inhaling deeply 
through it. For some reason, that helped him wake up faster.

"Is he awake?" someone asked.

"Hai, Yamazaki-sama," Kyris replied.

"Good. Take him back to the dorm."

"Hai." She pulled Az to his feet and draped his arm around her shoulders.

"Wonderful bedside manner," Az muttered.

"Barbaric," Kyris sniffed. "They only care whether or not you die. Beyond 
that, you're expected to more or less fend for yourself."

"The Japanese have never been very fond of foreigners," Az replied. "Ten will 
get you twenty this camp is not their idea."

"You and your expressions. Come on." She headed for a set of small pre-fabs.

"I thought we were going back to the dorm."

Kyris shook her head. "Not on your life." She headed around to the back of 
the prefabs and reached into the narrow gap between their back wall and the 
courtyard wall and pulled out his satchel and a rucksack. "We have prey to 
catch."

"We'? What's this 'we' business?"

"You need me right now. And even if you didn't, I need you. That electronic 
marvel of yours is my only way home." She smiled. "Besides, newlyweds should 
spend their honeymoon together."

"But-" he broke off as he saw the laughter in her eyes. "Very funny." He 
reached into the satchel and pulled out his uniform jacket and long coat. 
Turning away from her, he took the contact lenses out, put them away, and put 
his sunglasses back on before putting on his jacket and coat and slinging his 
satchel over his shoulder.

"You don't need to do that," she said. "Your eyes do not trouble me."

"Force of habit," he said. "So how are getting out of here?"

"Like this," she replied as her eyes began to glow. For a moment, she seemed 
to blur and then in her place was an odd looking being. She was tall, her 
skin obsidian black. Her hair was blue-white and in the form of a long mane 
that started just above her eyebrows and followed the curve of her skull down 
to the nape of her neck. The sides of her head were bald. Her ears were long 
and pointed, much like a bat's and her fingers and toes were tipped with 
short, but sharp claws. Spiny fins guarded her elbows and her long tail 
twitched. She was nude in this form, but unless you got really close, you 
couldn't tell.

"Here," she said, handing him the rucksack. "Climb on and hold on tight."

As soon as he was in place, she leapt upwards, her claws digging into the 
stone with no trouble and all too soon, they were over the wall and running.

Kyris was very fast and they kept to the shadows whenever possible so it was 
difficult to tell where they were headed. About all he could tell was that 
they were moving up and from the movements of her body occasional rushes of 
wind, she was leaping great distances.

Finally she stopped and he slid down. She blurred and was human again. 
Looking behind him, he saw that he was even with most of the city's lights 
and when he looked up, he could see what looked like clouds. They were 
standing on some kind of garden path that was lit by metal sculptures in the 
shape of paper lanterns. When he faced away from the city, the light from the 
lanterns showed him the gentle slope of hills.

"Where are we?"

"The signs I followed said Skyline Park," Kyris replied. She grabbed his arm 
and tugged. "Let's go this way, I can smell something."

The source of that something proved to be an all night noodle stand. Kyris, 
thanks to a donation from a generous mugger that she had happened to 
encounter when she first arrived, had some of the local currency and soon 
they were seated on the stools, chopsticks in hand, pushing beef, chicken, 
steamed veggies, and properly fried noodles into their mouths. Steaming cups 
of tea were on the counter and the stand's operator, an old man, had offered 
them all they could eat for one low price. Apparently, business had been slow 
and he was grateful for the chance to move around a bit. Even with the heat 
from the grill, he could still feel the cold. Swallowing the last of the 
noodles, Az set aside the bowl and attacked the okonomiyaki that had just 
been set before him.

"He sure can pack it away," the old man noted.

Kyris nodded agreement.

Much later, with full stomachs, the pair moved away from the stand and found 
a bench to sit on.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

"Back to seventy-five percent," Az replied and then belched. "'Scuse me. But 
that's seventy-five percent with all my powers functional and the reserve 
tanks full. It's the best I can do without a rejuv bath."

"You speak as though they're technological based, yet I have seen you perform 
magic."

"Heh. I never did explain them, did I?" He scratched his chin. "I guess the 
easiest way to explain them would be that in my body are millions upon 
millions of nanites. Tiny little machines. Anyways, they form a sort of 
matrix. They're primary function is to take the brunt of stress placed on my 
body. Say you were in your other form and hit me here." He slapped his 
forearm. "Normally, that would break the bones, but with the matrix in place, 
it absorbs the kinetic energy. I still feel it the impact, maybe a little 
pain, but it doesn't hinder me the way a broken arm would. As a side effect, 
they supercharge my reflexes and boost my strength by a factor of ten. Beyond 
that, they enhance my senses and aid in my memory. They also allow me to tap 
my psionic abilities. That's all magic really is: psionics, a bit of sleight 
of hand, and an audience willing to believe." He took a deep breath. "The 
problem is, this technology was never meant to be used like this, much less 
in a human body and the energy it radiates, even at rest, eats away at my 
tissues, which means the nanites have to expend that much more energy 
regenerating the tissue, which saps the integrity of the matrix. The more I 
use my powers-"

"The more energy is emitted and the more your tissues are damaged," she 
finished.

"And the whole shebang is fueled by my physiology and I've been pushing 
myself hard over the past couple of weeks." He groaned. "Awful food, very 
little sleep and twelve dimensional jumps in three weeks. In and out of some 
of the worst possible locales. No wonder I finally collapsed. Anyways, now 
that I've had a nice long nap and some decent food, I'm ready to hunt that 
bitch down and give her the mother of all beatings."

"So what do we do first?"

Az glanced at the sky, where the first traces of false dawn could be seen. 
"Did you stay anywhere before they picked you up?" She shook her head. "Then 
for starters, let's head back into the city and see if we can find some place 
to use as a base of operations." He stood up and started walking back the way 
they had come.

"Good thinking," she said, matching him step for step.  "When in a new range, 
a hunter should first choose a den."

"I really wish you'd stop that," Az complained.

"Stop what?" Kyris asked innocently.

"Switching from hunter to modern teen and then back again. It's creepy." 

Her laughter was like a bell.

********************
No sooner were they were back down into the city, then it started snowing 
heavily. The bridges and monorail tracks took most of it, but there was still 
enough that they had to slog through it. Az grumbled every step of the way.

"What's wrong?"

"I grew up in New England," Az replied as though that explained everything. 
Suddenly he stopped and his head jerked to the right, toward a small alleyway.

"What's wrong?" Kyris asked.

"Somebody needs us." With that, he took off down the side street, a very 
puzzled Kyris close behind.

After what seemed like an endless series of twists and turns and back alleys, 
they finally stopped at a small, narrow cul-de-sac. Az stood there for a 
moment.

"Damn her," he said quietly. "She did it again." And then he raised his hand, 
palm out. There was a glow, and then the flash of lightning.

Kyris couldn't believe her eyes. Where she would have sworn that there was 
only empty space, she now saw men and women, all dressed in rags. They were 
dirty and gaunt, but their eyes were wide open in shock. For not one of them 
had been touched by the lightning. The bricks were scorched, the snowdrifts 
vaporized, but they and their possessions were untouched.

At the far end, four scorched skeletons lay the ground, smoke still rising 
off the few charred bits of flesh still present.

Ignoring the homeless' terrified stares, Az moved forward, pulling off his 
coat as he approached a pile of trash. "Don't worry about the others," he 
said to Kyris. "They're beyond our help." He turned back to the pile. "Easy," 
he said, "it's all right, we're not going to hurt you." He went behind the 
pile and emerged seconds later. With him was a young girl in her mid-teens, 
with average face and hair. She was very pale and her colorless eyes were 
watching him as though she expected him to attack her at any moment. That 
didn't stop her from holding his coat around her like a life preserver. She 
was shivering slightly.

"Who's that?" Kyris asked.

"Someone who needs us. C'mon. Let's head back to Skyline, this early, and in 
this weather, the only people there should be fitness freaks. We need to be 
as far away from people as possible."

"But wouldn't a roof work just as well?" Kyris asked as she turned back to 
the mouth of the cul-de-sac and stopped. The people were gone. "What the-"

"I told you they were beyond our help," he said as they walked past. Shaking 
her head, Kyris followed.

********************
It was some three hours later, and they had returned to Skyline Park and that 
same noodle stand. At Az's insistence, Kyris used the last of the money she 
had to purchase food, the bulk of which he gave to the girl, who devoured it. 
Not once had he left her side, and he was constantly talking to her, staying 
in contact, almost as though she'd disappear if he didn't. While she didn't 
like to admit it, she was feeling a bit jealous. Even now, his arm was around 
her shoulders as she slept.

"Husband," she said quietly and very formally. Mostly to get his attention. 
"I would have words with you."

For a moment, he hesitated, and then he carefully extracted himself from her 
embrace and laid her down on the bench. Adjusting his coat around her, he 
patted the girl on the shoulder and moved off a few steps. "I really wish you 
wouldn't call me that."

"Why? Feeling guilty?" she asked. She had meant it as a tease, but she saw 
him flinch, just a bit, and hurried to change the subject. "I just want to 
know what's going on? Why did those people in alley disappear? Why are you so 
obsessed with taking care of this girl?"

"I am not obsessed," he said, teeth clenched. "I-" he broke off, staring up 
the hill. "Damn. It's one of their worlds. No wonder she did that. Now it all 
makes sense."

"Who did what? Who's world? What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Change forms and grab the girl. We're going hiking."

"Hiking to where?"

"There," he said, pointing up the hill and further into the park. Frowning, 
Kyris followed his finger and then she saw it, the glint of a window in the 
sunlight.
********************
"They're called the Sailor Scouts," Az said as they hiked through the trees. 
"Nine warriors, usually female, each one wielding a force of nature. Such as 
love, thunder, ice, water, and so forth, the source of these powers is up for 
debate. Magic, some kind of super-science, the Gods and Goddesses they're 
named for, a talking fish with a cockney accent..." He shrugged. "It varies 
from universe to universe, so take your pick."

"Hey, I think I read that comic," Kyris said. "You're telling me that 
actually happened?"

"Manga. Not comic, manga. And yes, it did happen, just not in your universe."

"But it happened in yours?"

"Sort of. Anyways, one of their first opponents, a guy named Nephrite, rather 
then operate out of their home base, chose to come here, to Earth, and set up 
an identity as a billionaire playboy. He was very thorough, even had a house 
up in the hills. His parties were killer."

"Ah," Kyris said, catching on. "And that's where we're headed? But what if 
it's not his place?"

"It is. He always puts it in the same place. One-sixteenth of a mile below 
the rim on the west side with the front door facing dead east. That and now 
that I know its here, I can feel the energies that permeate it. They're like 
the ones that my matrix generates. I just have to 'follow my nose' so to 
speak."

"I wonder..."

"Wonder what?"

"Why this house's energies and your powers are similar."

"Probably because we share similar origins."

"What?"

"My full title and name is Lord General Azarite," he said as they crested the 
last hill and stared down at the house. "C'mon."

********************
Inside, the house was almost totally empty. The air was stale and it was very 
dark. There was an odd feeling about the place, cold, sterile, alien and 
decidedly unfriendly. Just beyond the edges of her hearing, Kyris thought she 
could hear voices telling her to leave, to run and forget she ever found this 
place.

"Come on," Az-Azarite said. "Those voices are only going to get louder and 
they probably have some nasty images to show you." He took the girl from her 
and slung her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. "Go to your human form, 
your hearing is less sensitive that way."

Kyris did as he said. "Now what?"

"Follow me, and don't think about the voices. We have to hurry; the longer we 
stand here, the worse it's going to get."

"How much worse?"

"There was a world where when a group of priests, real Holy-Roller types, 
found out about this place's origins, they decided to exorcise it. The voices 
took an hour to drive them mad and then they tore each other apart with their 
bare hands." He smirked. "As far as I know, their remains still lie there on 
the floor. Lucky for us, its a security system, and every security system has 
an off switch." He noticed she was staring at him strangely. "What?"

"You take pleasure in the deaths of clergy."

"Well, one, they did it even though I warned them not to. Two, I wasn't aware 
that they had ignored my warning until afterwards, and three, I..." he 
trailed off. "Kyris, you trusted me when we hunted together on your world and 
I'm asking you to trust me now. I am on the side of the angels. You have to 
believe me."

"I do not have to do anything," she said coldly. "But I will keep an open 
mind."

"Fair enough."

********************
Their final destination was a hidden room in the basement that could only be 
opened when Azarite applied another electric bolt. This one smaller and far 
more tightly controlled then the one he had released in the alley. As soon as 
they stepped through the doorway, the voices stopped, though the cold, 
unfriendly feeling remained.

The room they were in seemed to be part lab, part armory. Odd machines and 
vertical glass tubes held space on the walls side by side with weapons of all 
shapes and types. After laying the girl down on what looked like a doctor's 
table, Azarite flipped a switch at the head, and the table began to glow. 
Then he went to one of the banks of machinery, pulling off his left glove. "I 
hate having to do this..." he grumbled and tensed. His now bare hand began to 
twitch and then parts of it began to swell, as though something inside wanted 
out. Then, it exploded From the stump came five mechanical tendrils, stained 
red with blood. Hungrily, they went for the machinery, seeking and finding 
data input jacks and plugging themselves in.

Almost instantly, the cold, alien feeling Kyris had been getting from the 
house, especially here in the lab, faded.

"Go poke your head through the door, see if you can hear the voices," he 
said. 

"No," she said a moment later. "The voices are gone, the whole place seems 
different, friendlier some how."

"Good, then the place is ours." The tendrils withdrew, reforming themselves 
into a crude approximation of the human hand as he walked back to her, 
pulling his glove on. "Wish that wasn't nessacary, but I had to give it our 
brain wave patterns, which I got from you and our friend there using my 
telepathy, and that was quickest way."

"Didn't that hurt?" Kyris asked. Part of her knew that was a stupid question, 
he was practically hyperventilating and his lips were compressed to a thin 
line, but she still felt compelled to ask.

"It's a bit...uncomfortable, but I'll manage. Eventually, my hand will 
regenerate and be as good as new. I just wish I could push them out through 
my pores. Unfortunutly, that takes too long."

"Them?"

"That was the nanite's reshaping the inside of my left arm. Now they have to 
put it all back together. Don't worry, I'll be fine" He gritted his teeth. 
"Kyris? If you would be so kind as to get that battle axe on the wall over 
there and chop my arm off, I'd be ever so grateful." He made a noise that was 
halfway between a whimper and a moan.

"Az, I..." She said but made no other move, unsure of exactly what move to 
make. Finally, she shifted to her other from and used her now higher body 
heat to sooth his pain by holding him against her.

********************
The dark figure stepped towards her. She was trapped, she opened her mouth to 
call out to her friends and the figure's arm shot forward, covering her mouth.

"Nice try, but I choose when I confront Sailor Moon and take her precious 
crystal. Now, I need a hiding place and who better then you?"

She tried to scream as the figure seemed to grow and then blackness claimed 
her.

Who am I? Cold, so cold. Distance. Nothing was right. I don't belong here. 
Who am I? I was somebody. Cling to that. Hold on. Wait? Who's that? That 
uniform! No. Bad. Warmth. Food. Tasty. His voice. No. Going back. Don't want 
to go back! Stay. Focus on the voice. Hold on. He wants to help. But he's-

He's your only hope.

Her eyes snapped open and she stared at the ceiling. Slowly, she sat up and 
looked around. She was wearing some kind of one piece coverall and she had 
been bathed.

"I hope you don't mind us cleaning you up a bit. No offense, but you really 
smelled." She turned. Standing a few feet away, a young man was smiling at 
her. He was tall and slim, with wide shoulders. He had a slight tan and wore 
mirrored round-rimmed sunglasses. His clothing was a military style uniform: 
dark blue, with black stripes down the sides of the pants and tucked into 
worn, well-polished boots that came up to just below his knees. His jacket 
was buttoned with three buttons down the right side of his chest and then a 
fourth fastened the collar which came halfway up his neck and a black stripe 
encircled the collar, came down the front and then horizontally across his 
chest and down to the hem. His dark hair was tied back in a ponytail and his 
hands were in his pants pockets.

His uniform.

With a shriek, she scooted backwards, nearly falling off the table.

"I don't know whether to take that as an insult or as a sign that you've 
retained some of your memory," he said.

She shook her head. "You're...evil..."

"If I was evil, why did I rescue you from that alley?"

"I..." She stared at the floor. "I...don't know."

"I'm not surprised, not with the way you were raped."

"Raped?" she gasped, fear filling her like a glass of water.

"Not sexually, something far worse." He pulled his left hand from his pocket, 
revealing it to be covered with a black leather glove and tossed something 
onto the table.  It was a silver rectangle bracketed by two curved pieces of 
metal. "This'll keep you grounded here in reality. Put it on your upper arm 
and come with me. I'll explain everything." She hesitated. "C'mon," he said. 
"What do you have to lose?"

He's an enemy.

He saved you.

He'll kill you.

If he wanted you dead, he would've left you in that alley.

He just wants to do it himself.

He's your only hope...

She fastened the rectangle to her arm, slid off the table and followed him 
out.

He led her down a darkened hallway, up a flight of stairs, and into a huge 
room, lit only by sunlight through a huge, circular pane of stained glass. In 
the center of the sunbeam was a flat piece of wood on four cement blocks and 
a raven haired woman was setting styrofoam cups on three of the wood's four 
sides.

"This is Kyris," he said. "And you can call me Az." He turned to Kyris. "So 
what's on the menu?"

"Instant ramen with chicken boullion and tea with powdered milk. And the tea, 
milk, and boullion are from the staples Mother gave me before I left," Kyris 
replied, looking up.

"Yum," Az said as he knelt at the table. 

"Don't knock it, it's all I could find."

"Who's knocking?"

"Ano," she said and Az and Kyris looked at her. "You said you would explain."

"So I did. Have a seat." He grabbed a noodle with his chopsticks and slurped 
it up noisily. "I suppose the best place to start with would be at the 
beginning." He looked up at the stained glass circle for a moment and then 
made a gesture. Over the center of the table, an image of a multi-faceted 
crystal formed. "This is the Empyrean Silver Crystal, origin, unknown. 
Despite it's pretty name, its pure evil, and sentient. It wants nothing less 
then the destruction of all organic life in the universe. To that end, it 
uses other sentient beings, imbuing them with power and sending them out to 
cause havoc. Unfortunately for it the people it chooses, tend to get greedy, 
or overconfident, and are defeated. Then it met Serenity."

"And she destroyed it?"

"Don't I wish." He slurped up some noodles. "Serenity was a religious 
fanatic, and that's being nice. The first thing she did when she got the 
crystal was accomplish what her religion had been trying to do for centuries: 
unite the planet. Oh sure, some 'sinners' got killed in the process, but 
what's the lives of a few hundred thousand deformed people? After all, their 
deformity is proof of their disfavor in the eyes of the Holy One, right?" He 
gestured with his chopsticks. "Off they go to their eternal punishment, 
whoopadoobiedoo." He slurped up some more noodles. "To this day, I still 
don't quite understand how she came to be, but as soon as Serenity started 
eyeing other solar systems, Beryl showed up." He stirred his ramen. 
"Beryl...how do I describe her? Beryl is purity. She's so pure, that there is 
no evil in her." He smirked. "For some reason, that pissed Serenity off. 
Anyways, they went from planet to planet, gathering followers who would fight 
each other to the death. Sometimes Beryl's people won, sometimes Serenity's 
and Beryl grieved for each and every one who fell. On both sides. Then 
Serenity came to Earth.

"She had been running ragged, most of her followers were gone, and the few 
that were left were at each other's throats most of the time. As you can 
imagine, humanity was a godsend. A race that still had it's battle instinct 
at a time when most races were old enough to know better. The planet was 
impressed into service and Serenity struck back. For the next thousand years 
or so, she held Beryl at bay, while she ruled over most of the universe in 
what would eventually be given the Oh-So-Grand title of 'The Silver 
Millennium'. Then the most unexpected thing happened; Four of Serenity's top 
warriors, Nephrite, Malachite, Zoicite, and Jeddite suddenly and unexpectedly 
switched sides with the help of a small-time smuggler who had an ax to grind. 
Suddenly, the good guys had inside info and with their backs to the wall, 
they did the only thing they could."

"Which was?"

"They blitzed Earth. With the smuggler's knowledge of slipping past 
dectionsystems and the four generals' knowledge of their defenses, equipment, 
and tatics, they ground Serenity's people into dog meat. Once they had freed 
Earth, they turned their attention to the seat of Serenity's power. A 
fortress on the moon. The smuggler, who had been made a general in gratitude 
for all his help, sabotaged the outer defenses at the expense of his life, 
opening a gateway between Earth and it's satellite. They crushed the 
fortress, but nobody expected Serenity's final move."

"What did she do?"

"Serenity had the crystal send the souls of her daughter and her daughter's 
four closest minions and two advisors into Earth's future. She and Beryl 
finally clashed. The battle lasted for about a week, the crystal was sent 
into deep space and they died with their hands locked around each other's 
throats." He took a sip of tea. "Flash forward about ten thousand years. 
Nephrite and the other three, operating out of a small pocket dimension they 
called the Negaverse, quietly recruited operatives from Earth, building up a 
nice-sized army. They knew Serenity's spawn and her minions would be reborn, 
they just didn't know when. What they also didn't know is that the souls of 
everyone who died in that final battle up until that final move was also sent 
forward. That's sort of how I got involved."

"You're the fifth general," she said. "The smuggler who helped them."

"Not exactly." He poured some milk into his tea and stirred it thoughtfully. 
"The advisors revived Serenity's daughter and her minions, who started 
calling themselves the Sailor Scouts, and turned them loose. The Generals 
retaliated by finding who they thought was Beryl and awakening her."

"'Thought was Beryl'?" Kyris asked.

Az nodded. "I'll tell you that story some other time. Anyways, with Beryl 
awake, the playing field was even. The Scouts, however, were draining life 
energy from humans and storing it in a hidden battery.

"What was the battery for?"

"Remember how I said the E.S.C. was in deep space? It takes a lot of energy 
to reach that far. If they got their hands on it, it could mean the end of 
the world."

"But you stopped them from getting it, right?"

Az sighed. "Wrong."

********************
Out of all of them, Malachite's  expression was the funniest. The 
white-haired general's eyes were three times larger then normal and his mouth 
was so open, it reminded Azarite of the barn door at his grandmother's farm.

Before them, dark clouds hovered over Juuban High, swirling malevolently. 
Lightning lit the storm from inside, and they could hear the boom of thunder.

"You said they didn't have the energy!" Zoicite shrieked, grabbing Jeddite by 
the collar.

"They didn't!"

"Then what the hell is that?" she shrieked, pointing at the school. "A freak 
weather condition?"

"They must have used their fellow students and their own energy to make up 
what they didn't have," Nephrite mused. "Everyone but the Scouts is probably 
dead and they themselves would be extremely weak."

"Then let's go," Azarite said, grinning and cracking his knuckles.

"Go? Go where?" Malachite asked.

Azarite slapped him on the back of the head. "Into the school, of course. 
Now's the perfect chance."

Zoicite let go of Jeddite and grabbed Azarite. "What do you mean, 'the 
perfect chance'? THEY GOT THE CRYSTAL BACK!"

"And doing so no doubt weakened them considerably. Once they're done 
celebrating their victory, how long before one of them gets the idea to ask 
the crystal to restore them? We hit them now or not at all."

"The boy has a point," Malachite said.

Now it was Malachite's turn. "A point! A POINT?! HE'S TALKING ABOUT SUICIDE!"

"It was suicide last time," Jeddite said. "We made it."

"Oh sure, take his side! You were against it last time!"

As the trio continued arguing, Azarite moved to stand next to Nephrite. "Was 
it like this the last time?"

"Unfortunately," Nephrite said, grimacing. "In the end, the time they spent 
arguing was for naught. The decision to attack was Beryl's."

********************
Az sighed and shook his head. "That conversation saved our lives." He sipped 
his tea.

"How so?" Kyris asked. The ramen had long since been finished and the teapot 
nearly so. The only light in the room came from a small oil lantern that she 
had packed in her rucksack and Az's sunglasses glinted peculiarly in the 
light.

"By moving off to the side, we were out of the initial blast radius and 
Zoicite, Malachite, and Jeddite were so busy arguing that they quit paying 
attention to the world around them."

********************
The first indication that they had been shot at was the bright yellow column 
of light that erupted under the arguing trio accompanied by a deafening roar. 
Combat instinct, however, sent Nephrite and Azarite leaping off the roof as 
the building imploded and then exploded. 

In mid-air, however, they were at the mercy of the shockwave, which sent them 
tumbling head over heels towards Juuban high. 

Azarite, because of his smaller size, landed, albeit somewhat ungracefully on 
the school wall. Nephrite, however, hit the wall full on and slumped to the 
sidewalk.

"Bloody Hell," Azarite muttered under his breath and turned to leap to his 
mentor's aid only to meet up with an invisible force that flung him backwards 
to land on his back in the grass. "Forcefield. Lovely."

"Isn't it?"

He spun. Floating there, ten times larger then life, was an image of Sailor 
Moon's head. "Let's see," she gloated. "Where are we? We have the Empyrean 
Silver Crystal, three of your comrades are dead and the fourth too injured to 
be any threat, which means the sole remaining obstacle on the path to 
creating an orderly, sane universe," she paused to give the young man a look 
as though he was a naughty child, "is yourself. Still, never let it be said 
that I have no sense of sportsmanship. Sailor Mercury and I are waiting in 
the gym at the back of the school. All you need to do is get past the other 
Scouts and a few...friends of ours. We'll be waiting."

********************
"Ano, Mercury? Who is Sailor Mercury?" she asked. 

Az looked at her. 'I really need to give her a name,' he thought to himself. 
"Mercury is one of the Sailors Scouts," he said. "Her power is ice, and she's 
named for the first planet out from the sun."

"But the first planet out from the sun isn't named Mercury."

He stared at her. "It's not?"

"No, its name is Hermes."

Kyris put her hand over her mouth so they wouldn't see her laughing at the 
shell-shocked expression on his face.

"What's the name of the second planet out?" he asked finally.

"Aphrodite."

"And the fourth?"

"Ares."

"The Greeks instead of the Romans," he said, head in his hands. "Terrific."

"Sailor Moon had challenged you," Kyris said, hoping to get the story back on 
track. 

"Right. So, I tore off a piece of the wrought iron gate and headed into the 
school."

********************
Azarite pushed open the door and descended the main building's back steps as 
he pulled the piece of the gate from his belt.

Without reservation, Azarite truly and deeply loved the Internet. If you had 
a computer, you too could learn about a person's hopes, their dreams, and 
view pictures of their cat in baby booties.

Of course, if that wasn't to your tastes, and if you had some paitence, you 
could find things that were far more interesting. Such as; "Homemade weapons 
on a budget: A handbook for the economically minded domestic terrorist." With 
page 123 ("Basic Arson; a D.I.Y. guide") in mind, he stopped off at the 
science lab. Say what you will about Japanese schools, they were well 
stocked. A bit of improvisation, a tank of flammable chemicals, a bunsen 
burner, some hose, a pump, and a few other odds and ends and he had a simple, 
but effective flamethrower. Granted, there was a fifty percent chance of it 
blowing up instead of working, but since he was going to burn the school down 
and smoke the scouts out, either way worked just fine for him. But just as he 
had finished, the lab's door opened and in came the zombified remains of the 
students. Which explained how Sailor Moon had come to have friends. That 
irked him a little, he had believed zombies to have better taste in people.

Too bad he had run out of gas incinerating them all and couldn't burn the 
school down like he had planned. 

Oh well.

"Are you planning to kill her?" Standing off to one side of the path was 
Venus. "Are you planning to kill her?" she asked again.

"Actually, I'm planning on killing all of you. Beryl's not going to like it 
very much, but fuck her, I didn't really want to be part of this silly little 
war in the first place. But since Serenity botched her little spell, I'm 
stuck with the sense of duty and the swiss-cheesed memories of someone who's 
been dead for a hundred centuries. Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, 
now that I am involved, I'm having loads of fun derailing your plans for 
universal Armageddon. Now, would you like to fight me first or shall I just 
kill you where you stand?"

"I don't want to fight you."

"Fair enough." He started forward, only to stop when she shimmered and then 
stood there in her street clothes and dropped the pen to the grass. "You know 
who we are. You know our real names."

"So?"

"Then you know my parents were murdered. Sailor Moon told me you did it. But 
just now, I heard her and Jupiter laughing about it. Now I want revenge."

"And why should I believe you?"

"Because something inside you drives you to help people who are in genuine 
need. Mars did a fire reading on you after you beat the crap out of Mercury. 
You're not good, you're not evil. You're...something else."

"Like I haven't heard that one twelve zillion times." But he didn't move 
forward.

"Serena and I have been lovers for years. Wanna know how old we were when we 
first fucked? Twelve. Twelve years old, I didn't even have my period yet and 
I lost my virginity. Over the years, we've done things in bed to each other 
and other people that when I think about them now, makes me sick. I once took 
on an entire bar, men and women. There must have been a hundred of them. Why? 
Because she asked me to. We've drunk blood! God..." she trailed off. "I gave 
her everything I had, everything I was." A tear rolled down her cheek. "I 
didn't mean to overhear, but I did, and when I heard Lita laughing about how 
my mother looked as she drowned her, something inside me snapped and for the 
first time, I saw Serena for what she really was. A succubus, feeding off the 
suffering of others."

"And now you want revenge."

"Damn right. I was going to set my parents up someplace nice. Let them live 
out their days being waited on hand and foot. I owe them that much. Now 
they're dead. I don't care what happens to me, but I refuse to let Serena see 
her orderly universe."

"Ah, to be young and naieve once more," Azarite said mockingly.

"What are you talking about?"

"You were going to set your parents up in luxury? Have you been drinking 
Kool-Aid or something? When the crystal says it wants a sane and orderly 
universe, it's talking about universal genocide."

"I..."

"Your precious Queen Serenity was a genocidal religious zealot and good ol' 
Princess Serena is her mother's daughter and worse. If your parents hadn't 
been killed, they'd be dead before today's over with and the five of you 
wouldn't be far behind. Humanity is pretty much alone in the universe, babe. 
The war between Serenity and Beryl saw to that. Once Earth goes, that's it. 
Poof. Finito. Game's over."

"I have to tell the others! I-"

"They already know, lady. Why do you think your parents were murdered? You're 
the weak link. Your parents were murdered for no other reason then to insure 
you would help bring the crystal to Earth."

Venus stared at him, devastated. "H-how-"

"Did I know? Easy. You've been watching me, I've been watching you. The 
others disagree with Sailor Moon on a regular basis and enjoy drawing out 
their victim's pain. You kill simply, quickly, cleanly and never argue. So if 
they killed your parents and told you I did it, then logic dictates it was to 
insure you would bring the crystal here. Now that they have the crystal, your 
life ain't worth two squirts of piss. Bet they're hoping I'd kill you." His 
arm snapped forward and the gate piece flew across the distance between them, 
boring through her left breast. "I always try to oblige a member of the fair 
sex." He walked over to her and pulled the piece out, shaking it, spattering 
blood all over the prone form of Mina Aino. "Justice has been served." He 
stood there for a moment longer and then bent down and closed her eyes. "And 
I'll avenge your parents," he added quietly. Pocketing the transformation 
pen, he headed for the Gym, humming a tune.

********************
Juuban High, like most schools, had a small shrine near the archery field for 
the archers to leave offerings before they competed. It was here he found 
Mars. She was sitting on the fence that bordered the field, tossing a 
fireball from hand to hand.

"So, you survived," she said.

"Yep. Venus is dead, by the way." He showed her the blood spattered piece of 
wrought iron. "At the risk of sounding cheesy, you're next."

Mars slid off the fence and into a defensive stance. "Bring it on."

********************
Sailor Moon glared at her watch and then looked at Mercury, who stood behind 
and to her left, hands behind her back, weight evenly distributed on both 
legs, her expression neutral. "What is taking so long?" The blonde teen 
demanded. "He should be here by now."

"Perhaps Mars or Venus succeeded in killing him," Mercury replied.

"Maybe," Sailor Moon replied, looking out at the rest of the gym. She was 
seated in a chair she had taken from one of the offices. At the far end, 
Jupiter paced like a caged beast, eying the doors. She looked back at 
Mercury, eying the other woman's curves that were outlined by the fuku. 
'Frigid bitch,' she thought. Of all the Scouts, Mercury was the only one she 
had not taken to her bed. The blue-haired young lady had no interest in sex, 
or so she claimed. For the human race, sex was a necessary element of 
survival, like air, food and water. That's what Serena's father had taught 
her in that room behind the wall in their basement when she was a child and 
as an obedient daughter should, she had learned her lessons well. "But I 
doubt it. Azarite survived unscathed when the others didn't. By the time he 
gets here though, he won't be at his best, the zombies and killing Mars and 
Venus will have taken their toll."

"You seek their deaths?" Sailor Moon glanced at Mercury, who had sounded 
almost surprised.

"Of course I do. Venus is weak and now that the master is here, she's no 
longer of any use to me. As for Mars...I refuse to tolerate those who don't 
know their place."

She looked down at the naked people kneeling at her feet as though they 
belonged there. Which as far as she was concerned, they did. Then, quite 
calmly, she kicked one of them in the throat. The girl fell back, writhing, 
and choking as her body struggled for air that it could no longer get, 
eventually going still.

The remainder watched the entire display and then turned their attention back 
to their mistress. It was all they were capable of, their minds all but shut 
down from witnessing the zombiefication of the other students.

"And when he gets here," Sailor Moon purred, running a gloved fingertip over 
the facets of the crystal at the end of the scepter, "I'll show him the true 
meaning of pain and then dance on his bones."

A that point, the skylight shattered, ushering in Azarite's arrival. With a 
howl of rage, Jupiter charged. Rising from his crouch, the young general 
threw what up until a few moments ago, had been Mars's head. Instinctivly, 
Jupiter ducked and as she came up, he drove a piece of wrought iron through 
her throat. Then he turned and faced Sailor Moon.

His hair was unbound, and his face covered in soot. His clothing was scorched 
and torn and he was favoring his left leg. His right arm was cradled against 
his chest and yet, by some bizarre miracle, those mirrored glasses of his 
appeared to be undamaged.

"And then there was two," he said. "Who's first?"

"You can't be serious," Sailor Moon said, standing up. "Look at you. You can 
barely stand."

He shrugged. "Right now, all I can see are a slut and a robot."

Sailor Moon's eye twitched. "What did you say?"

"A slut. You know, a whore, lady of the night, hooker, prostitue, carrier of 
various venereal diseases. That's you, right?"

Sailor Moon lost it. "Die!" She shrieked, leveling the scepter at him. 

Nothing happened. For a moment, caught in a state of complete and total 
surprise, all of her defenses were down; for a moment, anyway. But in that 
moment, an spear made of ice sprouted from her chest. She looked down, at it, 
running her fingers over it as though not quite believing what she was 
seeing. "Mercury? Why?"

"You have proven yourself of being unworthy of the Master's gifts," Mercury 
replied, taking the scepter from Sailor Moon's hand. "Therefore, he has 
chosen a new bearer. Someone who will not be swayed by her temper or 
her...urges."
"Backstabbing..." Sailor Moon started as she slumped to her knees. "I'll..."

"You'll die," Mercury said. "Like the others, your protection has 
been...removed." She turned to face Azarite. "Our battle will come at a later 
date. While it is tactically sound to kill you now, I find the thought of 
confronting you when we are both at our peaks oddly appealing."

"Me too," Azarite replied as she vanished. Taking a deep breath, he staggered 
to the nearest wall and slid down it. 'I need a vacation.'

********************
To Be Continued...
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