The TV studios of the Shetai productions are for the most part 
run like most TV studios in the world. They have the commited 
staff, the modern stages, and the equipment that all contribute        
to the high level of excellence seen in most of today's televisonshows. 
But this level of excellence is nowhere near the infamous stage S, the 
very stage Yukie was going into. 

"Good Morning Everyone!!How's everything going today?" 
  									     	
"Everything is going great, espically if you forget the fact that today's the
last day we're ever going to work on this stupid show..."  

Yukie began to frown, which was a rarity for the almost always 
cheerful girl. If there was one thing she didn't want to think 
about today, it was the impending end of their tv show, the 
Mystical fighters Sany. And as usually Hitomi had brought her 
crashing back to reality. 
									
"But Hitomi-san, our show can still be saved!! Right now all our loyal 
fans are stuffing the mailboxes with pleas to save our show!!"

Hitomi tried to stifle her laughter, "What, you mean the two 
people who are stupid enough to watch this show..."

"I hate to say it Yukie, but it's not like there is a big market 
for a Sentai magical girl show.." Aya chipped in as she started 
to pack her stuff into a box. "Besides we stole many an Idea from 
Sailor Moon..."
								
"Don't forget Rayearth, we stole quite a few from that show..."

"Yeah, I know...I just don't ..want to *sniff* leave ..." Yukie   
was now on the floor crying. The one thing she enjoyed about this 
show was her co-workers, and now that the end was near she 
wondered if she would ever see them again. Hitomi knelt beside           
the sobbing Yukie and started to hug her. As much as she hated to say it, 
she really would miss Yukie and this flea bag of a show.

>From the control room Mana and  Mia watched the events with a 
look of concern. It was their idea to make this Sentai show to 
capitalize on the growing magical girl craze, and it almost     
worked. Well it could of if they didn't have to use the left over 
costumes from the early Godzilla film's and if they actually 
came up with an orginal plot. But that was in the past, and they had to 
deal with the now certain death of their show. 
									
"Well Mana, I guess this is the end. It was nice working with you even though
it is the end..."

"Not really..."

"What..." The two ladies asked in unison. In front of them stood a young 
lady in the business suit. She has a nice smile on her face, although upon 
closer inspection it looked like a fiegned 
one. 
									
"I represent a company that wishes to pay for the rights to your show, 
and produce the marketing campaign you need to make this a marketing hit."

"Really!?" 

"Yes, and to start things off were sending you to the Tokyo Toy 
show at the Egg dome. At that time we'll launch your toy line.."
  								
Mia was in heaven, at last she would have a hit TV show. And her film 
teacher said you needed a good plot to make a TV show, ha!! She was about 
to prove that one only needed insane ammounts of money  to make a hit 
TV series"We accept!!When do we go?"

"This weekend, and when you go their we want you to do a live 
demonstration for the guest. It'll show off your new 
transformation broaches.." Mia and Mana both looked on in 
anticipation as the lady produced what would be the first of 
hopefully many new prop's for the struggling show. In her hand 
was four gold trim broaches, each with a black opal in the centre. 

"Wow, these are great!!We'll start working on a routine right 
away!!!" And with that the two young producers ran to tell their 
young co-workers that their show was saved. The lady just stood 
their and allowed her self at least one evil laugh. Her smile 
lost all signs of sympathy, real or faked. Instead it held 
nothing but evil and malice. "My lady, the experiment has begun.
 The toy show shall be the proving ground for this new technology 
that shall give the BFC it's rightfull place as the ruler of the 
world..HAHAHAHA!!!"

			Richard Beaubien

			       Presents

                       Natsumi, the Magical Girl

		Episode 3: Toy Show Terror!!!	

"What, you want me to go where!?!"

"The Tokyo toy show, it'll be the perfect place to start 
marketing the Natsumi image!!" Soon visions of Yen were dancing 
through Nabiki's head as she saw Natsumi being her key to fame, 
fortune, and the utter control of the toy market (That would 
teach Bandai to mess with her...)

Kasumi was not as enthusastic as Nabiki was with this toy show 
plan. Unlike Nabiki, she had never went on any big trip's away 
from home without having Soun along. And she still didn't like 
this Natsumi idea, even though her mother seemed to think Kasumi could 
handle being a magical girl, even though Kasumi didn't 
agree with her. "But what about father, I mean he wouldn't like 
me going off to Tokyo..."

"Leave that to me, I'll handle everything..."

****

"Kasumi go to Tokyo...But...*sniff* what..what whaaa!!!!"

Nabiki just glanced down at her watch, and let out a small 
laugh. Her dad went a whole minute without crying when she told 
him that Kasumi was coming to Tokyo with her, which was 
a record for Soun. Nabiki didn't know if she should feel proud of 
Soun or if she should feel sorry for him. But she had more 
important things to think about right now...

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of her...It'll be good for her to 
get out anyway, it will Kasumi release some stress.."

Nabiki paused to wait for some sort of a response from Soun, and was meet 
with the same flood of tears. But Nabiki was engouraged by this, after all
Soun was just crying (if he really wanted to stop Kasumi from going he 
would have actually said something in-between his sob's)

"But who's going to handle the cooking while Kasumi's gone.." 
Genma Saotome asked as he enetered the room. He was, as always, 
thinking first and foremost about his stomach. 

"I'll handle the cooking!!" Akane replied as she and Ranma went 
down the stairs.

"Oh no..." 

Maybe it's time to leave the room Nabiki thought, as the typical fight of 
the day between Ranma and Akane seemed to be on the 
horizon. After all she did get the permission of Soun, even 
though he didn't say anything he did sob his approval. And if 
they really didn't want to eat Akane's cooking they were old 
enough to cook for themselves. 

Ranma, of course, wasn't thinking. Which explianed why Akane was now using
 his head as a punching bag. Genma just stood to the 
side, watching the carnage with a watchfull eye. When Akane 
finally stopped her attack, Genma approched what was left of his son. 

"Ranma my boy, the fate of our family rests in your hands."

"Huh.."

"For the honor of the Saotome family, I ask you to get us some 
food from Ucchan's..."

"But dad, I hate to say this but Ucchan's hasn't been open for 
the last few day's.." Which surprised Ranma as Ucchan never 
closed her shop for extended periods of time. Maybe something was wrong 
with her Ranma thought, maybe she was having some problems with her store. 
But he could always ask Ukyou what's wrong in school, as he had his own
problem to deal with. Like finding a place to eat some normal food 
(maybe cooking wouldn't be a bad skill to pick up) Ranma thought 
(it would certainly help me stay alive more than a martial art's technique). 

"Hey Ranma, do you know where I can find some vineger?"

"Why do you need vineger Akane.."

"I need it to boil the rice Ranma."

Ranma facefaulted. (Yes, cooking would be a great skill to 
pick up....)

****

To work at the BFC is a unique experience, espically if one is in the middle
magangment of the company. It means always waiting for the promotion that
always goes to company outsiders, although many would consider that a 
blessing instead of a curse. Such a hiring was happaning today, as 
the staff was ready to meet another outsider who would soon join 
the upper echlon of their company. 

"Hello everyone, I'd like to introduce your new superior and my 
new assitant, let's all give a big BFC welcome to Ukyou Kounji!!"

Mine stepped aside to reveal her new assistant, dressed in a 
smart looking red business suit. On the front of her blouse 
rested a gold broach that had a black opal in the middle. Mine 
smiled as she saw her new assistant, even though this was the 
preliminary process she had, just like Mine did so long ago,
embraced the evil of the BFC. 

****

"All right, you mean the show is saved Mia!! Yippee!!"

"Yep, and we're going to be using real prop's and effects 
so we can actually make a decent show!!" 

"You hear that Hitomi-san, we're going to make more 
epsiodes!!!Yahoo!!"

Hitomi just looked over to her overly enthusastic co-star and 
sighed. "Well Aya, it ain't Hamlet, hell it ain't even Hello Kitty but it's 
a job. You wanna keep doing it?"

"It's a paycheck..."

"Okay, were in..."

"Yippee!!!"

Mia smiled, if their ever was brilliance in casting it was her 
picking the cast for this show. Somehow she actually hired 
people that fit the personalites of their characters, Yukie being the ever 
cute, ever cheerfull girl. Hitomi being the tough, hard nosed yet kind person,
and Aya being the fighter of the group.Mana was of course with the project 
from the get go, so she was the ideal choice for leader (of course she also  
knew more martial arts than Mia...) All in all this was brilliant casting, 
even though it fit almost every stereotype in the world. But that didn't 
matter now, as she had a big enough budget to use any sterotype she choosed 
to use. "Okay, now our first order of business is to go to the toy show, 
were we kick off our marketing campaign and toy line"

"I just hope they don't make an ugly doll of me.."

"Don't worry Hitomi-san, they'll make a kawaii doll of you.."

"We'll just have to wait and see everyone, but for now get your 
new broaches and prepare for the toy show, for we have 
show to promote!!"

Yukie jumped up and down in joy as the she recieved her new 
broach, this one actually having real gold trim instead of cheap yellow 
paint. But she noticed on thing about the new broach, the gem colour was 
black instead of red, which was her gem colour. (Oh well, they just 
made a mistake. I'll use my old broach for now...after all it's just a prop)
   
****

"My lady, the plan is proceding well.."

"I hope so, these are the next generation prototypes. If they 
fail I will be severly dissapointed.."

"It will not fail, in fact I think if things go well we may even get 
control of the entire Japanese toy industry..." 

The head of the BFC let a small smile appear on her lip's, 
she had always wanted to control the toy industry. And she 
also enjoyed the irony of using a team of magical girls as 
tools for evil. All in all, even if this plan failed it would 
still provide an imense ammount of entertainment....

****
 
Kasumi looked in awe at the awesome sight of the Tokyo toy show. Never 
before in her life had she seen so many people gathered 
together at one place for just one occasion. And she felt awkward, 
not only because she wasn't used to being around so many people but 
because she was also in her Natsumi form. But if she felt 
awkward, the people around her didn't show it. In fact they 
thought she fit right into the toy show, as at the Bandai booth 
they thought she was a new Sailor Moon character and the Capcom 
booth thought she was the person sent to play Sakura. And if she wasn't 
mistaken for one character. she was kept busy by Nabiki 
who was in the middle of neogtating a t-shirt deal for her. So 
for the first time in 6 hours Kasumi sat down at the Natsumi 
booth (which was between the Bandai booth and the Sony booth, 
Kasumi herself wondered how Nabiki got such a great location..) 
and started to sleep. 

"Excuse me, are you Sailor Moon?"

"Nope, she's one booth over.."

"Arigato, by the way your outfit is really kawaii.."
									
"Sure.." Kasumi muttered as she slowly drifted into sleep, hoping she would
wake up in Nermia where life would be back to normal, well normal for Nerima.

****

When Kasumi awoke, she found she wasn't at the Tokyo Egg Dome any more. 
But she wasn't at home either, instead she was once again in the mysterious 
field althought this time there was no fog to obscure her view, as her mother 
stood clearily in front of her.

"Mother..."

"Kasumi-chan, you need to be strong as soon people close to you 
will need your power.."

"But mom.."

"Believe in your self, like you used too..You can do it.."

"MOM!!!"

But her mom was no longer there, all that remained was the 
field and Kasumi, who was sitting there crying.

****

"Natsumi?!"

"...Nabiki, what is it.."

"Well I was done with my negotiations so I thought we could 
go see a show put on by the Mystical fighters Sany to relax," and check 
out our competition Nabiki added to her self. 

"Okay, I could use a break.." Kasumi replied, trying to hide any of the 
tears she had left from her strange dream. Even though 
Nabiki wouldn't admit it, she was having trouble dealing with 
the visions involving their mother. (It seem's like Nabiki still 
hasn't come to terms with the death of our mother, but 
then again have I ...) 

****

"All right, are you guy's ready to go on stage and make a big 
impact!!"

"Yeah!!" The four girls who made up the Mystical fighters Sany 
yelled in unison. This was there big break, soon they would be 
famous. As the curtain lifted, Yukie bit her lip. (I hope 
everything works out okay..)

"Are you ready to rock!!" 

"Yeah!!"

"All right!! Mystical Fighters Sany MORPH!!!" All of sudden black light 
surronded three of the actress's. Yukie looked on in awe, this company 
really is behind us if they're using special effects like this. But Yukie 
also noticed that she wasn't surronded by the same black glow, which struck 
Mia as being weird. Yukie looked over to Hitomi to see what she should do, 
but when she did she started to see changes in her friend. Gone was the tough 
yet friendly expression that was usually on her face, instead it was replaced 
by a look of pure evil. All Yukie could do was scream.

****

"Wow, what great special effects" Nabiki remarked half in awe, 
half plotting on how to deal with these new competitors.

"Something's wrong Nabiki.."

"What is it..." 

"AIEEEE!!! Somebody help me!!!"

"It's Youma, it's the Sany girls!!" Natsumi yelled as she lept 
to deal with this new threat. (I hope your right mom, I hope 
your right). 

"Geez, talk about ironic. Magical girls fighting for evil..."

****

Mia looked on in horror as her friends stood before laughing 
evilly. Behind her stood Yukie, who was trying not to cry. Both 
of them were incredibly scared, although Mia tried to maintain 
some control over the situation. "Mana, what the hell are you 
doing? "
  
"Why were going to destroy this toy show...isn't that right girls..."

"But Hitomi-san, were friends why do want do something so 
evil?" Yukie yelled out as she could no longer hold back her 
tears. 

"Because I want to, no big reason!!Now die!!"

" I don't think so..."

"Huh, who's that?"
								
"Magical girls should stand for all that is good in humanity, and not 
the evil you seem to stand for. I will not have you soil the name of 
the Magcial girl. I'll stop you in the name of love for 
I'm Natsumi, the magical girl!!" Suddenly bright green energy 
flared around Natsumi as she prepared for her final attack. "Love power..."
								
"No, they're not monsters...They're my friends.." Yukie yelled as 
she ran in front Natsumi's impending strike. 

"Now's our chance, dark opal burst!!" Aya yelled as she lept to 
the attack, throwing a beam of dark energy towards Natsumi. Not 
noticing the attack, Natsumi just sat there and took the full 
brunt of the attack which propelled her into a near by wall, 
knocking her unconcsious. 

"Great work Aya! Now Hitomi-san, finish this magical girl off..."

"Yes Mana..."

"Hitomi-san.." Yukie pleaded "please don't hurt her!!"

"Get out of my way Yukie or else I'll be forced to hurt you.."

" Yukie-chan!!!"

"Hitomi-san..don't..please..."

****

"Hey Nabiki-san, are you organazing this?"

"No, why do you ask.."

"Well it is a good idea, every magical girl needs an arch enemy 
to fight, espically evil magical girls.."

"This is real dammit," Nabiki yelled, forgetting about profits 
and the money she could make from this situation. Instead 
she began to worry about Kasumi, because she didn't know 
if she could handle 3 youma. (Please Mom, don't let Kasumi 
be hurt...)

****

Kasumi began to groan in pain as she slowly regained consciousness. 
In front of her stood Yukie and a youma who looked like she was 
ready to kill this girl. (Dammit, I gotta help her..but I can't..I'm...)
	
'Kasumi-chan you can do anyting..'

"Mom..."

'You can do it...'
										
(I'll do it...) Kasumi thought as she began to concentrate all of her power. 
(I can do it..for you mom!!)

****

"Hitomi-san..."

"Finish her off Hitomi-san, even if you have to kill Yukie.." 
Mana ordered the youma.

"HITOMI-SAN!!!"

"I'm sorry....Yukie-chan...I can't!!!" Hitomi yelled as she let 
go an energy blast into the roof. 

"HITOMI-SAN!!! Are you all right!?!" Yukie cried as she ran 
towards her friend. But her path was obstructed by the other 
two youma. "Let me through, come on don't you remeber who you 
are!!"

"I don't care..The two of you have to die now...Dark pair..."

"Stop it!!" Natsumi yelled as she lept to the attack, "Love 
healing Aura!!!" Natsumi's broach began to glow with energy 
as the room filled with magic power. The black broach on Hitomi 
began to glow green as the aura from Natsumi's broach began 
to heal the transfromed youma. Soon the youma were once again 
normal humans. "Hitomi-san!!!"

"Yukie, I'm sorry..please forgive me!!!"

"Hitomi-san..it's all right.." 

"Are you guy's all right?" Mia asked, running towards her fallen 
friends.

"We're fine.." Mana replied, trying to hold back her tears. She 
after all, couldn't accept the fact that she could be so evil. 

"So what happened?" Natsumi asked, interupting the reunion of 
the friends. 

"Well we were given new broaches when a new company started to 
sponsor our show.." 

"Can I see this broach?"
									
"Sure," Yukie responded as she started to dig through her pockets. "Here's 
mine, I didn't use because I thought something was wrong with the gem 
colour, but now I'm glad I didn't use it.."

Natsumi looked at the broach carefully, and at first didn't see         
anything wrong with it at first. But something caught her eye, it was the 
name of the company that made the broach. And that company was the BFC...

****

"So it was the BFC behind that attack.." 

"Your right Nabiki..."

"Well I guess we know who's behind these Youma attacks than.."
Nabiki replied in a nervous laugh as the two entered the Tendo 
dojo.

"I know that, the question is what are we going to do about these attacks?" 
Kasumi asked, hoping for a meaingful answer, which wasn't coming as Akane ran 
to greet them. 

"Onnechan, I've got some great new for you!!"

"What is it?" An intrested Nabiki asked her excited sister. 

"Furnikan high has entered into a parntership with the BFC to 
provide business course and you've been accepted to the course!!"

Both Nabiki and Kasumi looked at each other. Yes they knew that 
the BFC was behind these Youma attacks, but they didn't know why. But now 
they could find out, if only Nabiki would join that business course. 
And Nabiki knew what she had to do...

"All right, I'll join it!!"

To Be continued

Ja ne!!

Richard Beaubien
------------------
Mizuno Ami-chan forever!!!