Terence Fergusson (taf@isla-mia.demon.co.uk)

Books/Bubblegum Crisis/Sailor Moon
"Boomers and Youmas"

Part 2 : "Kawaii Just Doesn't Cut It"

Both Bubblegum Crisis and Sailor Moon are copyrighted by their
respective copyright owners.  Any material used from Bubblegum Crisis
or the original Sailor Moon series are not of my own creation, and I
take no credit for it.  Thank you for not suing me.

Ian Robinson, Chronos, and all the Books-related stuff are presumably
copyright Terence Fergusson aka Me.  This fanfic, excepting those
scenes, characters and other stuff that belongs to the two
aforementioned series, plus any other anime, manga or general fiction,
is mine.

Story notes:           /.../  designates thoughts...
                       _..._  designates stressed words...

Any other strange symbols _should_ be self-explanatory.

The prologue to this part is _exactly_ the same as the preview at the
end of the previous chapter, so feel free to skip it if you've already
read it.

And now, to continue....

-
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-

  PROLOGUE

    DAY 2

  Ian ran full pelt out of the portal, none the worse for wear from
his experience, and skidded to a halt within a large shopping
precinct.  With badly hidden frustration, he noticed that the signs
were still in Japanese, but fortunately, it seemed, he was back in the
present day.  By the light streaming in from outside, it was early
afternoon.  A clock on the other side of the building confirmed it.
  It was a little odd, that the portal had brought him inside a mall,
when he had just escaped from the streets.
  What was definitely strange, were the amount of people lying on the
floor, seeming... drained, somehow.
  And the eight-foot tall monster with the really sharp claws that was
moving around the place laughing as people collapsed around it.  It
was standing in a similar place relative to Ian that the boomer had
been.  /Oh, so instead of sending me to similar surroundings, it
bloody well sends me to similar circumstances..../  And this time,
there were no Knight Sabers.
  Without thinking twice, Ian started to back slowly away from it,
hoping it wouldn't notice him.
  He was out of luck.  It spun to face him the moment he moved.
  Almost out of instinct, Ian whipped out his pistol, aiming in the
monster's general direction and succeeded in blasting it several times
in the chest.  The barrage seemed to cause it immense pain, but to
Ian's dismay, it was still moving when the pistol decharged.
  /Aw man..../  Ian hurriedly leapt behind a potted plant as the
monster started to flick energy bolts at _him_.  He set to work,
feverishly rifling through his belongings searching for....
  Ian sprawled on the floor as one of the bolts exploded near his
back.  Fortunately, the pot plant had absorbed the main brunt of the
blast, but Ian realised now that perhaps more solid cover would be
marginally safer.  He dove behind a bench, narrowly missing being
fried a second time.
  He finally retrieved the portable generator - a small humming cube-
like device - which he then proceeded to connect to the pistol's
handle.  There was a click and a hum as the two connected.
  Meanwhile, he was vaguely aware of the monster stalking him from the
other side of the stall he had now chosen as his new piece of cover.
Hearing a droning sound slowly rising in pitch, Ian sped to the next
possible shelter as the stall was vaporised by another energy bolt.
  /Come on, come on!/ he thought urgently to the generator, hoping
that his willpower would somehow speed up the process.  He was
rewarded by a short series of beeps, signalling the end of the
recharge.  Not even bothering to disconnect the generator, Ian doubled
back, ready to face his adversary.
  He dodged out of cover just in time to see that others had at last
responded to the threat.  Five teenage girls, to be precise.  The
_young_ half of teenage.  There was something familiar about them,
that tugged at Ian's mind.  He shook it off and started to run towards
the monster, gun upraised.  The monster hadn't noticed them yet; it
was still concentrating solely on Ian, a fact that was evident from
the increasing number of energy projectiles that was heading his way.
Trying not to think about what his agility was like most of the time,
Ian continued to dodge the bolts, hoping to survive long enough to get
a hit in.  What did those girls think they were doing anyway?  At this
rate, they were going to get themselves killed not knowing when to run
and when to....
  "JUPITER POWER, MAKE UP!"
  /Huh?/
  "MERCURY POWER, MAKE UP!"
  The girls all had something held up high above their head, and they
were each shouting something different.  The monster half-turned to
look at them, pausing its assault on Ian.  A couple of laser bolts to
the side of its head brought it snarling back to face the student....
  "VENUS POWER, MAKE UP!"
  As they each finished their own sentence, blinding light coalesced
around them, and they became hidden from Ian's view....
  "MARS POWER, MAKE UP!"
  Now, only one of the girls was left.  She had a _very_ distinctive
hairstyle.  Two balls of hair with a long ponytail dangling down from
each.  It made him think of... of... /Meatballs.  Like meatballs./
Now where had _that_ come from?
  The last girl held some kind of pendant over her head, and shouted:
  "MOON PRISM POWER, MAKE UP!"

  As the light cleared, Ian found himself watching on the sidelines.
The girls had changed, that much was definite.  Each of them were now
wearing some sort of superhero costume; almost like a sailor's uniform
with a short skirt, complete with white gloves and high heels.  /A
sailor fuku,/ his mind helpfully came up with.  Where had he heard
that before?  Fortunately, the monster was no longer paying him any
attention.  It spun to face the newcomers.
  The one he had recognised with the distinctive hairstyle pointed at
the monster with a scowl on her face.  "Even though shopping can be a
chore, it is a neccessary part of life, and often pleasurable.  To
interfere with it in such a way is unforgivable.  For love and
justice, we are the beautiful Sailor Senshi!  In the name of the
moon...."
  "...and the planets Jupiter..." interrupted the tall, pony-tailed
girl, who seemed rather tomboyish; almost looking forward to the
fight.
  "...Mercury..." continued the shorter, girl with an almost bluish
tint to her short dark hair.
  "...Venus..." said the blonde-haired senshi, arguably the prettiest
of the five; at least, Ian thought so.  He felt sure the girls
themselves would have other ideas.
  "...and Mars..." picked up the one with long, black hair; Ian would
have sworn she was rolling her eyes.  As for appearance, she looked an
awful lot like the blonde-haired girl before her; maybe they were
sisters?
  "...we will punish you," finished the meatball-haired girl, who
unlike the previous girl, seemed deadly serious about the speech.
  Suddenly, he stopped.  His eyes widened slightly as he realised
something.  Sailor fuku.  Meatballs.  Senshi.  It all fit.  Ian
realised just who it was who had replaced the Knight Sabers in this
book.
  "Oh no," Ian muttered under his breath.
  The speeches finished, the senshi charged the monster.  Most of the
fighting appeared to be just energy attacks; none of the girls seemed
willing to close for hand-to-hand which, considering the size of the
monster, was just as well.
  "CRESCENT BEAM!"
  Long ago, back before all this business with the bookshop had ever
happened, back when the worst Ian had to worry about was homework
being in late, Ian had been `introduced' to Japanese anime by a friend
of his.  One of them had been a dubbed series named "Sailor Moon".
  "SHABON SPRAY!"
  "Oh god, oh man, oh shit...."
  Ian, personally, couldn't stand it.  The closest thing he had to
compare it with was an American TV programme called "Mighty Morphin'
Power Rangers", a show so corny and stupid that it didn't even merit
watching for the idiotic monsters.  The plot of each episode of MMPR
was identical to every other one.  New monster goes around causing
chaos.  Power Rangers go and trounce new monster.  Evil megalomaniac
sorceress controlling operation causes new monster to grow to Godzilla
height.  Power Rangers call their dinosaur inspired mechanoids and
trounce Godzilla-size new monster.  Admittedly, they didn't then all
go back home and have a round of ginger beer, but the last five
minutes of each episode appeared to be devoted to learning some kind
of moral.  Apparently, the show had done really well in the States.
  "THUNDER CRASH!"        
  "No, no, no, no, no!"  Ian continued his litany, panic setting in at
the edges of his voice, which had been steadily rising in both pitch
and volume.
  Of course, there was no way he could be in the dubbed version.  That
was a TV programme.  However, his friend had said that the original
Sailor Moon had been Japanese manga....
  He was stuck for twenty-four hours in the middle of a book he
neither liked nor cared about.  A little girl's book.  He believed
`kawaii' was the word his friend had described it.  Japanese for
"cute".  And that it was.  Ian could almost puke.
  "FIRE SOUL!"
  He was in their reality now.  He was bound by their laws of physics
and their way of doing things.  He was, to all intents and purposes,
trapped.
  "MOON TIARA ACTION!"
  The battle had been raging for well over a couple of minutes, and
sadly, it looked like the other buildings had borne most of the
attacks.  However, the fight was now coming to an end.  And with that
final cry, a tiara whistled through the air from the meatball-haired
girl's hand, and crashed into the badly wounded monster.  With a mixed
cry of rage and pain, it collapsed into dust.  The golden tiara
continued to spin through the air in a smooth parabola, before
returning back to the girl.
  The scene brought reality screaming back to Ian with a crash.  There
was no denying it now.  He knew exactly where he was, and exactly what
he thought of it.
  "Yatta," cried Sailor Moon in exultation.
  "NO!" cried Ian in despair.
  `Saved' by a bunch of fourteen year-old girls in abbreviated sailor
suits.  Things just couldn't get worse.

  --**************--

  CHAPTER 5 - Jumping Over The Moon

  There are many facts of life.  Some of these are particularly
strange facts, and some are only based on superstition or hearsay, but
there appears to be truth in most of them.  Like, whenever you plan a
picnic, the skies cloud over.  Or when you get a plumber around, they
can never make it today, it's always "next week, maybe the week
after".  It is often said, that fact is stranger than fiction.  This
is very true.
  One group of facts are known vaguely as Murphy's Laws.  However, one
of his laws sums up the whole group quite succinctly, and was known
more famously as Murphy's or Sod's law.  It goes like this: "Anything
that _can_ go wrong, _will_ go wrong."
  Fiction is riddled with such key phrases, where the hero suddenly
says something like: "That was too easy," or "_This_ is a heavily
guarded fortress?" or some other boastful sentence like that.  And
then storms of monsters rush in, surprising the said hero.  You _know_
what's going to happen as soon as they say it.  And so, it becomes a
fact.  A fact of fiction, if you will.
  Whenever someone thinks or says that "Things just couldn't get
worse," the universe has a way of rearranging things so that they do.
This is a well-known fact, and has led various cultures to come up
with superstitious phrases designed to protect people from the
consequences of this fact; such as "touch wood", for example.  Ian has
promised many times to give up intoning the former of the two phrases
mentioned, but old habits, bad or good, do die hard.
  The universe isn't fussy about _when_ it gets people back.  Just as
long as they _are_ got back.
  In Ian's case however, the universe usually makes an exception.
  Improbability fields have nothing on what the universe sometimes
does to get Ian Robinson back.

  --**************--

  Ian came back to his, admittedly ragged, senses to find all five
girls looking at him.  He wondered why.  He ran his still recovering
mind over the last few minutes to find out the reason.  Unfortunately,
he was trying to get over his preliminary shock over the current
events, so he wasn't as quick as he usually was.
  /Fighting the monster futilely... no, there _are_ some people stupid
enough to do that other than me.  Firing off lasers in a modern day
world... nah, they'd never think it was anything than another gun.  I
hope.  Besides, it doesn't shine a candle next to their powers.
Watching them transform... uh... um... they _might_ have noticed
it..../  Ian glanced at them.  /Of course, they were rather focused on
the monster at the time..../
  /Sticking around in the vicinity of a crazed monster... uh-uh, as
before, there are people stupid enough to stick around and watch
fights like this.  Screaming "No" just after they whipped the
monster's ass... nope, that couldn't..../  He stopped, and went over
that thought again, more carefully this time so his mind could cope.
  /Uh oh./
  Ever so carefully, hoping not to break any stalemate that might be
in force, he put his gun away, disconnecting the generator as he did
so.  He thought he could hear the senshi whispering fiercly to each
other, as he placed the cube-like device in one of his outside jacket
pockets.  He turned, a little faster than he really wanted to, and
started making for the nearest exit.  The words "Dark Kingdom" and
"Youma" drifted to him from the girls, as well as the strange paranoid
feeling of furtive glances being directed at him.  He started walking
faster.  Not running, at least, not yet.  He'd learnt that lesson the
hard way; running brings attention.  He remembered reading a very good
book that had something about that.  Something about the time to run
was when someone said....
  "Hey, you!"
  /Oh yeah, that was it./
  Ian ran.

  --**************--

  The ancient art of harakei is quite a mysterious one.  It is a very
useful and valuable technique, if learned, but also very difficult to
master.
  Harakei is basically the ability to know whether an attack or ambush
is imminent, and generally allows the gifted person to sense other
people.  It is often labelled as a sixth or seventh sense, and the
technique is usually incorporated in the teachings of many ancient
martial arts.  The process of learning it is very hard; the actual
techniques (as opposed to the preliminaries, which involve learning
whether an unseen person wishes to watch, hurt or help you,) begin
with sending the blindfolded student into a room full of obstacles.
Every time they pass through it, the room is rearranged, and once they
can get through it a number of times without hitting anything, the
process is begun again, except this time, their ears are stopped as
well.  After they complete it with those restrictions, the nose is
stopped.  And then they introduce other people.  Then it escalates to
hand-to-hand fighting, (without the handicaps, naturally,) finally
finishing with real weapons when the student is on the verge of
graduation.  One can see how difficult it would be to master.
  Ian is just an ordinary university student.  At least, he _was_.  He
never wanted to know how to fight, how to run, how to shoot and how to
hide.  He doesn't really know what harakei is; he's never even heard
of it.
  It is possible, just possible though, that the constant danger over
the last eight months has imprinted on him a sense of harakei.  It
_may_ not have been luck that has got him through all these scrapes;
it is almost possible that he has actually _learnt_ the various
guerilla techniques he has needed to survive.

  "MOON TIARA ACTION!"
  Fortunately, this time the tiara flew in a non-lethal trajectory,
smoothly intercepting Ian's legs and managing to successfully trip him
up.  He hit the ground heavily, and had the wind knocked out of him.

  Then again, maybe it _has_ just been luck all the time.
                                                  
  --**************--

  Breathing heavily, Ian struggled to get up and catch his breath at
the same time.  He found he couldn't do both at the same time; a
whimper from his muscles confirmed that point.  High-heeled footsteps
behind him confirmed Ian on his own point, which was to tell his
muscles to get knotted, and stand up anyway.  He tried again to run
out of the mall, but succeeded in only a stagger; apparently his body
wasn't about to forgive him yet.
  By then, it was too late.  The meatball-haired girl - /Sailor Moon,/
thought Ian through the mental equivalent of clenched teeth - placed
herself directly in front of him, hands on hips and feet spread in a
defiant pose.
  "Where do you think you're going, running off like that?" she said,
trying for an authorative tone of voice.  She very nearly pulled it
off.
  Ian considered his options as quickly as he could.  /I could try for
the short but sweet approach..../  Abruptly, that idea brought the
word `kawaii' to mind, causing him to drop it like a hot potato, or
perhaps more like a live hand grenade.  It helped that he wasn't
exactly sure what that approach would have entailed anyway.  /How
about playing it dumb... maybe..../
  Sailor Moon started to tap her foot impatiently.
  "Uh," started Ian, "I'm going outside."
  The dark-haired girl moved herself inside his view, slightly
interspersing herself between the two.  Sailor Moon looked a little
agitated at this obvious interruption, but kept her display of
annoyance down to a glare at her sister-in-arms.  Unlike Sailor Moon
though, the red-suited senshi demonstrated the authorative look with
an ease that you normally wouldn't associate with a 14 year old.  "Why
are you so scared around us?  We just saved your butt back there," she
stated, with a tinge of bitterness and an underlying accusatory tone.
  "Um, er," Ian stuttered, trying to think of an answer that would
convince them to go away and leave him alone, thank you very much.
  He was saved from answering the rest of their questions, and talking
himself into a deeper level of excretement, as a groan was heard from
behind him.  Apparently, the people the monster had drained were just
waking up.  The sailors were briefly distracted, looking past at them
rather than at him.
  Ian leaped at the chance, having had enough time to gain his second
wind.  "Uh, nicetalkingtoya, gottarun, bye," he said in a rush,
darting through the girls, and shoulder-barging the exit open.  Ian
had one of the best acceleration rates in the world, and within a
flash, he was gone.

  "Idiot.  Letting him get away like that."
  "What?!  You were the one not looking!"
  "_Me_ not looking?  You could have been blind, for all the
difference it would have made!"
  "Yeah?  Like you stopped him!"
  "Klutz!"
  "Meanie!"
  Two tongues shot out, as the two girls pulled faces at one another.
The rest of the senshi just shook their heads in disbelief.

  --**************--

  Ian stood at a corner just a few streets away from the shopping
precinct, leaning one hand on a nearby wall to keep him from
collapsing.  His chest was heaving, trying to regain the breath he'd
expended during his escape.
  The simple truth was, he was exhausted.  Completely.  The effects of
the adrenaline were wearing off now that he was no longer in immediate
danger, and he hadn't had a decent night's sleep since....  He
realised where that line of thought was going, and quashed it
immediately.  He was in enough trouble already without him tempting
fate for the ten-thousandth time.  What he really needed at this
point, was either a roof and a bed, or....
  The smell reached him first, reviving him almost completely.  Almost
in a trance like state, he eagerly crossed the road - causing many
drivers to brake suddenly, and a stream of curses to be thrown at
him - and ended up outside a certain building.  _That_ was where the
aroma was coming from.
  His backpack came over his shoulder and landed right in front of
him.  He rummaged through it with an uncommon vigour, looking for....
He smiled as he retrieved a 1000 yen note from a waterproof plastic
container, the money being one of the few souvenirs he had from
Nerima.  Without hesitation, he barged into the building, and placed
himself on a seat by the counter.
  The woman behind it looked at him, or rather the state of his
attire, in astonishment, but Ian gave her no chance to respond.  He
placed the note carefully in front of her, and said, half in a
daydream, "One coffee, please."
  The waitress turned and picked up a mug.  She got as far as the
coffee machine when Ian cleared his throat.
  "I meant a pot," he continued, stopping her in her tracks.  "Black,
please."

  --**************--

  In a different place altogether, a place called the Dark Kingdom,
there is a throne room.  It is not known why it is called the Dark
Kingdom - even those who lived there had embraced that name - but that
is what it was called.
  In this throne room, there was a throne.  It makes sense; you find
chokeapples under a chokeapple tree, you find thrones in throne rooms.
Logic.
  The throne itself wasn't a large one.  In fact, it was human sized;
which is rather unusual since most supreme evil entities are usually
about 30 feet tall with bad tempers and a need for total domination.
  In Beryl's case, two out of three wasn't bad.
  Queen Beryl, ruler of the Dark Kingdom, was sitting on her throne.
She was admittedly quite beautiful, but in an evil sort of way.  Just
looking at her made people think of a Black Widow.  There is a saying
that goes "Beauty is only skin deep."  However, the phrase "rotten to
the core" would probably be more accurate in Beryl's condition.
  In front of the queen, bowing before her, was a young man dressed in
a gray uniform.  He was well built, and although his shoulder-length
hair was pale white, he looked to be in his mid twenties.  He was, of
course, a far older entity, in spite of his appearance.  For he was
one of the four generals who served Beryl.
  At least, there _used_ to be four.  Beryl didn't have much patience
for failure.  And thanks to the Sailor Senshi, there'd been a lot of
that.
  However, this meeting wasn't about the Sailor Senshi.  It was about
energy; something the Dark Kingdom needed a lot of.
  "And you say you've discovered a new source of energy?" asked the
Queen.  Once again, the voice was quite lovely, a complete contrast to
her... uh... personality.
  "Yes, my Queen," answered the general, as he straightened up.
"Although it was momentary, it was quite different in nature to any
other I have felt on Earth."
  "Yes," Beryl mused, "I felt something myself."  She turned her
visage back upon the general, eyes boring into him.  However, he was
used to this, and didn't flinch.
  "Kunzite," she continued, "what are your findings on this new
source?"
  "I felt it come from the building my youma attacked.  I am not sure
how or why the energy was released, but shortly afterwards, the Sailor
Senshi confronted the youma.  I was unable to withdraw it for
questioning before it was destroyed."
  "Which reminds me."  The Queen smiled, causing Kunzite to groan
inwardly as he realised what was coming next.  "I take it then your
mission was a success?"
  "A success, my Queen?" asked Kunzite uneasily.
  "I assume the youma you sent was meant to be defeated by the Sailor
Senshi, yes?"
  "Uh, no, not exactly."  If Kunzite hadn't been as experienced as he
was, he would have been tugging at his collar.  Revenge had proven
rather difficult to achieve.
  "So, things didn't exactly go to plan?"  Beryl's eyebrows went up in
surprise.  /But of course, she isn't surprised,/ thought Kunzite.
/She's just going through all this to torture me./  Once again,
Kunzite was astonished at exactly how well it worked.  Beryl had
become slightly more lenient with the death threats lately, having
only one general left to count on.  In turn, though, she made these
debriefings all the more scathing.  In another book entirely, there is
a saying: "Wounds to the pride are remembered long after wounds to the
flesh."  It seemed to have found truth on this occasion.
  "I trust you have made arrangements to make up for your failure?"
she continued in that mocking tone she had adopted.
  "Ah, yes, my Queen.  I shall begin looking in to that new source of
energy at once."
  Beryl smiled at that.  "Good.  You impress me, Kunzite, with your
quick thinking.  I hope you will not disappoint me again."
  /Irony,/ thought Kunzite with despair.  /I think I liked it better
when she was more open with the threats./  "Yes, my Queen."  He bowed
at his mistress, and then disappeared into the darkness.
  A figure stepped away from the shadows, and stood before Beryl.
"What about the Senshi?" he asked.
  "Metallia believes that this new power may be enough to revive her.
Of course, should Kunzite's plans fail, we will still need the
ginzuishou."
  Endymion bowed.  "Very well then.  I shall continue my efforts to
retrieve it."  He walked away into the shadows, and vanished from
view.
  Queen Beryl sat there, relatively alone, except of course for the
hordes of minions who chanted their devotion mindlessly at the edges
of the throne room.           
  She became vaguely aware of someone other than the multitude of
servants in the chamber.  "Who goes there?" she cried in a commanding
tone.
  A shadow manifested itself before her.  Although it was hard to
tell, it bowed towards her, before speaking.  And when it did so, the
voice was low and wavering; the voice completely unidentifiable.  "I
assume you are Queen Beryl."
  Beryl scowled at this impertinence.  Who was this who did not know
who she was?  "Speak, insolent dog, before I tire of your presence."
  "I was wondering if perhaps you would require my assistance?"
  "Assistance?"  The Queen smirked at that.  "Why would I need _your_
assistance?"
  If anything, the shadow seemed even more unimpressed than before.
"Do not mock me, Beryl.  You are fighting a losing battle.  However, I
may be able to tip the balance for you.  Of course, my aid would come
at a price."
  Queen Beryl fought hard to control herself, but could not stop the
bouts of hysterics.  "Begone!  Since you have amused me, I shall allow
you to go freely.  I will not forget this joke in a hurry!"
  Instead of protesting, the shadow simply nodded, and then faded
away, leaving the chamber echoing with Beryl's mocking laughter.
  However, as the shadow left, a final sentence, almost unheard over
the noise, reached her ears: "Maybe you will find that time will
diminish your complacent behaivour.  I will see you again soon."
  Beryl did not care; who had the audacity to offer their help at a
price?  The mere thought of it was going to keep her giggling for
months on end.
  Losing battle.  What a joke!

  --**************--


  End Chapter 5

-
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-

  CHAPTER 6 - The Council Of Senshi

  The Hikawa Shrine.  Midtown Tokyo.  It's a temple devoted to the
Shinto religion, a religion which basically forms the traditions of
Japan.  However, it is also home to something not quite Shinto in
origin.
  Well, not exactly `home'.  The Hikawa Shrine actually happens to be
only a meeting place for this `new generation'.  But Shinto originates
from around the 6th Century after the introduction of Buddhism into
Japan.  This `new generation' stems from something that is much older.
  Not many people remember the Silver Millenium.  In fact, only a
handful of people out of the entire population of the Earth would
remember it as anything more than a dream.
  It's a good thing too.  NASA would have a lot of explaining to do if
it were discovered that not only have the other planets once been
inhabited, but that the people doing the inhabiting were humans.
  Another interesting point was that the power base hadn't been
centered on Earth.  Indeed, each of the planets had their own linage
and kingdom, but as often occurs, there was one nation upon which all
the others rested on.
  Of course, that's all so much dust now.
  Moondust, naturally.

  Inside the shrine right now, are five girls.  They weren't the only
ones in the shrine, but they were, perhaps, the most important.
  These girls are the legacy of the Silver Millenium; the
reincarnation of the last princess, and her guardians.  The Sailor
Senshi are holding their regular meeting, discussing the threat of the
Dark Kingdom.
  At least, they _were_ discussing that.  However, as usual for one of
their meetings, there was a short intermission as insults were
exchanged between Usagi and Rei, the familiar sticking out of tongues,
and the usual calming down period before they got back down to
business.
  After all, they may be Earth's only hope, but they _are_ teenagers.

  "Okay," said Makoto - a tall girl with her brown hair in a
ponytail - after the commotion had ceased, "it doesn't matter whose
fault it was in letting the guy go.  I mean, we don't really know if
he comes from the Dark Kingdom, do we?  Ami?  Luna?"
  Ami - an intelligent young girl who had short dark hair, with blue
highlights - smiled regretfully.  "I'm afraid he didn't keep still
enough for me to scan him properly.  I didn't detect any dark energy
from him, and the readings I got seem to suggest that he's human; but
then, they say that about _all_ the Dark Generals.  And most of the
youmas, at least while they're still in human form."
  Makoto laughed in response.  "I doubt you'd need a computer to
detect the difference between a human and a ten foot tall plant.
Anyway, I suppose that clears up one problem."  She turned back to the
two who were still shooting dirty looks at each other when they
thought no one else was watching them.  "You see, Rei, Usagi?  There's
no problem, he's not...."
  "But I got some interesting readings afterwards," chipped in Ami,
ever helpful.
  That silenced Makoto rather effectively.  Luna, the black cat
`belonging' to Usagi, leaped up onto the table the senshi were sitting
around.  "What readings?" she asked Ami, surprising any hidden
observers, had there been any.
  "I found some residual traces of a burst of energy near where he
was.  It was very different from what I've detected since our first
dealings with the Dark Kingdom.  It dissipated quickly though.
However, I don't remember seeing him when we came in.  Also, he _did_
successfully keep the youma busy while we were changing.  I didn't get
a chance to scan whatever it was he hit the youma with, but that youma
was half dead before we even touched it.  And there is the fact that
either he managed to successfully keep himself hidden from the youma
for a couple of minutes, or he wasn't affected by the energy drain.
You see, he only attacked the youma a few moments after we came in,
and most of the people were drained already."
  "I knew it," burst out Rei.  She had long black hair, and a fiery
look in her eye.  "I knew he was up to something.  He doesn't _belong_
here!"
  "Hold on, Rei," Luna said soothingly, "we don't even know who he is.
>From what you've described of him, he doesn't sound like anything I
remember from the Moon Kingdom.  Right, Artemis?  Artemis?!"
  Artemis, the white cat `belonging' to Minako, frowned.  "No, Luna, I
honestly doubt it.  Besides, we're too close to worry about any other
threats.  The final battle is almost at hand."
  "Speaking of which," Luna said, "how close are you to discovering
the entrance to the Dark Kingdom?"
  "Very close now.  Minako and I have narrowed the search down to a
few places.  I suspect we shall have the results in a few days."
  Rei wasn't so easily deterred.  "Don't change the subject, Luna.
You weren't there.  You didn't see what _I_ saw."
  "And what _was_ it that you saw?" countered Luna.
  "He just felt... wrong, somehow.  Like he's not a part of this... oh
I don't know, Luna!  I just felt something, okay?!"
  "If he's not part of this, than we shouldn't worry about him,"
replied Artemis.
  "And we can't leap to conclusions because of feelings, Rei," Luna
continued in an almost patronizing manner.
  Usagi grinned.  Her description was best summarised by the fact that
her nickname was "odango atama", literally translated as "dumpling
head", more figuratively translated as "meatball head".  Her long hair
had been tied up into two balls that each had a three foot long
ponytail dangling from them.  It was a hairstyle she was proud of, and
naturally, the nickname was one that she hated.
  "What about the time when you thought Ami was from the Dark
Kingdom," she taunted, "because of _strange_ energies you were
feeling?  _And_ Rei for that matter...."
  Luna, advisor to the Sailor Senshi and respitory of knowledge,
sweated.  "Uh, well, anyone can make a mistake...."
  "Well," Minako - the one with the long blonde hair - intervened, "at
the very least it might be best to keep a look out for him.  You never
know, he _might_ actually be important."
  "That shouldn't be too hard," mused Rei.  "I mean, you saw the state
of him.  You could probably smell him a mile away!"
  "I wonder where he is now?" Ami thought aloud.

  --**************--
  
  Ian strolled out of the coffee shop, feeling like a new man.  This
was most likely because of the amount of caffiene in his body, but he
didn't care; he hadn't felt this alive in weeks.
  Of course, there was still the little matter of a bath, and perhaps
a trip to the laundresses, but right now, he felt great.
  On the other hand, he still had time to kill.  He'd only been here
for about half an hour, and it was still early afternoon; about four
o'clock the last time he checked.
  He grimaced at the thought.  There wasn't much to do except wait....
  He stopped.  Just down the road, was an icecream parlour.
/Icecream?  I... I haven't had icecream in..../  He paused, trying to
figure it out, and came to the conclusion that he hadn't had icecream
since he got trapped in this whole mess.  He had a few different types
of currency; Altarian Dollars, Gold Coins, and a few crowns, but at
the moment, Yen was the most important one. He had plenty; one of the
better souvenirs from his ill-fated stay in "Ranma 1/2".  He rifled
through his backpack, and pulled out his remaining reserves of cash.
/Well, I've certainly got a lot left over... and it wouldn't harm
anyone if I just..../
  Firmly convinced that it was the right thing to do, Ian marched
right into the parlour, and made preparations for a massive icecream
binge.  After all, icecream was a luxury for him, and right now, it
was one he could afford.

  --**************--

  Ten minutes later, the senshi meeting was over.  Everyone was
heading home - generally by the scenic routes - and Usagi was no
exception.  Luna suspected Usagi had deliberately chosen this route
_just_ so that she could say....
  "Oh, look, an icecream parlour!  Let's go in!"  Luna mentally
chalked one up on her princess.
  "Usagi, we are going to be late.  Besides, you'll ruin your
appetite."
  "Aw, come on, Luna, just _one_!"
  "No, Usagi, there's no way...."  Luna trailed off as she glanced
into the shop again.  There was a man sitting at a table with a large
helping of icecream; not as much as Usagi was known for, but larger
than most anyway.  It was not his disheveled appearance that caused
Luna to shut up and take notice, or the way he was going blissfully
through the icecream, savouring each bite as if it might be his last.
Of course, the latter wasn't so much of a surprise considering he
looked like he had spent the last few months sleeping rough.
  But there was a feeling about him; she thought that now she knew
what Rei had meant.  Luna was _positive_ this was the guy they were
talking about.  Rei was right; for some reason, the man didn't belong
here at all.  With things coming to a head against the Dark Kingdom,
they needed to be more alert now than ever.  They couldn't risk losing
this one; he must have a part to play in the oncoming battle.  The
only problem was that Luna didn't know what that part would be.
  "Inside, now," she told the young girl.
  "But Luna, all I want is an ice... huh?"
  "I said inside.  I'll explain it in a minute."
  "Great!"  Whatever doubts Usagi had about the cat's motives were
quickly dispelled by the presence of icecream.  She scooped Luna up
and hurried into the parlour.

  --**************--
  
  Secret identities are always very hard to keep.  Most known
superheroes try to keep them secret by wearing masks, or trying some
subtle change of appearance: taking off glasses, for instance, or
wearing a ton of powered armour.  It varies with personal preference.
  However, the Sailor Senshi look almost exactly the same in either
form.  If Usagi and the others dressed up in sailor fuku without using
the transformation artifacts, no one would know the difference.
  Or perhaps they would.  As with real life, you are more likely to
see what you expect to see.  Magic is kind of like that, no matter if
it's sleight of hand or the real McCoy.
  The reason people would know the difference, is because what they'll
actually see is Usagi _trying_ to be Sailor Moon, rather than Sailor
Moon herself.  "Usagi?  Sailor Moon?  Nah!" has exactly the same ring
to it as "Clark Kent?  Superman?  Nah!"  Actually, more so; who would
think that a ditz like Usagi would be the leader of a team of
guardians dedicated to defeating the Dark Kingdom, not to mention
being a princess fated to become the future ruler of Crystal Tokyo?
  Of course, there are a few people whose mind is set in just such a
way so that the previous fact would be believable to them.  Most of
these people wouldn't know Usagi personally, so almost all of the
previous argument would be lost on them.  But this is where the magic
_really_ kicks in; no one not actually seeing the transformation has a
chance in hell of recognising any of the Sailor Senshi in their
civilian forms.
  As stated before, but not in the same way as either Rei or Luna
thought, Ian Robinson is a refugee into this reality, and hence, does
not belong here.
  Unlike usual refugees, Ian would be glad to be sent back home.  That
is besides the point though, since he was not going home at that
moment, and was, in fact, in an icecream parlour, stuffing his face
with vanilla icecream.
  On the other side of the room, Usagi sat herself at a table with a
gallon's worth of icecream made out of every flavour ever thought of,
and then some.  Luna perched herself on the table, and stared at Ian.
What she hoped to see became academic as Ian's paranoia kicked in and
he looked up to find where the feeling of being watched was coming
from.
  His eyes came to rest on a young 14 year old girl with a hairstyle
he remembered from events not an hour ago before.  She, of course, was
not the one watching him; her attention was focused on the
multicoloured mound in front of her.  However, unlike anyone in this
reality, Ian had, in what he regarded as his misfortune, watched a few
episodes of "Sailor Moon".  This is as good, if not better, as seeing
the transformations in real life.  Which he had anyway.  He gulped
nervously.
  Unfortunately, he was trying to swallow icecream at the same time.

  --**************--

  Fortunately, choking on icecream isn't easy.  It doesn't have a
tendancy to stick in your throat, and it is simple enough to cough the
stuff back up.
  But it _does_ draw attention.  And Ian had found, through trial and
error, that attention was usually a bad thing.
  Take this case for example.  Usagi, with a heart of gold, always
ready to help, was distracted by the coughing.  This is unusual in
itself, since almost nothing could distract or separate Usagi from
icecream, unless it was a crowbar.
  She looked up and noticed exactly _who_ was coughing.  The man
they'd seen earlier who had escaped.  Naturally, she was now a little
confused.
  However, Luna, Usagi's cat, saw this as an oppurtunity to find out
more about this mysterious foreigner.  She leapt off her perch, and
walked under Ian's table.  Ian, having more important things to worry
about, didn't notice.
  Usagi sighed in a resigned manner, picked up her bowl, and followed
the cat.  There had to be a good reason why Luna was doing this, but
she couldn't think of one off-hand.

  --**************--

  Ian wiped his eyes again, wishing they'd stop watering so he could
see properly.  With a final hack, he brought up the last of the
icecream, and swallowed it properly.  His vision cleared slightly, and
he noticed that he'd finished his icecream.  He moved to get up and
leave as soon as possible.
  Something landed heavily in his lap, forcing him down slightly.  He
looked down to see a black ball of fur looking at him.
  He tickled the cat under its chin.  He liked cats.  There wasn't any
deviousness about them at all; they always told you _exactly_ how they
felt.  Ian had the scars to prove it.  "So," he said, "who do you
belong to, little one?"
  "Me," said the girl who'd just taken the seat across from him.
  Ian yelped and fell back in his chair, forcing the cat to leap onto
his chest.  He lay there looking at the ceiling for a while.  It was
at least something that wasn't about to jump out at him.  It stayed
where it was, and if it was about to move, it would give him prior
warning.  So relaxing.
  "Hello?"  Usagi's face appeared in front of him, looking concerned.
  Ian closed his eyes, counted to ten, taking deep breaths all the
while.  It wouldn't do to start hyperventilating.  That was for when
Chronos caught up with him.  At the moment, he'd just have to deal
with this reality as best he could.
  He was nervous.  The upside of being nervous was that it made Ian
more alert, as he looked around for an escape route.  The downside was
that it made him just a little sarcastic.
  To understand why sarcasm is a downside, look under "Heckling your
captor, and why you shouldn't do it."  There's nothing worse than
pissing off someone who has you at their mercy.  But Ian has a
tendency to do it anyway.
  "Glad to see you're no longer in uniform," he told the girl as he
got up, lifting the cat off his chest, and placing it carefully on the
table.
  The cat's eyes widened in response, something Ian wouldn't normally
have noticed, except for the fact that he was used to the idea of
intelligent animals, ever since the incident in Narnia.  In Manga, he
was more than alert for this kind of thing.  Usually.  Surprises had a
tendency to creep up from behind and ambush him rather effectively,
especially if they were surprises he'd met before.
  Usagi, on the other hand, just looked at him in confusion, with no
hint that she had even _heard_ the sarcasm, much less understood it.
"What do you mean?  Today's a Sunday.  No school, you see."
  Ian started, but then relaxed.  /If she doesn't get what I mean,
maybe she doesn't recognise me..../  "Oh, well, I seem to have
finished, so I'll just... be... going now."
  "Okay."
  He managed to hide a look of surprise.  Barely.  He was so certain
that she had him cornered, that now it seemed ludricous to think that
escape was possible.
  Picking up his empty bowl, he made his way to the counter and
deposited it.  Glancing back at Usagi, he noticed that the black cat
appeared to be nuzzling the girl's ear.  Nuzzling it rather angrily,
he might add.
  The widening of Usagi's eyes and the muffled whispering forced Ian
to reconsider his previous analysis.  Especially the apologetic
expression the girl gave to the cat.  He thought he knew what was
going to come next, so he quickly paid the man behind the counter and
strode towards the door.  /Odds are that cute black cat can talk, if
what I remember of Sailor Moon is correct.  Hell, it was smarter than
she was.  Therefore, any second now..../
  "Hey, mister," said Usagi, trying to get his attention.  Ian's
answer was to slip through the door, pretending he hadn't heard.  The
speed with which he did so said otherwise.
  Usagi got up to follow him.  She got as far as the door when a
polite cough from behind caused her to stop and look around.  The
icecream vendor was looking pointedly at her.
  Embarrassed, Usagi went back to the counter to pay for the icecream
she'd had.  By the time she got outside, Ian was long gone.

  --**************--

  From the shadows of a nearby alley, an unseen observer looked on as
a young man wearing a brown weatherbeaten leather jacket raced out of
the icecream parlour, and skidded around the corner, out of view.
  About a minute later, the observer watched as a young girl and her
cat also emerged, looking both ways in consternation, before walking
off in, as luck would have it, exactly the same direction.
  Unnoticed, the observer slipped further back into the alley.  Things
appeared to be going well, but it was a pity that Ian hadn't teamed up
with the Senshi yet.  That was disappointing.  Mind you, he'd only had
an hour here so far, but for the plan to work, it had to be seen that
Robinson and the Sailor Senshi were working together.
  Chronos decided that there was still a lot left to do.

  Ian sometimes wondered why Chronos didn't just kill him whenever he
had the chance.  Most people would see the logic in just offing the
one annoyance that kept Chronos from moving freely throughout the
`books' and finally conquering the entire realm of imagination.
  Several months ago, when the anomaly that brought Ian here happened,
Chronos would have accepted that way of dealing with the problem.
However, luck successfully sheltered Ian through those initial
confusing moments, allowing him time to learn about this strange new
world.  And his relentless opponent.
  However, time has mellowed Chronos's reaction.  He has accepted Ian
in the scheme of things.  Which is why Chronos wanted to make sure
that Ian's demise be as interesting as possible.
  Many people, by now, would be wondering why then that Chronos sends
teams of Chronotroopers out to kill Ian, asking exactly how that would
be memorable.
  This _may_ take some explaining.
  It has been written, at one time, that there is a force called
Normality.  It is often known as Fate, Destiny, or all manner of other
names.  It is a force that plays a major part in human life.  It is
not inviolate, but it is very powerful.  It's powers are probably best
expressed as the well-known proverb: "The more things change, the more
they stay the same."
  This is _not_ about Normality.  Normality is a part of real life.
This is about imagination.  It is about books.
  Books, of course, have their own laws.  As mentioned before, one of
them is that things always get worse if the character thinks that they
cannot.  There are many of these laws; ones governing ambushes, love
scenes, sieges, comedy, and so on.
  Some laws are very much unwritten ones, not even classed as laws,
but they are so fundamental that even though they are not really
acknowledged, everyone follows them.  Due to the unofficial nature of
these laws, only a generalisation can be made as to their contents.
One of these happens to be this: "The hero is never killed in the
first scene."
  Actually, like all other laws, they are really only classed as
guidelines.  Even laws as seemingly fundamental as the one above have
been broken; in this case, due to the imaginative idea of
reincarnation.  "The Eye Of The World", the first book of the Wheel Of
Time series by Robert Jordan, breaks that unwritten rule, having his
hero die, in the prologue, no less.  One episode in Star Trek : The
Next Generation had the entire Enterprise crew in a time loop which
ended each time with the entire ship being destroyed, a scene shown in
the prologue before the opening credits.  Perhaps a better
generalisation of the aforementioned rule should be: "The hero will
always appear in the final scene."
  Once again, that law still isn't perfect.  In fact, many books
feature martyrs, heroes or heroines who die for their belief, or
sacrifice themselves to save some ideal.  The last scene of Alien3 is
memorable in that respect.  Usually, after some sort of sacrifice like
that, there is an epilogue, which is normally about how the hero's
death changed the world around him or her.  Thus, there wouldn't be
any possible way for the hero to appear in the `last scene'.  Which
means that the above rule would have to be modified yet again.  Unless
they became a ghost.
  This is all very tiresome, and there can never be _one_
generalisation, since somebody somewhere will think of an inventive
way to be original, so all that is really needed is that Ian is
classed as a hero, and heroes are generally very hard to kill.
  The whole point about all this, is that you have to realise that
there are forces in this realm that are often working in the
background.  If Chronos attempted a full frontal assualt to destroy
Ian Robinson, it would most assuredly fail.  Probably.
  But that isn't what is stopping Chronos from even attempting to take
Ian out like this.  The previous exploration of the laws and physics
of books isn't useless though, for it is partly essential in
explaining Chronos's motives.
  Chronos has style.  It isn't necessarily a good style, but it is a
style nonetheless.  He appears to be very impressionable.  He
_believes_ in the final showdown, and so, will most likely allow Ian
to get that far.  He enjoys puzzles and conumdrums, and takes great
pains in allowing Ian a chance to escape every predicament Chronos
puts him in.  Even if it's only a tiny infintesimal chance, it will
still be there.  Thus, Chronos will never confront Ian directly,
especially just out of nowhere.  He likes drama, and so would prefer a
much more appropriate setting; say, drawing Ian to a fortress of
Chronos's devising.  Just appearing out of thin air, shouting "DIE",
and wiping Ian from existence, lacks a certain... flair.  It wasn't
that Chronos didn't know about the disadvantages of having ventilation
ducts big enough to crawl through; he was very aware of this fact.
Enough so that it had become a standard feature in his fortresses.
With all of eternity to endure, entertainment was rare.  Thus the need
for new challenges, and new conquests.  And now, the appearance of Ian
had made his existence more invigorating yet.  He knew that this was
the moment he had been waiting for, for over six hundred years.  He
would savour every moment until the end.
  And as for the teams of Chronotroopers?  Chronos usually expects Ian
to deal with them successfully.  And if he doesn't... well, that's one
less problem for Chronos to worry about.

  But, something is most certainly different this time.  Chronos was
just a little ticked off by his meeting with Beryl.  He felt that
Beryl needed to be taken down a peg or two.  However, he couldn't do
that _himself_; that would be breaking the rules.  He needed Beryl
later, so any outright confrontation would end up with Beryl
concentrating more on Chronos than on the Senshi, or even Ian.
Obviously, Ian would have to be the one to anger Beryl.
  Something unprecendented is going to happen.
  Chronos is going to actually help Ian.  Even if it _is_ in the short
term.

  --**************--


  End Chapter 6

-
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-

  CHAPTER 7 - Close Encounters Of The Worst Kind

  /Oh great.../
  Ian Robinson, 21 years of age, a one-time student at Bath
University, looked up at the building he now found himself before.
Once again, his unerring sense of direction when running away from
something had picked, at random, a place to run to.  And, as usual, it
appeared to have chosen badly.
  He shouldn't have been surprised.  In fact, he wasn't.  Instead, he
was feeling some sort of sinking feeling right down in his gut, as he
stared at the building in question.
  Not that he could read the sign situated above the doors.  It
happened to be in Japanese, a language that eight months ago, wouldn't
have featured in his top ten priority subjects required to get ahead
in life.  But he didn't need to be able to understand the sign; he
recognised the building itself.
  /Twice in one hour.  It couldn't happen... could it?/  It was a
rhetorical question.  And he already knew the answer.
  The building was, of course, the mall he had materialised in,
fifty-two minutes ago.  The same one in which he fought a dangerous
monster out for blood (his), and afterwards, was pursued by five
suspicious girls who thought he was part of some Dark Kingdom.
  It was only fitting that he would find himself standing in front of
it after being chased out of an icecream parlour by the leader of that
same group of girls.  /And her cat,/ he added, humourlessly.
  He had decided to walk on by, and forget the whole incident, but
blonde hair in an increasingly familiar hairstyle made him change his
mind.  It wasn't difficult to miss when most of the people in Japan
have black hair.  And those `meatballs' were rather distinctive.
  Ian crossed his fingers on both hands momentarily, and then walked
into the mall.

  According to playground superstition, while `cross keys' promotes
good luck, `double cross keys' actually has a negative effect.  Ian
had a tendancy to forget things when they were related to luck charms.
  Then again, in Ian's case, it probably didn't matter whether he had
one or both fingers crossed.  Either way, his luck was going to be
bad.

  --**************--

  There is much to be said about the effects a major fight has on a
public place.  Take, for example, the astounding absence of people.
Or the half-destroyed stores.  Or even the police line that had been
put up around the area the monster had died.  People avoid this type
of place in the hopes that they wouldn't get caught up in the
consequences of whatever craziness went on there.  Of course, it's not
very effective _after_ the event, but in this case, perhaps it was a
good idea.
  Ian's first mistake was to approach the two men who were searching
through the debris left behind.
  He attempted to communicate with them.  That was strike number two.
"Uh, hi.  What're you doing?"
  The man in the grey uniform lifted his head and glanced at Ian,
subjecting him to a moment's scrutiny.  Obviously, he didn't find what
he was looking for, as he turned back to his work and ignored Ian.
  That should have been enough of a hint to send Ian walking
nonchalantly away, and not attract any more attention.  Sadly, his
third mistake, regrettably not his final one, was that he never
noticed it.
  Not only that, but he went on to catch the general's attention with:
"You're looking for stuff from that Sailor Moon battle, right?"
  Three strikes.
  The uniformed man looked up at Ian, and then turned to his
companion.  "See what he knows," he barked, before resuming his
search.  The casually dressed man was over by Ian before he could
blink, and wasted no time in putting Ian in a rather inconvenient
position; he grabbed each side of his jacket collar, and pulled the
hapless student up to him.  All of a sudden, Ian realised exactly how
much this guy towered over him.
  "Doesn't this count as police brutality?" the would-be student asked
tentatively.
  "It does if you happen to be a policeman," his captor replied
smoothly, sending his hopes plummeting.
  "I'm sorry," Ian said without sympathy, before kneeing the guy in
the groin.
  The results weren't what he had expected.  The man didn't fall and
roll on the floor in agony; in fact, he just stood there, impassive.
Well, not exactly impassive.  A smile began to appear on his face.  A
nasty smile.  Ian swallowed.
  From what he could see of the future, the next few minutes promised
previously unknown levels of pain and torture.

  --**************--
  
  "What?!"
  "I'm afraid so, Usagi," Luna whispered, trying to calm down her
protege.
  "But he can't!  He couldn't have!  He isn't even part of the
Dark..."
  "We don't know that yet," the cat continued, carefully interrupting
so that the girl wouldn't shout out _all_ their secrets.  "Calm down,"
she admonished, "before people get suspicious."
  "He really knows who I am?" Usagi asked in a soft voice.
  "`Glad to see you're not in uniform'?  You did say he was there when
you got to the youma.  I'm not sure if he knows exactly which one you
are, but if he can at least remember that you're a senshi, it won't be
long before he does figure it out."
  Usagi walked on a bit in silence, Luna riding in her arms.
  "So what do we do?" she asked the cat after a few moments.
  "The only thing we can do," replied Luna.  "We must find him before
he finds out how dangerous that knowledge can be...."
  Luna stopped as she noticed that Usagi wasn't listening to her
anymore.  In fact, she seemed intent on the building they were
outside.  "What is it?" she asked.
  "Isn't that the mall we were in earlier, Luna?"
  Luna looked over it carefully.  "Hmm...  I think so.  Strange.  This
isn't on the route home.  We must have gotten distracted.  I
think...."  The cat trailed off as she felt a sinking feeling.  There
was a strong source of evil from inside; much more than any youma
alone could create.  "Usagi, I think we've got a problem."
  Usagi looked at Luna with a puzzled expression on her face.  "Huh?"
  Luna's voice was tinged with the dread she felt.  "Kunzite is in
there."

  --**************--

  Sudden pain.  His chest gave slightly under the force of the blow,
and all the air from his lungs was expelled in one breath.  His eyes
shut reflexively from the impact, so he felt rather than saw when his
tormenter threw him across the hall.  He experienced the brief
sensation of flight, before he collided with concrete and slid to the
ground.
  His thoughts were incoherent, and it never occurred to him that he
might have a chance if he used his pistol.  Of course, his body wasn't
really listening to him at the moment, so the thought would probably
have become mere speculation.
  He wondered briefly how much longer he would have to wait before
pain became unconsciousness.  But no, that kind of thinking was
suicidal, despite the temptation to just give up and drift into
darkness.
  He waited for the next blow, wondering if it would be the last.  The
white haired man in the grey uniform had said something about finding
out what he knew.  That, like most fates, had both his advantages and
disadvantages.  It meant that he wasn't going to die yet.  But, from
recent evidence, also meant that as long as he didn't die, there was
no reason to not inflict pain on him.
  He was having trouble opening his eyes, which left him waiting in
the dark.  After a while, he began to feel impatience that he was
being made to wait, tinged with hope that those guys had given up and
gone away.  The ringing in his ears was becoming quiet enough to hear
the conversation around him.  Or rather, a familiar soliloquy.
  "...is bad enough, but picking on tramps who can't defend themselves
is unforgivable.  For love and justice, I am the beautiful Sailor
Senshi, Sailor Moon.  In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"
  Thinking about all the ridiculous poses she must be making, Ian
thought it was probably better off he couldn't see at the moment
anyway.  /Sheesh.  `Saved' again./  Ian sat back, and tried to recover
before the battle was over.  /Who knows, maybe this time, I'll escape
without _anyone_ noticing!/
  And so, he waited.

  --**************--

  He stood there for a few moments, looking at the lone Sailor who
dared to interrupt his research.  He still desired his revenge for
Zoisite; even though the Senshi were not directly responsible for his
demise, he blamed them as if they were.  He wanted to tear into her
and bring her to the brink of death, make her feel all the pain she
could bear and more, for all that she had done.  Only then would he
finally end her pitiful existence.
  But that would be a waste of time in Beryl's eyes.  And Kunzite
wasn't too fond of yet another lecture.  There was still the matter of
the new energy source.  He had yet to discover from where it had come
from, and he didn't want the Sailor Senshi to know that he was
searching for it.  Which meant that he would have to leave before they
became suspicious.  There would be other times to reap his vengeance.
For now, he would have to leave only the youma to handle the threat.
  Even that option was under consideration.  The loss of youmas over
the past year had been a cause of upset in Beryl's court.  That and
the continuing failures had been Jadeite's undoing.  Although the army
of the Dark Kingdom was considerable, Beryl had not liked the way her
strongest fighters had been thrown at the Senshi, only to be defeated
every time.  He was not fond of having to report to Beryl every time
this happened with one of his youmas.  Especially when he also had to
report that their had been no success, that the sacrifice of yet
another youma had been completely pointless.
  Revenge would be sweet if the youma succeeded, although not as sweet
as if he procured it himself.  But Beryl would definitely not be
pleased should yet another youma be sent needlessly to its death.
  It took only moments to come to a decision.  Especially since he had
knew from experience how this opponent was most likely to react.
  Kunzite gazed at Sailor Moon, and said in an amused voice, "Destroy
her," before vanishing.
  The youma was only too happy to oblige.  It quickly transformed into
an altogether more menacing form.
  There would be no questions asked about why this particular youma
had been named "Spiky".

  --**************--

  Ian grimaced as he heard a familiar scene take place around him.
Sure, it had been funny the first time he'd seen the first episode of
Sailor Moon at Uni; for once, someone received superpowers without
really having the courage or knowledge to use them.  However, at the
moment, he was sort of depending on this would-be superhero to prevent
him from getting killed.  Funny just didn't come into it.  Ian half-
opened one of his eyes to keep an eye on things.
  First thing after the preliminary speeches came the expected shout
of "MOON TIARA MAGIC!"  There was a whistling through the air as the
golden tiara spun towards its target, only to bounce off the monster's
armour without fazing it at all.
  Then, there was a twang like a released bowstring as the porcupine-
like creature let off hundreds of needle-sharp quills at the hapless
girl.  Predictably, she squealed and ran.
  /Well, at the very least, she _is_ distracting the bloody thing.../
  His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp quivering twang by his
right ear.  Scarcely daring to move his head, he glanced over at the
foot long quill sticking out of the concrete wall behind him.
Belatedly noticing his rather exposed position, he scampered sideways
on his hands, just making it to the cover of a nearby stall.  He
winced at the thunk that was made as more of the deadly quills hit his
new piece of cover.
  And he almost flew when a ball of fur landed at speed in his lap.
  Momentarily ignoring Ian, the cat poked her head round the edge of
the stall.  "Don't let him chase you around like that, Sailor Moon,"
cried the feline.  "Turn around and use your..."  The cat suddenly
shrunk back, narrowly being missed by a quill thrown in her direction.
  Cursing to herself, the cat suddenly got the feeling she was being
watched.  She looked up to find Ian watching her, with some kind of
neutral expression on his face.  "Meow," tried Luna tentatively, in a
vain attempt to mask her excellent vocabulary.
  "No dice, kitty," Ian said with a small frown.  "I'm afraid I'm not
familiar with your name, and in my experience, cats that can talk
aren't very happy being called kitty.  So you are?"
  "Kitty's fine," Luna muttered, a little suspicious of Ian still.
  Ian shook his head in exasperation.  "Okay then, kitty.  If that's
the way you want it."  And with that, Ian slumped back and got back to
resting.
  Luna eyed Ian intently, indignation building.  "I don't believe it,"
she said.  "You find out I can talk, don't seem to display any kind of
shock or anything about it, make an attempt to find out my name, and
then are content to just sit there and ignore me completely.  Also,
here you are, yet again, in the middle of a youma attack.  And... what
are you looking at?"
  "I'm just wondering if Sailor Moon is about to find out what I found
out about pot plants."
  "And that would be?" started Luna warily, looking around to see what
he was talking about.
  "That they don't make very good cover."
  Luna eeped and started shouting at the luckless girl to get the hell
out of there.  Ian just inched back and resolved to ignore the
attention his hiding place would soon receive.

  --**************--

  Usagi dodged and dived like someone who was still unused to the
trials of combat, but figured they'd better start dodging anyhow.
Almost a year had passed since her life had been turned upside down by
Luna, the Dark Kingdom, and the revelation of her own past.  Sometimes
she really regretted what had happened to her.  Like right about now.
  Where was Tuxedo Kamen when you needed him?!  Ah, but the Dark
Kingdom had Mamoru, didn't they.  She had almost saved him, almost got
her dear Mamo-chan back.  And then they took him away again.  He
couldn't even remember his own name, calling himself Endymion, a
wicked joke by Beryl against their past incarnation.  Tuxedo Kamen
wouldn't save her now.
  Where were her friends?!  But she hadn't waited for backup, had
she.  Rei had positively ordered her to stay put, and not rush in.
But she thought she would show her, show them that she wasn't the
ditzy wimp they all thought she was.
  And now, when it came down to it, she couldn't do it.  Every time
she had gone into battle as Sailor Moon, she had always had someone
to help her, or back her up.  Mamoru, then Ami and Rei, and finally
Makato then Minako.

  --**************--

  End Draft of the Half Completed Chapter 7

Author's Notes:  Well, if Hitomi can post out half completed
chapters... ^_^

As usual, C&C is welcome; encouraged in fact.  I'm not that hot on SM,
so if anyone out there knows better than me, and you find somewhere
where I've broken canon, tell me so I can fix it.  This fanfic *must*
be in character, for obvious reasons.

Credit where credit's due though.  While most of the references here
belong to certain very very well-known authors (Douglas Adams, Terry
Pratchett, etc...), I feel I must definitely credit Hitomi Ichinohei
for the harakei info.  It's lifted almost word for word from one of
her fanfics: "A Son's Duty".  Another must read.  The story, in my
opinion, is well-thought out, with great characterisation.  And if
that wasn't enough, the Japanese culture info (of which the harakei
stuff was part of, and not mentioning the recipes ^_^) definitely
makes it worth reading.  The only complaint about it that I have, (no,
Hitomi, not the grammar; the grammar, as usual, is perfect.  Don't
worry, we'll tell you when you finally do make a mistake (along with
our "shock, horror, Hitomi's made a grammar mistake, Armageddon is
nigh!" expressions,)) is that it isn't finished.  But it's getting
finished!  Even as I write, Hitomi is probably translating the latest
part.  Unless she's working on "Alternate Bubblegum Zone".  Or
"Alternate Ranma".  Or helping with "Clothes Make The...".  Or
actually doing work, rather than fanfics.  Which is probably unlikely
considering it's 3:35 am over here, and she lives, um... I forget.
Which is probably a good thing anyway.

Anyway, enough babbling.  That concludes this part's "Author Time".
Tune in next time when we review yet another brilliant fanfic author;
none other than....

Oops, outta time ^_^

Actually, next time will still be Hitomi Ichinohei, since I haven't
completed Part 2 yet!  So, I'm afraid you'll have to read the above
bit again when I do complete it.  Um, well, I guess you don't _have_
to... but it'll still be there.

Also, thanks to Travis Butler and David Kogan for their invaluable
C&C, without which this fanfic would have still been in its raw state.
And I'd probably still be stuck halfway through Chapter 7.  Wait a
minute.  I am still stuck halfway through Chapter 7.  Oh well.  I'll
get through it one day.  By the way, Travis, this is the revised
version, so if you really want to C&C it again... hey, I won't blame
you if when you come to C&C it, you only do Chapter 7 (what there is
of it, anyway).

Also, I would be interested to see if anyone _can_ find all the
references I made; there _are_ some pretty obscure ones there.

Part 2 should be complete, um, sometime next year ^_^   No, wait, I
wrote that bit sometime last year, so Part 2 should be complete
sometime this year.  I think.  Um, Frito, would you stop looking at me
like that.  You're making me nervous.

Thanks for reading this far.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Ciao, for now.

                             Terence Fergusson
                          -- Student of Advanced Murphodynamics
                          -- Stranded in an Anime-free College