BTW, there was a typo in the teasers. 
#3 should come from chapter 17 and
#4 comes from chapter 2. 


Well I think I need practice with my first person narrative skills
so I think I'll be making this fic into a first-person/third-person
combined perspective. That means I'll go into third person if I 
need to, but mostly I'll be first person.

Part 4 - Chess Match

       I had seen her at one of the tables playing 
chess, her blue hair marking her from the other 
players. Ami Mizuno, one of the current Senshi,
intelligent.Very intelligent from what I could glean
from the records that I had stolen from the school
the night that I met them. I had not known her old
name before she was given The Rod in the Silver
Millenium, since I was already long gone. Maybe 
I can have a chance to measure her skill ?   

      The local chess club was holding a 
tournament and finding nothing better to do I 
joined to practice my skills against the mortals. 
I was pleasently surprised as I saw her. Maybe
this little tournament will prove profitable after
all.

**************    
         It seems that she is as good as I gauged 
her. We are now set against each other in a
semifinals match. 

Time to teach the girl a lesson. 

Hmmm....she has taken the black side. Pity, I
had wanted to use the 'dark' side. Maybe I've
been mortal too long that I have started to have
preferences ? Ha ! Still the white side would be 
sufficient to put my message across.

' Let us begin.' I say as I spread my palm outwards
in a traditional Silver Millenium gesture. I see her 
start. I have woken a part of her memories with a
single gesture, it seems. Well , the more she re-
members, the easier this lesson would be.           

***************
           A perfect counterattack ! The child is 
good ! She has pinned my entire kingside pawn 
structure with a single attack at an opening
that even an above-average player would have 
difficulty in even noticing ! Truly ,Illyria has taught 
her apprentice well. This child brings back 
memories. 

**************

' Your move , Kage.' The woman with blue
hair said as she placed a crystal piece on
the board of even clearer crystal.

The board was filled with pieces both black
and white crystals, territories marked with
darkness and light from underneath.

' Well,the move was brilliant, but I am willing 
to bet a comet that in a few moves your dome 
would be under my control, Illyria or should I 
say Sailor Mercury.' said the man who was 
sitting leisurely across the table, his black 
clothes contrasting with the clear crystal of 
the room. He said that as the sigil of Mercury
flashed on her forehead. And moments after
a guard enters bringing the news of the death
of Elder Mercury.The man smiles as he hears
the shouts outside.

' Sailor Mercury is dead ! Long Live Sailor Mercury !' *

********************
            That particular  game was quite 
memorable since that was the first time 
that anyone had beaten me at the game
of domes. Well, enough lolling around in 
my memories. Back to the problem at 
hand. I have setup my defense quite well. 
Time to teach the first lesson.

'You see no weaknesses don't you, Ami ?'

'Yes.' she answers as she contemplates her
next move. 

' Just like me.' I say in a voice only she could
hear. 
  
She looks up at me, a furrow creasing her brow.
I seem to have puzzled her with the remark. Shall
I give a clue ? Well , why not ?

I raise my right index finger as I lie back in the
chair.

' Lesson one.'  

That was not the truth, of course. This mortal body 
cannot withstand the strain of the energies I use
if I channel too much. That is my only weakness.
The pain would become too great for me if I channel 
too much. My body still aches from my encounter
with that no account bastard, Jadeite. But as I said,
show no weakness. On to the next lesson.
 
' Do you know why I like chess, Ami ?' I say as she
moves her knight into a position that threatened the
queen's rook and queen's pawn.

' Why ?'

' Because in chess, you control everything.' I say 
as I start to move my bishop. 

' That is the perfect way to control people. You control
them without them knowing. Make them feel independent.
Let them feel freedom. But have a string that would make
them do what you want with them thinking that they are
doing something that they want to do.'

She moves her queen into a position that I wanted it to be.

I repeat my earlier gesture as I say to her.

'Lesson Two.'

*******************
Final lesson. Final manuever. Time to teach the
girl some caution.
 
She smiles at me as she takes my Queen.

' Better surrender.' 

I return her smile with a wide grin. 

' Final lesson, girl.'

I execute the coup de grace as my knight
attacks the flank left undefended by her attack
on my queen.

'Checkmate.'

'What !?! How !?!'

' Even a Queen has to be sacrificed sometimes 
to achieve one's goal.'

I let her contemplate what that phrase means as 
I stand up. I only hope that she had understood
my lessons. They would serve her in good stead 
in the days to come.      
_________________________________________

C&C is totally requested. MST is begged for.  
* I used the usual way that a succesor is announced.
  i.e. ' The King is dead ! Long Live the King !'

Guns of the Immortal Chapter 2 will come out in a few days !
A Multitude of Worlds will come out in six months !  

___________________________________________________________
'Writers are the torchbearers of civilization. We're set in a corner only we
can illuminate.Some of us are searchlights, able to cast a beam into the 
far reaches of the human soul.Some of us are candles , barely able to 
sustain a glow against the darkness. Nevertheless the words I write 
are important, because light is additive. Another's light  doesn't diminish
 my own. Our lights together make us stronger.'   
                   - (After much paraphrasing and reaaranging) Roger Martin