Note: Something bouncing around in my head. Any suggestions or C&C is 
welcome

Tokyo, Japan

She ran.

Lady Maran, wielder of the Sword of Valcothese, ran. Impossibly, she 
was breathing hard, impossibly, she was getting tired. It wasn't 
possible, not her. She was the ancient gaurdian of the ancient seals of 
Marycos! But her breath came in ragged gasps, her muscles ached and 
there was a stitch in her side.

No matter where she went, no matter what she did, they were there, with 
the crystal staffs and the cold steel armor.

She was being run down like a hunted animal. She knew it. Perhaps not 
in so many words, but she knew she was being hunted. She put on a 
desperate burst of speed and leapt, leaping across the urban canyon in 
a poor imitation of flight. As she landed, she spun on her heel, held 
her sword just so and yelled in a breath deprived voice as she moved 
her sword in a complicated pattern. "Screaming Burst Special!"

Ancient Magical energies lashed out, hungry for a target to tear apart 
in their fury, only to spatter harmlessly against the flickering blue 
shield generated by her pursuers.

For a precious microsecond, Maran stood, stunned and then fled as 
self-preservation insticnts took over, pushing her to escape, nothing 
in her mind but fear and the primal need to escape.

But they could not be shaken. Relentlessly they dogged her heels, until 
finally, she collapsed against a tree, unable to run any further. She 
resumed her human form and threw a small rod at the feet of the armored 
figures. "Take it!" she cried. "I'm sorry! Take it! Just leave me 
alone. Please!" She stared up at them, tears pouring down her cheeks.

"Keiko Saotome," one of the armored figures said in a hollow electronic 
voice. "Also known as the Magical Girl Lady Maran, you have been found 
guilty of violating Imperial Edict number twelve. In accordance with 
the law, you have been sentanced to death. Sentance is to be carried 
out upon apprehension."

"No!" Keiko cried. "Please! I was only trying to help! I--" The armored 
figure drew a gun from the holster on its thigh, and fired once, the 
discharge creating a single neat hole in Keiko's head, death freezing 
her thirteen year old face in an expression of terrified supplication.

"Nice shot, Captain Sanoda," one of the armored figures said.

Tomiko Sanoda ignored that and pressed her throat mike. "Sonada here, 
target eliminated. Returning to extraction point." With that, they 
walked away. They did not look at the body, nor was there any jeers, or 
bad jokes.

Just the air of people coming off shift.

* * * *

The video fizzed out, smoothing into a figure dressed in a long coat, 
shirt, tie and slacks. All were colored nondescript shades of gray 
making him almost appear to be part of the night sky. His shoes were 
dress shoes, but there was an odd look to them, sqaure and boxy, as 
though they were just meant to look like dress shoes. His hands were 
gloved, chromed steel that almost seemed to have been poured over his 
hands and arms. His face was masked with red goggles over his face, 
glowing in the shadow of the hat pulled low over his face.

"I am Peacekeeper. This has gone on for fifteen years. It must end. 
Lady Maran was the last. The must be peace, there must be balance. For 
fifteen years, the Magical Girls have been hunted down like animals by 
the Magical Girl Elimination Corps for a crime they had little to do 
with. Is this how we remember Tokyo? How we honor our dead? It must end 
. . . I will make it end, by any means necessacary.  I will prevent the 
carrying out of sentances, I will prevent counterattacks by the Magical 
Girls. I am watching and will stop only if the Emperor rescinds Edict 
Twelve, or if I am dead."

The picture winks out and is replaced by the State Networks 
entertainment Feed. But no one is entertained any longer.

* * * *

Peacekeeper had had a name, once, but that had been wiped from the 
records. Meticulously, he had erased any sign that he existed. Who he 
had been was nothing compared to who he had become, who he had 
submerged himself in.

He had not begun this task lightly, the message that even now was 
playing all over the state Network feeds was the beginning of a goal 
that had been fifteen years in the making. Years of study and physical 
training. Years of gathering the needed resources, and using his 
intellect to fashion the tools he would need.

And then the final step. Meticulously, he had erased his former self 
from public record. Schools, mailing lists, library, census, 
everything. Until this was done, there was only Peacekeeper.

He was ready, Japan must be made ready. The Chirokuo must be restored.


-Steve "Komodo" T.
http://www.geocities.com/studio_pc_hub/


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