When it comes to critical decisions, I am not ashamed to admit that I have
a tendancy not to think things completely through.  While my hindsight
maybe 20/20, my foresight leaves much to be desired.  Now were I given time
to ponder a question delivered, fully and completely, I might make a more
wiser decision...

	Thus I present to you two possible outcomes.

	The first is if I were walking down the street and this 'salesman' stops
me with the bargain mentioned below.  Without time to think, merely the few
minutes after he finishes his dialogue, I would probably have to say Yes. 
I'd shake the minion of evil's hand, and ask to be wisped away to my the
anime of my choice (even as I type this, I don't know which anime I would
choose, so we'll leave it at that).

	Happy, sad, eternity, or selnility, I would just have to hope for the
best.

	The second situation is if I were to recieve the option, well, though the
means that it actually did: e-mail.  I would have time to reflect, and
judge the meaning of each phrase of the deal, and probably, in the end,
after much painstaking decision making, would say... Yes.

	Umm.. that's right. Lets see why:

	"So.  You wanna travel into a dimension based on one of your 

	Dimension based on favorite anime.  Many anime feature dimensional hopping
individuals or at least have shown capability for this.  There's a
possibility that I could return to the 'normal world' if I needed to, or
even switch anime if necessary.  Perhaps I'm reaching, but it's the terms
this devil uses that provide me with a bit of comfort.

	"Look, I *promise*.  No worlds where Kasumi's an axe-murderess.  No
sick worlds where the Moon Kingdom was part of a thinly veilled attack on
British colonialism.  Just the straight, dare I say `canonical', version

of

your show.

	He promises (as good as that is) that the world you go is canonical.  This
means a world were you know everything that has happened before and the
secrets of whoever is the main character.  This is powerful information in
which to bargain to prolong your life.  Assuming this devil doesn't put you
in America when the series is based in Japan... or the Alpha Centauri
region...

 I'll swear by You Know Who if it will make you happy.

	Is this devil implying that there is indeed a more powerful being, and
that he wishes not to speak his name.  Shouldn't this give you hope? 
Maybe, even if you accept out of false pretenses, this being to which the
devil refers might try to save you.  In almost every version of the
almighty being I've seen, they try to save the little people, even the most
insignificant person should be saved.  It's not like you betrayed humanity
by accepting, you just forfeited something you didn't know you needed.

	"So?  Do we have a bargain?"

	The young man stood in utter awe of what had just occured.  The secrets of
life and death revealed in a short two minute monologue.  If he accepted
the devil's deal, he would be condemning himself to the mere lifetime of a
mortal human.  If he refused, he would be condemning himself to second
thought for the remainder of his lifetime.

	Which was better?

	"Yes," the boy spoke smoothly, straightening his hair with his hand. 
"Take me away."  Having always lived believing that happiness lies in the
pleasure of the moment, there was really no other choice for him.

	The devil smiled and raised his hands.  The boy realized at that moment,
the error in his thinking.  But it was too late.  Now he was in a race,
aganist his own internal clock, and against the forces of darkness.  They
wanted his soul, and he suddenly wanted to keep it.

	And it begun.

Chris Davies, Advocate for Darkness, Part-Time Champion of Light.

Adam Christopher Leigh
Omicron@sprynet.com