Subject: [FFML] Re: [Fic][YST/SM]Ronin Summer 8!
From: David McMillan
Date: 10/14/2006, 11:20 PM
To: Morgan Hudson
CC: ffml@anifics.com


	(Phew!  Finally done -- I think I've been C&Cing this, here and there, 
for over two weeks now.  AutoSave has my Drafts folder *full* of copies 
of this thing)

	"Criticism batteries to power.  Commentary turbines to speed.
Stream-of-Consciousness engine at 7500 rpm.  Engage paradigm clutch!"

Morgan Hudson wrote:


RONIN SUMMER: CONVERGENCE

A Bishoujou Senshi Sailor Moon / Yoroiden Samurai Troopers cross-over


by Morgan Hudson

"Convergence (n) - the approach of an infinite series to a finite
limit."

	I other words, a veeery long ramp....

Chapter 8: Distraction and Destruction

	Shuu:  "Hey, look!  Explosions!"

Radanthus the Unconquered did not sit in the throne room of the 
Crimson Nadir: he *brooded* in it. Brooding had become a second
nature to

	I'm no grammarrian, but I believe that the colon is misused in this
instance, and should be a double-dash.

him, recently, and one that he was loathe to give up easily. He had
spent years planning his ultimate takeover of the Dark Kingdom;
gathering his troops from the farthest corners of the world and
consolidating his already considerable power until there was nobody
willing to oppose him openly. For months, he had plotted the doom of
the Sailor Senshi - not out of any personal malice, but merely
because their deaths would prove his natural superiority to the rest
of the realm beyond any question. He had

	Somewhere, Shale is rolling her eyes and going "Yeah, *Right*."

been most careful: never revealing himself, always watching them 
carefully from the shadows as they had busied themselves with their 
battles against that foolish Queen Neherenia and her pathetic Dead
Moon Circus. He had learned about the Sailor Senshi, and he had been
taught about the Samurai Troopers by those who knew them. Their
destruction should have been easy.

	But they have the author on their side -- it's SO unfair.  :)
	More to the point, the Good Guys (and Gals) have had a few lucky
breaks, while Raddy has factions within his own forces working to
undermine his plans.

It was, instead, proving very difficult, and this was what had his
teeth grinding in frustration. Radanthus had been prepared for his 
first plan to fail: such things were to be expected when encountering
an enemy on open ground for the first time. Nise Suiko's assault on
Sailor Mars had been meant as a feint; merely a chance to see if the
Moon Princess would respond as expected. Shin Mouri was not supposed
to have gotten involved. The Samurai Troopers were supposed to be
completely unaware that anything was going on at all, not actively
trying to help the Senshi make a mess of everything. Now, with Suiko
no Shin so fixated on

	"Suiko no Shin"?  Haven't heard that one before.

finding his evil double, Radanthus had lost the ability to use Nise
Suiko in the Earth Realm at all. There was no telling when those two
would get wind of each other and start fighting again - it had
already cost him Vepres and his entire operation at Nango Beach.

	Or, more to the point, Nise simply can't be depended upon to do
anything but target Shin -- which is what got Vepres&co wiped out.
	Nise would make a decent part of an overall plan, if *all* you want him
to do is tie down Shin while the other parts of the plan are working on
the Senshi or Troopers that Shin would otherwise back up.  But that's
about *all* the Nise can be *depended* upon for.
	...although, Badamon seems to have something of a grip on Nise --
witness his fights with Elios and Jed.

Such things happened. He had recovered as best as possible, and 
started working on his second plan: Jadeite. If he could not destroy
the Sailor Senshi suddenly or unexpectedly, then he would have to
make sure that he had a proper scapegoat set up in case they decided
to fight back. There was no point in taking on any of those girls in
single combat if he could find an old relic like Jadeite to do it on
his behalf. If he was especially lucky, they might even manage to
kill the former Shittenou, and he would be able to slay them in
revenge. There was nothing like righteous

	Raddy's thought processes here lead me to put mental quote marks around
"revenge."

fury over the death of a comrade to win over the troops, especially
those who had liked the fallen comrade much more than the one who was
doing the avenging. In the meantime, Jadeite would serve as a
powerful attraction to any youma warriors who might have still been
weighing their options before choosing who to support.

	Well, that was the *plan,* anyways...

That plan would have been perfect, if Badamon had just been able to
get Jadeite from one room of the castle to another without losing
him.

	<refraining from obligatory Hibiki joke>

The twisted old priest had been making a lot of convenient mistakes
like that lately, and Radanthus was beginning to seriously doubt
their accidental nature. The more he thought about it, the better an
idea it

	Well, it's taken him long enough.

seemed for him to just eat Badamon at the earliest possible
opportunity and save himself the headache of dealing with the vile
little creature. It

	In exchange for one heck of a STOMACHache.  I mean, I still recall your
all-too-vivid descriptions of Baddy.  Eeeeeewww....

wasn't as though Radanthus was stupid enough to think this his head
priest was in any way loyal to him, but the fact remained that
Badamon and his Ankoku Priests were simply too useful for him to
destroy. If the priest was to be believed, they were already working
on a way to weaken Sailor Moon's connection to the ginzuisho, and
that was a goal too important for him to interfere with.

	As long as he can be confident that that's what Baddy is really doing...

Even if the disgusting little toad really *did* need to be eaten.

	Not unless you want to start worshipping at the porcelain alter, Raddy-boy.

Radanthus sighed deeply, a sound that caused the entire room to 
tremble. Speaking of people who ate things, he had rather expected
that Xiang Yao would have managed to fit at least one or two of the
Senshi down her gullet by now. He just could not understand why so
many of his troops were having trouble beating those girls. There
were only five of them, after all, unless one counted Tuxedo Kamen.

	"And we all agreed, Tux doesn't count.  We took a vote and everything!"

He knew that Xiang Yao had not killed Tuxedo Kamen, despite her own
insistence to the contrary. If something were to happen to that man, 
Radanthus would have felt it reverberating through his bones. As it
was,

	...Ohhhhh?  Innnnteresting.

he knew that Tuxedo Kamen lived in the same way that he knew his arms
 were both attached. Even now, he was sure that the young prince was 
hurrying to his princess' side, to defend her from whatever evil
might be

	Tux:  "yeah, as soon as i <urk> finish purging <blarg> this poison out
of my <hork>  system...."

trying to cause her harm. It was the same thing that Tuxedo Kamen
-that Prince Endymion- had always done, even back when Radanthus had
known him.

	Hmmmm.....

That meant Radanthus would need to work quickly, if he wanted to
strike at the Senshi before their protector could reach them.

	This is where most SM-canon fen would snicker, but personally, I've
always thought that Tux/Endy was much more dangerous than he ever got a
chance to show in canon.  I'm looking forward to seeing how you handle
him.

Rising from his seat, Radanthus waved one shadowy arm and the wall in
front of him rippled like a pool of water. The rock and crystal
melted and reformed, shimmering slightly as they parted to reveal the
swirling blankness of the void. It had not been easy to learn all the
tricks of this ancient castle, but Radanthus had been particularly
inspired. With a slight twist of his clawed fingers, he began the
task of keying the portal to the appropriate realm. Once, Radnathus'
father had used this portal to keep in touch with his masters back on
Earth - now Radanthus had taken

	 Now, I'm pretty sure that this is the first we've ever heard of
Raddy's father.  And we know that Hyperion's preemptive strike was the
first contact that the DK ever had with our universe.  Which leaves a
rather small time window...
	Theory:  Raddy was, once, part of the Earth Kingdom's invasion force.
Perhaps, even...  oh.  Well, *that* would explain why he knew Endymion.
  I wonder how long it'll take to find out if I'm right....

control of it to make sure none of his minions could escape his
grasp.

"Fei Lian," he said, focusing his will until the portal took on that
particular shade of azure that he had always associated with the 
inside of his loyal servant's head. "Your master speaks, Fei Lian.
Allow me to see through your eyes."

	Nice bit of description there.  And I suppose "loyal" is a fairly
accurate description for FL -- at least, in the sense that he stays
bought, once he's been paid.

The twisting and pulsing threads of blue parted, and slowly the face
of Xiang Yao came into focus. The purple-haired woman was kneeling
over Fei Lian, with a look of bordeom reflected in her crimson eyes
as she idly raised a wicked-looking dagger over her head and prepared
 to slip it into the youma exposed throat. Radanthus gestured, and
Fei

	Punct:  youma's

Lian's hand shot up to grab her wrist before she could strike.

"Oh, you've recovered," she said flatly. "I was about to finish you
off so you'd stop slowing me down."

"Do so," Radanthus said through Fei Lian's mouth, "and I would be 
most disappointed in you, Xiang Yao. The conditions of your release
were very specific. Should you wish to change those conditions, this
is not the way to do it."

	Does this suggest that Raddy had a means of communicating with XY while
she was locked up in the CoR?  And if so, is that something that Touma,
Mako, and Toshi could use to get out?

"Yeah, but if I'd gotten away with it, that damned box would be at 
the bottom of the ocean by now, and you'd have nothing left to
threaten me with," Xiang Yao argued with a shrug of her shoulders.
"You can't blame a girl for trying."

	"argue" and "shrug" are at odds, here -- she really seems more casual
than upset about getting caught.
	Not one who suffers from impatience, it seems.  That makes her dangerous.

"Putting you back in that box is the least that I could do to you,"
Radanthus reminded her. "You were ordered to protect Fei Lian until 
he had recovered!"

"He was taking too long," Xiang Yao explained, slithering out of his
grasp and retreating to the other side of the small room to nurse her
 injured wrist. They were in some kind of domicile, Radanthus noted,
as he glanced about through his servant's eyes. Aside from the bed
that Fei Lian's body was lying on, the only other things in the room
were a wooden table with a number of knives and bottles stacked on it
and a mirror that was mounted in the ceiling for some reason,
reflecting the light of a

	<choke>

score of small candles that littered the floor. Red light streamed in
 through the cracked and dirty window, casting Xiang Yao in a hellish
 glow as she stared at him petulantly.

	<snicker>  A love hotel.  A *cheap* love hotel, no less.  And none of
the three present have any appreciation for irony...

"Fei Lian may take as long as he wishes," Radanthus decreed, giving
the woman a stern glare. "He has earned that right. Do not forget 
that it was he who freed you, Xiang Yao, and he who trapped both
Sailor Jupiter and Touma Hashiba in the Castle of Eternal Regret. You
are to leave him as he is, do you understand?"

	"Keep him just as wounded and weak as he is right now, got it."
	Raddy isn't accustomed to 'servants' who have the minds of lawyers,
does he?
	On second thought, he probably just eats them.  Hm.  He eats *lawyers.*
  Okay, maybe he *could* stomach Badamon.

"Yes, of course," Xiang Yao sighed, walking over to the table and

	I dunno, I'd expect her to be more "yeah, fine, whatever."  But I don't
have a good handle on her speech patterns yet.

fitting a cigarette into her ebony holder. Picking up one of the
nearby candles, she held the flamt to it until it lit. The serpentine
tattoo

	"held the flame to" what?  There's no noun in that sentence to
associate to "it."  Sure, it's clear in context, but it's bad grammar.
And I need to do *some* concrete C&Cing here, after all....

that crawled across her face shifted and moved slightly as she drew
in a mouthful of smoke and allowed it to trickle from the corner of
her lips. "It really is rather boring here, though - I haven't had
the chance to kill anyone in at least a day or so. I even had to pay
for those medical supplies, instead of just knifing the shopkeeper
and taking whatever I wanted. Do you have any idea how degrading that
was for me?"

	<dryly>  I can only imagine...

"You have been most patient," Radanthus admitted, nodding Fei Lian's
head sagely, "and now I think the time has come to reward that 
patience. I have a mission for you, Xiang Yao: alone."

	Again, misused colon, if my (less than perfect) grasp of the proper
usage is correct.

"Keep talking," she said, taking another pull from her cigarette and
trying to look uninterested, but Radanthus could tell from the way
her eyes had gleamed at the word 'alone' that he had her where he
wanted her. Xiang Yao was the sort who would chafe under any kind of
supervision, no matter how inobtrusive. Handled properly, her own
desire to be unfettered would provide him with a very useful way to
keep her firmly under his control.

	Holy self-contradiction, Batman!
	No, seriously, I get it.  Raddy may not grasp lawyerlike minds, but
*serpentine* minds he seems to understand quite well.

"You know the Sailor Senshi are in Yokohama," he said, and she nodded
in silent reply. "I want you to go there, alone, and deal with them."

<blink>  Oookay, so much for subtlety.  Although I can't help bu think
that Raddy's got another arrow in his quiver...

"Okay," Xiang Yao said, after a moment's silence. Leaning back in the
window frame, she contemplated the curlicules of smoke rising from
her cigarette. "I'll do it. Consider them dead."

	Scary thing is, she might be able to pull it off.  The Senshi (and
Troopers) really *aren't* well-suited to dealing with knife-in-the-back
attacks from someone of her skill level.  If they get half a chance to
see her coming, they can probably drive her off, but...


"I have one condition, though," Radanthus warned her. "Do whatever 
you like to Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury, but the Moon Princess is
not to be harmed. She is too powerful for us to confront directly at
this time."

	Which means he's aiming her straight at Moon, right?  Subtle.  Of
course, obsessive personalities are always easy to manipulate, as long
as you understand (and can control) their obsessions.

"If you insist," Xiang Yao sighed, carefully examining her nails. The
ones on the left hand were laquered a bilous green colour, and seemed
 to glisten wetly in the throbbing crimson light that filtered
through the window.

	Nice color scheme.  Very... Christmassy.  :D

"You will need to move quickly," Radanthus continued, scowling at her
demeanour. He was accustomed to at least a little bit of subdued 
terror in his presence, even if it was filtered through a
subordinate. "Sailor Venus is probably already on her way to assist
them - as is Tuxedo Kamen."

	Heh.  Dangle a forbidden target in front of her, then sting her pride
with the one she missed.

"Found an antidote, did he?" she mused, with a cheerful smile. "Well,
good: I was afraid this might be getting too easy."

	My amazing psychic-reader powers indicate that XY's ego will be a key
element of allowing Our Hero(in)es to defeat her.

"Do not underestimate those two," Radanthus said. "Sailor Venus is 
the most experienced of the Sailor Senshi, and Tuxedo Kamen has long
been

	Now, now, Morgan, didn't you take me to task during Ch2 for objecting
to Usagi calling herself the most experienced Senshi?

a thorn in the Dark Kingdom's side. They will no doubt seek to
confront us again."

"I tremble with anticipation," Xiang Yao sighed, as she began to

	XY as Frank N. Furter?  Nah, I just don't see it.

examine the nails on her other hand. "Powerful or not, oh high and 
mightily concerned, Sailor Venus and Tuxedo Kamen can do nothing if
they cannot get to Yokohama. I think I can find a way to slow them
down."

	And this is what makes her dangerous.  Our Hero(in)es think fairly
linearly.  She most definitely does *not.*

"What are you going to do, Xiang Yao?"

"I'm going to have some fun," Xiang Yao replied, as she gently 
flicked her thumb against the tip of her right index finger. With a 
metallic noise, the purple fingernail on that finger suddenly
lengthened into a six-inch long spike of gleaming violet crystal.
"It's been a while since I've been able to play with any of my
pets...."

	I really could go without seeing what she would consider "pet"
material.  Which means we'll be seeing them soon enough.

**********

Deep within the bowels of the Crimson Nadir, Badamon smiled to 
himself. It was a mirthless smile, the kind of grimace that was
usually found on bare skulls, and the light in his eyes was cold and
hard as he stroked his bony chin thoughtfully.

	Sug bare<>mummified.  Baddy's got *some* skin left, after all.

"So," he said to himself, his fingers twisting and forming themselves
into the proper sigils to end his scying spells, "our master 
Radanthus wishes to send Xiang Yao against the Senshi, as I had
feared. Clearly, this will not do."

	Oops.  I forgot the *other* element in XY's eventual defeat:  Baddy-boy.

The shadows behind him shifted slightly, and the tattered old wizard
gave a dry chuckle. Nise Suiko could be surprisingly stealthy, for 
one so lacking in subtlety, but Badamon could always tell when the
youma was near. If nothing else, he could rely on the faint musty
aroma of stagnant water, rotting fish, and algae that seemed to
follow his servant around as a sure sign of his presence. Nise Suiko
carried the scent of death on him: Badamon liked that in a
subordinate.

	Again, misused colon.

"Your timing is impeccable," he said, bobbing his head slightly in
recognition. Nise Suiko responded by stepping forward into the feeble
 light cast by Badamon's crystal ball and staring impassively down at
the smaller robed figure. The youma was clad in his distinctive
scarlet and

	Sug: comma after "smaller," otherwise they both sound "robed."

ebony yoroi, a leathery carapace of chitin and skin that rasped
against itself with every motion. Thin rivulets of crimson slime
oozed out from between the cracks between each plate of armour,
trickling down his body and pooling on the floor. Somewhere behind
his impassive ivory faceplate, twin points of ruby light sparkled as
he gripped his trident and held it at the ready.

	What, no smoke as his ooze hits the floor and starts eating the
stonework?  Geez, talk about cheap.  :)

"Yeah, whatever," he said in a sepulchral tone. "What's the big idea,
dragging me back up here, old man? I thought we discussed this."

	I wonder what he was doing that he resents being pulled away from?

"Xiang Yao will soon be interfering with our plans, Nise Suiko," 
Badamon explained, still staring into the depths of his own crystal
ball instead of bothering to face the armoured warrior. "I think it
is time that you went to Yokohama."

	Now, does Nise know yet that Shin is still alive, well, and *in* Yokohama?

**********

Seiji Date leaned back and rested his head against the cool glass 
window of the subway car. Luckily for them, the subways were still up
and running without any trouble - ever since one of the trains on the
 Yamanote line crashed a few days ago, JR East had been having a hard
time getting anything through. Nearly the entire Minato ward was
caught in a vicious snarl; some trains were being re-routed to new
tracks, others

	This time, it's a misused semicolon.

were being delayed, and still more were just plain not arriving. For
a company that prided itself on never being more than six seconds
behind schedule, it was proving to be a massive problem for Japan
Railways. Seiji made a mental note to contact the family accontant
and have him start buying up stock while people's confidence in the
company was still low.

	A hero who can multitask.  Good thing.

Concern over a late train or two might cause the price to waver, but
in a few weeks all anybody was going to remember was that JR East had
managed to have a train jump the rails and skid through downtown Mita
without any of the passengers getting anything worse than a sprained
wrist.

	Not that JR was responsible, but that won't stop them from taking the
credit.

Assuming, of course, that nobody counted the passenger that had never
gotten off the train that night at all. Seiji was just guessing, but
the more he thought about it the more it seemed like his old partner 
Touma had been on that train. There was no way that a train with more
 than eleven cars would just hop off its tracks and do a backflip for
no good reason. According to the photos in the newspaper, the front
car had actually gone up and over the entire length of the train's
body before touching down again. Things that warped and crazy only
happened to him and four other people that he knew.

	You're right, they really *do* think that way.  Of course, he's about
to have to expand that number by several...

Seiji hoped he was wrong. It wasn't like he could be sure: all he

	Again, colon abuse.  Do you *want* prostate problems, at your age?  :)

had to go on was a cryptic phone call from Ryo about 'trouble'
-which, knowing Ryo, could mean anything from a flat tire to an
invasion by the armies of the Evil Dynasty- and a few vague reports
about a blue streak

	Ryo:  "Hey, I wouldn't have asked you to bring your sword if it was
just a flat tire.  Well, unless maybe I thought we could go spar
afterwards, if there was a good place nearby, and we could the tire
changed fast enough to have time, and maybe then we could go get
something to eat, and we could use that family discount we get at Shuu's
resteraunt, and...."

that had zipped through the train and carted everybody off to safety
while it was in mid-air. It wasn't making him any more happy that he
had managed to blunder into a battlefield within twenty minutes of
coming to Jubaan, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.
According to the guy he had patched up, they had random fights with
the forces of evil every other week around these parts.

	<beating head against desk>  ARGH!  Somebody, PLEASE, ask the OBVIOUS
QUESTION!!!!!

He shook his head and sighed. Logic be damned, he could tell that 
this was going to end up involving him somehow before it was all
over. Something about the whole situation was giving him the same 'I
am about to be cosmically screwed' feeling he used to get every time
Ryo told him that things were "under control". It was like a sixth
sense that warned him

	<snerk>

when explosions were imminent. No, no matter how much he wanted to
deny it, Touma Hashiba was gone, and that had Seiji worried for a
number of

	Sug:  gone<>missing

reasons. First of all, Touma was the smartest human being that Seiji
knew, and exactly the kind of guy that you wanted to have around in a
fight. If someone had targeted him first, that meant they knew the
Troopers far better than Seiji wanted them to. With Touma missing, it
also meant the

	Finally, someone who grasps the importance of intel.

rest of them couldn't form the Kikoutei armour, and that left them

	Quick on the uptake, Seiji is.  Of course, he's still not asking the
OBVIOUS QUESTION!

vulnerable. Seiji just hoped that the Sailor Senshi knew a trick or
two that would help them compensate.

	Well, the Senshi aren't vulnerable that way.  OTOH, they don't really
have a "Unite Into Senshi-Tron" trick like the Troopers.  Well, except
when they've gotten killed recently, and... oh, just forget it.

Opening one eye slightly, Seiji glanced over at the blonde girl 
sitting six seats down from him. Now that he thought about it, maybe
it wouldn't be a bad idea for him to talk to her a little bit and try
to get a better idea about what the Sailor Senshi could offer against
whoever this new enemy was. Just comparing notes couldn't end too
badly, right? It wasn't like he was going to proposition her, or
anything. He was just trying to form a plan. Totally professional. He
was sure that she would understand.

	....this is just SO wrong, on SO many levels, words fail me.  Poor
Seiji.  The thing is, this might all actually work out for him... after
sufficient authorial torture, of course.

Rising from his seat, Seiji inched across the aisle of the gently 
rocking subway and squeezed his way past some of the people standing
in his way with a muttered apology.  Aside from Mamoru Chiba and
himself, there were no other men in this section of the train - its
windows bore the distinctive pink seals of a 'lady's car', a car
normally reserved for women only in order to protect them from
perverts. Another bad side effect

	<boggle>  I knew Japan's trains had a serious gropage problem, but I
never heard of this before.
	...oh, dear.  This is probably Utter Hell for Seiji, given his natural
magnetism for anything with an X chromosome.

of the normal trains being down was that the subway was even more
crowded than usual, and there had been nowhere else for them to go.
The last thing he wanted any of these girls to do was think he might
be some kind of deviant. The trick was to keep his hands in sight and
above his head at all times, so that they knew he wouldn't be doing
anything untowards.

	Smart boy.  Look harmless.  Hope they don't take it as a sign of
weakness and decide to attack.

Pushed off-balance by a stray elbow to his spine, Seiji deftly caught
 himself on one of the thick leather straps that dangled from the
ceiling for just that purpose and smiled down at the target of his
attentions.

	First time, I read that as "affections."  Which she will be,
eventually, just not yet.  :)

"Hi," he said, brushing the thick shag of blond hair out of his eyes
for a few seconds before his bangs stubbornly tumbled back over his 
face as usual. "Sorry for the intrusion, but I was just thinking that
 since we're going to working together for a while, maybe we should
get to know each other better."

	<facepalm>  Oh, he's trying so HARD... and manages to sound like a
Teflon-smooth pickup line, instead.  Oh, poor Seiji.

"Well," the girl mused, tapping her finger against her lips in a 
thoughtful manner, "I don't *usually* go out on dates with random
boys when the world is in danger. On the other hand, since you did
come all the way over here, it's only fair of me to accept...."

	Wow, even Mina usually takes at least one more step before leaping to
this large a misunderstanding.  She must be *interested.*

"What? NO!" Seiji shook his head frantically, as a chill ran down his
spine. Why did this always happen every time he spoke in front of a

	Sug:  "spoke to a girl"

girl? They always jumped to the wrong conclusion, and then he wound
up getting tackled. Panicking, he took a hasty step backwards and
bumped into the office lady standing behind him. He was completely
surrounded by women! Oh, God, there was nowhere to *run*!

	ROTFL.  Oh, *tell* me he's not going to freak out, armor up, and wreck
the train from a female-claustrophobia-induced panic attack.
	Although, it *would* be kind of funny.  But we want to advance the
plot, here, so let's go.

"Are you sure?" the girl asked, raising one eyebrow. "I mean, I am 
willing to make an exception, here. It seems kind of rude to not ask
a girl out when she's already accepted. A lesser woman might think
you were uninterested."

	Minako logic.  Oh, crud, I can feel my grasp on reality starting to
slip already...

"Minako, stop teasing the poor boy!" a voice whispered from inside 
her purse. "He looks like he's going to have a stroke!"

	A Trooper suffering from some severe mental disorder... not a pretty
picture to contemplate.

"Well, if he *hasn't* been completely awestruck by my amazing good 
looks and impeccable poise yet, then why did he come over here?"
Minako argued with her bag. "It's the only logical reason!"

	I'm cringing and laughing at the same time.  I think that means you're
nailing Mina's dialog.

"I just thought we could, you know, discuss strategy, and such," 
Seiji stammered. "Compare powers, find out what our strengths are,
that kind of thing! I didn't want to- I mean, you're cute, but I'm
not too sure that we should be thinking about that sort of thing...."

Sug:  "thing under the circumstances...."
	<snicker>  Oh, poor boy.  He's DOOMED.

"That seems very sensible," the purse agreed. "You should try to take
things more seriously, too, Minako."

	And Luna's agreeing with him, which just means that he's *more* DOOMED.
  After all, whatever Luna says, reality always goes the other way.
It's like a series requirement.

"Luna, you should never interrupt a boy when he is talking about how
cute he thinks I am!" Minako said sternly. "That is no way to repay 
me for smuggling you onto this train - at great personal expense to 
myself, by the way."

	*What* exp-- nevermind.  And where's Art, anyway?

"You sealed me in your handbag!" the purse objected, hopping a few 
inches off of the seat. "You'd never do this sort of thing to
Artemis!"

	Only b/c Artemis has learned when to stay out of reach.

"Of course not," Minako admitted. "I'd just wear Artemis around my 
neck and claim he was a scarf. You clashed with my blouse and
wouldn't stay still."

	....my ghod, that actually makes SENSE.  Help!  Minako is MELTING my
BRAIN!!!!

"I am not a fashion accessory!" the purse shouted, and Minako quickly
clapped her hands over the clasp as a few of the nearby women turned
and gave her a curious look. Smiling innocently, the blonde girl 
clutched her large red bag to her chest and batted her eyelashes at
them until they went back to minding their own business.

	ROTFLMAO

"If this is a bad time, I can come back later," Seiji offered.

	With a certain degree of poise and aplomb, I'm sure.  :)

"No!" Minako said quickly, reaching out and grabbing his wrist with
surprising strength. "I mean, I like your idea, Seiji. We really 
should get to know each other better. Why don't you sit next to me
for the rest of the trip? We can talk about all sorts of stuff!"

	DOOM.

"Won't your talking purse object?" he asked, scratching his head.

	...Did... *Seiji*.... just make a... JOKE???

"Not if it knows what's good for it," she answered, shifting over 
slightly and patting the cushion next to her. "Besides, it's not
really a talking purse: that would be crazy. It's actually a talking
cat that's hiding INSIDE my purse."

	<blink>  He didn't meet Luna yet?  Or did he just not put the pieces
together?
	For that matter, the way he accepts a talking purse w/o so much as
blinking says something (again) about what kind of lives the Troopers
have been leading, the past few years.

"Oh," Seiji said, nodding wisely. "Well, that makes a lot more 
sense." The disturbing thing was that it kind of did, to him. After
all, everybody who was anybody in the Sailor V fan club knew that she
had a talking cat who helped her solve all of her crimes. It wasn't
too hard to imagine that the other Sailor Senshi like Minako might
have talking pets, too....

	Hold it.  He knows that V is a Senshi, he knows Minako is a Senshi,
he's Mad In Love with V -- hasn't he thought of asking Minako to hook
him up, yet?  Even if he wouldn't actually *do* it, I'm surprised the
thought hasn't hit him yet.  Well, maybe he just really is focused.

He was about to sit down when he felt it. Like a sudden jolt that ran
through his entire body, the familiar tingle of his armour's power 
coursed through his veins. In the window, he could see a glowing
kanji flare to life on his forehead with an emerald light that
flickered briefly in his eyes before fading back into obscurity.
There was something evil nearby. He couldn't explain it, but somehow
ever fibre of his being was warning him that he was in danger.

	Yeah, from Minako.  Oh, wait, Mina's not evil.  Dangerous, yes, evil...
well, not really.

**Touma was attacked on a train...**

	Finally, someone notices a pattern!

Eyes narrowing, the young man turned and cast his gaze over the crowd
of women that filled the car. There were girls in school uniforms, 
office ladies on their way home from work, mothers with groceries and
the usual blend of teens who were taking the 'gothic and lolita
bible' way too seriously, but no sign of any demons or Masho.

	Gothic AND loli?  That's a combination that *really* doesn't bear
thinking on-- argh!  Too late.  Gah!  Ugh!

"Are you okay?" Minako asked, giving Seiji a suspicious look.

"Yeah," Seiji said cautiously, as he shook his head and tried to 
ignore the sickening tingle he could feel in the base of his spine.
Any minute now, his armour was telling him, the roof was going to
give way and it was going to start *raining* Dynasty Soldiers, and
they were all going to be screwed.

	I think his imagination is perhaps filling in the gaps in his Danger
Sense a little *too* vividly.

At the end of the car stood a young Chinese woman, dressed in a 
dazzling red silk dress with golden scale patterns. Her long purple
hair stirred slightly in the breeze, and Seiji scowled as he realised
that they were both indoors. There was something about that woman
that was setting his armour off like a fire alarm, and mysterious
breezes from nowhere were not doing anything to make him more
comfortable.

"Xiang Yao," Mamoru Chiba hissed, emerging from the crowd like a 
shadow. The dark-haired young man was dressed almost entirely in
black, with a dull olive jacket his only concession to colour; a suit
that helped

	Semicolon abuse, again!  For shame!

him blend into his surroundings much better than the tuxedo and
domino mask that Tuxedo Kamen usually wore in battle. Judging from
the look on his face, he was probably going to change into his
evening wear at any moment.

	You typed that with a completely straight face, didn't you?  :)

"THAT'S Xiang Yao?" Seiji asked, taking another look at the woman. 
Their eyes met, and he locked gazes with her boiling crimson irises
as she smiled wickedly and bobbed her head in greeting. Seiji had
seen eyes like that before, and they had never been on anybody who
had wished him well.

	Ah, the voice of experience.

"I'm honoured you remember me," Xiang Yao replied with a demure smile
as she bowed slightly. "Racing to the rescue, are we? How heroically

	They're close enough to talk w/o yelling?  Why did it take so long for
Seiji's Danger Sense to go off?  Did she just come in from another car
(in which case a narrational mention would be appropraite), or did she
just switch out of silent running?
	And on a train car this crowded, how many people are between them?

disgusting of you. In case you haven't figured it out, my employer
frowns on last minute reinforcements. They cramp his style, and more
importantly, mine."

"How did you find us?" Mamoru asked, edging forward slightly. Seiji
stepped aside to keep a bit of space between them, in case Xiang Yao 
tried to use some kind of projectile attack, and bumped into one of
the other girls on the train. She rocked slightly on their heels,
then toppled

	their<>her

over sideways like a felled log, completely stiff and immobile. Some
kind of hypnosis, possibly - they were the only ones on the train
still able to move.

	Ah -- that explains why their conversation wasn't hindered by the crowd.

"That's not the question you ought to be asking," Xiang Yao replied,
as the nails on her right hand flashed purple and extended into long
spikes of gleaming crystal. Within each razor-edged claw, a shadowy 
form moved and swirled like a jungle cat pacing the length of its
cage. "The real question here is: what am I going to do with you?"

	Now, y'see, *that's* a properly used colon!

Scowling, Mamoru reached into his jacket and began to step forward,
only to stop when Minako reached out and grabbed his wrist.

"Train full of innocent people, remember?" she muttered under her
breath. After a moment, Mamoru nodded reluctantly and slowly eased
his hand back out into plain sight, a long-stemmed rose dangling
loosely from his fingers.

	Not many people who can make a single rose as threatening as Mamoru.

"Well, since none of you are going to give me an excuse, I guess I'll
have to just handle this on my own," Xiang Yao said with a smirk. She
 gestured emphatically, and one of her purple talons flew down the
length

	Detached, or is she just growing it real fast?  Details, man!

of the train. Quickly intercepting himself in front of Mamoru and
Minako,

	ITYM "interposing"
	Also, the *train,* or the train *car*?

Seiji crossed his arms in front of his face and braced himself.
Whatever was in that thing, his armour made him the best able to deal
with it....

	When did he armor up?

Halfway to them, the crystal shattered into a coruscating ball of 
energy that grew in size until it was almost filling the cabin. Seiji
 flinched back slightly as a giant pair of clawed hands burst out of
the oncoming wall of purple fire and slammed into his chest. Gasping
for breath, the young man was hurled backwards with violet flames
trailing after him like the tail of an angry comet. The rear wall of
the train gave

	Train car, again, not train.
	Mamoru and Mina must have ducked.

like tinfoil, and he hurtled into the cool damp air of the subway
tunnel head first.

	Oh.  They're in the last car.

A pair of eyes gleamed at him from the depths of the fireball, and he
heard a thunderous growl as a shape began to take form from the
massive swirl of eldritch flame. Glancing over his shoulder, Seiji
saw the cold gleam of the steel rails flashing past beneath them and
growing ever

	The fireball followed him?  Ah, okay -- For some reason, I thought the
fireball stopped inside the train car, and the claws just reached out
and hit him.

closer. He hit the ground in a flurry of sparks, skipping back into
the air and slamming back down again with the squealing sound of
metal on metal. The two of them skidded back down the tunnel for
several feet before the friction of Seiji's body scraping against the
tracks finally brought him to a shuddering halt and the crushing
weight of his attacker was hurled free of him. The young man lay
where he had fallen, smoke curling around his body as it rose from
the ground beneath him.

	Metal armor... watch that third rail, Seiji!

After a moment, Seiji coughed and sat up, his cream-coloured shirt 
falling away from his back in long tatters of silk to reveal the
emerald green plates underneath. Looking down at the smoldering and
filthy rags

	Hm.  Wearing his undergear under his civvies, I take it?

that *used* to be one of his nicest outfits, he sighed in disgust and
 shook his head. Tearing the rest of the suit off with a sharp tug,
Seiji tossed it over his shoulder and turned to face his opponent,
clad in sleek green and white armour that he had not been wearing a
few minutes ago.

	Or that he *had* been wearing the whole time, just not visibly.
	Hm... actually, I've seen the Troopers go from undergear to armor, but
I don't recall offhand seeing them go from civvies to undergear.  Does
the gear appear under their clothes, or in place of them?

"Great," he spat, flipping his hair out of the way with a jerk of his
head and dropping into a defensive stance. "Now I'm going to have to 
buy a new shirt. I hope you're happy, you tin-plated...."

The youma emerged from the shadows, its tail lashing angrily behind
it as its growled. It stood almost twice as tall as Seiji did, with a
thick mane of golden hair that swirled about its heavy skull and a
large horn of purple crystal jutting from its brow. Despite himself,
Seiji recoiled in surprise. He had been expecting some kind of
armoured demon, like Saranbou, or a spectral wraith like the Ankoku
Priests. This thing looked like some kind of sick blend between a
lion and a man, with massive sabre-like fangs in its maw and giant
clawed paws instead of hands. It was *drooling*.

	Ah.  Must be a female monster (he said sagely).  :)

"Wow," Seiji said, as he struggled to regain his composure, "you're
even ugly in the dark, aren't you? Arago must have thrown you out of
the Dynasty on general principles."

The beast let out a roar that shook loose a rain of dirt from the 
ceiling and charged, swiping at the smaller boy with a massive paw.

	"Smaller boy" makes it sound as if they're both boys.  Okay, they both
might be *males,* but you know what I mean.  Maybe "swiping at its
smaller opponent"

Ducking under its extended arm, Seiji darted forward and drove his
knee into the monster's stomach. Before it could react, he had
already punched it twice in the ribs, circling around it and giving
it a parting kick to the spine as he leapt clear and landed in a
crouch several feet away. Gasping, the boy staggered and fell to his
knees as pain jolted from his heel all the way to his thigh. Looking
down, Seiji ran his fingers along the side of his metal greave and
watched in surprise as the enchanted steel cracked and crumbled away
at his touch. As the youma

	...whoa.  Don't see *that* every day.

turned to face him and slowly rose to its full height, he lifted his
fists and noticed for the first time that his gauntlets were equally
twisted and broken from striking the creature. Blood flowed weakly
from between the cracked metal, dripping onto the concrete floor.

	Sug:  "Blood oozed slowly through the cracks in the metal to drip onto..."

With a deep chortle, the youma began to advance slowly towards Seiji,
closing the distance between them as it casually cracked each one of
its knuckles in sequence and rolled its shoulders as if limbering up 
for a bit of light exercise. Seiji groaned and grabbed onto the pipes
that lined the side of the tunnel, painfully dragging himself to his
feet as it drew closer.

"BUSSO, KORIN!" he called out, raising one hand above his head as the
monster neared and feeling the power of his armour surge inside of 
him as it responded to his cry.

	Sug:  "...to his summons."  Just sounds classier.  And Seiji's *all*
about class, after all.  :)

The lights in the ceiling burst with a stacatto of loud pops, 
showering sparks and broken glass upon the two combatants and
plunging the tunnel into a darkness broken only by the eerie glow of
writhing electricity rising from the rails like a web of blue
lightning. The youma roared angrily as the tracks flared into life,
their power surging in thick arcs that streaked through the air and
met directly in front of him. The air sizzled, and there was a sudden
flash of light like burning magnesium, casting the entire tunnel into
sharp relief as Seiji Date's body absorbed the surging current. There
was a rush of wind as the crackling ball of energy surrounding the
boy imploded and left him clad in his full armour.

It stood nearly half a foot taller than Seiji had alone, sheated

	Ugh.  "It stood"?  Also, SP:  sheatHed.
	Sug:  "The transformation left Seiji standing nearly a foot (being
Japan, should this be metric?) taller than before, sheathed from head to
toe in..."

from head to toe in overlapping plates of emerald and black steel
that glowed softly in the shadows of the tunnel. A jagged no-dachi
jutted from the ground between him and the youma, its shuriken-shaped
hilt level to his eyes as he stepped forward and drew it out of the
concrete. Despite its immense size, the armoured figure lifted the
sword with one hand as though it were a rapier.

"Now, let's try that again," Korin no Seiji said quietly, his voice
echoing slightly from behind the scuplted silver mask that covered 
his face.

	Let's get ready to RUUUMMMMMBLLLLLLE!

The beast was on top of him before he could blink, driving him to the
ground with its immense weight and striking him in the face. Its
claws screeched against his mask, and Seiji's head was rocked back by
the force of the blow. The youma's fangs closed on Seiji's neck, the
metal of his throat guard squealing and buckling under the pressure
of its powerful jaws as he drove the spiked pommel of his sword into
its stomach and tried to lever it off of him. All he needed was to
get enough distance between them to swing his sword, and it would all
be over.

Seeming to have the same idea, the youma growled menacingly and 
wrapped its paw around the young samurai's wrist, twisting and
wrenching at his arm until his fingers opened of their own accord and
the no dachi

	Missing dash in "no-dachi"

tumbled to the ground nearby. Gritting his teeth, Seiji brought his
knees up to his chest and kicked upwards, planting his feet in the
monster's abdomen and launching it off of him. Rolling onto his
stomach, he scrambled towards the place where sword lay glistening on
the subway rails.

	Sug:  "...scrambled towards the sword where it lay..."

Plunging its claws into the side of the tunnel in mid-flight, the

	Sug:  side<>wall

youma nimbly pivoted its body and reversed direction, soaring back
towards Seiji and bounding off of the opposite wall before catching
him by one of the metal spurs that hung from his heels. With a single
tug, the beast hauled Seiji into the air and quickly spun him around
with both hands before throwing him down the length of the tunnel
like a hammer. Flipping head over heels, the armoured boy thrust his
hand against the floor, digging a broken trench in the concrete with
his fingers as he skidded to a halt and landed in a crouch. More than
thirty feet back the way he had come, the youma snorted derisively
and made a beckoning gesture.

"Don't let it go to your head, fuzzy," Seiji said with a grim smile.
"You may be strong, but smell isn't everything!" Racing up the tracks
with superhuman speed, the boy vaulted over his enemy's head, 
wrapping his arms securely around its neck as he landed behind it and
 drove its head into the ground. There was a crack that echoed
through the

	Sug:  drove<>driving

cavernous tunnel like a gunshot as the concrete broke from the
impact, and

	Sug:  from<>under

Seiji took advantage of the opportunity to dive for his sword.
Grabbing the Korin Ken, he rolled to his feet and turned to face the
monster just as it shook the last of the debris out of its mane and
regained its footing. In the distance, a faint light began to filter
through the tunnel and the metal rails started to hum softly as they
vibrated in their

	Agent Smith:  "Do you hear sound, Mr. Date?  That is the sound of
inevitability... the sound of your death."

moorings. Seiji's blade erupted in a thick cloud of azure energy,
trailing a swirling stream of electricity behind him as he raised the
sword above his head and the world seemed to flicker in and out of
focus.

"THUNDERBOLT CUT!" he yelled, his voice nearly drowned out by the 
howling of the wind that rushed past them both as he snapped his
sword

	Unfortunately, the tunnel roof was too low and the blade snagged in the
reinforced concrete overhead...

down and sent a wavering arc of energy flying from the edge of the
blade

	"Wavering" implies weakness, to my mental ear.  Maybe "scintillating"
or something?

towards the youma. The beast staggered back, reeling from the force
of the blast, and hurled a piece of broken concrete in return,
catching Seiji in the head and knocking him sprawling across the
tracks.

The howling grew louder as Seiji sat up and tried to get the ringing
out of his ears. Spitting out a gobbet of blood, the young samurai 
retracted his silver facemask into the beak of his helmet and wiped
his mouth on the back of his armoured gauntlet. A blinding light
flooded the tunnel, and Seiji looked up to see the rumbling mass of
an oncoming train.

	Uh oh.  Just this once, I kind of wish it really *was* just a
roadrunner wearing a mining helmet...

Its brakes screeched hopelessly as it hurtled towards him like a wall
of steel, and Seiji braced himself for the inevitable impact.

"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!"

	Shouldn't that be "VENUS CHAIN THING!"?  Oh, no, wait, wrong 'fic.

A loop of glittering hearts fluttered around the armoured boy, 
gleaming and tightening around his torso even as they changed into
links of golden chain. There was a sudden tug, and Seiji found
himself flying through the air as the train thundered past beaneath
him in a blur of silver and orange. He watched as it disappeared into
the distance, rounding the corner and vanishing into the shadows as
he landed heavily on his side and rolled over.

	...soooo... Mina's on the ceiling playing SpiderGirl?  The directions
of motion aren't quite clear, here.  And most movie subway tunnels that
I've seen aren't wide enough for this action to play out sideways.  This
might need some more description, or maybe some tunnel-descriptive setup
a few paragraphs back.
	Although, if Mina *is* clinging to the ceiling and reeling Seiji
straight up, it does present an amusing opportunity for her to use him
as a yo-yo....  :)

On the other end of the chain, Sailor Venus smiled and gave him a
jaunty salute with her index and middle fingers before forming them 
into a 'V' shape and winking. Standing slightly behind her with his
back turned, Tuxedo Kamen glanced over his shoulder and tipped the
brim of his top hat in greeting.

	"Lovely evenin' for killin' monsters, eh guv'nor?"

"Venus, check on Seiji and make sure he's alright," the masked man
said, striding forwards and drawing his cane like a sword. "I'll keep
 our furry youma friend busy."

	Whoo-hoo!  Tux is switching into kick@$$ mode!

"Sorry it took us so long to get here," Venus said apologetically, as
she quickly knelt beside Seiji and began to examine him, "but Xiang
Yao sicced all her zombies on us. She gave us the slip while we were
fighting them off, so we figured we should head over here and see if
you needed any help. Good thing we did, huh?"

	Wait... XY *took off*?  When she had a (one assumes) good shot at Our
Distracted Heroes?  That's... not right.

"Very good," Seiji agreed, struggling slightly. "Would you mind 
untying me?"

	<supressing many hentai comments involving bondage>

"A little," Minako admitted with a smile, as she began to loosen

	<choke>  Of course, Mina's not bothering to supress....

the chain wrapped around him. In the distance, Tuxedo Kamen parried
the youma's claws with a twirl of his cane and flicked the rose off
of his lapel into its face. There was an explosion of crimson light,
and when the smoke cleared the beast was completely unharmed.
Roaring, it swiped

	...yipe.  Tux's roses usually penetrate *anything.*  They may not pack
a killing punch, but I don't recall ever seeing them be totally
ineffective before.

at the masked man, who backpeddaled frantically to avoid its
razor-sharp talons.

"So, any ideas why Xiang Yao would just toss a youma at us and run?"
Minako asked, watching as Tuxedo Kamen ducked under its claws and

	The "spectator sport" aspect of this section is snickerworthy.

thrust his cane into its knee, only to have the ornate walking stick 
splinter harmlessly. "I mean, she could have stayed and fought us 
herself, after all. Kinda seems like that would be more her style."

	Nah, I think a knife in the back, out of the dark, would be more her
style, really.

"I think it's obvious," Seiji groaned, as he clambered back to his
feet. "Thanks to her, we just missed our train. She must be up to 
something in Yokohama, and she didn't want us wrecking her fun.
Wherever our friends are right now, they're probably in a lot of
trouble."

	Thank goodness, someone who thinks strategically.

**********

"I'm telling you, man, this is the perfect plan!" Shuu Rei Fuan

	That line, all by itself, is enough to give me a sudden desire to run
for the hills.

gushed, draping his arm around his friend's shoulders. The stocky
Chinese boy was dressed in a baggy pair of dark brown overalls and a
porkpie hat that struggled to cover as much of his shaggy head as
possible. A pair of cheap plastic sunglasses that lay rakishly across
the bridge of his nose was his one concession to the brilliant
sunshine that streamed down upon them as they sauntered down the
crowded street.

	Shuu Rei Fuan, ladies and gentlemen -- brawler, Trooper, and aspiring
fashion model.  In the "don't do this EVER, kids!" sense, at least...

"Isn't that what you said about your plan to make popcorn in the 
industrial rice cooker?" Shin Mouri asked, with a note of concern in
his

	...note to self: buy industrial rice cooker for further feasibility study.

voice. Unlike his friend, who had refused to allow the weather to
cramp his own unique sense of style, Shin had been more than willing
to pack away his usual collection of sweaters in favour of a pair of
light khaki pants and a short-sleeved silk shirt with swirling
patterns of blue and white covering it. He frowned and ran one hand
through his auburn hair self-consciously. "I seem to recall spending
rather a lot of time picking caramel out of my hair after that
incident...."

	...aren't you supposed to put the caramel on *after* the popping is done?

"Hey, that was a total fluke," Shuu argued, waving his hand as if to
brush away the other boy's concerns with it. "Touma spent all day 
trying to overclock that thing, and he was as surprised as we were
when

	<faceplant>  Please, PLEASE tell me he left the plutonium OUT of this
one.  Glow-in-the-dark Samurai Troopers with Gojira Breath(tm) is just
too much for me to take...

it blew. Nobody could have predicted that was going to happen."

	Except anyone who knows Touma even a little.

"I would still feel better if Ryo were with us," Shin argued. 
Somewhere in the back of his head, he could tell that there was a
voice trying to remind him of all the other times he had listened to
Shuu Rei Fuan and gotten in trouble. Unfortunately, the cursed thing
never seemed to be loud enough to overwhelm Shuu's own natural
exuberance.

	Shuu is like Spinal Tap -- always cranked up to 11.

"Ryo is still sleeping off his date with Ami Mizuno," Shuu

	...no.  Not gonna touch that one.  Nuh-uh.

reminded him with a slight frown. "Besides, that boy has had enough
fun to last him for a while. He is on fun rationing until we can
catch up."

	Ryo's got a very deep fun deficit to make up yet.  As compared to Shuu,
who is so over-budgeted on fun he could probably provide debt relief for
the ST's *and* the Masho and still be flush.

"I don't want to catch up with Ryo," Shin said plaintively. "I want
to find Nise Suiko and get to the bottom of all this! Come on, Shuu; 
can't we just nip back to the house and go over those charts one more
 time? I'm sure we must be overlooking something-"

	Okay, I'm with Shuu on this one -- drag waterboy off and force his mind
off oh his evil twin.

"NO!" Shuu replied sternly, nudging down his sunglasses and glaring
at Shin over the colourful plastic rims. "No more charts, no more 
tactics, and no more obsessing over Nise Suiko! I'm not going to let
my best buddy wreck his whole summer vacation with studying when we
could be out having some fun. Look at us, man! There is no reason
that two guys as cool, rich, and handsome as us should be forced to
spend this much time

	Well, unless this is going yaoi... :D

together. We should have steady girlfriends, or at least a string of 
meaningless physical relationships! We're standing in the middle of 
Yokohama, the babe capital of Japan, and all you can think about is
your evil twin? That's just sick, dude: sick and wrong."

	...he has a point, there.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take a *little* break," Shin 
admitted, shoulders slumping in defeat as Shuu gave him a cheerful
slap on the back.

"That's more like it! Now, the Yokohama Stadium is just around this
corner, and the Baystars game should be starting in a couple of 
minutes. They're playing the Hanshin Tigers, and you know how crazy
Touma is for those guys, so we'll buy some souvenirs and try to get
him an autograph. That should make him feel better - last time I
talked to him he was still kind of upset about how I sold him to some
girl over the

	Dear me, why *ever* would he be upset about a little thing like *that*?
	Althought, someday Touma'll thank him for it.  Seeing as how it's all
going to turn out...
	"My kids, Shuu?  In a way, they're all YOUR FAULT!"
	"Really?  Cool!  Hey, kids, wanna go Masho-baiting with your favorite
uncle?"

internet." Shuu rolled his eyes and made a face. "Some guys, huh? Go 
figure. Anyway, I figure after we catch the game we can walk around
the city and see if we can't find some babes. It'll be great!"

	Cue Rei.

"Are you sure about all this?" Shin asked, raising one eyebrow 
dubiously.

"Yeah, why not? Worst case, at least we got out of the house and

	got killed by Radanthus's deadliest assassin.

saw a decent ball game. Ryo can hold down the fort while we're gone,
and it's not like we're going to miss anything important." Shuu
shrugged and grinned widely, ruffling Shin's hair. "Just relax, man.
I'll go get the tickets; you stay here and keep an eye out for any
cute girls, okay?"

	Rei?  Rei, you're missing your cue!

"Will do," Shin promised, giving a mocking salute as his friend 
disappeared into the crowd. Thrusting his hands into his pockets, the
 young man rocked back on forth on his heels as he hummed quietly to 
himself and watched the crowd rushing past him. Back home in
Yamaguchi, a chap would be lucky if he saw this many people all day,
let alone in one place. How did anyone manage to get anything done in
the middle of so much chaos?

	Just watch how much stuff Usagi gets done on an average
shopping/snacking spree.

His slightly bemused smile faded before it even had the chance to 
fully appear. At least if he was still back home, he would have had
the advantage of knowing the terrain. There would have been a lot
fewer places to hide, too, if Nise Suiko had tried to attack him in
the heart of his clan's territory. In this huge metropolis, Shin was
almost literally a fish out of water. Hagi City was hardly a rural
little suburb, but Yokohama made him feel like he had just fallen off
of a passing turnip truck. It was too big, too noisy, and too fast
for his tastes. In a crowd like this, he could walk right past Nise
Suiko and not even see the blackguard until it was too late. He was
hunting for a monster that wanted him dead, and for all the luck he
was having, he might as well be trapped in an alien dimension.

	Touma:  ah-CHOO!

**********

"This sucks," Ann groused, as she clambered down a jagged pile of
debris that had been left behind in a recent landslide. Her dark 
maroon jumpsuit was sticking to her skin, and her usually untamed
pink hair hung limply around her shoulders as she panted for breath.
There were several rips and tears in her clothes, revealing patches
of pale green skin, and her entire body was smeared with dust and
grime. "It's hot, and muggy, we're probably surrounded by things that
want to eat us, and worst of all, everything in this stupid dimension
smells like eggs! This is the worst secret mission ever!"

	Fresh eggs, or rotten ones?
	...what?  These details are important!

"If you're not careful, it's going to be the *shortest* secret 
mission ever," her partner admonished her, as he nimbly dropped to
the ground next to her. Much to Ann's annoyance, her male counterpart
was still in pristine condition, with barely even a blue hair out of
place. "Elios warned us about this Radanthus guy - he's got spies
everywhere. If we want to convince him we're on his side, you might
not want to be going on about how we're on a secret mission. Just a
suggestion."

	Not out loud, certainly.

"Oh, what are you so worried about, Ail?" Ann asked, sitting on a 
nearby boulder and beginning to massage her sore foot with both
hands. "Elios said that Radanthus wasn't watching us, remember?
That's the whole reason he sent us out here in the first place."

	Doesn't mean he doesn't have sentries watching *this place.*

"That was before we walked into his backyard," Ail said, casting a
worried glance over his shoulder. "Just because he wasn't watching us
 before doesn't mean he isn't watching us right now."

Ann snorted and made a face. "Ooh, listen to the big, fancy, 
secret... mission-taking... guy."

"Agent," Ail reminded her.

	Cue:  "Secret Agent Man."

"Whatever," she said, with a dismissive gesture. "The point is, I'm
hot and tired and I want to go home. This whole thing was a bad idea 
from the start."

"Well, if you thought so, why didn't you say something?"

"I DID! I very specifically dragged you off by your pointy little 
ears and told you that this was the stupidest idea ever and we
shouldn't go along with it."

"Oh, yeah." Ail rubbed the pointed tip of his left ear, wincing 
slightly at the memory. "Well, in that case, why did you come?"

	<snicker>

"Because you're completely hopeless without me, and you know it," Ann
explained, as she began to rub her other foot. "You couldn't pick a 
cardian to save your life."

"I could so," Ail argued, placing his hands on his hips and frowning
slightly. "I've been working very hard at it, lately. I've 
practically got one or two of them willing to listen to me."

	How... confidence-inspiring.

"Right," Ann said, giving her partner a disbelieving look. "So, if we
got attacked by an army of youma right now, what cardian would you 
summon?"

"That's easy," Ail scoffed, reaching into his vest and drawing a 
large white card. "I'd go with Nixeen."

"Nixeen?" Ann laughed. "Nixeen can't fight at all! She's a healing 
cardian! The only thing Nixeen could do after the fight is heal your 
wounds by kissing-" Stopping in mid-sentence, the girl narrowed her
eyes and glared at her partner.

	Uh oh.  <Gauntlet Voice>  Plant Boy is About to Die.

"What?" he asked, blinking at her in confusion.

"Give me the card, Ail."

"I don't think I should," Ail said cautiously, tucking the card back
inside his vest and taking a step further away from the girl.

	Decent instincts, if a bit too slow.

"The card, Ail. Right now." Extending her hand, Ann gestured for him
to place it in her open palm. With her other hand, she generated a 
small web of crackling energy to remind him why he should be
listening to her.

	Ah, a take-charge kind of woman.  Wonder if she's related to Akane Tendo?

"But it's my favourite," Ail complained, even as he pulled it out and
offered it to her.

	Open Mouth, Insert Foot.

"I noticed," she said sourly, as she snatched the card away from him
and tucked it away inside her own vest. "Why don't we leave Little 
Miss Kiss-and-Tell with me, hmm? I'd hate for you to get distracted."


"There you go again," Ail moaned, sitting on the other side of the
same boulder and resting his chin on his fist. "Honestly, Ann, how 
can you be so insecure? You're the only female in our whole species!"

Now Insert Ankle.  Go ahead, give her an excuse to think that's the
only reason you're with her.

"Maybe I'd be more secure," Ann said, smacking her partner on the 
back of the head, "if you weren't always off trying to flirt with
every other girl in the universe!"

"That's barely even halfway true!" Ail argued. "I didn't try to flirt
with the leaders of that Amazon tribe on Femax, remember? And they 
were definitely coming on to me."

"They were trying to kill you, moron."

"In a very sensual manner! Besides, they didn't really want to hurt
me. It was clear that their hearts were conflicted."

	....rotfl.

"Really? Because their axes and spears all seemed to agree." Ann 
scowled and shook her head. "I still can't believe Fiore convinced me
to save you that time."

	Someday, Fiore will be revered as the savior of their species.

"Heh. Yeah." Ail chuckled at the memory. "Remember how surprised 
their queen looked when you kicked her in the head? I've never seen 
somebody that big go down so quickly."

"You know, I'm technically still their ruler," Ann reminded him. "I
could always take back that pardon I gave you."

"Maybe," Ail admitted with a smirk, "but if I wasn't around, you'd be
stuck hanging out with Fiore all day, and he'd drive you nuts."

	Translation:  "Ah, you know you love me."

"That's the exact same argument he used back on Femax to make me save
you in the first place," Ann admitted with a smile of her own. 
Cautiously she let her hand drape over her partner's, giving his
fingers a gentle squeeze of reassurance. It hadn't been easy, after
they had left Earth that last time. They had wandered the cosmos for
years with their tree, looking for any place that they could belong.
It had been a miracle that they had managed to stumble across little
Fiore when they had - the poor child had been nearly as lost as they
were.

	Seems he followed Hotaru's path, after R.

"I hope he's all right," Ann sighed. As hot and miserable and 
uncomfortable as it might be in the Dark Kingdom, she could only
imagine how lonely it had to be for Fiore, guarding their tree in the
depths of space. He had wanted to come along with them so badly.

"He'll be fine," Ail assured her, patting her hand reassuringly. "I
keep telling you, Ann, you're too protective of him. Fiore is a lot 
tougher -and more powerful- than he looks. If anybody tries to hurt
the Makaiju, he'll be able to handle them."

"He's just a child, Ail! What do you expect him to do, *garden* 
people to death?"

	Weellllll....

"Something like that, yes," Ail said, looking a bit uncomfortable as
he adjusted the embroided gold collar of his dark blue jumpsuit.
"Fiore can take care of himself just fine, Ann - we need to focus on
what we're doing here and now if we want to get anywhere. The others
are depending on us."

Ann nodded. Ail was right - that nerdy doctor with the swirly glasses
had made it pretty clear to them that his whole plan revolved around
them making it into the Crimson Nadir and scouting out the place 
before Petz and Kaolinite showed up. The problem was, Petz and
Kaolinite might have already found a portal in the Arctic, and she
and Ail had just spent that last two days climbing first up and then
down one of the worst, most treacherous mountains she had ever seen.
It felt like they were just as far away from Radanthus and his castle
as they had been when they started.

	Note to self:  the Senshi *really* need an organized intel department.
  And cartographers.  And maybe a motor pool...

A rock clacked loudly, clattering off of its felows as it bounced 
down the slope of the massive slide behind them and Ann's sensitive
ears pricked up noticeably. It wasn't so much the falling rock that
was causing her blood to run cold in her veins - rocks shifted and
fell all the time in places like this. It was more the fact that
under the sound of the rock, she had heard someone hissing under
their breath a few dozen feet above them. Ail had been right; they
were being followed.

	Close enough to hear her unfortunate comment?  Let's hope not.

A shadowy form billowed up from the ground, its dark cloak swirling
around it as it rose into the air in front of them. The youma was 
garbed in a dark green uniform with gleaming silver armour plates
covering its torso and shins that looked for all the world like
overlapping razors. Its head was concealed behind a silver helmet,
featureless except for the small fans of needles on either side where
the ears would be on a human, and an angrily glowing red visor that
ran over its eyes.

Ann rose to her feet, clenching her fists in anticipation, when she
felt Ail's hand on her shoulder. Turning, she looked to see two 
identical women emerging from the rocks behind them. The two female
youma were dressed in pale tan leotards, marked with jagged slashes
of chocolate brown fabric and what appeared to be large circular saws
rising from their shoulders like epaulets of jagged steel. The only
way to tell that they were not clones was that one had her
rust-coloured hair hanging over her left eye, and the other preferred
to cover her right.

	That just means they're mirror clones.  :)

"Okay," Ann said, slowly unclenching her fists and forcing herself to
relax slightly. "So... what's with all the metal? Is this some kind
of strange new fashion thing? Because it's really not working for
me."

"As if you look any better," one of the twins growled angrily. "Who
wears a leotard with a vest, anyway? What are you two, one of those 
couples who always have to dress alike?"

	Meow!  Hiss!

"Like you're one to talk," Ann snapped back. "Seriously, look at the
two of you! At least cape boy over here bothered to come up with his 
own outfit. What, did you two lose a bet?"

	"cape boy"?  When did Tux get here?  :)

"I told you these costumes made us look stupid," the shorter of the
two twins muttered under her breath, then flinched back slightly as 
her sister cast her an evil glare.

	<snicker>

"You have intruded upon our training grounds," the cloaked youma 
said, hissing menacingly as the cables running from the back of his
helm twitched and moved like a nest of snakes. "Worse, you are not
known to us. Our master does not approve of spies."

"I say we take them out," the older twin suggested, the blades on her
shoulders whirring to life for a moment before they slowly returned 
to a stop. "Let's show the master what we're really capable of!"

"Wait," the cloaked youma said warningly. "It was blind ambition that
led to our last defeat. First, let me test their power. Hold back 
until you have seen enough."

"Whatever you say, Kamisori," the girls chorused, taking a step back
as their leader drifted to the ground to face Ail and Ann. His cape 
pooled around him, trailing out in all directions and shrouding his 
entire body in overlapping folds of black leather.

"Ann," Ail said cautiously, as he stepped behind his partner and held
her in front of him protectively, "I think this nice youma wants to 
have a few words with you."

	...understatement, much?

"Oh, thank you, Ail," Ann muttered, as she rolled her eyes. "My hero.
How dashing of you, placing my safety above your own."

	Hey, *she's* the one with all the Cardians!

"Don't mind me," Ail said with a wide smile as he waved at the youma
present and wandered over to the boulder that he and Ann had been 
sitting on. "I can keep myself busy. You all have your own fun - I'll
just be over here playing solitaire."

	Cue:  "Solitaire"

"Your mate is quite timid," Kamisori noted coldly.

"Oh, he does this all the time," Ann assured her opponent, as she 
crouched low to the ground and let the eldritch energy of her power
start to build around her in a crackling aura of living shadow.
"Don't worry about it: I'll keep you entertained."

"I certainly hope that you do," Kamisori said. "Our master wishes us
to improve for him, and there is always room for more practice."

"Practice is over," Ann spat, and lunged towards the youma on all 
fours like a cat. Her nails flashed, trailing streamers of black
lightning as they tore through the air. Bending and folding
backwards, the cloaked youma leaned aside as her strike soared past
him and shattered against the other side of the canyon in an
explosion of dust and rock fragments. Swinging his entire body around
at the ankles, Kamisori weaved under Ann and rose, knocking the
breath from her as his helmet smashed into her stomach and threw off
of her feet. The elfin girl hit the ground hard and rolled to her
feet in a single fluid motion, lashing out with a searing whip of
living darkness.

	<supressing hentai comments concerning magic-using dominatrices...>

Kamisori lurched into motion, leaning impossibly far forward and 
twisting his entire body like a serpent to evade the crakling and
popping coil of energy that flicked out at him from her hands. His
leather cloak fluttered around him as the youma shot past her and
glided in a wide arc that circled back around to face her.

	Oddly reminiscent of Orochimaru.

Ann smiled. "Nice try, youma, but I think you need a little more 
training."

"I don't," Kamisori replied, and Ann's eyes widened as a sudden 
torrent of blood sprayed forth from her lips. The world shivered and
lost

	Mmmm... "torrent" suggests a level of blood loss that would be
near-instantly incapacitating, if not lethal.  Maybe "spray" or
something a bit less... flood-like?

colour as she dropped to one knee, clutching her abdomen. She was 
bleeding, she noted numbly. He had... cut her? She hadn't even seen a
 blade. It didn't even hurt.

	Hm.  If he hit her in the stomach, and she's bleeding orally, that
usually means he penetrated a lung.  A cut (as opposed to a stab) that
penetrated that deep would be *very* serious, especially since it would
mean severing a good chunk of ribcage.  Assuming Ann's physiology is
sufficiently similar to human, of course.

How could he have cut her?

Rising to his full height, Kamisori let his cloak fall open slightly
as a four-foot long blade as thin as a scapel swung easily into view.
With a disdainful flick, he cast her blood off of the slickly 
glimmering razor. Ann bit her lip and dug her fingers into the
ground. The bastard was using his cloak to conceal all of his
movements - she had no way of knowing where that cursed blade was
going to come from next. She couldn't even tell how many of them he
had.

Seated comfortably several feet away, Ail looked up from the deck of
cards that he was shuffling. The skin tightened slightly around his 
mouth as his gaze met Ann's, and there was a dangerous light in his
eyes as he turned over his first card and laid it down on the boulder
in front of him.

	...oh HO!  I never even caught on.  Clever boy.
	Hm.  Bet Ann wishes he still had Nixeen.

Ail was not a fighter - he never had been. He could still get angry,
though, and Ann knew that he had his own ways of striking out at 
their enemies. She shook her head slightly, and he relaxed. It wasn't
 time yet. Besides, if this youma thought that he was going to slow
her down with wounds that didn't even hurt he clearly had no idea who
he was dealing with.

"I am prepared to accept your surrender," Kamisori offered.

Ann replied with a feral scream, launching herself at the youma. Her
feet left the ground as she hurtled at him, her eyes wide and glowing
 and her fingers twisting into wicked claws. Kamisori scuttled
backwards, bobbing and weaving frantically as Ann's fists flashed
past his head and

	"claws" conflicts with "fists" -- two different hand conditions.

swiped through the air where he had been seconds earlier. He snaked
away from one jabbing hand, and there was a thunderous crack as her
right cross smashed into his faceplate. Red glass filled the air like
crystallised blood as Ann thrust her foot into the centre of his
torso and slammed him into the side of the canyon. Leaping back, she
deftly avoided his seeking blade and then hurled herself into his
stomach, driving him harder against the stone. The blade flashed
again, and Ann threw herself out of the way as it flicked past her
eyes.

Pressing his advantage, Kamisori moved forward and swiped at her face
with the razor again. Ann flinched back, and dropped onto all fours, 
sweeping her leg along the ground in an attempt to trip the youma.
Her leg passed through the cloak effortlessly, and Kamisori didn't so
much as falter.

"What the-?" Ann stammered, looking up at the caped figure as it 
looked over her.

Kamisori chuckled and let his cloak drape open. The youma was not

	Stupid.  Never reveal your tricks until the fight's over.  Heck, not
even then, if you're smart.

standing at all, but seated in the lotus position as he floated
within the safety of his cape. The long razor shone in the afternoon
light, and Ann realised that it was attached to one of his toes.
There was a soft racheting sound, and another of the blades swung
into position on his other foot as well. A matching pair of blades
slipped into place on each of his hands, as the youma brandished all
four before letting his leather cloak conceal his form once more.
Behind the cracked remains of his visor, a trio of thin, glowing red
eyes narrowed even further.

	...oh, how lovely.  Four-foot straight razors.  <shudder>

Kamisori lunged, and Ann threw herself beneath him, passing through
his cloak as easily as her trip had earlier. Wind whistled past

	Sug:  trip<>leg sweep.

her ears as she dove under the youma, and thick locks of pink hair 
drifted lazily through the air between them as she rolled to her feet
and he spun to face her again.

"You're slowing down," Kamisori noted clinically. "With every breath
you take, more precious blood spills from your wound. My cuts are as
deep as they are long, young one. Surrender to us now, and there may 
yet be time to preserve your life."

Ann glanced down as something sparkled on the ground. Two small 
golden hoops, lying in a pool of blood. Shakily, she raised her hand
to her ear, where she used to have the most adorable earrings....
Pulling her hand away, she looked at the blood coating her fingers
with a sense of disbelief.

	Yipe.

"You... sliced my ear," she said numbly, as blood began to pour down
her cheek, the almost invisible wound that ran the length of her face
opening wider as she spoke. "You cut my face."

	Ear, or earS?
	Uh oh.  In most anime, this (and the hair) is usually the prelude to a
Major Female Beatdown.

"You cannot hope to prevail," Kamisori said coldly.

"You," she seethed, "cut my FACE!"

"I am faster and more skilled than you. Continuing to fight will only
lead to your own destruction."

"YOU CUT MY FACE!" Scourges of dark energy flew from Ann's hands, 
unfurling in mid-air and splitting into nine-tailed horrors of
searing force. With an inhuman shriek, Ann flew towards the youma,
each lash seeming to move of its own accord. The whips cracked and
popped all around Kamisori as the youma desperately ducked and dodged
the writhing net of energy that undulated around him like the deadly
arms of a raging and ravenous squid. "I WANT YOU TO DIE!"

	Oh, dear.

Wielding all four of his wicked blades, Kamisori spun and rotated in
place, sparks flying as he parried each barbed tail of living shadow 
and deflected it back the way that it had come. Blades and whips
flashed and hummed through the air, moving faster and faster until
they were barely more than blurs of motion followed by pops and
starbursts of sparks.

One of the twin youma whistled softly. "She's good."

"You have no idea," Ail said in clipped tones as he drew another card
and laid it with its fellows on the boulder. Six of the white 
rectangles lay in perfect line with each other, splayed out like a
giant asterisk. Tucking the rest of the deck away, Ail stood and
dusted his hands off on his pants. "Well, that was fun."

"What, you're finished?"

"Oh, yes," Ail said with a disarming grin. "I never was very good at
card games. One must keep in practice, though. Is it alright if I
play my flute over here for a while? I promise, I won't try to run
away."

	Might as well skip to the next scene, these youma are toast.

"Yeah, I guess so," the older of the two girls said with a 
disgruntled snort. "Too bad you had to be such a wimp, though. I was
kind of hoping Kamisori wouldn't be the only one who got some real
practice in today."

"Sorry," Ail said with a shrug. "That's just never been the way I 
work. Don't worry, though: I'm sure that you'll find something to
keep you busy very soon. Is this too far away? I wouldn't want you to
think that I was planning to flee."

	<facepalm>  Don't slather it on TOO thick, boyo.

"Yeah, yeah," the younger sister said with a dismissive wave, not 
even bothering to look away from the combat long enough to notice
just how far from them Ail was actually standing. "Play your heart
out."

"Thank you," Ail said, all trace of humour gone from his face. 
Raising the intricately carved flute to his lips, he began to play.

	Cue:  "Danse Macabre".  And bring in the Nightflyers!

Unnoticed by any of the youma, Ail's carefully laid out cards began
to glow. As he played on, his haunting tune floating across the 
canyon, each of the six cards lifting from its place and slowly began
 to rotate, moving in time with his music. The glow stengthened, and
each card started to writhe and bubble, their auras growing and
changing into eerie, monstrous forms.

On the battlefield below, one of Kamisori's blades caught home and
tore open Ann's vest, ripping fabric and flesh alike as it swung back
 in a deadly arc. Falling backwards, Ann coughed another gout of
blood and landed heavily on the ground, tatters of her uniform
falling around her like crimson and maroon snowflakes. A glowing card
tumbled out from beneath the remnants of her top, landing on the
ground next to her.

	Ah.  Cue one medpack.

There was an explosion of white light, and a regal figure in flowing
robes of pale blue spiralled up from the confines of her card. Her
blonde hair flowing around her head like a golden halo, the cardian 
glanced first at Ail, and then down at the fallen girl. Kneeling
beside her, Nixeen gently placed her lips against Ann's own, a
sparkling flush of power flowing from their mouths and racing to
every inch of the girl's

	Yuri!  Yuri!  Yuri!  :)

body as her cuts began to shrink and fade. Startled, Kamisori
staggered back and then turned to look past the other youma. After a
moment, he slowly lowered his head and sank to the ground,
genuflecting deeply on the jagged rocks.

	Oooo, I wonder what *he's* seeing.

"What's he doing?" the elder twin asked curiously, scratching her 
head. "He's still got the edge - he could take both of them, easy!"

The other girl gently tugged on her sister's arm, drawing the taller
youma's attention. With a single, shivering finger, she pointed in 
Ail's direction.

Standing atop a spire of rock, the slender youth frowned sternly and
folded his arms across his chest. Crouched between him and the youma 
were six more cardians, their fangs glistening and claws itching for
the chance to tear into somebody's flesh.

	Cue:  Shinedown, "Staring Down the Barrel of a .45"

"Man, first Nise Suiko kicks our butts and now this," the younger 
twin sighed dejectedly, her bladed shoulders slumping in defeat. "Is
it too late to just admit that Dad was right about us not being cut
out for this and go home?"

	Hah!  I *knew* "Kamisori" sounded familiar.  But who're the twins?  Now
I gotta go re-read that chapter again, dangit.

**********

Rei Hino sighed and gazed down at her reflection in the cup of

	HAH!  I knew she had to show up soon!  We need STEAM, baby!

coffee she held cradled in her hands. All things considered, it
looked as though this had the makings of a beautiful day - the sun
was shining, the birds were chirping, and there was barely a cloud in
the sky. Every single person who had come into the small shop where
she sat nursing her drink had seemed to have an almost irritating
bounce in their step, and all anybody seemed able to discuss was how
wonderful the weather was turning out. She was sure that more than
one of them had cast a glance in her direction, wondering who the
strange girl with the long dark hair and the sullen expression was.
Probably wondering what her problem was, that she was the only one so
completely unaffected by the nature of the day outside.

Why did she even bother arguing with Usagi anymore? It seemed like 
all it ever ended with these days was her sitting alone in a coffee
shop and feeling like an idiot. The fact was, Usagi had been right -
Ami had been perfectly fine the entire time that Rei had been
worrying herself into a nervous tizzy. The truth was, her friend had
just been on a date with Ryo Sanada, and had been perfectly safe.
Still, could anybody really blame her for not guessing that? It
wasn't like Ami was the sort who got out much. Then, as if that
wasn't bad enough, to have Usagi of all people talking about setting
her up... as if she needed the help!

	She does, though.
	Well, except for Yuuichiro.  Where *is* he, anyway?  Same place Ryo
Orawa went, I'm guessing.

Rei sighed again and tucked her hair behind one ear. The sad thing 
was, she was starting to think she might. It wasn't like she had
needed her friends to draw attention to the fact she hadn't been
getting out that much, either. The number of love letters in her shoe
locker at school had slowed to a trickle over the past few months,
and even Yuuchirou had been seeming a little more distant lately. She
had never wanted to seem like she was encouraging any of the boys who
followed her around, but it was a bit of a shock to realise how much
she missed some of them now that they had stopped trailing after her.
She hadn't had a proper date with anybody since, well... Mamoru. And
*that* had been so long ago that she could barely remember it. Maybe
Usagi was right; maybe she *was* in danger of becoming a spinster.
The boys weren't exactly lining up to spend time with her.

	Burn enough of them to ash, the survivors eventually get the message.

"Lord, that line was atrocious!" a boy commented, as he eased through
the door and held it open for his friend. "I'm almost glad that we
got kicked out, if there was much more of that to look forward to."

	Three guesses.  And the first two don't count.

"I still say that it wasn't my fault!" the other boy replied 
defensively. "If those players don't want people bugging them, then
what are they doing walking past us on their way to the stadium? The
classy thing to do would have been for them to sign my balls and get
it over with."

	<strangling noises>  Not... even... GOING... there....

"Perhaps if you hadn't put it in quite those terms, though...."

"Ah, they knew what I meant! If they want to get all weird about it,
that's none of my business. Hey, cool! They got those little moon 
cakes here! I love those things. You want one, man?"

"No thanks, Shuu. I think I'll just wander over here for a tick. Be a
chap and order me a breakfast set with some American blend, would 
you? Fresh."

	Good ghod, but the boy sounds a right poofter, here.

A shadow fell over her table, and Rei looked up into the beaming face
of Shin Mouri. As usual, the boy had an almost expectant look that 
filled her with a strange urge to check her purse and find some

	Condoms?  Sorry, sorry, the line break made me do it!

peppermints for him. His mop of shaggy brown hair was even more
tousled than usual, and there were the beginnings of a nasty bruise
under one eye.

	Oh, dear.  Things must have gotten a beat heated.

"Hello, Miss Hino!" he said cheerily. "Fancy running into you here.
Mind if Shuu and I sit with you? The rest of the shop is dreadfully 
full."

"Sure, I guess," Rei admitted, and took her purse off of the chair 
across from her. Great - this was exactly what she needed. More of
the Samurai Troopers, popping in to ruin her day. It was bad enough
that one of them had to be flagrantly dating Ami, now she had to put
up with them interrupting her angst.

	Ryo <aggrieved>:  "Once!  We've had ONE date!  And it wasn't even
exactly a date, as much as a just
do-something-to-get-out-of-the-house-and-get-our-minds-off-things thing,
and just turned into a sort of, preliminary, experimental,
maybe-we-could-try-this-again-sometime pseudo-date!  I mean, we only
kissed twice... maybe three times?  I lost track, dang she's a good
kisser, um, where was I again?"

"Much obliged," Shin said thankfully, as he slipped into the seat 
next to her and rested his chin on his folded hands. "So, what's
causing a frown to cross that lovely face of yours on such a
wonderful day? Anything that Shuu and I might deliver a solid
thrashing to?"

	Rei:  "That pile of ash over in the corner.  The one with the smoke
still trickling out."

"Not unless you feel like beating up your stupid leader," Rei said
with a snort as she turned to look out the window.

"Who, Ryo? Oh, I'd never do that."

"Why? Are you afraid of him?"

"No, it just never works. The dear boy takes it as encouragement." 
Shin laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back in his chair, 
casting a glance over at her. "Come on, now, what could Ryo have
possibly done this time? He didn't blow you up again, did he? Because
we've talked to him about that, and he promised to be more careful."

	...I just LOVE how he says this so casually, and so sincerely.  And
it's probably completely true.

"It's not that," Rei said waspishly, glaring at his reflection in the
glass as he gave her a curious look. "It's not anything. Leave it 
alone, okay?"

"It's not because he went out with Ami, is it?" Shin asked, raising
an eyebrow. "Why would something like that bother you?"

	Yep, Shin, that's it -- push the hot button on that flamethrower.

"Could you please just leave it alone?"

"Sadly, I can't. It's like a sickness with me." Shin shrugged 
helplessly and began to rock back on the hind legs of his chair.
After a short pause, he gave her a sideways glance and cleared his
throat slightly. "You're not interested in Ryo, are you?"

	She went down that road with Mamoru already.

"What?" Rei turned and stared at Shin in astonishment. "God, no! What
would even make you think something like that?"

	"Elemental affinity, perhaps?"

"Nothing!" Shin assured her, with a relieved grin. "It just seemed 
like the worst possible outcome of this whole affair. I mean, you
seemed a little upset about him dating your friend, so I just
assumed-"

	I dunno... Shin seems too smart to make that assumption.  Maybe
"...friend, so the obvious worst-case scenario would be..."

"Well, it's not that, so don't," Rei snapped. "Why would anyone 
assume that was what's bothering me? I'm not jealous, or anything,
it's just... other stuff."

	Like jealousy.  Just projected.

"Let me guess," Shin said, sliding his hands into his pockets as he
continued rocking back and forth on his chair. "One of your friends
is looking like she might have a steady boyfriend, and it's making
you realise that you haven't been in a serious relationship in your
whole life. You start wondering if maybe you're always going to be
alone, and you worry that all of your friends will find love and no
longer have any time to spend with you. Even though it's never
bothered you until now, you're starting to think that maybe you've
somehow missed your chance. At this point in your life, you're
thinking that you should definitely have *some* kind of significant
other...."

	Hold on, Shin, are you talking about her or yourself, here?

"Or at least a string of meaningless physical relationships," Rei 
admitted glumly.

	Shuu <popping up behind her>  "You rang?"

"Tell me about it," Shin agreed with a chuckle. "I wouldn't worry 
about it, if I were you, Rei. You should be happy for your friend,
because you'll feel like a proper twit afterwards if you weren't.
Odds are this whole thing will blow over in a few months, and
everything will go back to normal. And if it doesn't, then you'll
probably have to get used to it eventually. May as well start now,
right?"

"How can you be so blase about this whole thing?" Rei asked. "Aren't
you even a little bit bothered by any of it?"

	"No, I've got Evil Twin on the brain.  Crowds out everything else."

"Not really," Shin said. "But then again, I've got an evil demon twin
running around trying to destroy me, so I've been a bit distracted 
lately. Can I refill that coffee for you?"

	<beating head against desk>  I swear I didn't read ahead.

**********

Xiang Yao strode confidently out of the train station, flipping up
the collar of her jacket as though to ward off a chill as she moved 
past the turnstiles. Nobody really remembered her getting on board,
but she had been careful to blend in with the rest of the dazed and
confused women filing off of the damaged car at the end of the train.
Naturally, none of the concerned officials had been so
uncompassionate as to ask any questions of someone so obviously in
shock after such a horrible accident. The worst she had gotten was
the occasional odd stare at her facial tattoo, and that was something
she had long ago come to accept as her due. A few strange looks meant
nothing to her - she had people to kill.

	Uh... weren't they on a *subway*?  There's a subway that runs all the 
way to Yokohama?  And just how far back did she leave Tux, Venus, and 
Seiji?  Unless this station was the very next stop, or pretty close, I 
don't see the train getting here -- it would have been stopped by the 
authorities.  Which would imply that the Heroic Trio aren't all that far 
away.

All she had to do was find a Sailor Senshi in a city that was almost
twice the size of anything that had existed during the Moon Kingdom.
There was a time that Xiang Yao might have found such a task 
daunting, but after her last two encounters with them, she was
beginning to lose her respect for the Senshi. Maybe her old age was
getting to her, but she had distinctly recalled them being tougher
opponents the last time she fought them. Perhaps the intervening
centuries had made them soft.

	ANOTHER Silver Millenium native?  Geez, it's getting so you can't toss
a brick w/o hitting one, these days...

'Soft' was not a word that anybody would apply to Xiang Yao, no 
matter what century she was in. At her peak, she had been more than a
 match for any of the Senshi, and her time in the Castle of Eternal
Regret

	So what made her immune to the Voices of Despair?
	
had done very little to dull her reflexes. There was not a single
ounce of fat on her whipcord frame, and her glittering crimson eyes
were devoid of any trace of mercy or compassion. She had honed her
entire being for the sole purpose of bringing death to her master's
enemies, and in his

	Her master?  Whozzat?  And why do I think it's going to be important?

absence she would gladly settle for slaying in the name of Radanthus.
A girl did need to keep in practice, after all.

As soon as she was safely away from any prying eyes, she ducked into
a convenient alley and dug her claws into the brick as easily as if 
she were plunging her fingers into soft butter. Scaling the side of
the building with inhuman speed, Xiang Yao gracefully perched atop
the chain link fence that ran along the edge of the rooftop and
sniffed the air, her tongue flicking in and out instinctively as she
moved her head from

	<sudden image of the Carnage symbiont from the Spider-Man comics>

side to side and scanned the terrain. According to Radanthus, the
Senshi were supposed to be staying in that big hotel across the
street.

With a shrug, the woman slid out of her coat and hung it on the top
of a nearby television antenna. Letting out a deep breath, she rolled
 her shoulders and stretched her arms experimentally. After taking a 
moment to gauge the distance, she flung herself through the air and 
caught the overhanging metal spar of a traffic light that dangled
over the crowded street. With an expert kick, she carried herself
through the full rotation and released the bar, somersaulting across
the road and grabbing onto a convenient flagpole before swinging
around the corner of the building and landing on a fire escape.
Carefully sweeping back her long purple hair and adjusting her
sunglasses, Xiang Yao forced open the window and stepped into the
room.

	Neo:  "Whoa."
	Trinity:  "Bah.  I do it better."

Her first instinct was to think that someone might have beaten her to
the Senshi. The place was a mess, with open luggage littering the 
floor and clothes strewn haphazardly about the room. There was a
scorch mark on the ceiling, and a soot-streaked trash can lay on its
side in the vanity sink, water dripping from its lip to splash softly
on the tiled

	<snicker>

floor. Someone had scattered what looked like a small mountain of
note paper on one of the tables, and a few pages were drifting idly
on the breeze from the open window. Xiang Yao snatched one as it
floated past and took a quick glance at it. Math equations, she noted
with disgust. No doubt some of Sailor Mercury's work. Frowning, she
crumpled it into a ball and tossed it in the general direction of the
water-filled trash

	Oh, Usagi is going to KILL her.

can. She had missed them. They must have known she was coming -
judging from the condition of the room, they had clearly left in a
hurry.

	ROTFLMAO.  Ohh, dear, *this* is why professionals fear dealing with
amateurs -- you can't trust their actions to make any *sense!*

For a moment, she considered hiding in the closet and waiting for 
them to come back, but laying in wait had never really been her
style. Besides which, there was no way she could be sure that the
Sailor Senshi would even bother coming back to this place, or how
long it would be until they did. Radanthus was probably going to want
results from her soon, and he was not the type to be patient when it
came to something like this.

Swatting a stuffed rabbit out of the way, Xiang Yao sat on the edge
of one of the beds and hummed thoughtfully to herself. There had to 
be some way of figuring out where the Senshi had gone. Some kind of
clue, some tiny scrap of evidence she could use to ferret out their
location, if only she could manage to find it in all this mess.

	Actually, I rather thought that Ami would be sleeping off her date.
Dunno *where* Usagi might be.

"It's just so boring," she sighed, laying back on the bed. "I hate 
when people try to play hard to get - it's just delaying the
inevitable. I wish someone would just tell me where they're going and
save me the trouble." Yawning, she stretched out her arms and slipped
one hand under the pillow.

	Annnd, cue...

Something crinkled under her fingers, and Xiang Yao blinked in

	...the clue.

surprise. Sitting back up, she lifted the pillow and pulled a folded 
denim jacket out from beneath it. Inside the pocket was a folded
piece of paper. Xiang Yao gently eased it out and unfolded it,
smoothing it out on the mattress next to her as she examined it. On
one side were a bunch of math equations, but on the other was
something far more interesting.

"Usagi Tsukino's Romantic Master Plan, Day One," Xiang Yao read out
loud, raising one eyebrow. "Seven o'clock, breakfast in the dining 
room. Eight o'clock, clothes shopping with Ami-chan at Renga Park.
Note to self, don't let her buy anything nerdy. Twelve o'clock,
lunch...."

	<distant ominous thunder>

Lowering the paper, Xiang Yao grinned. It was starting to look like
it was going to be a good day, after all.

**********

"You're going to have to come out of there eventually, Ami," Usagi
said, leaning against the changing room door and filing her nails.

	The image here is just priceless.

The blonde girl was standing next to a pile of shopping bags which
were stacked nearly as tall as she was, and had a bored expression on
her face.

	Sug:  "and was wearing a bored expression."

"I don't think I can wear this," her friend's voice replied, muffled
slightly by the wooden door that seperated them. "It seems a bit 
indecent."

	Which means it ought to be just about perfect.

"Oh, come on! What's the big deal? So it shows off your shoulders a
little bit."

"It's not my shoulders I'm worried about showing off," Ami whispered
back. "I'm scared to breathe in this thing, Usagi! And this

	Now I really want to see it.

skirt is much too short for my liking. I've never worn something as
short as this before."

	Whoa.  Given the average SM fuku length...

"What are you talking about? You wear a skirt that short all the 
time! Heck, you were wearing one when you met him, remember?"

"That was different," Ami whimpered. "I was in uniform. That skirt
was official. This one's just.... short."

	Plus, technically the Senshi fuku has something more bikini-like than
panty-like beneath it.

Usagi groaned. "You have great legs, Ami. You need him to notice 
them! How else can he become blind with passion for you? I thought
you said you wanted my help with this."

	Wouldn't they want him to *burn* with passion instead?  :)
	On second thought, given what happened the last time he 'lit up,' maybe
not.

There was a long pause, as Usagi calmly slid her file back into the
pocket of her denim shorts and polished her nails on the back of her 
sleeve. It wasn't that she liked being so rough with her friend, but
Ami would dress in a burlap sack if she thought she could get away
with it. That was the whole reason that they had both agreed to let
Usagi pick out all the clothing on this trip, so that Ami could have
some outfits that would help make sure a certain Samurai Trooper
didn't forget that she existed. The only problem was that Ami could
barely bring herself to let Usagi see her in any of the outfits in
question, let alone anybody else. It had been a constant uphill
battle just to get her to try them on.

"Can I at least wear a different shirt?" Ami asked quietly. "One with
sleeves? And shoulders?"

	Not to be hentai or anything, but a blouse with no shoulders suggests
the necessity of a side trip to a lingerie store, too.

"Okay," Usagi agreed. "Try the cute black one with the sequins, that
one should look totally awesome with that skirt."

There was another pause, and the sound of shifting cloth, before Ami
spoke again.

"Usagi? I think there's something wrong with this shirt."

"Really?" Usagi asked, feigning innocence as she crossed her fingers
behind her back. "Why would you say that, Ami-chan?"

	Oh dear.

"There, uh, seems to be a... hole... in the front of it..."

"It's not a big hole," Usagi said quickly. She had been waiting for
this one to come up. "I think it's kind of cute, actually. It's 
shaped like a heart, see?"

"But I don't think-"

"Good, glad we agree! Don't think, just put it on. That's the way to
do this, Ami! Full speed ahead, and pay no attention to the people 
screaming in the back!" Usagi grinned and pumped her fist
emphatically.

	Sounds like Usagi's driving, if anyone were ever stupid enough to give 
her a license.

"We'll get you a boyfriend if I have to drag you kicking and
screaming every inch of the way!"

	The terrifying part is, she's not kidding.

"Thanks, Usagi. I appreciate it." The door swung open, and Ami 
stepped tentatively out into the store. With a nervous smile, the 
girl smoothed out the short ice blue skirt and gave Usagi a worried
look. She had changed out of her usual sneakers in favour of a pair
of high heeled shoes with small bows on the front that laced up her
ankles like ballet slippers, and she was wobbling a bit unsteadily on
them, but they were doing a good job of adding a few inches to her
height. Considering that Ryo was taller than she was, Usagi had
decreed that those extra inches were vital for making sure he would
be looking at her face, instead of the top of her head. Her black top
hugged her curves, and the metallic blue sequins splayed across the
front glittered slightly as she moved, drawing attention to the small
heart-shaped hole that just barely hinted at her cleavage without
being overt.

	Daring (for Ami) w/o being overly racy.

"So, how do I look?" Ami asked, trying to tug the skirt down a little
bit and blushing furiously.

	Like someone who should stay out of drafts and light breezes.

"Well," Usagi said, tapping her chin, "I think if he doesn't notice
you like this, we'll have to declare him legally dead. Give me a 
little spin, could you? I want to make sure that skirt's not too
short, after all."

	Nice little bait&switch psych work, there -- set her up with stuff too 
racy, then let her tone it 'down' to something that she would never have 
been willing to wear if she'd tried it first.

"Do you really think he'll want to ask me out?" Ami asked, turning 
around and letting Usagi see the back as well as the front.

	If he doesn't, his brothers and I will kick him in the head until he 
catches a clue.

"Are you kidding? In that outfit? I'M starting to want to ask you
out," Usagi assured her friend, placing her hands on her hips and 

	...SO not going there....

smiling broadly. "Mission accomplished, Ami! Now we just need to find
 about six more things like this, and you'll be ready for phase two."


	Extra blank line here.

Ami stopped turning so abruptly she almost fell over. "There's a 
phase TWO, now?"

	Ami, sweetie, you *don't* want to ask how many phases there are in total.

"Oh, there was always a phase two," Usagi said blithely. "I just like
to keep that sort of thing on a need-to-know basis. You don't need to
know about it, yet. Now get back in there and try on the rest of
them!"

"All right," Ami agreed hesitantly, "but I'm still opposed to that 
one top...."

"That's okay," Usagi assured her friend, "I only threw that one in to
make some of the other stuff look better by comparison. Now, scoot!"

	<facefault>  Usagi, reverse psych doesn't *work* if you *tell* them 
you're doing it!

With an exasperated sigh, the blue-haired girl stomped back into the
changing room and slammed the door behind her as Usagi stifled a 
gleeful chortle. At the rate they were going, they might actually get
Ami a decent dating wardrobe by the end of the day. Luckily, Usagi
had seeded a number of blatantly inappropriate things in with the
actual good stuff, so her friend could at least maintain the illusion
of having a say in some of it. It was all a matter of knowing how to
manipulate people - for their own good, of course. And occasionally
one's own amusement.

	That's our rabbit -- not a lot of brains, not terribly skillful, but 
boy does she have a grasp of people's hearts.

Usagi grinned again and went back to picking through some of the 
clothes that had passed initial inspection. If Ryo Sanada did not
sweep Ami off her feet the second he saw her in one of these
ensembles, Usagi was going to punch him right in the back of the

	No, no, KICK!  Ryo=KICK.  IN.  HEAD!
	And, of course, Ryo will *still* be too noble to ask Ami out -- he'll 
be waiting for her to signal that she *wants* him too, which she'll be 
too uncertain to do, and they'll keep shooting cow-eyed glances at each 
other when the other's not looking until the rest of the teams get fed 
up and lock them in a room together....

head. If dealing with Mamoru had taught her one thing, it was that
boys were utterly clueless when it came to the hearts of women. You
just had to keep chiselling away at the brick until one day you
actually managed to get them to realise how they already felt about
you. Which reminded her: she might want to pick up some coloured
markers, in case Ryo proved especially dense. Phase four involved
diagrams.

	<Plotz>  ROFTLMAOASTCs!
	And, again, the scary thing is that she's *not* kidding.
	Hmmm... I wonder if Usagi's romance diagrams would look anything like 
Rukia Kuchiki's instructional diagrams....

A panicked scream pierced the air, and Usagi felt every muscle in her
body tense. Dropping into a crouch, the blonde girl quickly scanned 
the area to see what all the commotion was about. Maybe somebody just
saw a mouse, or something...

	Yaright.

A police officer hurtled backwards through the front window of the
shop, spraying fragments of glass everywhere as he smashed into a 
rack of designer jeans and fell to the ground. From outside, the
screams and yells grew louder, only to be drowned out by a monstrous
roar as a furry beast with claws and fangs stepped through the broken
window and looked down at the fallen man. Its eyes glowed bright
orange as its lips curled back to bare its sabre-like canines in a
gruesome snarl.

	Oh.  XY brought along another Unbreakable, did she?

Usagi muttered something nasty under her breath. It was *never* a
mouse. Reaching into her pocket, she slid out the heart-shaped

	No, but one day it'll be a Giant Nine-Tailed Demon Mouse, set on 
destroying Crystal Ko-- er, Tokyo, and they'll have to seal it inside 
Chibi-Usa... Um.  You know, that could explain a few things, actually.

compact with its small golden wings and held it in the palm of her
hand. The clasp snapped open almost of its own accord, trailing a
sparking mist from its glowing interior as she rose to her feet and
raised it above her head.

"MOON CRISIS, MAKE-UP!"

The store filled with a sudden burst of light as a scintillating 
tower of golden energy beams burst up from the floor and began to
spin around Usagi's glowing form. A flurry of crimson ribbons burst
from the compact on her chest, tightening around her body and forming
a white and blue sailor uniform as feathered pins appeared in her
hair and a golden tiara flashed across her forhead. Within seconds,
the transformation was over and Super Sailor Moon stood in the centre
of a charred circle on the floor, smiling impishly at the startled
youma.

	Collateral damage from a henshin?  I thought those were supposed to be 
harmless?
	Cue:  Baha Men, "Who Let the Dogs Out?"

"What," she joked, "you were expecting Cutey Honey? I don't know what
the law is like where you come from, but around here attacking a 
police officer and destroying private property is a serious offence!
The Yokohama Police Department might forgive you, but I won't! I am

	Actually, I'm pretty sure the YPD won't, but why let that get in the 
way of the de rigure speechifying?

the pretty sailor-suited warrior Sailor Moon, and in the name of the
Moon, I will punish you!"

"So, Sailor Moon," the youma growled, its pointed ears lying back 
flat against its skull, "you finally decide to intervene! We have
been waiting for you to be drawn into our trap."

	Ami heard the commotion, right?

"What do you mean 'finally'? I just got here!" Sailor Moon snapped 
back, shaking her gloved fist at the creature. "Woah... wait a
minute. Did you just say something about a trap?"

	Uh oh.

"Indeed," the dog-like monster said, with a dry chuckle. "Have you 
not heard of the great power of Orthrus? Your doom is even now
sealed, foolish Senshi! Our master has waited eons for the chance to
destroy you and your kind, and now that day has finally arrived!"

	...hm.  Doesn't sound like XY, but only she knew that Usagi would be 
here....

"Could we get back to the part about the trap? That sounded kind of
important...."

"Ah," a second youma said, as it pressed its way past the first, "I
see you flushed one out, Orthrus. Good work."

"Glad I could assist, Orthrus," the first youma answered with a 
toothy grin. The pair were completely identical, from their short
black fur to their muscular builds and elongated fangs; right down to

	Zathras is filing for trademark infringement.  Zathras has access to 
Great Machine to prove prior art.  Zathras get no respect, even from 
Zathras.

having an identical scar running over each of their left eyes and a
notch missing from one ear. "Shall we have a little fun with her
before we finish her off?"

"No," the second Orthrus said with a grin. "Let's just kill her 
quickly and look for another. This one will take us no time at all."

	Not playing with Usagi:  Good Idea.
	Trying to kill Usagi:    Bad Idea.	

"Two against one is hardly fair," a voice called out, as the lights
in the store suddenly cut out. As they slowly flickered back to life,
a thick fog bank rolled across the floor and filled the store with 
glimmering rainbows as the bright lights reflected off of the
moisture in the air. The door to the change rooms creaked open, and a
shadowy form strode forward through the advancing wall of mist, a
glowing blue visor the only thing visible until she stepped through
the concealing blanket of fog and took up a position next to Sailor
Moon.

	...so...cool...must...have...Ami-chan....

"I trust nobody will mind if I even the odds a little?" she asked, as
the turquoise on her tiara flashed briefly and the visor retracted
away from her eyes. "I am Sailor Mercury, the warrior of balance, and
in the name of the planet Mercury, I shall right wrongs and triumph
over evil! At the moment, that appears to be you."

	"Warrior of balance"?  Haven't heard that one before.

"Enough talk!" one of the two Orthrus barked, and the other belched
forth a torrent of flame that seared through the air and burned its
way through the back wall as both Senshi tumbled out of its path. 
Darting behind a rack of skirts, Sailor Moon took cover as the first
of the monsters sent another jet of flame blasting over her head. The
metal racks gave way and toppled over, spilling burning clothes over
the floor as she rolled clear and pulled the tiara from her head.

"MOON TIARA ACTION!" she cried, and hurled the glowing headpiece 
towards the advancing youma. Lunging out of the way, the creature
threw himself out of the way as the gleaming disc screeched past him

	Repeated "out of the way"

and slammed his shoulder into the blonde girl's stomach. Carried
backward by the force of his charge, Sailor Moon's feet left the
ground as he smashed her against the wall of the shop in a flurry of
falling jackets.

"That was very stupid of you, girl," he growled, as he gripped her
face in one giant paw and began to press her head against the hard 
concrete. "You just threw away your only useful weapon. What do you
have to say for yourself now?"

	The wall is concrete?  Or did she hit the floor?

"Moon," the girl said, her voice muffled by the hand crushing her 
skull, "T-Tiara... BOOMERANG!"

	Hand?  One paragraph back it was a paw.

"What?" The youma turned and looked behind him, just in time for the
rapidly returning tiara to hit him directly on the tip of his chin. 
His head snapped back and his body went limp, spining head-over-tail

	Huh.  Youma with a glass jaw -- who'd'a thunk it?

in mid-air as Sailor Moon slipped from his grasp and scrambled to
freedom beneath him. Pivoting on her heel, the blonde Senshi plucked
her tiara from the air and spun it expertly on one finger before
donning it again.

	What, no fancy multi-rebound pool-hall tricks?  We have *got* to get 
this girl the "Xena" DVD collection.

"Sailor Mercury!" she called out anxiously. "How are you doing over
there?"

"Well," the blue-haired Senshi said as she vaulted over a display 
table moments before the other Orthrus smashed it in half with the 
coatrack he was using like a giant hammer, "he doesn't seem to like
the muzzle I put on him...."

The youma in question grumbled something indecipherable from beneath
the thick casing of ice that covered his mouth and swung the coat 

	Hm.  Either she missed his nostrils, or he doesn't need to breath. 
Pity, that -- if youma needed air, they'd be easier to deal with.

rack in a wide circle, swiping it at Mercury's head as if he were
trying to score a home run. Yelping, the girl ducked under the steel
pole as it whistled past and began running in a new direction.

"Fortunately," she added as she bolted past Sailor Moon, "he doesn't
seem to corner very well, either!"

	And there's no store for high-performance tires in this mall, either. 
Pity.

"Must be the dog legs," Sailor Moon noted wisely, and turned her 
attention back to the fallen youma lying on the ground in front of
her.

"Okay," she said in the sternest voice she could manage, "now you're
going to start answering my questions, or I'm going to start hitting
you with my tiara again! Who are you working for? What do they want
with us? Where can we find them?"

"Wait, please," the youma wheezed, rubbing his jaw gingerly. "I'll 
answer your questons, I swear! The person I'm working for is-"
Opening his mouth, Orthrus let loose another torrent of flame,

	<sigh>  Saw that coming.

blasting the floor at Sailor Moon's feet and melting away part of her
boot as she barely leapt out of the way. With a vicious howl, the
youma pounced forward on all fours and snapped his fangs mere inches
from Sailor Moon's face as she backpedalled frantically.

"SAILOR MOON KICK!" she cried out, falling backwards as he foot shot

	*Again.*  Well, the classics never go entirely out of style.

up from the ground and cracked into the youma's face hard enough to 
knock him back a few steps. Shaking himself like a wet dog, the youma
 brought its baleful gaze back to bear on Sailor Moon and released
another quavering howl before lumbering forward again. Moving
quickly, the blonde Senshi leapt onto a counter as the monster's jaws
snapped through the shelving below her like kindling. Gathering her
legs under her, Sailor Moon leapt over the beast and landed behind
it, racing across the store as fast as her legs could carry her.

"Hey, Sailor Mercury!" she yelled, as the youma regained its senses
and took chase after her. "I don't think I like this one any more! 
Wanna trade?"

	...they're *identical.*  What good is *that* gonna do?

"Sure!" Sailor Mercury replied, dodging to the left as the steel coat
rack crashed into the ground at her feet hard enough to bend the 
metal. "That sounds like a great idea to me, Sailor Moon! Just let me
 know when you're ready!"

"Now!" Sailor Moon yelped, hopping off of the ground as her pursuer
breathed a wave of fire at the back of her ankles.

Responding to her signal, Sailor Mercury reached out and grabbed her
leader by the wrist. With a twist of her hips, she pivoted in place 
and hurled Sailor Moon into the muzzled youma's face as hard as she

	"MERCURY...MOON...PRINCESS...MISSILE!"
	Hm.  "Hurled" suggests "throw," but lower down it sounds like they 
didn't let go of each other.

could. As the monster fell back, Sailor Moon landed beside it and
tightened her own grip on Mercury's arm, throwing her partner into
the air and swinging her out of the way of the stampeding Orthrus.
Sailor Mercury twisted in mid-air, kicking at the rising youma hard
enough to shatter the ice covering his snout and send him back to the
floor before landing next to Sailor Moon.

"SHABON SPRAY!" she cried, and a swirling rush of bubbles flew from
her outstretched hands, filling the store with an impermeable fog 
that engulfed both girls.

"Come on," Sailor Moon said, tugging on Mercury's hand. "Those two 
aren't going to stay down forever. Let's get the heck out of here,
while we still can!"

	And call for backup.  Hear me, girls?  Call.  For.  BACKUP!

"A tactical retreat would seem to be the wisest course of action," 
Sailor Mercury agreed breathlessly, and the two girls began to make
their way towards the shattered window at the front of the store.

"Not leaving so soon, are we?" Xiang Yao asked, as she stepped out of
the mists and took an indolent drag from her cigarette. "My pets 
weren't finished playing with you."

	Oh, CRAP.

Twin jets of flame pierced through the fog, boiling away the pearly
clouds of mist to reveal a single youma, standing half again as tall
as either of the Senshi, and with two snarling heads atop his broad 
shoulders. Fire dripping from his lips like saliva, Ortrus hunched
forward and began to move towards them. The bent and twisted remains
of a coat rack dragged on the ground behind him, all but forgotten in
his massive fist.

	Well, that explains the identical-twins look.
	Zathras is calling off that lawsuit, BTW.

"We're done playing with these two," one head snarled, as its ears 
flattened against its skull.

"It's time to finish them!" the other head concluded, snapping its 
fangs at the air as if trying to catch a passing fly.

"Right," Sailor Mercury said, and quickly drew out her communicator.
Stepping forward, Orthrus swiped at the blue-haired girl with his
fist, catching her in the shoulder with his makeshift club and 
knocking her sprawling onto the floor. With a snarl, he brought the 
metal pole around and swung it down towards her head as if he were 
planning to drive in a tent spike. There was a resounding clang, and 
Orthrus blinked to notice the jewel-encrusted rod blocking his
weapon.

Sailor Moon swatted the club aside with a flick of her Kaleido Moon
Scope and stood between the youma and her friend, rod held in a low

	<cringe>  I know it's canon, but that term is just... painful.

fencing pose that left its tip circling a few inches below the
youma's sternum. Hissing in pain, Sailor Mercury slowly crawled back
to her feet and glared over her leader's shoulder at the beast,
tendrils of mist beginning to leak from between her fingers.

"There," Xiang Yao said, as she took a seat next to the cash register
and idly snubbed out her cigarette againt the keypad before lighting
another one. "See? That's much better. As you were, ladies. Orthrus,
make it quick."

	Somewhere, Mamoru is freaking out b/c his Usagi Sense is going wild.
	Ryo's Ami Sense darn well *ought* to be ringing off the hook, but Ryo 
being Ryo...
	Rei darn well ought to have sensed *something* by now, but she could be 
on the wrong side of town.

The youma roared in response and exhaled a gout of fire from both of
his mouths, blasting the two girls out of the window and following 
after them with an eager growl. Unnoticed by any of them, Sailor
Mercury's communicator lay where it had fallen.

And, softly, it began to chime.

	Stupid question:  why didn't Mina call ahead as soon as they got thrown 
off the train?  Sure, there was a youma, but she had enough time to 
banter with Seiji while Tux was playing Sticks&Roses with it.
	And even after, it looks like XY spent at least an hour or so finding 
the girls and getting things lined up -- it seems pretty unreasonable 
that with that kind of time window, one of Team Train didn't think of 
calling ahead to Yokohama to let the rest of the crew know something was 
coming.
	...
	Aw, man, that's IT?  Now I'm gonna have to wait a whole MONTH or more 
before I I know <Paul Harvery> The Rest Of The Story.  </PH>



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